In the previous blog I talked about how Ed McGuinness was an artist born to draw the Hulk comics. Unfortunately for him the writer that he was paired with was sort of the opposite. When the Incredible Hulk was rebooted Jeph Loeb decided to change the focus of the series. He created a murder mystery for an OP villain called the Red Hulk. Mr. Loeb deviated from the stories that worked best for the title character. McGuinness ended up drawing issue after issue featuring the “Rulk” rather than the Banner version we were familiar with. I felt like his talents were being wasted. Because of this I stopped collecting the series in 2009, and walked away from comics entirely. Only recently had I started getting back into the series. In that time I learned that there were other writers, and other artists that were more familiar with the Jade Giant, and knew exactly the types of stories that fit the character. For example there was a 20-issue run titled the Indestructible Hulk, written by Jeff Parker, and Mark Waid. It featured art from Kim Jacinto, Matteo Scalera, Walt Simonson, and Leinil Francis Yu.
The Indestructible Hulk was notable because it highlighted the intelligence of Banner, and the power of the Hulk in equal amounts. In the series Banner was still a fugitive. He surrendered himself to S.H.I.E.L.D., and in return he would start inventing technology for them that could revolutionize the world. In exchange for a lab, and assistants Banner offered the Hulk to be used as the ultimate shock trooper for the organization. The Hulk would be able to take missions head-on, and prevent S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from being put in harms way. The series reestablished Banner as one of the big brains, if not the biggest brain on Earth. It also reminded audiences that the Hulk was capable of surviving conflicts, and extreme conditions that would have killed all but a handful of Marvel characters. The series was reminiscent of the adventures of the Professor Hulk written by Peter David, and illustrated by Dale Keown. That series was a high point for the characters in the early ’90s.
It turned out that while I was avoiding the books there was another story arc for the Hulk that was even shorter than the Indestructible Hulk. It featured a version of the Green Goliath called the Starship Hulk. I scoffed when I read the premise. Banner had taken over the mind, and body of the Hulk. He imprisoned the green personality in his own subconscious, and was going to “pilot” the Hulk. Banner implanted stolen A.I.M. technology into the Hulk, and planned to use his gamma radiation as a form of propulsion. His goal was to leave the Earth as a literal “Smashstronaut” and never threaten humanity again. All of this sounded absolutely bonkers. I assumed that there was no way that the story by Donny Cates would make any sense, or even fit in the context of the universe. I picked up the trade paperbacks that made up the 14-issue run, as well as the tie-in TPB that made the Banner of War arc. I quickly realized that the story not only worked for all of the characters involved, but the partnering of Cates, and artist Ryan Ottley was absolute genius. I’m sure it was considered madness as well depending on who you asked. I read, and reread the series several times over the past few weeks. The story was my favorite Hulk arc in the past 15+ years.
I was not familiar with Ottley’s art because he hadn’t done too many Marvel titles. He was best known as the main artist on a series called Invincible, which was published by Image. You might have seen the animated show based on the ultra-violent comic. It explained the occasional gore, and dismemberment that would appear with this new story. Mr. Ottley’s art really grew on me. Similar to Ed McGuinness I could tell that he was born to draw the Hulk, but had spent years working for other companies, biding his time. Also like McGuinness his monster design style was very reminiscent of Arthur Adams. Ryan went all out creating dozens, upon dozens of various gamma-powered monsters for the book. Culminating in a 60-foot-tall mutated Spider-Man. That alternate universe version of Peter Parker turned out to be far from the biggest threat for the Starship Hulk. There was a far more dangerous villain named Titan lurking in the recesses of the Hulk’s psyche. Each creature from Ottley was as fantastic as anything that could have been dreamt up by Adams.
The proportions that Ottley used with the Hulk were familiar, but he maintained his own distinct style. The thick, and stocky body, the square, but animated face. His version of the bruiser had a lot of personality, but was absolutely made for destruction. Ottley’s patented violence, gore, and horror from the Invincible books managed to sneak into a few panels. This was especially true in the second half of the story known as Hulk Planet. It was a sort of send up of the
Planet Hulk arc. If you weren’t familiar with the story this was where the Hulk had been exiled to an alien planet called Sakaar. The Hulk took on the role of Spartacus and lead a group of alien gladiators in a rebellion. This would conclude when the Hulk returned to Earth during the events of World War Hulk. By comparison in
Hulk Planet the Hulk landed on a world of fellow gamma-irradiated monsters. He was not only welcomed as a visitor, but hailed as a king. Donny Cates could raise the stakes now that he was on a planet of super-powerful aliens that were strong, and had similar healing abilities. To show off how absurdly powerful they were their national sport was called Godball. It was a version of handball-meets-dodgeball using the solid cores of planets that they had destroyed. The Hulk was assured that he couldn't hurt anyone, and no one could hurt him there.
Ottley was the perfect choice to illustrate the adventure that took our hero around the world, through different dimensions, and into deep space. We got a chance to see the Hulk cut loose in ways that Jeph Loeb could have never imagined. In the span of just over a dozen issues Mr. Cates developed a story impossible for any other hero in the Marvel U to survive. Donny reminded audiences how the power scale worked, and the Hulk was at the top of the mountain. It was much more than strength that made the Hulk incredible. Characters like the Captain Marvel, the Sentry, Thor, and the Silver Surfer were powerful, and might be triumphant in some of the battles. However the Hulk survived all the fights back-to-back, while being shredded by countless gamma-monsters, losing a limb to Iron Man’s Hulkbuster armor, and having Mjolnir tear a hole through his chest. Those would have been mortal injuries for the aforementioned powerhouses. Not to mention that all of this happened before the Titan even showed up. It goes without saying that none of the members of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, or the X-Men could have lived through the same encounters.
Sadly Ottley wouldn’t draw any more Hulk arcs after the Hulk Planet story wrapped. He did get to do an occasional variant cover, but speaking as a fan I think that Ottley, and Cates should absolutely get a chance to work on another story, or perhaps limited run like the Rampaging Hulk, or Savage Hulk series from the ‘80s, and ‘90s. They understood the character better than most teams, and set a standard that few creators could match. It turned out they weren’t the only writer, and art duos that worked wonders for the series. In the next, and final entry of this series I am going to talk about the return of the monster. Were there any artists that you think would be a good fit for the Hulk? Or were there any comics you wish were drawn by a specific artist? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me
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