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Post by humanbelly on May 13, 2011 17:57:20 GMT -5
Uhm, usually Marvel is pretty accurate with its numbering, except for when a series took over from a different magazine, like Thor whose first 81 issues don't really exist. So I would assume we have really had 635 issues with old greenskin. He was created some time before Spidey, wasn't he? As for the closure, I'm sure it's not permanent, but we may have a hiatus for a few years, like it happened with Thor after Disassembled until JMS restarted it. I wonder if it means that sales aren't very good -- I must admit his' is one of the very few books I don't even glance at, just not my cup of tea. Nope, definitely not 635 consecutive issues. Hulk actually is similar to Thor's example. The numbering of his solo title started at #102, which it inherited from being Tales to Astonish. But he didn't even show up in Astonish until issue #59 (technically, #60). Since his own original book only ran 6 issues before cancellation (which we've delightfully relived via owene's contributions!), we're left with a chronologically-challenged numbering gap of 53 (ish). So there've been somewhere around 580-odd issues (excluding multiple concurrent titles). Same thing happened when Cap and Iron Man got solo titles after sharing Tales of Suspense: Iron Man started w/ #1 (like Sub-Mariner from T to Ast did), and Cap jumped right in at issue #100. That's why their issue numbers were always higher than the FF's, naturally. Yep, Hulk preceded Spidey-- but was without a title of his own for at least a couple of years there while Spidey was thriving. I seem to remember Stan trying to explain all of this at one point in those early years (mailing regulations, shipping licenses, printing contracts--- heaven only knows, I sure can't remember!), and it seems like the reasoning may have been a touch beyond him, as well. I well imagine saving a dollar or two somewhere in the process wouldn't be out of the question. . . But, yessir, this is really the case. Trust ol' HB-- he's old enough to remember those early convolutions! HB
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Post by sharkar on May 25, 2011 19:19:55 GMT -5
Nope, definitely not 635 consecutive issues. Hulk actually is similar to Thor's example. The numbering of his solo title started at #102, which it inherited from being Tales to Astonish. But he didn't even show up in Astonish until issue #59 (technically, #60). Since his own original book only ran 6 issues before cancellation (which we've delightfully relived via owene's contributions!), we're left with a chronologically-challenged numbering gap of 53 (ish). The comicvine site theorizes that the entire run of Tales to Astonish (v. 1) is included in the Hulk numbering, which is ludicrous because--as you said, HB--the Hulk didn't even appear in TtA until #59 (an issue before he got his own feature in TtA#60). www.comicvine.com/human-torch/29-2120/the-incredible-hulk/49-24715/ And (forgive the tangent, HB) on a somewhat related note, I see that the Fantastic Four replacement/interim comic "FF" is being published twice a month, obviously in order to synch up the 600th issue with the 50th anniversary month (at which time I'd assume the comic will revert to the original numbering and title).
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Post by humanbelly on Jun 26, 2011 10:27:54 GMT -5
So hey--
If there are any poor lost souls who have inadvertently taken a wrong turn into the echoing, cobwebbed caverns of the Lonely Corner, here. . .
Your intrepid host did indeed finish the series read-through a few weeks ago-- through the end of Pak's fantastic Planet Hulk series. After that, I was completely de-railed because of the title being consumed by the World War Hulks mega-crossover-event that I couldn't possibly afford to keep up with, and that I have yet to have fully figured out (although I've caught up considerably).
The whole Bruce Jones era was sort of a big, aggravating anomaly. Completely written for the TPB market-- shamelessly so. Several 4 to 6 issue long self-contained (for the most part) story lines that involved a VERY limited cast of characters. This is the era where the whole "Mr. Blue" -thingy was created, as a side bit of trivia. Artwork was generally very good to stunning-- even with different artists rotating in and out. The stories themselves are in fact well-written and engaging, I think. BUT--- they could have been adapted to suit almost any character-- and not even necessarily a superhero. Months-- MONTHS-- would go by without any substantial or relevant appearance of the Hulk at all. Often he was just part of a dream sequence, or a memory. If I were to hazard a guess, I would think that all of these stories were scripts that Bruce Jones had done as possible X-FILES submissions, or something like that. Even with a storyline including Tony Stark, the isolation from the Marvel Universe proper was palpable. Consequently, YEARS went by without any appreciable, meaningful character development in any quarter. Other than a new "super-espionage" Betty being returned from the dead (with a newly-transplanted face-- who sometimes looked asian, sometimes caucasian, sometimes hispanic) there was absolutely nothing to show for the long, long, loooooooong conspiracy overplot we all endured for so long. It was an odd circumstance where a book is well-drawn and well-written-- but I loathed it with a startling clarity and intensity.
Planet Hulk? I'll touch on it next time. (Loved it, though-- just to let ya know. . .)
HB
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