Comic Zone: Why I Love The Incredible Hulk by Barry Hutchison

Long time readers of The Book Zone will know that I have been championing Barry Hutchison's brilliant Invisible Fiends series ever since I first read Mr Mumbles. The final instalment, The Darkest Corner, was published earlier this month (see my review here) and knowing that Barry is a huge comics fan I asked him if he would be interested in writing a piece for The Book Zone's Comic Zone.

Why I Love The Incredible Hulk

I first fell in love with the Incredible Hulk (platonically I mean, nowt mucky) when I was but a lad of around six or seven. The Bill Bixby TV series would be on every Saturday night, and I’d sit down to watch it every week without fail.

I’d follow the mundane, often repetitive adventures of  Dr “David” Banner (they changed his name for the TV series, because they felt “Bruce” wasn’t macho enough) right up until the point he started to get angry. The moment his eyes went white and his boots began to rip, I’d be behind the couch faster than you could say “Gamma radiation”. There I’d remain, cowering in terror as I listened to the terrible roaring of the Hulk as he dispatched that week’s villain.

Some weeks the villain would be a heartless property developer. Other weeks a small-time gangster would get on Banner’s bad side. Whoever it was, they were always surprised when scrawny Bill Bixby became bulging Lou Ferrigno, whereupon he promptly smashed the immediate area to smithereens.

I’d stay there behind the couch until the Hulk had transformed back into Banner, then I’d emerge and retake my seat to catch the final few minutes of the episode. To me, the series was just the story of a lonely scientist wandering from place to place, and stumbling upon smashed up building more often than coincidence allowed.

And yet I loved it - not for the Hulk, but for the stuff around the Hulk. I was gripped by the scenes of Banner trying to maintain control, despite the villain of the week slapping him repeatedly in the face, or threatening to blow up a bus full of nuns. I was fascinated by the concept of there being a monster within each of us, just waiting to break free. Not fascinated enough to watch when it actually did break free, of course - that was far too terrifying - but fascinated all the same.

That fascination led me to discover the Hulk’s comics. Over the years the Hulk has gone through more changes (no pun intended) than any other comic book character. He’s been grey, he’s been red, he’s been super-intelligent and barely coherent. He’s run a casino, joined the Avengers, and freed an alien planet from tyranny.

But through most of these changes the writers behind the stories have forgotten what to me is the single most important thing - the Hulk is not the interesting character. Bruce Banner is.

Oh sure, we all want to see the Hulk cut loose from time to time. We want to see him punch a tank into space, or kick the Abomination squarely in the nuts, but the Hulk’s real struggle has always been an emotional one. He’s a hate-filled tumour on the brain of a mild-mannered scientist, and it is their ongoing battle - not the Hulk’s ability to hammer nails in with his face - which makes the Banner/Hulk character one of my favourites in all of comic-dom.

Five of My Favourite Hulk Stories

The Incredible Hulk Visionaries - Volume 1

This is the first collected edition of Peter David’s twelve-year stint writing the Hulk, and it’s one of the defining period’s in the comic’s history. OK, so the Hulk in these pages is grey and not green, and he’s been separated from Banner, but this was probably the first time the character - possibly even comics in general - were written for grown-ups and not ten-year-olds. There’s some dark stuff in these here pages, drawn by the then-just-starting-out Todd Macfarlane.

A lot of Peter David’s later work on the title may be better than this, but it’s great to be able to follow along right from the beginning.

Return of the Monster

Bruce Jones is quite probably my favourite Hulk writer. Many fans were disappointed with his run, because Banner got more page time than the Hulk did, but that’s exactly why I love his work. The Hulk has been blamed for the death of a boy, and Banner is on the run from pretty much everyone in the world. But poor old purple pants has been framed, and it’s up to Banner to try to find out whodunnit. The plot is complicated and swings from conspiracy thriller to violent horror as and when it needs to, and this is a great jumping on point for those new to the Hulk’s adventures.

