Hulk News You Need - 10/16/15

THOR INVITES HIS BETTER TO THOR: RAGNAROK

It's been in the rumor mill for a few days and now Deadline is reporting that Mark Ruffalo is in talks with Marvel Studios to appear in Thor: Ragnarok as Bruce Banner/The Hulk.

Along with his supposed potential appearance in the third Thor film, Bruce Banner is heavily rumored to meet Thor somewhere "on a distant planet." This is more fuel for the rumor practically as old as the Marvel Cinematic Universe itself that Marvel Studios is planning something that mirrors Greg Pak's fan-favorite "Planet Hulk" storyline.

TWO THEORIES:

1.  In Avengers: Age of Ultron when Black Widow proposes they run away together, Banner says, "Where could I go where I wouldn't be a threat?

Later, the last person to see Bruce Banner as Bruce Banner (i.e., pre-transformation) before he flies away in the stealth quinjet is Black Widow; the second-to-last person is Thor. Thor blasts into Ultron's base and Banner follows him through the hole in the wall. Soon afterward, Banner frees Black Widow and asks her to go away with him somewhere. 

Taking both of these things into consideration, I wonder if Banner spoke to Thor off-screen, told him about his intention of leaving, expressed his concern that there was nowhere on Earth he could go that would keep people safe from the Hulk, and asked if Thor could both facilitate some transportation as well as keep the whole thing to himself. If that were the case, Thor would know exactly where Banner is and so would know where to go looking for help in Thor: Ragnarok.

2. There are only two Infinity Stones left we haven't seen. One of them is the time gem.

Considering Thor left Earth at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron with the intention of learning what was going on with the Infinity Stones, it's possible if not likely Thor: Ragnarok will give us one of the remaining two stones. If so, it has at least a 50/50 chance of being the time gem.

I would be very surprised if the introduction of the time gem didn't accompany some kind of time travel story, especially since time travel is one of the few big sci-fi elements that's so far been completely unused in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

On the comic book side of things, we know that Amadeus Cho will be the new Hulk in Marvel's Totally Awesome Hulk title. We also know that Marvel's All-new, All-Different comics will prominently feature the Maestro; an evil version of the Hulk from the future.

Put all these things together...Thor vs. Maestro? Maybe? 

Hulk News You Need - 9/16/15

HULK JUST CALLED TO SAY...

Carl Sandberg's That New Carl Smell comic strip featured a Hulk confounded by romance and grammar. Check it out.

PRINCESS HULK

A reddit user recently proved he's at least 50% bad-ass Dad when he made his twin daughters a Hulk Princess birthday cake. Here's hoping the matching Prince cake was Thor.

FUN HULK PANELS IN THE PIPELINE

Yesterday in his column The Pipeline, Augie De Blieck, Jr. posted some random fun panels from his comic collection, including the above panel from Black Panther #15 and a few others featuring Hulk, She-Hulk, and some other characters (as if they mattered). 

My Response to Answers.Com: 10 Things That You Can't Say Were Great About the Star Wars Prequels, Even When You're Reaching Like Mad

I made the mistake of clicking on a link on Facebook because the title immediately pissed me off. It was "10 Things That Were Great About the Star Wars Prequels."

Before clicking on the link, I could think of one great thing about the Star Wars prequels: eventually, they ended. So even though I knew I would regret it, I followed the link and it was one of these sites that's hardly even a site. Just a collection of advertisements covering every inch with a slideshow-style article. So, I really don't even have much confidence that the "writer" who "wrote" this gave a good crap about any of it, yet the argument is so just plain undeniably wrong to me that I have to write a response, right now. Even though I got up early to get more overtime, I don't care. I need to respond to this right now. Because it's wrong. And I have to respond to its wrongness point-by-empty-point.

10. Darth Maul.

The great, red mute of the The Phantom Menace is the first "great" thing the article lists, and I suppose I would agree if I suffered from some kind of chronic memory loss. Yes, Maul certainly seemed like he would be one of the great things about the Prequels back before we all actually saw the movie. In the trailers and the TV spots, his make-up was bad-ass and that double-lightsaber looked even badder-asser, and the shots from the three-way duel between Maul, Obi-wan, and Qui-Gon looked freaking awesome.

And then he said, like, one thing the entire movie. And he died right away.

Not so great.

9. The Scale

The article calls the environments of the first films "restrictive sets," And in comparison calls the settings of the Prequels "large and immersive."

I could disagree more, but only if I obtusely decided to just disagree with basic things like the writer's use of vowels and whether or not you call sets "sets" or "breadsticks." Just to be a dick.

One of the first teasers for Revenge of the Sith featured shots from all the films - prequel and originals alike - and upon first seeing that teaser, it really struck me what bothered me about these "large and immersive" settings Lucas' CGI was creating in the prequels. 

There was a shot from A New Hope of Luke looking at the two suns of Tatooine. Not long after, there was a shot of Annakin from Attack of the Clones either right before or right after slaughtering the village of Sand People, racing over the sands of Tattooine with the two suns off in the distance.

It occurred to me then that, yes, the CGI of the Prequels was slicker, prettier, and certainly created the large scale the writer of the answer.com's article refers to.

But the shot from A New Hope looked like a guy looking at two suns. Which is what it was supposed to be. And the shot from Attack of the Clones looked like an asshole in a cartoon or a video game. It may have looked pretty, but it didn't look real. It didn't make me believe in it.

8. Qui Gon Jinn

The article rightly points out that Qui Gon Jinn was one of the best parts of the prequels. I would add that he was one of the most complex jedi characters in the films, one who actually struggled with the dogma of the system he was a part of, rather than the slogan machines characters like Yoda and the older Kenobi were. 

Which is why, of course, Lucas killed him right away.

Spoilers.

7. Kenobi's Mount, the Varactyl

The article lists the lizard Kenobi rode in Revenge of the Sith as one of the great things about the prequels.

Really? Didn't it die after, like, five minutes? Who cares? 

6. Jar Jar Binks is silent in Episode III

I don't really see how this counts as a great thing about the prequels. Minimizing something that was awful in previous films doesn't make it great. It makes it barely tolerable. 

5. The High Ground

This references the moment which made no sense in Revenge of the Sith, in which Kenobi defeated Annakin because he was, like, a few inches above him.

4. Ewan MacGregor's Lightsaber noises

The article points out that, apparently, during filming MacGregor made his own lightsaber noises during fight scenes.

