First Look: HULK #1 With Jennifer Walters

1. He is still happy go lucky for the majority of his series and what little character turmoil we had with him(and we had very little) is about be gone once Cho goes and shoots some hoops with Lin.

2. When they tried to justify bringing in Cho.

@rubear: The entire series has been about him thinking he's better than banner. He's been having blackouts and presumably isn't as in control as he first thought we don't know if he'll ever let go of his anger or if he'll just get angrier

@kgb725 said:

Yeah, this is build up.

To this kind of thing.

We can feel his inner darkness and anger...

@stahlflamme: was that before or after banner died.... ? Before

Great..the only sane Hulk in Marvel is also getting the typical treatment. Poor Jen...she deserved better...

@wowlock: How is Cho Hulk not sane? The Hulks have always dealt with some kind of rage, after so many years of fun Jen, it will be an interesting change of pace for her.

@slimebeherit:It won't dude, they did this story line before and it was not very interesting for a single arc let alone be the premise of a series, Which knowing Marvel will be relaunched after 10 to 12 issues.

@kgb725: That was the only remotely dark thing in the entire series, so far. If you meant something else please give me an example...

@stahlflamme: He wanted to kill Hawkeye

Which run was that?

He did?

Pretty sure the sentence "I just came here to kill Barton." Wouldn't make sense in the context of Black Panther being not justified in attacking him. All the book showed so far is everyone on Carols side permanently aiming guns at him, because they assume he is planning on doing it.

Its kinda cool to see so many people that can see into the future of this run and give it a thumbs down off the bat. "Jennifer was always funny" they say and adding trauma makes it unreadable. That anger can ruin a title that has "Hulk" in it.

Sounds just like those morons that say "The Hulk is a big guy with rage and is strong so boring" meaning they have never been a fan or knew the character at all.

I'll wait and see what happens with She-Hulk which seems pretty difficult for people to do these days. lol

I know its a preview, but the last panel just killed the little bit of hope I had for this book

I'm up for whatever as long as it isn't a big crossover or anymore depressing genocide or hero vs hero battles.

Marvel is in the crap right now. For god's sake they are doing the clone saga again!

Why does Jen suddenly look like shes 14 ?

@slimebeherit: Sensational also they did something similar around the House of M event and they did this with a Red She-Hulk too from a different reality.

@GrimoireMyst: As Bendis has made abundantly clear on this twitter, Pre orders are what matters, so the wait and see approach is not what Marvel wants. They want you to pre order to save books, so if people dislike the premise and previews haven't they already failed at there job?

@br_havoc: In sensational she just went savage, which is a thing she does from time to time. The others were alt reality/character and wasn't an entire series dedicated to her struggling with rage on daily basis.

@GrimoireMyst said:

That's not what they say. They say the important part about She-Hulk was her personality and that neglecting her personality for some dumb chip on her shoulder and the same lame anger concept most writers fail to make work to begin with is gonna ruin HER CHARACTER, because it destroys it for just another lame Hulk-ripoff.

But good job not even being able to read text in the present that was written in the past.

@slimebeherit: That is because it has never warranted a full series based off this unoriginal premise. We have seen it and learned that angst is not something that works for Jen but that is what we are getting an angst/depressed version of She-Hulk who can't control herself.......huh sounds just like her cousin a character she is not.

Why are you all acting like this?She Hulk has always been this way,with the ability to go Savage.Im pretty sure You guys would feel some type of way if the last of your family died and now your by yourself.You arw just so blind by all your wants and desires.It's all so crazy to me,She Hulk has always been this way just without the as much trauma(It takes a real she hulk fan to know that.And if you all really are She Hulk fans you would support her through whatever,no matter what.)There is nothing wrong with this comic at all,it's all you hypocrites that are wrong.Just stop complaining if you don't want to buy it don't,but there are people who do.So just respect that or at least try.It's nice to try something new with after seeing so much comedy and law firm work over time it was going to woreout so they needed to take action and give us something new and I like new,I love it actually.This Comic hasn't even came out and yet there's so much hate,just give it a chance.

Then there shouldn't have been a She-Hulk, or Red Hulk or a Red She-Hulk cause those ideas are unoriginal. The whole point is that she isn't gonna deal with rage/depression the same way Bruce Banner would. We haven't learned jack, don't pretend the bogus examples you gave me are good enough indicators that her dealing with deep-seated anger is something that won't work.