The End

Another classic from Peter David, this one-shot comic was originally adapted from a short story he wrote about the end of the world. A nuclear war has wiped out all human and superhuman life on Earth, leaving only Hulk/Banner behind. Banner has gone mad from the isolation, and longs only for death. He attempts suicide again and again, only for Hulk to emerge at the last second. This is a tale as bleak as they come, and I’m a sucker for a good Apocalypse, so that’s why this is one of my all-time faves.

World War Hulk

While his inner struggles may be more interesting, it’s good to see the Hulk cut loose and smash things up every once in a while, and in World War Hulk he smashes up pretty much everyone in the entire Marvel Universe. Sometimes twice. Iron Man? Smash. X-Men? Smash. Fantastic Four? Smash, smash, smash and smash. This follows on from Planet Hulk, and while I wasn’t too keen on the alien-world setting of that story, the fall-out from it makes World War Hulk a hugely enjoyable read. WITH EXTRA SMASHING STUFF UP!

Marvel Zombies

OK, so this isn’t technically a Hulk story, but I love the way the Hulk is depicted in the first Marvel Zombies collection. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a zombiefied Hulk devouring Spider-Man’s leg, only for it to erupt through his stomach when he turns back to Banner. Lovely stuff.

*** Competition: WIN a signed copy of Skulduggery Pleasant: Kingdom of the Wicked

Last week I posted a review for Skulduggery Pleasant: Kingdom of the Wicked, the latest book in Derek Landy's brilliant series.

Now, thanks to the generous people at HarperCollins you have the chance to win a signed copy of the book, simply by filling in your details in the form below.
  

The first name drawn at random after the closing date will win a copy of the book. The deadline for entries is 7pm BST Thursday 6th September. This competition is open to UK residents only.

Contest open to UK residents only.
Neither the publisher or I will be held responsible for items lost in the mail.
I hold the right to end a contest before its original deadline without any prior notice.
I hold the right to disqualify any entry as I see fit.
I will contact winning entrants for their postal address following the close of the competition. Winners have 48 hours to reply. Failure to do so in this time will result in another winner being randomly selected.

Review: Zom-B by Darren Shan

Back at the beginning of the year there were three books scheduled for a 2012 release that I was looking forward to reading more than any others. The first to be released, Department 19:  The Rising was everything I wanted it to be and more. That left two: Zom-B by Darren Shan and The Power of Five: Oblivion by Anthony Horowitz, and on 7th July I finally managed to get my hands on a proof copy of the former when I attended a bloggers’ event held by Simon and Schuster. As soon as I sat on the train home I started it, and had to drag myself off said train when I got to my station, with only a few chapters remaining. I finished it in my car, in the station car park as there was no way I was going to drive the rest of the way home until I had finished it. Now, with exactly one month to go until the September 27th release date, I feel it is time to post my review of this book.

I loved it, from beginning to end, and I guarantee that it is going to be massively popular with Shan fans around the world, and will also gain him a whole legion of new devotees. There is so much I want to say about this book, to explain why I liked it so much, but here’s the problem: this book is near impossible to review without giving away a couple of major plot twists.

I usually hate it when I read a review and I am informed that there are massive “you will never guess these” plot twists, as I then spend most of the book guessing and second guessing said twists, more often than not successfully, so that when they are finally revealed I feel a little deflated. However, publisher Simon and Schuster and Darren Shan have both publically stated that these twists exist, even to the point where Darren pleads with early readers not to reveal them in a special introductory message at the beginning of the book. It’s a little like going to see The Mousetrap on stage, where they ask the audience not to give away the ending when talking to others about the play, but Darren Shan uses the famous Alfred Hitchcock quote, used when promoting Psycho, to encourage his readers to keep their lips sealed: “Please don’t give away our ending. It’s the only one we have.”