Yeahthat'scuteidontgiveashit

3. Count Dooku

They actually counted this as one of the great things about the prequels. Count Dooku. The Sith whose name sounds something a toddler calls shit.

2. Saber Duels

Granted, the fight between Qui Gon, Obi-wan, and Maul in The Phantom Menace was awesome. It made the fight between Obi-wan and Vader in A New Hope look like one of the lawn rake fights between Walter Matthau and Jack Lemon in those Grumpy Old Men movies.

But it was the only saber duel in the prequels I was particularly impressed with. In particular, the final battle between Annakin and Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith was, I thought, disappointingly uninspired and unsurprising.

I'd also say that while that Phantom Menace duel was great, my favorite remains the Luke/Vader fight in Empire Strikes Back. The Phantom Menace fight is great precisely because it is so slick and carefully choreographed, whereas the duel in Empire seems much more desperate and heated and that much more engaging.

1. Darth Sidious

I will grant you that Ian McDiarmid was brilliant in his role. Though the character was not written with any kind of subtlety and it remains a mystery to me how anyone could be fooled by his "manipulations." And his "No! NO!" moment in Revenge of the Sith right before he snuffs Mace Windu was so horribly done that it was one of the two moments in the theater that the entire audience laughed out loud (the other being Vader's final, unconvincing "Nooooooo" at the end of the film).

Okay, now I have to go to work. I lost OT to slap around an article saying nice things about movies. And yet I feel it was justified.

Hulk News You Need - 9/10/15

NEW HELLCAT SERIES COMING IN DECEMBER

Hulk's fellow Defender Hellcat will be getting a new ongoing monthly series starting in December. Hellcat! will be written by Kate Leth with art by Brittney Williams. Series editor Will Moss described it as "a superhero version of Trainwreck or Broad City." 

By the way, the above image is from Defenders #7 (the Busiek/Larsen volume) and has nothing at all to do with the new series. But it has Hulk and Hellcat in it, so...yes.

The Pile, an addendum

I've made a couple of changes to my original post about The Pile, and in the spirit of openness and honesty and fair play and safe driving and some other important, good things, I thought I would point them out. 

First, I added Astro Boy, Vol. 8 by Osamu Tezuka to the list of graphic novels. I didn't list it originally because I just plain forgot I hadn't read it. I suspect this won't be the last time something gets retroactively thrown on top of The Pile. 

Second, I added an exception to the list of rules governing The Pile. It reads as follows:

"8 - A special exception will be made for the Avengers: Age of Ultron blu-ray which is necessary for an extremely important event of global consequence: The Fourth Annual Martin Marvel Movie Marathon."

One might argue that it would be more than possible to ask one of the event's attendees to bring Avengers: Age of Ultron with them so that I wouldn't have to purchase it. One might also argue that your face is stupid and you smell.

The Pile: A Project

Believe it or not, this fire hazard is more than just a childish dare against gravity or a really bad attempt at organization. This is, no BS, an attempt to make my life a little bit better.

Don't worry, I'm not selling anything.

I had a discussion a few days ago with a good friend about how to make my financial life less moronic. I won't go into all the gory details, but I do tend to overspend.

For example, most of the contributors (including Yours Truly) to Trouble With Comics are part of a private Facebook group. Ever since I announced I was working on It Takes A Villain - my column about comics in which super-villains are the protagonists - I've been buying super-villain graphic novels like there would be a freaking cut-off. Like the government had decreed no super-villain graphic novels could be bought after the beginning of September. And every time I've bought one, or two, or five, I've taken a picture of it/them and posted it to our private Facebook page. Because of this, my fellow TWC contributors have seen me post pictures of - let me go over to FB to check real quick - FOURTEEN graphic novels. Probably between $15 and $20 a piece, at least (though two of those were bought with a gift card). That's between August 31st and today (September 9th). And I don't make a lot of money, guys. That wasn't smart.

Now I don't usually go on that kind of spree. I don't shop like that habitually. But I think maybe my genuine excitement over It Takes A Villain nudged me in that direction, not to mention my work on other compulsive behaviors may have made it more tempting to indulge in an as-of-yet virgin compulsive behavior in order to make up for the lack of unhealthiness in other areas of my life.

So I mentioned to this friend of mine that I was spending all this money on books even though I already had so many unread books, so many unwatched movies, so many unplayed video games. And in fact, I pay for subscriptions to Marvel Unlimited and Netflix. I have a healthy cache of Kindle books and. oh yeah, an effing library card.

We made some good plans to get my money stuff in order. While we talked, I had an idea. I told her I would take all the prose books I hadn't read, all graphic novels I hadn't read, all the movies and TV shows on DVD I hadn't watched, and all the video games I hadn't played; and I'd put them all in one big-ass pile in my office. I'd take a picture of the pile and keep it on my phone. Every time I thought of buying something online (which is too easy, man, just too, freaking, easy), I would look at that picture, and see all the stuff I've had for years - for Yuh-HEARS - that I still haven't bothered to crack open.

But now I'm going to take it one step further. I'm going to make the reading and the reviewing of all these books, movies, TV shows, video games, and comics prerequisites for buying any more media. Win-win-win-win, right? Helps me read, helps me distract myself from life, gives me material to write about, and saves money.

Now, originally my idea was that I would have to read, watch, play all of it before I could buy anything else. But, you know, that doesn't seem realistic to me. It seems like setting myself up for failure. So we're going to make it more reasonable.

Below are the lists of all the prose books, graphic novels, DVDs, and video games that are a part of this project. I've split the non-comic books into fiction, nonfiction, and poetry/drama. I've counted the number of books in each category. I'll only let myself buy new media for that particular category if A) I can afford it and B) I've read/watched/played a certain percentage in that category; the percentage is determined by just how much crap I have in that category.

The rules:

1- I have to read 10% of my total beginning Fiction Prose count (87) before I can buy another novel, novella, or short story collection.

2 - I have to read 25% of my total beginning Nonfiction prose count (29) and my total beginning Graphic Novel count (25) in order to buy something for either of those categories.

3 - For Poetry/Drama, Video Games, and DVDs; I have to read, play, or watch the entire respective category before buying any more for any of the specific category's media.

4 - The total from my percentage always rounds up. So, for example, my total beginning count for Fiction Prose is 87, I have to read 10% of that count before I can buy a new book. That means I have to read 9 books before purchasing a new one.

