Green Pieces (Part Two)

"What you didn't count on, hotshot, is the madder I get, the sneakier I get."

on The Incredible Hulk 347-359, 361-367

[N.B. My apologies for the protracted delay, Weeklings. I was distracted by an old friend coming back through town. Also, someone stole my car. And, there was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. Suffice it to say, it wasn't my fault. But, as our esteemed subject Mr. David has been known to say, I digress.]

What's notable about the "Mr. Fixit" era of Peter David's Hulk is how it can at once seem so out of the blue, a perfect ninety degree turn from what's come before, and still subtly maintain momentum. If you know where to look, it really does perfectly what we forget decades-old superhero comics ought to do,: make real changes to the character that are naturally borne out of what has come before (and, more often than not, what has come at another writer's hand).

When last we left the Hulk, we was believed dead, destroyed, in fact, when caught at the epicenter of a gamma bomb. Although his absence from the subsequent issue--346's "Whys and Wherefores"--tried its best to create a true sense of suspense as to whether or not the Hulk survived, it was probably evident to even the least savvy reader that the character with his name in the title would have to be back, eventually. And, yes, the Hulk came back, mean and gray and passionately self-interested. But, as would happen periodically throughout David's run, he was... different. To be sure, the superficial changes were probably most initially shocking. For one thing, the Hulk was dressed, and dressed nattily at that, in the three-piece and fedora befitting a man so high up in the hierarchy of money in the casino that employed him as a sort of hatchet man. And he had a girlfriend, Marlo (who would go on to become a fixture in the book for years to come, later following Peter David and Rick Jones over to Captain Marvel). He had a home, accommodating the size of both of his body and his appetites. He was, as unlikely as it must have seemed, happy. He was satisfied.

The only problem was that, like the man said, you can't always get what you want. When "Crap Shoot"--in 347--opened, the Hulk was surrounded by men and women waiting to tell him "yes," out of fear, out of self-interest, even out of a genuine sense of concern for the Hulk's well-being. But you knew that eventually, someone was going to tell him "no," and the whole thing would come crashing down.

It had to, since all the superficial changes hid (briefly), one fairly major one: Banner was gone.

Through a series of events too convoluted to go into here--and, at the time, unrevealed for four months, in what must have seemed to be David's narrative gloriously shooting itself in the foot--Hulk found himself alone, at last, never changing back to Banner, never even having to deal with Banner chipping away at his subconscious. Keep in mind that it was Hulk's name in the title and, as much as Hulk and Banner are two sides of the same coin, it was unclear at this point whether or not they were inseparable. (In fact, time would prove that they could exist with mutual exclusivity, albeit not safely, as during the "Heroes Reborn" fiasco, when Banner followed the Avengers and the Fantastic Four into the pocket universe while Hulk stayed in the 616.) It was, in short, believable that David had killed off his main character. And while Banner proved not to be dead, exactly, he was still missing from the book. It's really a hell of a thing Peter David did here; Banner and Hulk define one another through their opposing natures, like light and dark, and good and evil. Imagine what it took, not only to attempt to define one without the other, but to think to do so in the first place.

Hence, the "Mr. Fixit" arc is unique in David's run in that it's pretty much the only time you get to see the Hulk really cut loose, not with violence (well, there's that, too), but rather with desire. If the central question of David's Hulk is what he wants, this arc makes it clear that even if you gave the Hulk exactly what he asked for, he still wouldn't be satisfied. It seems that the Hulk doesn't want what he wants so much as that he wants to want.

It's worth mentioning that as much as the book was following its own whims all over perdition during this period, the book still took effort to very much ground itself in the overall context of the Marvel Universe. Previously, during David's first year-and-a-half, the book was very much self-contained, with only an appearance from Wolverine (and, arguably, the behind-the-scenes presence of S.H.I.E.L.D.) to suggest the greater world. Although the first issue of the larger arc--347 again--is relatively self-contained, the subsequent issue features a guest shot from the Absorbing Man. From there, a brief detour to Web of Spider-Man (which David was also writing, off and on, at the time) for the first of a two-part crossover which ended in the next issue of The Incredible Hulk. Which, in turn, led to Fantastic Four for another two-part crossover ending in the next issue of Hulk, which finds ol' Gray Genes in New York, primed for recruitment into the last campaign of the Evolutionary War (which storyline was running through Marvel's Annuals that year, though oddly, there was no Hulk Annual).

The problem with this increased interconnectivity is that in retrospect it smacks of editorial interference. If rumors of behind-the-scenes action are to be believed, editorial machinations were highly influential on David's work here, and what ultimately inspired him to leave the book. Bobbie Chase, David's long-time editor, seemed to be as much of an ally as her bosses were obstacles. The result is The Incredible Hulk 360, the story of Betty Banner's miscarriage. The book was written by Bob Harras, who would of course go on to become a rather polarizing editor-in-chief, after David refused, making the book one of only two issues between 331 and 467 not written by Peter David. What's particularly disturbing about the editorial interference here (other than the Hungry Man portion of story potential wasted) is that it completely goes against a story written just a year before (346's "Whys and Wherefores") wherein Betty agonizes before deciding not to abort the child. Why make the reader go through the catharsis of such a decision, only to render the act of deciding immaterial?

But despite all the superficial changes, despite all the more fundamental changes, despite even the distractions of Spider-Man and co., one constant of David's run is readily apparent, unchanged: the destructively co-dependent relationship between Bruce Banner and the Hulk. When Banner inevitably returns, the spell cast by the sorcerers of Jarella's World having worn off (don't ask), the familiar dynamic is revisited. Banner by day, the Hulk by night, each one struggling to undo the other's hold on their coexistence while simultaneously trying to thwart further attempts. But what's different here is the Hulk finally has something to lose. At one point, Banner wakes up--having gone to sleep as the Hulk--and finds a message written on the bathroom mirror. "Don't screw this up," it says. But where once the Hulk would have threatened Banner unabashedly, he can't help but inadvertently admit that Banner's behavior--among other things--are out of his control. If there's a lesson in this large arc--and David, to his credit, was never one for easy answers--it's that we're never as human as when we're vulnerable, and we're never as vulnerable as when we have something to lose.

Next, in Green Pieces (Part Three): Peter David enters the high point of his run on The Incredible Hulk, issues 368-400, constituting the first half (!) of the Pantheon Saga. Dale Keown, considered by many to by David's definitive artistic partner on the book, joins up to illustrate the introduction of the Pantheon, the return of Betty and Rick, and appearances from the Defenders, the Punisher, and X-Factor, not to mention the Abomination and the Leader. Plus, Jim Wilson has AIDS, Banner's treacherous lab assistant has guilt, and, in David's best-regarded story (possibly ever), the Hulk has an appointment with Doc Samson. There's a lot to cover. Get here early.