If they have told the same story in four issues with Byrne's years ago, why do we need to redo it over twelve now? I'm not saying this idea should not never of been thought of, but when its been explored a number of times with quick arcs, that got the point across wasting a full series on it seems redundant.

I'm saying its not going to work from the start simply because they have already split the She-Hulk fan base that would of pre ordered it off the characters name alone. Her personality is a huge draw to them, comedy based witty writing of Slott, David, Byrne and even Soule is what these fans want and expect, With this preview combined writers interviews many feel that it will be missing, To make Jen a more generic Hulk simply so she fits the titles name and overall themes. Add on with how Marvel's status quos go now, where this will not be for an arc or two but the duration of the volume because it's not going to last long before they relaunch with a new writer and a new direction.

The hate this series is getting is a boil over of how Marvel has treated there lines over the past 3 years. They have gotten lazy the stories have suffered, With them going against what makes a character unique to a more decompressed style of writing, and fans are sick of it. Where as DC has done the opposite with Rebirth and it has been refreshing and beloved so far.

I already miss when Jen was She-Hulk, and not just another Hulk. Hope this doesn't last very long.

@br_havoc: So we have tons of issues of her being fun Jen and a few seeing a different side of her. You say it's redundant, because a few "quick arcs" have flirted with the idea, but another fun Jen book though? Nah that's not redundant. Here you would argue, well the same but slightly different, and to that I say, can't this broken Jen be the same but slightly different than the 4 issues you cite? I mean at first you said "It won't [work] dude, they did this story line before and it was not very interesting for a single arc let alone be the premise of a series" but now your saying it can but it's been done, so don't explore it anymore. It really just sounds like you hope it won't be any good, so that it could go back to something you're more comfortable with.

Batman and the batfamily are always facing those problems, way more than most marvel characters.

Let me put it this way to you, Every character in pop culture has both physical and personality traits that define them. These traits are what draw there fan base combined with there adventures. Here we have a status quo change up that is looking to remove Jennifer's defining personality traits replacing them with the "savage" ones her cousin has. The idea has been explored but often done as a quick arc's due to the fact it's out of character for Jen to be in these positions. This title it's core focus is Jen dealing with trauma and her feelings of depression, angst and anger. Something that normally she can keep in check, In fact that is one of her personality traits. Here that is voided in favor of what sounds to be volume of her trying to find the happier person she used to be. The issue here is many of her fan's don't care to see that journey because we have seen her cousin do it for 40 years which must be why they are calling the book Hulk, What makes Jen a great character is that she isn't her cousin, she is kind of the opposite of him.

No one is saying this could not be good, but the way it has been set up with CW2 and solicited it doesn't sound appealing to many of her fans. Marvel cares about Pre orders it's why they have been doing this half hearted, half assed shake ups that often are not even plotted past the first issue. In hopes that it leads to people buying there books, the problem is we as consumers are tired of it. Sensationalism is great in small doses but marketing much of your whole damn line off of it, is exhausting and turning readers cynical which is evident in how many want new books that do it to fail. I seriously doubt people would be up in arms over this, if this was already a title and this was an arc that was going to last 6 issues.

Now personally I have never liked this exploration because frankly there is only so many issues of a mopey depressed character I can sit threw, (If I wanted that stuff I will quit taking my anti depressants). Before I get bored and want something different, hence why I feel it works better as a short arc then an overall theme.

How many books do you have to buy to get the full story?

Marvel plays with hate a lot, they use it for storylines, they use it to stir up fans, some of their writers use it to tease the readers; hate and anger is as much a part of marvel as the color on the pages. Look at the fun they are having with old time Thor fans.

At the start of cw2 Bendis pointed out that conflict works for them, you can't have conflict without anger and it's far easier to turn anger on and let it turn into hate then to turn anger on and then turn it off.

After the last cw Jen was cruelly used by Tony Stark and did nothing to him. In fact she lived in constant fear of him through the next series she was in. If there was ever a breaking point that was it, but she became a bounty hunter instead.