I am so, so glad that I have read this book before the kids at school, as I am not sure they would have been able to keep the twists to themselves. One of these twists, which occurs a handful of chapters before the end, had my jaw hitting the ground with a thud, and me having to reread that particular paragraph several times to make sure I had read it correctly. I wanted to hug and throttle Darren Shan at the same time for his sheer deviousness and audacity.  And I also realised at that moment what Darren had meant in his opening letter when he said “I’m issuing you with the same challenge that I have set myself – see if you can find a way to discuss Zom-B with those who have not read it, without giving away the cataclysmic plot twists.” How on earth was I going to write a review of this book now?

The story opens in typical Darren Shan fashion. Brian is woken in the night by a raucous noise outside, and he looks out of his bedroom window to discover that the zombie apocalypse seems to have started in his small village in rural Ireland. Cue much mention of skulls being ripped open, brains being devoured, and blood splatter everywhere. Darren is doing exactly as he did in the opening chapters of Lord Loss: hooking his young horror-loving fans with promises of a gore-filled tale. In this opening chapter we are also given a glimpse of a man who I feel will play a major part in this series (which is due to be twelve books long, one released every three months from September). This Owl Man (as he will become known) has huge eyes, larger than any you will have ever seen, and he is not particularly pleasant, and he has a particularly nasty method of saving Brian from a painful devouring by zombies.

The story then shifts to London, and the narration from third person to first person. Our main character is B Smith, a teenager that fits the stereotypical mould when older generations are complaining about “teenagers these days”. Waster, hoodie-wearer, occasional shoplifter… the list goes on. However, there is one trait that B has that will generate plenty of bad taste in the mouths of readers as B is also racist. We have been promised that the Zom-B series is not just about zombies, but that Darren, whose recent Saga of Larten Crepsley work shows how much he has developed as a writer, also wants to challenge his readers with thought-provoking  themes such as abuse of power, genocide and racism. In this book we are faced with our first moral question: how much of B’s attitude is based on the beliefs of an overtly racist and bullying father, and how much of it is B consciously using it as a tool to intimidate others. It’s that age old nature or nurture argument?  However, the biggest question it will have readers asking, as they put themselves in B’s place, is how can you love your father if he is a racist thug who, when he loses his temper, beats you and your mum?

Of course, we are never allowed to forget the zombie part of the story, and it is constantly in the background to B’s growing problems at home and school as the story progresses. News reports from Ireland, and leaked footage on YouTube, show footage of people being attacked by brain-hungry monsters, and the subsequent destruction of the village by armed forces. B and the other students at the local comprehensive school initially dismiss the reports as some kind of publicity scam for a new movie, but deep down they can’t help but fear that there is an element of truth to the new reports. And then, one day, when they least expect it, everything hits the fan….. and that’s pretty much all I am going to tell you, except that Darren Shan’s zombies are as nasty as any you will read about or see on the big screen.

Zom-B has its gory moments, but it is much, much more than your average splatter-fest. As I have already intimated, the gore is restricted to the opening and closing chapters, and the pages in between are all about building characters and setting the scene, and if it wasn’t for the horror/fantasy element hiding quietly in the background it would seem more like a contemporary YA issues novel. Naturally, given that this is the first book in a series of twelve, and Darren wants to keep his readers hungry for brains more, it ends on a massive cliffhanger, with the final major twist appearing in that very last chapter.

There is so much more I want to say about this but can't due to the aforementioned risk of creating spoilers. Readers who pick this up expecting a complete story will be disappointed (although surely you should know Shan better then that by now). This is very much the first part of the much longer twelve instalment series, with one book promised every three months or so for the next few years. Simon and Schuster are taking the brave step of releasing these in hardcover, with a cover price of £12.99, which parents of some fans may baulk at, but having seen a finished copy of this first book, complete with gorgeous cover and inner illustrations, I would suggest that if it gets/keeps kids interested in reading then it is a small price to pay.