4 - I can't save and then double-up. For example, let's say I read 9 fiction prose books and I choose to not buy a new fiction prose book yet. Then I read 9 more. I can't then buy two new books. My window for the first new book closed. I can only buy one.

5 - Any new media I buy is added to the total beginning count for its specific category. For example, let's say in the course of The Pile I buy 4 new Fiction Prose books. Those 4 books get added to the beginning count, 87, and is now 91. Now I have to read 10 books before buying a new one instead of 9.

6 - Nothing counts until it's reviewed.

7 - Nothing from my It Takes A Villain project is counted at all towards The Pile.

8 - A special exception will be made for the Avengers: Age of Ultron blu-ray which is necessary for an extremely important event of global consequence: The Fourth Annual Martin Marvel Movie Marathon.

If you're curious at all, here's The Pile, along with a little commentary here and there.

For some reason I sorted all of it alphabetically by title. It made sense to me at the time.


FICTION PROSE

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
The Adventures of the Blue Avenger by Norma Howe
The Afterlife by John Updike
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (I don't care what the title is; I've read this guy, some people are going to die horrible)
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (probably from the point of view of a character from All the Pretty Horses)
Bagombo Snuff Box by Kurt Vonnegut
Bend Sinister by Vladimir Nabokov  (isn't that an awesome title?)
Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009 Edited by Dave Eggers
Best American Short Stories 1989 Edited by Margaret Atwood
Best American Short Stories 1990 Edited by Richard Ford
Best American Short Stories 1996 Edited by John Edgar Wideman
Best American Short Stories 2008 Edited by Salman Rushdie
Best American Short Stories 2009 Edited by Alice Sebold
Best European Fiction 2010 Edited by Aleksandar Hemon
A Better Angel by Chris Adrian (found this in an Ocean State Job Lot and the first few sentences didn't suck)
Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kitredge
Black Boy by Richard Wright
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
The Dangling Man by Saul Bellow
The Dean's December by Saul Bellow
The Divine Invasion by Philip K. Dick
Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
Ex Heroes by Peter Clines
The First Eagle by Tony Hillerman
Flannery O'Connor: The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor
Flying Home by Ralph Ellison
Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka
Gay, Black, Crippled, Fat by Adarro Minton (I know this guy)
Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon
Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
The Green Hills of Earth by Robert A. Heinlein
Hart's Grove by Dennis McFadden (I know him, too)
Hero by Perry Moore
Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
Imaginalis by J.M. DeMatteis (autographed! I got to tell him about how Kraven's Last Hunt traumatized me)
Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner
Ironweed by William Kennedy
Jack of Eagles by James Blish
Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein
Legs by William Kennedy
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolfe
The Man in the Blizzard by Bart Schneider
The Man Who Sold the Moon by Robert A. Heinlein (every time I read this title, I imagine David Bowie or Kurt Cobain stumbling on the line in the song)
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Mind Monsters by Howard L. Cory
The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick
Mothers and Sons by Colm Toibin
The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford
Northline by Willy Vlautin (this guys is awesome: READ HIS BOOKS)
The Other Side of the Sky by Arthur C. Clarke
A Plague of Demons and Other Stories by Keith Laumer
Poodle Springs by Raymond Chandler and Robert B. Parker (I can't imagine Chandler chose this title, how could you put the word "poodle" in a Phillip Marlowe title?)
The Ramayana by R.K. Narayan
Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe Edited by Byron Preiss
The Red Badge of Courage and Other Stories by Stephen Crane
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
Seize the Day by Saul Bellow
Selected Stories of Lu Hsun by Lu Hsun (I have no clue who this guy is)
Sir Apropos of Nothing, Book Three: Tong Lashing by Peter David
Slan by A.E. van Vogt
Solar Lottery by Philip K. Dick
Soldier's Pay by William Faulkner
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson
Sum of Her Parts by Susan Wheeler Capozza (I know her!)
Superheroes Edited by John Varley
Supermen: Tales of the Posthuman Future Edited by Gardner Dozois
The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
The Teachings of Don B. by Donald Barthelme
A Thief of Time  by Tony Hillerman
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Those Who Walk in Darkness by John Ridley
Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut
Ubik by Philip K. Dick
The Unteleported Man by Philip K. Dick
Valis by Philip K. Dick
The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks
The Weapons Shop of Isher by A.E. van Vogt
We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
Wild Cards, Vol. 2: Aces High Edited by George R.R Martin
The World According to Garp by John Irving

Unread: 87


NONFICTION PROSE

500 Essential Graphic Novels by Gene Kannenberg, Jr. (I know this guy)
America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Inaction by Jon Stewart, et al. (is humor nonfiction? I'm considering it nonfiction)
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (I started reading this a while back and found it full-of-shit-ish, I guess I'll give it another chance)
Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima by Robert Jay Lifton
The Drama of the Gifted Child by Alice Miller
Erotic Comics by Tim Pilcher with Gene Kannenberg, Jr. (I still know this guy, the second guy)
Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks by Ethan Gilsdorf
Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson
The Forgiveness Habit by Jo Ann Rotermund (I know her, her daughter is my best friend in the multiverse)
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
How to Read Superhero Comics and Why by Geoff Klock
I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Impetuous Sleeper by Donald Morrill (I know this guy, he taught me stuff)
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe
Not-Knowing: The Essays and Interviews by Donald Barthelme, Edited by Kim Herzinger
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
The Second World War: The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill
The Second World War: Their Finest Hour by Winston Churchill
The Second World War: The Hinge of Fate by Winston Churchill
The Second World War: Closing the Ring by Winston Churchill
The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore
She Comes First by Ian Kerner, Ph.D. (an ex who liked receiving and not giving so much asked me to buy this years ago)
Six and Eleven: A Television News Anchor's Story by Ed Dague
Songs of the Doomed by Hunter S. Thompson
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
The World As I See It by Albert Einstein

Unread: 29


POETRY/DRAMA

The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes
Gilgamesh translated by John Gardner and John Maier
Inferno by Dante
The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles by Sophocles
Opened Ground by Seamus Heaney
William Shakespeare: The Complete Works by William Shakespeare