This time around Clint murdered Bruce and got off, as a lawyer Jen could channel that anger into a wrongful death suit not only against Clint but against Carol and the entire crowd that showed up. There could be a lot of drama in the scenes between them, but I see no hint of that. I could be wrong, after all Bendis isn't writing this, but the writer has to follow marvel editorial and as I said marvel editorial goes for anger and hate, so don't be surprised if a lot of people pre-judge it. After all think of how many storylines and characters have been fed into the shredder in the past few years, marvel has burned away a lot of the old time trust that used to be there, the kind of trust that could give a book a chance.

For myself I can't afford it anyway. 4 Dollars? Way too much.

@br_havoc: And I understand that, I hope she can return to being confident She-Hulk at some point, but I personally want to see the story of how she gets back to that good place. It's true that anger was something the she could normally keep in check, but everyone has a breaking point, and she did just suffer a lot of trauma. The thing is that your assuming that this is gonna be exactly like a Bruce Banner book, if it is that, then this book would be a complete failure.

"It won't dude, they did this story line before and it was not very interesting for a single arc let alone be the premise of a series"
That's you saying it won't be any good.

You know I'm pretty tired of the marketing as well. "THIS BOOK CHANGES EVERYTHING!"...yeah right. But that's just marketing, I know they're full of shit. So I never pay any attention to that. I tend to just read interviews with the team, that usually give me a better sense of what the book will actually be, and then I just pick up an issue and see if I like. If I don't I just never pick up another entry. It's that simple. Just like you said, as if it was just another arc in a series. I don't have to get up in arms either way.

And thats fine that it's not you kind of story. The latest Daredevil's tonal shift from the more fun Waid/Samnee run hasn't really been my cup of tea either. If it ever gets to the point that I get bored of it. I'll just drop it and wait for another series that is more to my liking. I don't see depressed Jen being her new status-quo forever, in fact I would be pretty upset if it was, but I do think it's something worth reading for more than 4 issues. Like you said it's likely only gonna be 12 issues, and plenty of books have told great stories in that time (Vision, Howard The Duck, Soule She-Hulk).

@slimebeherit: Dude they are naming this book Hulk. Trying to appeal to Hulk fans as well as She-Hulk fans the issue is it's obvious from interviews that they are basing this off of angst and struggle. Things Banner has always dealt with, She is facing the same issues so it's not hard to imagine she will deal with them in a similar fashion, The difference Marvel is marketing is that it's not a female hulk dealing with them. Combine that with a writer who's previous works practically drip with teenage angst and feelings of isolation. It sounds very uninteresting for many fans of Jennifer, you seem to be of the mind that status quo changes that go against the core traits of the character go over well, They never fail when you can look at the new 52 for dozens of examples of that thinking failing badly.

Yeah it is me saying it will not be good, If that is the core focus of the series. If this story line is just the open arc, They have a shot of a good series but if it's a slow burn of Jen moping around and getting a "sun comes up tomorrow" moment in the last issue, It will not be good in my opinion.

You ignore that, I have stated many times that I have read interviews with the creative team and they did not change my views on this title. That is the issue, I have presented earlier that both marketing and creative teams have failed to mend the gap between the detractors of this series and it's supporters. Again I'm not going to pick it up, due to these reasons. Yet for some reason you take issue, In me not giving a book a chance when nothing said or shown about it so far interests me or says it can be anything but a miscast by the numbers Hulk book, So why would I waste 5 bucks on it?

I would say that the current tone of the Daredevil book is closer to how he has been characterized in the past ( at least the most popular runs). Waid's on the other hand I enjoyed as well, but there was still struggle and capturing of what makes Matt Murdock Daredevil. That is the balance that is always needed in a departure or shift of tones in a comic book. She-Hulk will not be depressed forever frankly she should not be in this state to begin with but Bendis screwed it all up with his terrible event, Which has so many plot holes just involving Jen that it's enough to want to avoid anything spinning out from it. Yes a lot of good storytelling can be told in 12 issues, The problem with the books you noted is they all kept the core character traits in tact. Something this book isn't, hence why they are not calling it She-Hulk. Because it's a run of the mill Hulk book just featuring Jen.

She Hulk and Hulk same thing just one being justified by race.It doesnt matter!Either Way She still had Hulk in her name.Go Complain about Captain Marvels name.They're calling She Hulks book Hulk its not like theyre changing her name.It's called Hulk because we're gonna see that side that She has been trying to hide for so long.

