In conjunction with the current theatrical release of THE INCREDIBLE HULK, Target stores are pimping out the Hulk products, with a toddler-leaning musical figure that does the “Hulky Pokey,” an OPERATION game that features the mean green hero instead of the red-bulb-nosed patient, and — oh, yeah — exclusive in-store comics.
The trade paperback HULK: GREATEST BATTLES is 100-ish pages that comes with a gimmicky lenticular cover depicting Bruce Banner’s transformation into Hulk, but it doesn’t work too well and probably is the reason for the collection’s $9.99 cover price.
Because this only exists thanks to the movie, it begins with a couple of articles devoted to the promotion of such, illustrated with full-color stills. Director Louis Leterrier and actor Tim Roth are interviewed by John Rhett Thomas, both in well-thought-out Q&As.
Then then are the battles — four of ‘em, to be precise, but the idea that these are the GREATEST is a little ludicrous. Only one comes from his early years (1967), one from 1974 and then two from the past two years (and one of those a kid-friendly adventure with minimal wordage).
Probably the best are the first — and oldest — two, with Stan Lee and Marie Severin joining forces to pit Hulk against the Silver Surfer in a colorful, if dialogue-heavy two-parter, followed by Len Wein and Herb Trimpe’s tale of a tussle between Hulk, Wolverine and a Wendigo.
More recent, Peter David and Jorge Lucas offer a Fin Fang Foom story that pays tribute to John Carpenter’s THE THING; meanwhile, a lot less successfully, Marc Sumerak and Joseph Dodd modernize an old Lee and Jack Kirby plot that puts Hulk face to face with The Fantastic Four. The art on this one is just garish all around.
In other words, this anthology is far from essential, but worth picking up for a random smattering of comics old and new. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF PETER DAVID:
• IRON MAN by Peter David
• MARVEL 1602: FANTASTICK FOUR by Peter David
• MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN VOL. 5: MONSTERS ON THE PROWL by Peter David and Mike Norton
• SPIDER-MAN 3 by Peter David
• PSI-MAN: DEATHSCAPE by Peter David