Unread: 6


GRAPHIC NOVELS

Astro Boy, Vol. 8 by Osamu Tezuka
Astro City: Through Open Doors by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson, et al.
Batman: The Dailies 1943-1946 by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, et al.
Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection, Vol. 1 by Christopher Priest and Mark Texeria, et al.
The Divine by Asaf Hanuka and Tomer Hanuka, et al.
Essential Warlock, Vol. 1 by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, et al.
Fred the Clown by Roger Langridge
Hawkeye, Vol. 4: Rio Bravo by Matt Fraction and David Aja, et al.
Henry & Glenn Forever & Ever by Tom Neely, et al.
Hulk: World War Hulk - X-Men by Cristos Gage and Andrea Divito, et al.
Incredible Hulk Omnibus, Vol. 1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, et al.
Incredible Hulk: Crossroads by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema, et al.
Iron Fist Epic Collection: The Fury of Iron Fist by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, et al.
Kenk by Richard Poplak
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Vol. 1-4 by Hayao Miyazaki
New Lone Wolf & Cub Vol. 1-3 by Kazuo Koike and Hideki Mori
Path of the Assassin, Vol. 3: Comparison of a Man by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima
Preacher: Gone to Texas by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, et al.
Preacher: Until the End of the World by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, et al.
Preacher: Ancient History by Garth Ennis and Steve Pugh, et al.
Preacher: Dixie Fried by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, et al.
Reinventing Comics by Scott McCloud
Rising Stars, Vol. 3: Fire and Ash
Sasquatch Edited by Josh Howard and Jim Resnowski
Swan, Vol. 1 by Ariyoshi Kyoko
The Undertaking of Lily Chen by Danica Novgorodoff
Young Gods & Friends by Barry Windsor-Smith

Unread: 26


VIDEO GAMES

Assassin's Creed: Rogue
Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea, Part 2
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Unplayed: 4


DVDS

All-Star Superman
The Fighter
Flight of the Conchords, Season Two
Memoirs of a Geisha
Pan's Labyrinth
Samurai Reincarnation
Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters & Marvels
The Warrior
The Yes Men
Thundercats, Season One, Volume One

Unwatched: 10

Hulk News You Need - 9/9/15

TWC'S CHRISTOPHER ALLEN GOES BACK IN TIME TO COVER THE BIRTH OF THE INCREDIBLE HULK (AND OTHER CHARACTERS, BUT THEIR NAMES AREN'T IN THE TITLE OF THIS BLOG)

As part of the revival of the group blog Trouble With Comics, Christopher Allen has been firing up his Marvel Unlimited app to re-explore the birth of Marvel's super-hero Silver Age in chronological order in a column called Journey Into Marvelry, starting with Fantastic Four #1.

More recently, Allen covered the premiere of your favorite green-sometimes-gray goliath and mine in Incredible Hulk #1; and he invited Yours Truly to tag along. 

Today's entry covers the epic battle of silliness between the Hulk and the humorously forgettable Toad Men in Incredible Hulk #2. 

Check it out, and keeping checking back for more team-ups between me and Chris for subsequent early Hulk appearances.

GENE KANNENBERG, JR. OF COMICS MACHINE REACHES 250 COMICS IN HIS QUEST TO DRAW AND POST AN ABSTRACT COMIC EVERY DAY IN 2015

NMH friend Gene Kannenberg, Jr. - author of 500 Essential Graphic Novels and director of ComicsResearch.org - has been drawing and posting a different "abstract-ish" comic every day for the past 250 days at his tumblr Comics Machine, and he plans to do one every day this year. 

Hulk News You Need - 9/4/15

MARVEL REVEALS THAT AMADEUS CHO WILL BE THE NEW HULK, WHICH WE ALL TOTALLY KNEW ALREADY, THANKS

Surprising exactly zero people, Marvel told Entertainment Weekly today that the new Hulk - star of the title Totally Awesome Hulk - will be Amadeus Cho.

There were only a few, tiny, subtle hints that this was the case. Cho is the creation of Totally Awesome Hulk writer Greg Pak; he was a prominent character in Pak's Incredible Hulk, Incredible Hercules, and Amazing Fantasy; he guest starred in Savage Wolverine (written and drawn by Totally Awesome Hulk artist Frank Cho) alongside the Hulk; he's a teenager; and he's of Asian descent while Marvel hinted the new Hulk would stir the same kind of controversy as the female Thor and the African American Captain America.

I find it interesting that I find this interesting. I'm not peeved at this; I guess mainly because I know eventually Bruce will be back in the saddle again. I think I would be more worried if this were a different writer. I think Pak has earned some faith from us Hulk-nuts and I'm willing to give it a chance.

KICK-ASS UNCLE TRANSFORMS NEPHEW INTO HULK FOR CONVENTION

New Hampshire optician Eric Levine made his nephew Elijah's wheelchair into a Hulk costume for last month's TerrifiCon in Ucasville, Connecticut. He wanted his nephew's costume to have "butt-kicking action," so using foam, PVC tubing, and LED lights; Levine constructed a costume that included two Hulk legs 11-year-old Elijah could move with levers and the words "HULK" and "SMASH" lit up on each leg. 

Levine plans to donate the costume to another local child who uses a wheelchair. He hopes to design the costume that was originally planned for this year's con for next year: an AT-AT walker.

MARVEL DOESN'T WANT YOU LAUGHING AT THE GAG REEL WHEN YOU GET THE BLU-RAY, SO THEY RELEASED IT ALREADY

To promote the October 2nd DVD/Blu-ray release of Avengers: Age of Ultron (don't worry, mine's already pre-ordered), Marvel Studios released a two-minute gag reel which - if past Marvel gag reel previews are any indication - is the entire gag reel, thereby leaving you nothing to laugh at once you buy the thing they want you to buy. The bloopers include Bruce Banner having trouble with hammers and long words.

Hulk News You Need - 9/3/15

Is this going to be a regular thing I do? I don't know. Maybe. I make no commitments. Don't pressure me.

THE HULK WILL NOT KILL EVERYONE IN CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, ACCORDING TO ITALIAN WEBSITE

In an interview with the Italian site BadTaste.it, Mark Ruffalo says the Hulk was in the script for Captain America: Civil War, but that the green goliath was cut from the story. 

Ruffalo says the reasons were related to the Powers That Be at Marvel Studios not wanting it to be revealed just yet where the Hulk went at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron. 

THE LATE HERB TRIMPE TO BE HONORED WITH IDW'S HERB TRIMPE: THE INCREDIBLE HULK ARTIST'S EDITION

13thDimension has an exclusive first look at an artist's edition of the late, great Herb Trimpe's work on Incredible Hulk. The post includes scans of a dozen pages from the book. There's no word on when the book will be published beyond, "later this year."