@mark_stephen: Hmmmm....

I dont know how I feel about this but I have faith that marvel will eventually start making their comics more appealing to me. Eventually. Hopefully.

"Okay guys how should we bring back readers with new an interesting stories?" "What if we do the exact thing as before, BUT WITH A WOMAN!"

@br_havoc: Like I said I think it will be an interesting stint, I don't want it to last forever and it won't last longer than most New52 series. Sure I know, with every status-quo change I expect people to be turned off. All I've tried to defend is that a series can explore different facets of a character. That even though this is a dramatic shift for the character, that it can still be a good and interesting story. I'm sorry if I came off as, "YOU MUST LIKE THIS BOOK!", you obviously don't. There are plenty of premises that I don't care for, that I just don't spend money on. I was merely providing a different opinion, one that I stand by, amidst all the people that were already calling it garbage.

@slimebeherit: That is fair enough and I understand where you are coming from, Sorry if I came across attacking you, in any of my replies because that was never my intention. I think that books can take huge tonal shifts if it feels organic to the character or the series. Yet with this change up, I find it anything but. This is a Bendis mess that Marvel pitched to a writer they specializes in angst to try to make something of, and I'm tried of Marvel's bullshit right now. In the days where Marvel is pushing to get the 5 dollar monthly book, I think part of there fan base are leaving or having less patience when it comes to status quo shake ups, because they have been burned so many times in the past.

Marvel recently has learned all the wrong lessons when it comes to relaunches or status quo changes, part of there marketing is making fans mad because they think that equals free press or that they will hate read a title, Like many did with Superior Spider-Man. Now is the time for fans that are fed up to start speaking there minds and saying no I don't want this, and I'm not paying for it. Because only then will Marvel get the message, that we are sick of half assed events that derail the full line of titles, Sick of a relaunch every 12 months and sick of them letting top talent go with no one to replace them but Bendis. Like many others I think it is time for Marvel to change up there direction to something similar to Rebirth, focusing on the big gun characters with core characterization, instead of trying to sell comics solely by sensationalism. I'm sure you can even agree to some of those thoughts?

...why? Why, Marvel? Why would you do this? What's the point? I don't even read She Hulk and I find this horrible. Being crafty is one of She Hulk's best features! Turning her into an average Hulk...one who is much less scientifically inclinded while normal...is just a bad idea.

Nah I didn't feel like I was being attacked. It's been pretty cordial.

I can agree that I don't like the marketing, cause as you said, it's very sensationalist. But I don't really pay much attention to the marketing. The thing is that not all fans are fed up, not every fan wants a rebirth. I know I don't. I like many of the "New" titles, with seemingly different status-quos, like Spider-Woman, Silver Surfer, and CA: Steve Rogers are some of my favorite books. There's still plenty of more classic books though, like Moon Knight, Spidey, Avenger .1 .

The event the preceded CWII was Secret Wars, and I wouldn't call that one half assed, that being said it was probably the exception to the rule, as most of the recent Marvel events have been pretty bad. Such as CWII... which kinda goes hand in hand with something I don't like about Marvel and that is their reliance on Bendis. That guy is writing way too many books and he hardly delivers.

Relaunches don't really bother me. Ultimates is back and it hasn't missed a beat. The new Avengers book started off pretty strong. If a relaunch doesn't ignore the continuity, then slapping a #1 on it is fine by me.

What can I say, I might not like some of the decisions Marvel makes, mostly events and marketing, but I do enjoy more of their books now than I have in the past.

@slimebeherit: I can agree with you on Silver Surfer but those are about it for the status quo books. Then again in that one they didn't abandoned everything that makes Norrin the Silver Surfer :p. As for Cap, I can't stand Nick Spencer's writing of either Cap title, If you ask me Captain America hasn't had a good writer since Brubaker left. Moon Knight, Vision and even Scarlett Witch are all great examples of taking a character and showing the fans something new with them but at the same time keeping there character and personality traits the same.

Let's face it Secret Wars ( And Infinity) was an anomaly for Marvel and they pissed away everything Hickman set up with it, and worst of all let him leave the company -_-. Before Secret Wars we had AXIS, Original Sin, Age of Ultron, AvX, Fear Itself all of those events where lack luster and some where terrible. Bendis is a shell of what he was 12 years ago yet still lives off of his passion he had back then. The dude can't write an event, or a team book. Even his solo books have gone down hill over the years yet Marvel still wants to give him like 5 books a month. Hell the man admitted he never read a guardians of the galaxy comic when he took the book over, Bendis is just terrible.

