Hulk Visionaries: John Byrne - Volume 1 [Paperback]

It's the incredible Hulk, Man of Steel-style! In '85 & '86, right before his excellent re-envisioning of DC's Superman, John Byrne did a nearly similar thing with everyone's favorite jade giant. His 6+1 issues on the title stand today as one of the best-ever introductions to the Hulk as a character. And now this 1st printing '08 paperback features bright, newly reconstructed colors.

Highlights here for me...
*Issue 314- Doc Samson & classic enemies! Features Juggernaut, Modok, Rhino, Abomination, and the Leader.
*Issue 315- Hulk & Banner separated. And SHIELD takes a new interest.
*Issue 316- Best single issue ever! Features She-Hulk & the Bi-Coastal Avengers: Iron Man, Wonder Man, Hercules & Sub-Mariner. I absolutely love the over-the-top, in-your-face, hero-speak of these characters as they try to bring in the Hulk. An entire New Mexico town is destroyed while news stations cover it, and Bruce Banner fights for life!
*Issue 317- The new Hulkbusters. Doc Samson vs. Hulk. And Bruce proposes to Betty. Issues 316 & 317 are some of my favorite comics of all time.
*Issue 318- Baptism of Fire! Doc Samson & Hulkbusters clash as they try to rein in the Hulk.
*Issue 319- The wedding of Bruce & Betty. I've never seen a wedding quite like this.
*Marvel Fanfare 29- Hulk, Hammer & Anvil, and Scourge. The only issue here with original colors completely intact; no reconstruction necessary.

There are at least 3 reasons I recommend people get this: it's one of the best introductions to the character ever created; it has historical significance with the wedding of Betty & Bruce; and it's an easy way to get Byrne's entire '80s Hulk run in one shot. I usually call this Byrne's 6+1 issue run because Incredible Hulk 320 was supposed to be what we now call Marvel Fanfare 29. As I understand it, Byrne did issue 320 in all splash pages and someone amongst the "powers-that-be" decided they didn't appreciate that approach, so Byrne quit the book and Marvel released this issue in Marvel Fanfare with beautiful, pristine colors by Andy Yanchus. Byrne also wrote a Hulk annual, illustrated by Sal Buscema, with Byrne's contribution to its art being limited to that cover. In my opinion this might be a better, more consistent looking paperback stylistically without Hulk annual 14, but it's logically included for the sake of completion. And I have mixed feelings about the bright, new colors in this paperback- they may be a bit too intense. I definitely recommend people get the original issues 314 to 319, so it'll be perfectly clear just how dramatically the colors have been played with. Also included here: the first & last Hulk Conference! It's a great, albeit poorly reproduced here, single page, photo comic from issue 316. All in all, this trade paperback is highly recommended!

**As for Byrne's Bi-Coastal Avengers, see also Avengers West Coast Visionaries - John Byrne, Vol. 1: Vision Quest (Prelude to Avengers Disassembled), and Avengers West Coast Visionaries - John Byrne, Vol. 2: Darker than Scarlet (Prelude to House of M), both among my favorites.

P.S. And check out The Art of John Byrne (Marvel Masters), an interesting career collection. It's also available here on Amazon.

Marvel seems to on a John Byrne reproduction kick, as his ever-infamous Hulk stint has made it to TPB form. This volume collects HULK #314-319, ANNUAL #14 and MARVEL FANFARE #29. Personally, I own all these issues, but to see them in such glorified color is a treat. Finally, issue #316 is shown with a GREEN Hulk/She-Hulk rather than its over-done yellow coloring in the original issue. And they even filled in the Hulk's hair with the dark green in #317 that was missing in a couple of panels.
All nit-picking aside, the highlight of this book for me is seeing Sal Buscema's pencils in the "Visionaries" format.

Byrne did what we all think impossible: made the Hulk a MUST HAVE and opened the way to the Peter David phase. Badly it was a short run, but surely one of the best periods in the Green Goliath Life

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