Hulk Visionaries: Peter David—Volume 4

Comic Info

Incredible Hulk (2) #355

Reprints Incredible Hulk (2) #355-363 and Marvel Comics Presents #26 and #45 (May 1989-March 1990).  Joe Fixit is taking Las Vegas by storm, but when Glorian shows up to bring light to the Hulk’s life, the Hulk finds himself in battle with Satannish.  Joe also tries to deal with his relationship with Marlo and faces Iron Man and the Werewolf (by Night).

Written by Peter David, Hulk Visionaries:  Peter David—Volume 4 actually has a guest writer of Bob Harras on Incredible Hulk (2) #360 (October 1989).  Following Hulk Visionaries:  Peter David—Volume 3, Jeff Purves is the primary artist in the collection with Herb Trimpe and Dan Reed filling in.

This collection is why I find Peter David’s run on Incredible Hulk interesting.  With the Joe Fixit character, David really took Incredible Hulk in a different direction.  He did it by bringing in different characters like Glorian and Werewolf by Night.  It also brings him to a team-up with Iron Man which is even more interesting when compared to the recent Avengers movie which had a lot of interaction between Bruce and Tony Stark.  I hadn’t really seen them interact much but this issue was a fun team-up.

Incredible Hulk (2) #361

I don’t know what the situation was that led to Bob Harras to fill in on Incredible Hulk (2) #360, but I find it very strange that Harras filled in on such an important issue.  In the issue, Betty loses her child and Hulk learns about it, but in Nightmare and D’Spayre’s dimension.  In such a long run, it is odd that an issue that had such a big reveal was a guest writer and that some basic fill-in issue wasn’t thrown into the run.

Another weird part of the story involves the two Marvel Comics Presents issues.  First, Marvel Comics Presents (1) #45 (March 1990) is placed in the middle of the Glorian story (though it was released after the last Incredible Hulk issue in this collection.  I don’t see any reason it could have been dropped somewhere else and Marvel Comics Presents (1) #26 (August 1989) was placed after the Glorian issue and has him working as a leg breaker again.  It doesn’t make much sense.

I love the Joe Fixit period of Peter David’s run on Incredible Hulk.  This probably is the best collection of the Joe Fixit period.  I don’t necessarily love how the collection was put together with the MCP issues, but it doesn’t really hurt the content.  Even if you don’t love the Hulk, check out this collection for a different look the mean green monster…sorry gray.  Hulk Visionaries:  Peter David—Volume 4 is followed by Hulk Visionaries:  Peter David—Volume 5.

Related Links:

Hulk Visionaries:  Peter David—Volume 1

Hulk Visionaries:  Peter David—Volume 2

Hulk Visionaries:  Peter David—Volume 3

Hulk Visionaries:  Peter David—Volume 5

Hulk Visionaries:  Peter David—Volume 6

Hulk Visionaries:  Peter David—Volume 7

Hulk Visionaries:  Peter David—Volume 8