Ages of the Incredible Hulk

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I’ve been taking my time reading this collection of 14 essays ever since I bought it a few weeks ago. The essays are grouped chronologically, following the Hulk from the beginning to present day. The first several essays deal with the military, theCold War and things of that nature. Beyond that, they deal with psychoanalysis of the Hulk, Mr. Fixit, the Pantheon era, the treatment of his MPD, the AIDS storyline, post 911 (World War Hulk) with digressions dealing with She-Hulk as well (both Byrne’s and Slott’s).

These were all very “scholarly” of the type one might expect to read in a college curriculum, but in this case, I found myself more interested in the subject at hand as well as more knowledgeable about it. The prose style employed by most of the essayists is (to me) humorously stuffy. I enjoyed it from that angle, but I’m guessing not many others would. (Then again, on this board who knows?)

I couldn’t help but notice that two of the essayists, in comparing the Hulk’s origin to Universal Studios’ 1931 Frankenstein incorrectly cited both doctors’ assistants to be named “Igor.”

Many members of this board, in years past, tried to interest me in Dan Slott’s She-Hulk, but never really explained why. Some of these assays have interested me to pick up a tpb of two in the near future.

There are five other volumes in this series, dealing with the “Ages of…” Iron Man, Wonder Woman, X-Men, Avengers and Superman. I ordered this one on a whim when I saw it solicited in Previews a few months ago. I enjoyed it as much as I hoped to, but at the price ($40), I won’t be sampling the others any time soon.