Thanks to Gene Kannenberg, Jr. for the heads up!

MARVEL REVEALS MORE PICTURES IN ORDER TO PRETEND NEW HULK ISN'T AMADEUS CHO

In order to detract from the fact that the star of the new Marvel title Totally Awesome Hulk will pretty much definitely be Amadeus Cho, Marvel has released new teaser cover art to pretend it could be Thor, or Iron Fist, or some guy with hair. But it's Amadeus Cho, guys. I mean, it's pretty much a done deal.

A Humble Suggestion RE: The Fantastic Four

So apparently Fantastic Four is so bad, some people think it shot Cecil.

I haven't read a ton of reviews, but so far my favorite swipe came from the Rolling Stone review: "Everyone pretends to be excited about Reed's invention, a teleporter which can transport a monkey to another dimension. Since this movie has no dimension at all, everyone is envious of the monkey."

A Facebook friend asked why it was apparently impossible to make a good Fantastic Four film. My smart-ass answer, of course, was the name of this blog. "Needs more Hulk." But after a while, it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, for once my douchey fanboy catch phrase actually had a damn point.

Back when Kurt Cobain was still alive, a gallon of gas cost less than a diner entree, and a single issue of a comic book cost less than a gallon of gas; Walt Simonson and Arthur Adams brought together a brief but utterly memorable kinda-sorta replacement Fantastic Four team comprised of Hulk, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, and Wolverine. I say "kinda-sorta" because they didn't really replace the FF. A skrull disguised as Sue Storm fooled them into thinking the rest of the FF was dead. 

Now, with this many Fox failures at an FF film franchise, I don't think it takes an industry insider to predict that it's only a matter of time before the Baxter Building's most annoying tenants come under the umbrella of Marvel Studios. But what do they do in the meantime (besides making, apparently, the only good super-hero movies without the letter X in the title)?

Well, 3/4th of the replacement FF's roster are greenlit for Marvel movies. Wolverine is the exception, though he could be replaced. Maybe with the Punisher (who actually made a humorous cameo in the replacement FF storyline because there just weren't enough guest stars). Cobble that team together and call it Four Fantastic Guys or The Fantabulous Four or go the GB route and call them The REAL Fantastic Four. Or to hell with it, just call it Fantastic Four (What? Sue Us if You Want; Yours Sucked). 

Hell, maybe go ahead and use Wolverine. Just make him not a mutant. And call him Knife-Punch Man or something.

By the way, if any of the makers of the Lego Marvel Super-Heroes video game are reading this, the fact that I didn't unlock any achievements when I assembled Ghost Rider, Hulk, Spider-Man and Wolverine together on the Latveria level is effin' BS, man. My congressman: it is who I am calling.

Excelsior!

World War Hulk, a review

The most thumbed collection on my toilet is World War Hulk.

World War Hulk is, for many reasons, the perfect bathroom book in my home. Upon finding themselves in that gutteral need and wanting some reading material to pass the time, some people might prefer to just bring whatever book they’re progressing through at that particular moment, but I find that dangerous. If I bring whatever book I’m intensely caring about with me to my throne in the restroom, then my time on the seat will likely be longer than makes sense. Rather than the mental white noise I seek while on the toilet, the book will actually engage me and demand my attention. I will lose myself in the words and/or art and before you know it a half hour will have passed with my world eroding beyond the door. But World War Hulk offers the perfect prescription. I have already read the book, so all that is there for me are the massive clashes between the Hulk, his otherworldly allies, and the cringing pantheon of Marvel’s heroes. It’s a book of punches like meteor strikes and shockwaves that end worlds. There’s no need for me to read through the dialogue that lets me know why the Hulk and his Warbound are facing off with the Avengers. I can just skip ahead and enjoy the blood and flying rubble as a gladiator-clad Hulk smashes the earth-bound Greek god of war into the pavement with one irresistible fist. And if that were the only reason why it was perfect for the restroom, that might be enough, but on top of everything else it is the Hulk. It is the Hulk in a story that – while not particularly complex or nuanced – is unique to the Marvel Universe and to superhero comics in general in that it is a revenge story and the revenge is that of a superhero on a world of superheroes. It is my childhood hero finally delivering on the promise every Hulk fan infers the moment he recognizes the green goliath as his favorite: an apocalyptic war between the Hulk and the rest of Marvel’s super-people, a war that the Hulk will rightly win, and a war that will not only cement Hulk as the Alpha Male of Marvel but one that will redeem him. When the heroes fall to him, it won’t just be because he’s the strongest one there is. It will be because they deserve it. And so every time I bring World War Hulk with me to the toilet I am entertained without investment, and yet I am emotionally uplifted. When it’s all done and my business completed, I hear the same thing I heard right after the Hulk slammed Tony Stark and his Hulkbuster suit from head-to-toe of Avengers tower, the same thing I heard after watching Hulk pound Reed Richards into a limp human rubber band, and the same thing I heard after watching Hulk and his alien companions rip the combined New and Mighty Avengers a whole gaggle of New and Mighty new buttholes: I heard the flush of a toilet.

While the rest of the Marvel Universe was bickering over whether or not it was okay to turn all of its costumed heroes into indentured servants, the Hulk was fighting for his life on the planet Sakaar. He had been tricked into a space vessel by four members of the Illuminati – a group of super-heroes who had been secretly influencing events behind the scenes in the MU for years and who decided the Hulk was too much of a liability to remain on Earth – and sent spinning into the void. The Hulk found himself on Sakaar where he was first a gladiator, then a commander of a rebel army, and finally the king. He had a queen who was pregnant with his son and he finally had the peace he wanted. But the spaceship that brought Hulk to Sakaar exploded, rocking Sakaar and killing millions including Caiera, the Hulk’s queen. Convinced the explosion was from a bomb the Illuminati planted on the shuttle meant for him, the Hulk gathered together the last remnants of his people and his loyal Warbound – former gladiators who had fought at Hulk’s side both in the arena and on the battlefield – to return to Earth and claim vengeance. After a quick stop on the Moon to beat up and imprison Black Bolt – one of the four who exiled Hulk – the massive stone ship carrying the Hulk and his invading army arrived in New York City with an ultimatum that the rest of the Illuminati – Iron Man, Mister Fantastic, and Doctor Strange – appear before Hulk, or else he’d crack their world in half over his knee. The heroes of Marvel, fugitive and Uncle Tom alike, hurried to evacuate the city in preparation for the battle.

