Giant-Size Incredible Hulk #1: Review

May 2008
Roger Stern, Zach Howard

Story Name:

A Mighty Raging Fury

Review & Comments

Rating:
3 stars

Giant-Size Incredible Hulk #1 Review by (October 20, 2020)

Review: Yes, Roger Stern is one of the great Hulk writers but there really isn’t much to this issue. A few scattered anecdotes that don’t feature anything new or creative, a framing device that mainly meanders around, a vague conclusion and nothing to say other than that Hulk is misunderstood, something which every reader realizes with the very first Hulk issue they read. I do like Cory Hamscher’s art, though. It has a strong but not dark feel to it.

Comments: Fred Sloan appeared in INCREDIBLE HULK between issues #231-256. Kropotkin the Great appeared in INCREDIBLE HULK between issues #213-238. David Anderson is a new character retrofitted into INCREDIBLE HULK #1 in 1962. The owner of the Schist Construction Company, F.A. Schist, was a villain in the early history of Man-Thing. The cover to INCREDIBLE HULK ANNUAL #7 is reprinted on the back cover. Zach Howard does art for pages 1-6, 10-13, 17-21 (the Fred Sloan segments) and Cory Hamscher does pages 7-9, 14-16, 22-31 (the solo Hulk parts and the finale).






 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Giant-Size Incredible Hulk #1 Synopsis by Kevin Hollander
Fred Sloan schedules a series of interviews with people that have had Hulk encounters for his long-overdue book. As the Hulk's one-time sidekick (Incredible Hulk #231-237), he has been offered the opportunity to write his first-person account of the time spent with him. Contrary to what members of the press have said, Fred knows that while easily angered, the Hulk is not a monster. He has made it his personal mission to provide a fair and balanced description of the Hulk.

Expanded Synopsis by Peter Silvestro:

Fred Sloan, former sidekick of Hulk, is writing a book about Bruce Banner and the Big Green Guy, hoping to explain him to readers so they will stop seeing him as a menace and let him live in peace. First, Fred talks to Kropotkin the Great, the stage magician who crossed paths with Hulk and was present when he was psychoanalyzed by Doc Samson….

Meanwhile, Bruce Banner is in line at a fast food restaurant when a pair of armed robbers enter; he turns into Hulk and hurls the baddies through the windows, eats his fill of food abandoned by panicking customers, then leaps off into the distance….

Fred meets with David Anderson, who was head of security at the Los Diablos Missile Base when Hulk first appeared. He describes the accident and the early days of General’s Ross’ hunt for Hulk. Anderson insists Fred tell the truth in his book….

Hulk is walking in the wood when he hears a young couple trapped in their RV by a bear. Hulk scares the bear off and smashes in the van’s front end when the driver keeps honking at him….

Fred meets Ray Moran in a bar. Moran describes how spotting Hulk while driving caused him to have an accident but no one else saw Hulk. No one ever believed him when he talked about seeing Hulk and that ruined his life. At a coffee shop, Fred talks to a waitress named Maria who explains how, when she was a kid, her school bus was stuck on railroad tracks and Hulk moved it out of the way of the train. Since then, she has considered Hulk and angel; Fred tell how he met Hulk when the Big Green Guy came to his rescue during a street fight….

Fred has the great idea of interviewing the Hulk directly; he drives out to the San Mingo Mountains, a favorite resting place of Hulk’s. There, he finds a protest against a construction company wanting to clear cut the woods to build mansions. And there he finds the Hulk destroying construction equipment. Fred approaches Hulk and Hulk recognizes him as a friend. The police arrive and Fred advises Hulk to leave before anyone gets help so he bounces off into the distance….

Later, Fred tells his agent Christine about Hulk, how he’s not evil or cruel and genuinely cares for his friends. She shows him a sample cover for the book and he hates it, as it makes Hulk look ferocious. Fred tries to remain optimistic….

Bruce Banner wakes up on a beach in Southern California, He purchases cheap clothing and heads off, unaware that Fred and Christine have just driven past him, the former concerned about Bruce’s tragic life….

Seen in flashbacks: Jim Wilson, Doc Samson, Rick Jones, General Thunderbolt Ross.

Characters: Hulk, Fred Sloan, Kropotkin the Great

“The Evil That is Cast…”

Reprinted from INCREDIBLE HULK ANNUAL #7.




Zach Howard
Cory Hamscher
Lovern Indzierski
Gary Frank (Cover Penciler)
Gary Frank (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Doc Samson
Doc Samson

(Leonard Samson)
Hulk
Hulk

(Bruce Banner)
Thunderbolt Ross
Thunderbolt Ross

(Thaddeus Ross)



> Giant-Size Incredible Hulk: Book info and issue index

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