Customer Reviews

The Incredible Hulk Omnibus, Vol. 1 (Alex Ross Variant Cover) (v. 1)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This review's title is a line that the mighty Hercules happily shouts as he does battle with the Hulk and finds it much to his liking.

This huge volume of early Hulk stories is a blast.

I'm not sure it would appeal to kids or people who've seen the movies and want more. But for comic readers/collectors who've always been curious to read the early Hulk stories, I highly recommend it.

You really get a feeling that Stan Lee and his collaborators were trying to get a handle on who the Hulk was. So, instead of 50 issues of the calcified "Hulk Smash!" character we know from the 70s, here we get stories with a nocturnal Hulk, a cunning Hulk, a brutish Hulk, a savage Hulk, a Hulk-with-Banner's-Brain-who-sorta-talks-like-The-Thing, and so forth. These experiments in trying to define the character and his relationship with Dr. Banner -- and the fact that the bulk of the stories are only 11 pages instead of the usual 22 -- make for a surprisingly unexpected experience and a load of fun. It's a much different experience than the first two Fantastic Four Omnibuses in which Stan Lee/Jack Kirby on all the stories. Those have a much stronger continuity: these Hulk stories lurch all over the place.

The artwork is done by a Who's Who of the 1960s Marvel Bullpen and it's fascinating to look at the variations and compare inking styles:

Ditko inks Kirby
Ayers inks Kirby
Romita inks Kirby
Everett inks Kirby (a great combo!)
Roussos inks Ditko (and it looks oddly like Chic Stone's work)
Coletta inks Ditko
Gil Kane, Frank Giacoia, Marie Severin, Herb Trimpe and John Buscema all show up for several issues as well.

NB: Normally I'd say support your local comic book store, but Amazon offers 37% off, which which means you can buy this on Amazon and then STILL have $37 left over to go spend at your local comic book store. 'Nuff said!

Due to the wear-and-tear of rereading old comics, I have always been a fan of collections, especially those that include extra art or interviews of the creators reflecting on work deemed classic with the passing years. Collected works have even greater weight when the volumes pertain to hard to find or very expensive comics. The Marvel Masterworks seemed to be the best there was even when compared to graphic novels or trade paperbacks because you could get 10 issues for each volume that included the annuals. Sure, they were more expensive but considering the amount of issues you could get for around $55, it was certainly a better deal than buying the comics themselves if you wanted less degeneration of these precious issues. At least you got a chance to read years old stories without wearing gloves or paying a mint, if you'd ever found them at all.It seemed the best value and quality for any collected works.

This ALL changed when Marvel upped the stakes with their Omnibus collections. The Marvel Omnibus collections are bar none the best quality and value to date. The characters are given a heightened sense of their contribution to the comics industry; we care more about the issues we're collecting because Marvel has shown how they care about the character as well.

The Omnibus collections are literally the "red carpet" for their volumes, no less for the HULK OMNIBUS. The sheer SIZE of their pages show you Marvel's dedication to underlining, capitalizing and bold-facing their subject matter's importance here and their rightful place in comics iconic history: much larger than their original comics, sturdy binding, glossy pages, every page of each original comic, AS WELL as unreleased art, current and former interviews (including everything that was in the Masterworks counterpart), alternate variant covers and --best yet--up to 30 ISSUES per volume, whether they be annuals or special appearances (i.e. "What If?" etc...). All this for the cost of less than TWO volumes of the Marvel Masterworks that would only give the reader 20 comics. Much lees if you purchase or pre-order here from Amazon.

I'm not knocking the Masterworks because I still feel they have tremendous value, especially when considering what you can get from those that have yet to be released from the Omnibuses. Also, many Masterworks have become less expensive on the resell market due to the Omnibuses' popularity. Some may not see the difference bewteen the Masterworks vs. Omnibus and just want the issues for sheer volume.

The Marvel Omnibus' are every bit as good as the DC Absolute series and sometimes much better because not all the DC Absolute series have nice glossy pages. Here, every Marvel volume is as good as the last and the next.

The fine line is that the Omnibus collections are the best there is that Marvel has to release. As a Marvel fan,I am more than likely to collect every volume I can for my favorite superheroes, maybe even those I'd never considered owning before. The Omnibuses remind us just WHY they are icons. X-men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Iron Man and now Hulk; comic book stars given the star treatment, a Director's Cut for their comics. I can't see it getting any better than this.

J.R. Mounts

Just below the surface lies untamed and incredible power, once I cracked the cover I found undiscovered stories of the Hulking Thing I had never seen. I didn't start reading Hulk comics until about 1974 so all of these stories were new to me. But I never looked back into the older Hulk comics, so this was a real treat, I didn't know what I was missing.