The action of World War Hulk is big. It’s huge. When the heroes clash, there is a cinematic grandeur to it. Every time a green fist connects you feel shockwaves, you hear windows all across Manhattan exploding. The fisticuffs are not as drawn out as they used to be. Any old-school comic book fistfight has more punches thrown than any tussle in World War Hulk, but the difference is you feel the ground shake in this one. The sheer, unbelievable, godly power of the combatants hits your face like hurricane wind.

John Romita, Jr.’s art is wonderful, and while I usually enjoy his work, his success here surprised me. When the series was first released, he was touted as a “fan-favorite” Hulk artist in Marvel ads. The reality is that before World War Hulk, Romita’s work on the green guy wasn’t particularly extensive. He penciled a few issues toward the end of the Paul Jenkins run of Incredible Hulk. But most of his work on the title was during Bruce Jones’s tenure as writer, which was anything but a “fan favorite.” The run alienated many old school Hulk fans for – among other things – going multiple issues without even featuring the actual Hulk, opting instead to focus on Bruce Banner. Romita’s work was good during the run, but considering that run featured so little of the Hulk, tapping Romita for a Hulk series in which Bruce Banner hardly shows up (only twice in five issues) seemed strange. But as usual when it comes to things like this, I was happy to be proven wrong.

In many of my favorite moments, Romita’s choices for what he shows what he doesn’t are perfect. For example, in the second chapter when the standoff between the Warbound and the Avengers finally breaks, Ares swings an axe at Hulk; the Hulk sidesteps it, slams Ares into the ground, turns menacingly toward the rest of the Avengers, and when we turn the page we get a two-page splash of the clash between all the combatants including the Hulk charging literally headfirst into the doomed Doc Samson. Though we only get static snapshots, the dance is as clear to see as if it were on a movie screen.

Later, after the Avengers are trounced, the inevitable Hulk/Thing battle comes. Ben Grimm is so utterly, heroically outmatched. He seems so futile and even out of place with his Li’l Orphan Annie eyes and his cartoon forehead. There is a great character moment at the beginning of the fight. Grimm belts out his clobberin’ catch phrase and cracks Hulk across the jaw. The Hulk’s response speaks volumes. He smirks, looks at Grimm and says simply “Hmp.” In that look is so much. In that look is the entire history of their rivalry. There is a grudging respect Hulk gives no one else in this war. No matter how hard they might fight him, the Hulk has no respect for Stark, Richards, Strange, or Black Bolt; only hatred. Grimm holds a minor, but unique position in the larger conflict. While he is Richards’s protector, he had nothing to do with Hulk’s banishment and the Hulk knows this. Still, as an ally of Richards and a rival of Hulk since the dawn of Marvel, Ben Grimm is a soldier who couldn’t sit this one out. That’s all there in that look. But also there’s the joy of the fight to come; the fight and the outcome as inevitable as it is devastating. Because of all this, and the simple fact that Grimm is one of the few combatants in this war who can survive more than five seconds against the Hulk, the fight with Grimm may very well be the only fight in World War Hulk that the Hulk genuinely enjoys. Rather than spend space he doesn’t have on the kind of long, earth-shaking battle these two usually wage, Romita gives us a double page splash of the battle with a handful of panels of green blood and orange rock flying around, and along the bottom are quick shots of members of the Fantastic Four and the Warbound, each shot representing a different, crashing moment of the battle that we can’t see, not bringing us back until Grimm is seconds away from passing out.

Then there’s that moment in chapter 3 when, finally breaking free of Doctor Strange’s psychic trap, the Hulk emerges from the Warbound to rip Thunderbolt Ross’s military forces to pieces. It’s the kind of fight that used to be a dime-a-dozen back in the days of Herb Trimpe and Sal Buscema, but it’s exactly the kind of Hulk fight we haven’t seen in years. There is something deliciously rhythmic about the battle. For four pages we get almost no dialogue at all; not until Ross enters the fray himself. We just get the Hulk at his army-stompin’ best, tearing through tanks and helicopters like Godzilla. Towards the end of the fight, there is a tiny detail I love. In one panel we see the Hulk turn his head toward soldiers who have just started firing at him. There are no motion lines. We only know Hulk is turning his head because of the green blood spraying from his face as his head whips around.

Even more than he did in Planet Hulk – the story that made him a true Hulk fan favorite almost instantly - Greg Pak proves with World War Hulk that he understands the Hulk in a way that most writers just don’t. Pak has a better understanding of the Hulk’s relationship with the rest of the Marvel Universe than most writers before or since. Moments like his reunion with Rick Jones, the aforementioned battle with Ben Grimm, his confrontations with Thunderbolt Ross and Doctor Strange show us that. And as a Hulk fan himself, Pak understands the gravity of this conflict. After he’s finally captured all four Illuminati members who banished him and made them listen to Hulk-sympathizers angry at the four for past transgressions (including Bill Foster’s nephew who blames Stark and Richards for his uncle’s death), the Hulk says to them “Don’t like it, do you? It’s not fair. Not the whole story. You have excuses. Explanations. You’re innocent. These people don’t know what really happened. They don’t know what’s in your heart. Now you know how it feels.” As a Hulk fan like me and the rest of us rowdy, geeky Hulk-nuts, Pak knows how much those words mean, he knows how long we’ve waited for them. Through every imprisonment, every attempt at a “cure,” every exile, every false accusation, we’ve been waiting for the Hulk to get this moment. It’d be like seeing Peter Parker save his Uncle Ben.

No. No, that’s wrong. It would be like Uncle Ben still dying, and Peter Parker shooting Uncle Ben’s killer in the face.

The Hulk of WWH is familiar but different. He’s a Hulk who has matured, who understands his duality, and who ironically has used his state of constant warfare to make a kind of passionate peace with Bruce Banner. It isn’t just Hulk, after all, who wants the Illuminati brought to justice. When the Hulk shatters Doctor Strange’s hands, it’s Bruce who lures the good doctor into a position where he can do it.

The Hulk of WWH is a harkening back to the legendary run of Peter David. It was David who first pointed out in the storyline “Countdown” that to think of the Hulk as something Bruce Banner occasionally turned into was a mistake. The gamma bomb transformed Banner. The mystery wasn’t, as Phil Sterns (a.k.a. the too-rarely used villain Madman) said, wasn’t the question of why Banner turned into Hulk. The mystery was why the Hulk ever turned back into Banner. Here, David laid the groundwork for the merged version of the Hulk (or what Paul Jenkins would later name the “Professor” Hulk). This is echoed in the fourth chapter when Rick Jones reminds Hulk “You are Banner.” The Hulk responds, “No. Banner is me.” This is not some obtuse claim of superiority over Banner. The Hulk is what Banner, for better or worse, turned into. It is who he is.

