Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk Prelude

by Mike McKone, Keu Cha, Juan Santacruz, et al.

Bruce Banner has finally found a semblance of peace in the isolated interior of Alaska and he hopes to protect the rest of humanity from the Hulk's never-ending rampage by his self-imposed exile. However, when Nick Fury comes calling, you know there's going to be trouble.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0785119531
• ISBN13: 9780785119531
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Marvel
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 1.0" x 1.0"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Planet Hulk - :-) :-) :-) :-)

This book was one of the best "Hulk" stories I've read in years. Beyond great art and great dialogue, it shows a real range of thought and emotion from the hulk, much more than what's normally covered in the average comic, cartoon series, t.v. show or even feature film. It begs the question, have Hulk and Banner begun to reconcile their odd relationship? I can't wait for World War Hulk!

Better know what you're buying -

No. this is definitely not the best Hulk story there is. Sure, it's not a bad one either - but don't set your hopes high before you're reading enough about it so you will decide fairly if it worth your money. It's Daniel Way, which apparently not many in the comics industry like. He now writes the Wolverine Origins ongoing series, if this rings any bells. I personally love his writing - he puts the character through many situations, emotional situations, which hasn't been dealt like his style. In this particular story we get to see two versions of Hulk - the heroic type, and the confused type. That's the best thing I like about this story. The first issue in this collection is nothing but awesome. But the following issues have a very unreliable background story. I simply don't buy it. It's too farfetched. But what you do get, if you're not trying to analyze the scientific and historic contradictions between this story and the actual world is a pretty good story, lots of interesting plot-twists and action packed TPB. The one thing that really really bothered me, and I mean REALLY bothered me, is that they added the Hulk Handbook 2004 to this TPB. Why. There's no real good reason for putting it in. I really dislike all those handbooks out there, and it's a waste of money. I prefer if they just gathered the 4 issues, took off a couple of dollars and that's it. I gave it 4 because I really like it, but if I was a really new reader or a really old Hulk-fan I wouldn't give it more than 3.

MUST READ for Planet Hulk/World War Hulk fans!

This book has the actual story of how hulk ended up in space. He makes a deal with Nick Fury and eventually boards a spaceship, only to be double crossed. Also contains huge fights in space, and in the woods and some awesome Hulk smashing. The art is great, and there is a huge Hulk guidebook at the end of this paperback with precise details on every Hulk character and villain, etc. It's a must have for Hulk fans.

Sets the stage for a huge epic

These four issues (all written by Daniel Way, the first two pencilled and inked by Keu Cha, the last two pencilled and inked by Juan Santacruz) show Bruce Banner once again being dragged into a situation that only the Hulk can handle. The final result sets the stage for the Planet Hulk 14 issue epic. The story itself is fairly good, though it really doesn't stand on its own. The main purpose is to take the Hulk we know and move him off planet. This feeds into Planet Hulk, as well as the imminent World War Hulk. In short, the creative team gets the job done, but the job is to set the stage for other stories rather than to tell a complete story in itself. If you plan to stick around for Planet Hulk, World War Hulk, and the third story that follows it (announced but not publicly named at the time of this writing) then this is a worthy piece to pick up. If you're looking for just one good Hulk story, this isn't it.

An interesting segue

I read Hulk about once a year, but I read a year's worth all at once. When I heard that Hulk was moving to a story in deep space, I wondered how they would accomplish that transfer, as usually the Hulk does not like to wander that far from home. The story was believeable enough for me, international emergency requires the Hulk's intervention, but the way they pulled the obvious twist at the end had me very interested in what was to come and how long they can keep this up. Most of the time a story line doesn't have to fix itself if the popularity doesn't last very long, but while I can see them working this angle for a bit, I hope we don't have to pull an existential interstellar Swamp Thing travel story for him to get back...