Perhaps no creator had as much influence on the Hulk as Peter David. Of the 414 issues of The Incredible Hulk (which includes the confusing period in which Hulk appeared in Tales to Astonish and not in his own book), Peter David wrote well over a quarter: a whopping 137 issues over eleven years. And that doesn’t even include work outside the main title – he also wrote parts of the following volumes, several major miniseries, and a handful of modern books that revisit periods of this mammoth series.
Few writers get the chance to spend so much time on a single title, let alone one so foundational to the Marvel canon. During that time, the tenor of Hulk stories changed from the tales of the wandering clown told in the 1970s to stories featuring an ever-evolving version of the jade giant. Key aspects of his personality – the antisocial Joe Fixit, the genius behemoth, the apocalyptic despot – all originated under David’s pen.
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From the first issues of the edition – collected in Incredible Hulk Epic Collection – Ground Zero – David makes no secret of his intention to radically change the book. The status quo left by author Al Milgrom is turned on its head by the changes. Banner, who was “cured” by the Hulk, shines again; Rick Jones, who ran around as the second Hulk, is freed from his burden. Bruce and Betty’s marriage is undermined and minor characters like Doc Samson are dropped unceremoniously. In his seventh issue, David exploded the central setting of the book, the SHIELD-supported Gamma Base.
The Hulk is no longer an idiot, no longer a real monster, but a moody troublemaker. Not necessarily driven by anger, the Hulk seems to be constantly annoyed – annoyed by Bruce Banner, annoyed by Rick Jones, annoyed by the boredom of his everyday life.
But where the book shines is in its commitment to extreme pathos. A kind of brutal ennui begins to permeate the book, starting with issue #333, which pits Hulk against a much more subtle monster than Abomination or Leader: a power-hungry, wife-abusing small-town sheriff. In fact, domestic tragedy and everyday human struggles form the basis for much of Ground Zero; ordinary citizens and their problems begin to attract as much attention as Hulk’s mental anguish.
David seems eager to introduce many ready-made victims, each one doomed to death and plagued by real-world problems. One issue opens with a man crushed by tax debt dying in a bathtub, while another introduces a woman whose greatest worry is her boss’s constant condescension; she is killed by a supervillain in the first four panels of the book. In the final, incredible climax of this volume, an entire small town is introduced, and we follow the main characters as they struggle with their petty problems: embezzlement, unhappy young love, a door-to-door salesman’s crushing worries, and the collapse of a lawyer’s righteous indignation.
The city is then destroyed by a gamma bomb.
It is this commitment to the tragedy of human life that Ground Zero Unlike the previous volumes of the Hulk Epic Collection, the book is marked by serious, real fears that ultimately impact the conflicts of its main protagonists.
The book is also notable for the early work of Todd McFarlane, whose rubbery characters must have seemed revolutionary to readers at the time. Each character develops his own drawn-out gloom. Each pushes his lower lips into exaggerated pouts. The leader develops a permanent stiff and lascivious grin. This stylistic commitment fluctuates Incredible Hulk deviates from the standards of the house style and underlines the fresh and psychologically insightful narrative approach. The Incredible Hulk was becoming increasingly different from his peers on the comic bookshelf, and McFarlane’s pencil drawings made this as clear as David’s brooding grief.
Incredible Hulk Epic Collection – Ground Zero represents a time of extreme change – for the character, for the book, and for the entire industry. It seems impossible that the massive swings in these issues are just the beginning of the massive changes to come. It’s the beginning of one of the most important periods in the Hulk’s long history, and every page reminds the reader of that fact.
“Incredible Hulk Epic Collection – Ground Zero” is the explosive beginning of one of the character’s most influential periods.
Incredible Hulk Epic Collection – Ground Zero
The beginning of Peter David’s 12-year career as the character’s writer immediately turns the status quo on its head, focusing as much on ethos as on action.
Soaked in emotional turmoil.
Full of compelling – if tragically temporary – supporting characters.
Just the first of many reinterpretations of the character by author Peter David.
McFarlane makes his inattention clear in later issues.
Not a single sympathetic protagonist in the group.
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