I used to be like you. The new issue one never bothered me because the stories where continuing, then Marvel would continue to raise the prices of those first issues. Or change artists that where working well on the book to one that had a different style.

May I ask how long you have been reading Marvel? I have been an avid Marvel reader for about 12 years now, and threw there business practices and generally weak editorial driven story progression I'm at my lowest amount of Marvel titles on my pull list ever which is 4 ( Power man/Iron Fist, Moon Knight, Spidey Renew your vows and Silver Surfer) and that is down from about 15 three years ago. I seem to seek out fringe titles that don't get suckered into editorial status quo change ups for shock value.

@br_havoc: I guess you can say I'm one of those fabled new readers, brought in by the Marvel movies. I've read all the events you're talking about with exception of Age of Ultron, but that's only cause I heard it was especially terrible.

And yeah...I'm not a fan of Bendis either. I've yet to read something by him, that didn't feel like a waste of time.

I have about 20 books on my pull list, with a couple more announced titles to be added when they are released. My top 5 favorite books being: 5. Ms Marvel 4. Silver Surfer 3. Black Widow 2. Ultimates 1. Spider-Woman. I tend to just pick up a #1 and if I enjoyed it, I keep it if it until I no longer like it. Moon Knight funnily enough is on my chopping block right now. And even though I'm here talking about how I'm all for a more serious Jen, the books I gravitate to are more lighthearted books. Go figure.

Jen is one of the most flexible characters in comics. I've seen her go from repressed lawyer with a savage side in her first series, to the fun loving party girl in the Avengers, to the breaking the fourth wall character in her own series and others. I forced myself to endure her IQ reduction in civil war, Slott's execrable writing of her in the aftermath, Peter David's best efforts to bring the character back after Slott and after that I ran out of money and patience. For this series I won't even try for reasons listed here, but as I noted she's flexible so maybe the writer can make this work for some people. But above all this is marvel and this is the marvel editorial department, in my opinion there has never been a more cynical old-fan-hating group in comics management. To them the old fans, the ones who read Jen as I did are the animals behind the cage bars that they can poke with a stick and then run away laughing. I find it hard to believe they are going to let the writer do anything but fill the issues with angst, depression and splash pages. I'm sure many will like it, but even if I could afford it I doubt I'd be one of them.

Like I said before I just hope they don't go the same route they did with Banner. I don't think Jen having a "dumber" savage side makes sense. I doubt that however they are just going to make her Banner and call it a day

I don't think it makes sense for She-Hulk to be fun right now. She watched Rhodes get killed and Banner is dead. She shouldn't be normal.

@slimebeherit: Nothing wrong with that, there has been waves of new readers due to the films, yet from talking to them when I work at cons often times they drop books due to them not being focused on the characters they see in the films. I can understand that it's why I'm supportive of a Rebirth style refocus on the big guns that Marvel has. Not replacing them then bringing them back so there is two of every character just confusing new fans and pissing off old ones.

Only good Bendis is Bendis from years past. His Daredevil was good so was Alias the first time around this new series is just plane stupid and ignore all the character growth to go back to the same melancholy tone.

I also enjoy the more light hearted books, It's why Silver Surfer is so high on my list and why as of this moment my favorite book month to month is Superman. Wow did Rebirth do something special with that title and I'm hoping that Renew can do the same thing with Spider-Man. Then again any Spider-Man that is not Slott written is worth a try lol.

@br_havoc:I'm kind of the opposite; I see the MCU as quick and easy intro to a character, but when it comes to the comic, I want to see something new. If it's a character I'm really invested in, I'll go back and read all the important runs.

Now that's something I can agree with, Dan Slott's Amazing Spider-Man was chore for me to read, till I said no more and dropped it, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. It's hard to believe he is involved with Silver Surfer in any capacity.

I think it has really come down to us having different taste, but I am glad we were able to have a polite conversation about it. Have a good day BR_Havoc.

@rubear: well he kinda got resurrected recently by the hand as an evil hulk but i guess theyll kill him off like they got rid of the new ultron/hank pym hybrid