One constant during Peter David’s more than a decade of starring in The Incredible Hulk and coaching the character was change. When you’ve been working on a title for a long time, it’s natural in some ways to change things up a bit to keep yourself and your audience paying attention and interested. From introducing deep personality changes like that of Mr. Fixit to leading the pantheon’s organization of demigods. Perhaps his artistic collaborators remain interested, working on the characters and themes that appeal to them.
After the collapse of the latter organization, the book underwent such a transformation with the addition of artist Liam Sharp. It became a kind of roundabout horror title, as Bruce and Betty were essentially forced to go underground again. Sadly, this era didn’t last long, with Sharpe only gracing the title for eight issues, but it remains one of my favorite periods of David’s career.
“It’s like Fay Wray wants to live inconspicuously with King Kong! Sooner or later, a plane will show up!”
After the Epilogue issue of the Fall of the Pantheon arc and Sharpe’s first full issue reimagining the intelligent Hulk’s personality, the new status quo of the book began in full force with the two-part story Incredible Hulk #427 & 428 by David, Sharpe, Robin Riggs, Glynis Oliver, Richard Starkings and ComicCraft. Build a new setting for “Bob and Betsy Danner” in a new town, hiding from everyone, but things turn out to be not so simple when a child is found murdered, another child goes missing, and a strange policeman is chasing them.
I’m attracted to monster heroes. They are often misunderstood creatures, often looked down upon, but they try to do the right thing. Like Swamp Thing. Or Hulk. It turns out that the real monsters are often the ordinary people around us. So, this two-part show with Man-Thing was exactly what I was looking for. And the artwork was incredible. This is what drew me back into the series, as I wasn’t a regular reader of the book at the time (the crossover with X-Factor was the last time I read this book, but at that point it had fallen out of my monthly reading list). I had seen Sharpe’s work before, at least in Death’s Head II, but here it really caught my attention.
Keen and inky, Robin Riggs really looked like she was going all in on this. The detail, scope and presentation were off scale. Sharpe’s Hulk was huge, incredibly muscular, and imposing. I was thrown into this dark composition of the town, the swamp, and the Man-Thing, and it was mesmerizing. The influence was probably Simon Bisley, but the changes in style and presentation of these issues have an ingenuity that brings to mind Frank Frazetta, Sam Keith, and Bill Sienkiewicz. A hint of experimentation that Sharpe regularly brought to his work over the years. Darkness beautifully enriched by Glynis Oliver’s colors.
“I wonder… am I that different from that sick creature?”
I know there were creative differences between David and Sharpe, and that his time on The Incredible Hulk was a little painful for Sharpe. I completely understand where he’s coming from. Still, the No. 8 car he drove was fantastic. The artwork is nothing short of amazing. For me personally, The Incredible Hulk #427 & 428 by David, Sharpe, Riggs, Oliver, Starkings, and Comiccraft struck the perfect balance of humor, mystery, horror, and hints at what could have been. There was more weirdness in the issues that followed, and the astonishingly hideous story that concluded Sharpe’s operation tapped into some of the backwoods horror that always made Swamp Thing work.
And then we finally got the Man-Thing series from Sharpe and JM DeMatteis, which was great in its own right, but I always wonder what a complete horror Hulk from Sharpe himself would be like.
Classic Comics Complete Collection: The Incredible Hulk #427 – #428
Incredible Hulk #427 & 428
Author: Peter David
Penciler: Liam Sharp
Inker: Robin Riggs
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Richard Starkings & Comiccraft
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release date: January 19 – February 21, 1995 (original version)
Included in The Incredible Hulk Omnibus – Volume 3 and The Incredible Hulk Epic Collection – Volume 21: Fall of the Pantheon by Peter David.
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