The maturity of the Hulk in WWH comes through in startling ways. When She-Hulk assures the Avengers things will be fine as long as they don’t throw the first punch, the Hulk surprises her by doing it for them. Later, we see a Hulk who seems either mired in despair or just utterly apathetic in regards to the death and destruction around him. When Miek threatens to murder Rick Jones, and moments later when a demonified Doctor Strange slaps Hiroim around at the Hulk’s feet, the Hulk hardly seems to care, regarding each situation with distant interest. It is only when Strange takes one of Hiroim’s arms that the Hulk seems to finally wake up.

One of the most interesting questions I have about World War Hulk – a question part of me would love to ask Greg Pak, but another part would never want to ask him because the uncertainty adds to my enjoyment of the story – is whether or not the Hulk knows more than he’s saying. His justification for his assault on Earth is his apparent belief that the explosion of the ship that brought him to Sakaar was a purposeful attack on the part of the Illuminati. We learn at the end of the story that it was an alien terrorist group who caused the explosion to protest the Hulk’s ascendance to Sakaar’s throne, and that Hulk’s Warbound ally Miek knew the group had done it and allowed it to occur. The thing is, when Doctor Strange enters the Hulk’s mind, giving us the first chance to see the Hulk and any one of the four who banished him the chance to speak about what happened, I get the impression that the Hulk knows damn well that the explosion wasn’t from an Illuminati-planted bomb. When Strange explains to Bruce that, yes, he voted to exile him, but that he did not try to kill him, maybe it’s just part of Banner’s ruse - his luring of Strange closer so he can transform into Hulk and shatter Strange’s hands - but I get the sense that Banner knows. He knows the explosion of the ship wasn’t a purposeful act on the part of the Illuminati, but he doesn’t care, because he needs someone to smash. And after all, if they hadn’t banished him, it never would’ve happened anyway, so who cares if they meant it or not?

Another moment that piques my curiosity is the battle with the Avengers. When the talking finally stops, the Hulk grabs She-Hulk’s face and slams her into the pavement, creating a crater that She-Hulk presumably stays in for the rest of the battle. Could it be – especially considering the Incredible Hulk tie-in issue to WWH that suggested the Hulk’s violence was much more calculated than most people assumed – that the Hulk specifically did that to keep She-Hulk safe during the rest of the battle? Sure, he, you know, hits her pretty damn hard. But he also knows there’s more fight to come. Is it possible he hit her that way just so she would remain safe in the crater, so none of the Warbound could hurt her purposely or otherwise?

World War Hulk has its weaknesses, even when regarded purely as Hulk-fan-porn. Chief among them is the handling of the Sentry. While it’s difficult, as a lifelong Hulk fan, to complain about Hulk’s victory over the Sentry, the outcome of Sentry’s involvement seems so utterly convenient. From the beginning of the series, he’s seen as the only single hero capable of defeating the Hulk. He resists urgings throughout the series from Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Sue Richards, and even the President to overcome his agoraphobia in order to join the battle. Finally, he leaves his living room and attacks the Hulk in the final chapter, but almost as soon as the fight begins, he’s lost his marbles. Because the Hulk is, in Sentry’s words, “the only one I can hit…like THIS,” the Sentry unleashes in a way he apparently never has before, threatening the world with his power. It seems too convenient a way for the Hulk to shift from villain to hero in the eyes of the other heroes he’s been fighting, especially since to those of us cheering him on, he’s been the hero every step of the way.

Coming up with an ending to World War Hulk couldn’t have been easy because of the demands of the Marvel universe. Hulk had to win, but so did the heroes he was fighting. Somehow, even though he was trying to do anything but, the Hulk had to save the world. At the same time, WWH needed to lead into the nonsense Jeph Loeb had planned for what came after. So it’s tough to fault Pak for the convenience with which he used Sentry. If he could’ve found a way to involve the schizophrenic hero more heavily earlier on, it might have helped protect the story’s integrity.

I’m also not sure I love how Pak worked the Hulk’s vocabulary into other characters’ dialogue. For example, as the Fantastic Four prepares for his assault, Storm tells Reed, “And now the Hulk’s smashed the Avengers.” It’s a minor complaint.

World War Hulk will be remembered in no one’s top 100 graphic novels of all time. But it’s the closest a Hulk fan can get to the fulfillment of the wish he’s harbored for years.

But more than that, World War Hulk was something of an answer to a particular interpretation of the Hulk I sometimes consider. I see the Hulk as kind of a proto-super-hero. Sure, he’s not even close to being the first super-hero. I don’t mean it chronologically. But in many ways, the Hulk is much closer to the mythic heroes of antiquity upon which super-heroes were based. It’s been said many times that the idea of Superman was conceived as a hybrid of Heracles and Samson, but one of Superman’s defining qualities is a righteous morality that neither of those ancient heroes shared. And that dogged dedication to morality is one of the things that separates the Hulk from the larger community of super-heroes. Even when he isn’t swearing vengeance on the Earth, the Hulk, for the most part, doesn’t fight for the world or for humanity or for peace, justice, or fair hiring policies. The Hulk fights for himself, for his own freedom to exist. To not be hounded. To not be cured. To be left alone.

World War Hulk came hot on the heels of Civil War, a crossover event that was about as high-minded as a Big Two crossover event could be. It brought the Marvel Universe just a teeny, tiny bit closer to the real world, by tackling issues of personal freedom along with addressing the pretty obvious question of why the hell anyone would allow all these costumed psychos to run around, unchecked, anonymously beating justice into the rest of the world. Clad in gladiator garb that looked it could have very well been lifted from the wardrobe of Heracles, the Hulk – the world’s proto-super-hero – returned home not to narratively explore political and social issues, but to punish rebel hero and government stooge alike for trying to turn the pugilist porn of super-hero comics into pseudo-intellectual horsecrap. He reminded us what this whole thing is really all about. He smashed and he smashed and he smashed and he smashed and he howled victory at the void while gripping more bloody capes than in the final scenes of 300. That’s World War Hulk.

On Needing More Hulk

Contrary to the overwhelming evidence, I am not as rabid a Hulk fan as you may believe. 

