Hulk: Gray

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale have teamed up on a few re-tellings of the origin stories of iconic Marvel characters now ("Spider-Man Blue", "Daredevil Yellow"). Next will probably be a remake of Nick Fury called "Colonel Mustard". I do enjoy their work, and this Hulk story is one of the more poignant ones, as the newly born Hulk tries to assuage his loneliness by kidnapping Betty Ross. This doesn't go well, and her father, General Ross, eventually calls in Iron Man to rescue her. This also could go better. There is a pretty moving, if simplistic, "Of Mice and Men" moment. At the conclusion I am left wondering, as always, how Bruce Banner's pants (always purple) stay intact when he hulks out, and thinking I gotta get me a pair of pants like that.

High quality rework of the Hulk's origins and early days.

As always, Loeb & Sale have a great approach that always respects the original material but adds a new layer of understanding and depth. Glad to see their best work isn't limited to the Batman mythos.

Well now. I think I found my favorite origin story for the Hulk. It hearkens back to the really early days for Bruce, too, in style, but updated and really awesome for today's discriminating readers. :)

No, the Hulk was not always green. First, he was Gray. :) Just like the lives we lead. :)

I wholeheartedly recommend this for anyone getting started with the Hulk. Or all you fanboys and fangirls wanting something delightful.

Hulk has always been one of my favorite characters. This did him justice.

A simple but immensely enjoyable introduction to the Hulk with a story as big and romantic as King Kong. The art by Tim Sale is expressive and bold. Love the way he makes Hulk look simultaneously caring and dumb as a brick...and then transitions effortlessly to violent and horrific.

If you loved Hulk in Avengers, this is a great place to start.

A re-telling of the Hulk's origin and first confrontations with General Ross, as rendered by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Normally this team brings their own unique slant to whatever story they tell, but here I don't see much that I haven't already gleaned from the Hulk stories over the years. I do like Sale's illustrations as much as ever, but Loeb's plotting seems vague and inconclusive. The pair are still a primo creative team, but this is the weakest effort I've seen from them, and it's primarily due to Jeph Loeb. That said, this is actually a pretty good effort, suffering only from heightened expectations.

While stylistically the art is very nice and the gives an interesting take on the main character this book's problem is the plot. Framed by an uninspiring conversation between Bruce Banner and Doc Sampson the book takes a long time to explain that Bruce is worried that Betty responded to Banner as the Hulk because her father was cruel.

It doesn't really add anything to the character or the mythos and frankly it gets spread far too thin.

Another really good entry in the "color" series by Loeb and Sale. This depicts the first 24-48 hours after Bruce Banner first becomes "The Hulk." Really quality stuff here.