I have most or all of those issues and their great. You have stuff like the Green Hulk coming back and the Grey Hulk was always enjoyable. I can give or take the Pantheon, but once again, I still enjoyed it. You had Keown!

Peter David's was the best.

Per Amazon, the most recent volume (#6) came out in February.

http://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Hulk-Visionaries-Peter-David/dp/0785137629

On an only vaguely related point, I would kill for a Hulk Visionaries: Bill Mantlo series. Mantlo's where David drew a lot of the basis for his work.

benday-dot: Well, some of what David does in later issues begins when McFarlane was drawing the book, so you might have to go back to that! It's actually kind of interesting to see McFarlane back before he became "Todd McFarlane," because although I wouldn't call the art great, especially in comparison to Purves and Keown, who followed him, I would say that it's less obnoxious than it became, and it's certainly dynamic. If you start with issue #347 (the first Mr. Fixit issue), you can probably catch up if you really don't like McFarlane's art. I already wrote about issues #331-346 (the McFarlane issues) if you want to check out some samples of his art on this book.

I was thinking of starting off with the middle section roughly 348-368, because a) I don't much like Todd McFarlane's art and b) I Have heard this middle period of PAD was the high water mark of the whole long run. But I'm hearing good things about the Dale Keown period (and that is nice art!).

What do others hear think... where should I start? Is it necessary to jump in at the beginning with McFarlane even though his art leaves me feeling cold, and even a little hostile?

I don't think it's really fair to criticize Marvel for this. They've been steadily releasing new volumes of Hulk Visionaries: Peter David for the past five years, and in order to collect his entire run (not counting Tempest Fugit and onward!), it would likely take over 20 volumes. Can't say for sure, but I imagine each of these trades takes a fair amount of work to put out, likely including color restoration. Let them take their time and do release these properly.

Personally, I'm partial to Pak's Hulk as we saw in WWH - a slightly smarter and more in-control version of the original-Avengers-era portrayal. He's a thinking natural disaster acting out his rage on the world, but he's not an outright child in speech and manner. Not that the childlike Hulk can't be done to good effect (see the latest movie).

You're right about the long-term planning, though, which is why, despite all the puns, I still like David's writing. In both Fallen Angel and X-Factor, he lays down plot points that pay off months or years later (in our time), and I like that kind of use of the medium.

Dan: That was one of the main points that people disagreed with me about when I wrote about David's Aquaman - that he wanted to tell a story, and he wasn't going to let the presence of Aquaman get in his way! I don't mind it all that much, because it's always interesting to see fresh takes on characters, and unlike many writers (to T.'s chagrin), David usually sticks around to follow through with the consequences.

Also, David would sometimes break away from the integrated Hulk/Pantheon story for very good "stand alone" issues that went in other directions. The Crazy 8 issue is one example; the encounter between Rick Jones, Bruce and Man Thing (#389) is another - David wrote a story there paralleling the similarities between Bruce Banner and Ted Sallis (both victims of their own scientific exploration) - I don't know if any writer at Marvel had done that before.

Regardless, this was a nice write-up, Greg.

After #426, Hulk entered into this sort-of limbo period where it didn't seem like anyone, creative team included, knew where the character was going. The cast was whittled down to just Betty and a few unknowns; Hulk relocated to a small town in a Florida swamp, but regularly took off for New York; the plot device of the "Savage Banner" was just sort of...there...without really being exploited usefully until the "Ghosts of the Future" story. The art also suffered: Liam Sharpe replaced Gary Frank, but not for very long; some fill-ins came on, followed by Angel Medina, who started out well but seriously declined only a few issues in. This continued until #447, when the "gravage" Hulk was introduced and Deodato took over on art.

Anyway, yeah...the "integrated" Hulk was still running around by #445, but the book had nothing close to the status quo it did two years before. I really think that era ended with #426, so I hope the next "Comics You Should Own" goes up to that point.

Greg: Excellent write-up of my favorite run of comics ever. David & Keown could not be beat in the early '90s. I drifted in and out of X-Men, Batman, Spider-Man, etc., but I bought each issue of Hulk as soon as it came out.

I want to mention the Bill Jaaska issues: Hulk 378 was a funny Christmas story starring the grey Hulk, better than most Christmas super-hero comics. Issue 380, however, was a moving Doc Samson story about a woman on Death Row. David created a believable, sympathetic yet detestable character, Crazy Eight, and just left me devestated when her story was over. Another issue dealing with the futility and ugliness of violence, to be sure.

Best Hulk run for me is the Bill Mantlo/Sal Buscema run of the late 70s/early 80s, the 50 or so issues from Jarella's death up to Hulk's exile to the crossroad in #300.

And technically, the "integrated" period went on until somewhere in the 440s, when Banner and Hulk were split during Onslaught so that Jim Lee could have a Hulk in his Iron Man redux.

PS: Marc, the Savage Banner made his debut in issue 425.