The above photo comes from some Halloween, when I was some age. A small age. Somewhere between three and a half and 9. I don't know. Who remembers that crap? Who doesn't do the hard work of blocking?

I was not - in spite of what you might reasonably infer from the photo - about to break into an Incredible Hulk interpretive dance. I was, I believe, doing my best impersonation of the stance in which Ben Grimm's love interest Alicia Masters sculpted the Hulk's statue. The statue was unveiled in Incredible Hulk #279, to celebrate the unprecedented (except for the other time it happened) pardoning of the Hulk by an American president. Almost two years later in Incredible Hulk #300, a Hulk with a renewed sense of senselessness would uproot the statue and try to brain Thor with it. But on this happy day, the Hulk was a content member of the larger family of Marvel super-heroes; likely taking the spot of the freshly recovered alcoholic uncle everyone really hopes is staying on the wagon, though no one can hide how nervous they are when someone at the other end of the table cracks open a Molson.                                          

My first issue of Incredible Hulk, in fact the first comic I can remember ever owning or wanting to own, was Incredible Hulk #278. I was attracted to its cover. You saw the back of the Hulk, who was facing down an assemblage of of Marvel's heroes. "Give me amnesty or give me death!" he commanded the heroes. At the time I had no idea what the word "amnesty" meant, so the whole thing came off as fairly bad-ass. More importantly, it instantly reminded me of my place on the playground. The other kids in my class, I thought, were good kids, and so was I. But they didn't treat me like I was a good kid no matter how hard I tried to show them I was worth being a friend. They couldn't see me as anything but a fat kid. At least, that's what I thought. So, like the Hulk I was friendless and angry. That Marvel comic book cover gave me an easily recognizable reflection of my grade school life. I was fully conscious of the parallel at the time. This was nothing dug up with a Peter Gabriel song and a hypnotist twenty years later, after a divorce and a spiritual retreat in Nepal and a motorcycle trip across Europe. I knew it that moment, that day, in that dark, cramped gift shop across the street from St. Peter's Hospital. "That's me, and that's them," I thought. I knew it. I saw it.

It was probably because of the strong connection I felt with the character that, in spite of the fact that I jumped on board only one issue before the Hulk's pardoning, by the next issue I felt that his publicly acknowledged redemption was something for which I had waited eons. Even though I didn't buy my ticket until the eleventh hour, I felt the weight of the entire day.

But still, no, believe it or not, I am not as Hulk-crazy as you think I am or, more precisely, as much as I want you to think I am.

The title of this new blog comes from something I say a lot. If I see a movie or read a book or see a new TV show and someone asks me "How was it?" I will almost always give them brief, nonspecific impressions, and will often end my remarks with something like. "Well. It could've used more Hulk." And to be clear, I don't just mean Avengers: Age of Ultron or Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. They could be talking about Mad Max or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or Schindler's List.

"Totally needed more Hulk. It was good, don't get me wrong. But it needed more Hulk."

And I am not trying to do something Whedonesque. I am not using "Hulk" to mean "good." I mean it literally. I mean that the Hulk wasn't in it and therefore the movie/book/TV show is lesser for it. I mean it literally except that I don't mean it at all. I don't really think The Hobbit could've used more Hulk. Or Batman Begins. I don't think the Harry Potter series would've made more sense if a young, Hufflepuff Bruce Banner attended Hogwart's. I don't think Rushmore needed more Hulk. Or Inherent Vice. Or Punch Drunk Love. Or Jurassic World. Or whatever three-hour Levis commercial Zack Snyder is working on next.

But the Hulk is how the people in my life know me. It is how they relate to me. It is how they connect.

See, I don't feel really comfortable being myself all the time. Being yourself can be tricky. When I go to work and my co-workers are talking about their fantasy sports leagues and the reality shows about little people divas, it can be challenging to find a way in. When they're excited about the upcoming Kanye concert or the Knicks game and they ask me what I'm up to, I can't help but strongly suspect that when I tell them I found a used copy of the Vladimir Nabokov novel Bend Sinister at the closing sale of a used bookstore, that even though I've never heard of the novel I'm excited precisely because I know nothing about it, in fact know nothing about any Nabokov novels beyond Lolita, that just the sound of the title Bend Sinister is delicious to me and makes it that much more alluring though I suppose judging a book by its title is just as precarious as judging it by its cover, I don't think the response is going to be positive. I don't think the co-worker I once heard proudly proclaim, "All I'm saying is that you can't prove to me dinosaurs really existed," or the one who argued with me for over a half hour about whether or not chickens have hair, or the one who described Kid Rock's shift from rock/rap to country as "pretty deep," will respond to my reading appetite with anything like, "Yes! And allow me to continue this conversation with you because I am interested and feel this will lead to a deeper understanding of one another!' I think they will probably walk away as quickly as they can to find someone who will talk to them about whatever stuff the crazy famous people are doing with their butts and their sex tapes.

So I say, "Needs more Hulk" or "Could've used more Hulk" or just generally say something I know they would expect to hear from their favorite catch-phrase-machine on Big Bang Theory, so they can laugh, shake their heads at that crazy Mick with all his geeky references, and they leave. They leave, satisfied that I am a predictable and trustworthy actor in their lives. I will not one day prove to them that I am more than an overgrown geek with Funko bobbleheads of all the Guardians of the Galaxy villains on his cubicle wall. They know my role and I will never step out of it, at least not while I'm still a part of their days. I am reliable. Reliably weird, perhaps, but still reliable. I am steady. I am safe.

This is by design. I am not admitting to a fault. It is not a fault. It is a defense. American sitcom wisdom tells us to always be ourselves, but we all know this is a lie. I choose to be someone different in different settings. Do you think flag-burning is a fun, courageous, and valid form of expression? Well, next July 4th, go hang out with a motorcycle club filled with Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan veterans and "Be Yourself, No Matter What." See how that works out for you, Ricky Schroder.

Wow. I'm tempted to say this post got off the rails, but I'm not really convinced it was ever on the rails to begin with.

So, let's try this.

I had a blog called Superheroes, etc. I wanted a fresh start.

This is my new blog. It's called "Needs More Hulk," but it is not specifically a Hulk fan blog. Although occasionally I will geek out over the Hulk because that's just something I do. In fact, my next post will likely be a review of World War Hulk. I will write about comics, movies, TV, video games, books, music, whatever.

Yeah.

Yeah, maybe I should've lead with that.