It was a surprise to find stories where the Hulk is an intelligent, cunning and conniving Hulk. This is a real switch from what I'm used to; "HULK SMASH PUNY HUMAN!" The other thing noted by one other reviewer is that these stories are like the abridged version of comics, very short. It's good to get in a quick story while you wait for something like a TV commercial break. The dichotomy between the indestructible and the fragile is always present and remains the struggle throughout.

This Omnibus Collection of the Incredible Hulk does not read like a graphic novel. Although there are progressions and story threads that run through the different stories there is very little continuity. To me this was exciting because instead of reading something to a conclusion what I read was the evolution of the Hulk, Dr. Banner, The Leader, General Ross and Betty.

I am very happy to have this Incredible Hulk Omnibus Collection. For true believers, it is a must have. The overall quality is outstanding, the inks and page treatments are vibrant and archive quality.

i just finished reading this and felt a few different things. if you're a hulk fan and want a great reprint of the old stuff then you can't go wrong with this. my only problem i have is that so many of the stories are cookie cutter. i know that that was the norm back then but they don't seem to have aged well. i loved seeing how all the old villians came out though, it was just getting there that was tedious.

Hulk smash with Omnibus! This book is huge and heavy! With Amazon's usual discount price, you basically get 30 issues of classic Hulk for around two bucks each, hardbound! You won't get a better deal than that! All of Marvel's Omnibus books are fabulous collections and money oh so much better spent than wasting your cash on the overpriced crud being published today.

Marvel took the first three hulk masterworks and put them into one grand volume. Here is the first seven years of the hulks story. The omnibus did a great job of making sure that these stories look great too. No cheap paper or faded comic reprints, that's ok for books that can't afford to do what marvel did with this series but not for Marvel and it used to be not for d.c.. DC these days just puts out faded stuff and says 'take it or leave it'.
This is wonderful stories from a simplier age of comic books , the silver age, and marvel was the king of that era by far. Dc was not terrible in that one either though! this begins with the hulk in his original form , in a grey body which changed during nightfall, this grey hulk later returned in the 80's. He can't even jump high, then he changes over the next seven issues into the familiar , if you get me angry I will turn into the hulk character. which is ok because later on they embrace all these changes in new stories. but for this volume which is a great run of silver age comic fun we have Stan lee providing the scripts and plots and lots of fantastic artists doing the drawing and inking here. these are greats of the pencil and ink style and that's pretty cool to see them in one volume , they are Jack Kirby , Steve Ditko, Bill Everett, Bill Powell, Marie Severin, early gil kane work, his style was evolving in this one, but it's good, and other decent artists as well. Marie does a fair amount of the later work in this omnibus. She is the sister of John Severin , who is a fave of mine. (she was one of the few females in comics back then along with ramona fraden.) The stories are progressive and as the silver age went on it got more advanced story wise. the seventies are two years away from the end of this volume! which ends in 1968. YOu couldn't afford most of these comics if you went to a store to buy them, and they wouldn't look as nice as they do in this omnibus. At least marvel cleans up their work for lovers of vintage comics. And for hulk fans this is a must to reat at least. It's fun and from it's era , and that was a fun era , as the letter to editors attest to. This volume reprints the letters to the editors that were in the original comics. My friend had a gigantic collection of comics with almost all of the silver age marvel comics in it! It was awesome , I read many of them and the letters section really took you back to the era. That's why people enjoy old stuff to take a trip back , even if they weren't there. Take a hulking trip with this omnibus into the early to late sixties. To a world where marvel was as hip as any music or scene! which is really cool if you think about it.

This Omnibus is perfect. The colors are much better than in the Marvel Masterworks; the pages are bigger, the paper thicker and glossier.

What a great collection of stories! I am also a huge fan of the 1966 cartoon and it is fun to go back and compare the original stories with the ones they "animated" for the show. This is a classic and should be enjoyed by everyone. My three year old asks for me to read it to hime sometimes because he also loves the jolly green one as much as I do.

As far as covers go it is all a matter of preference I wouldn't say that one is better than another. Although having bought the regular one I wouldn't mind having the Alex Ross cover now that I think about it. Oh well.

Anyway stop reading my lame review and get to clickin' on the "add to cart" button and prepare to become a "true Believer!"

Excelsior!!

Careful or this super-heavy book will smash something in your house. It's giant-sized and it's format is fitting for the incredible Hulk. Like all the omnibus collections this is an incredible value.

I love these marvel omnibus editions and catching up on the beginnings of the Hulk was even better than I expected! Excellent Stan Lee writing and creation and character development make these excellent to have in your collection if you're going for full runs, which I'd love to have.

Binding is great on this book, but I have had problems with Tomb of Dracula and Secret Wars II. Get the binding right, Marvel!

I loved Kirby's Hulk, I loved all the different artists handling the character, all while Stan Lee's visionary imagination fills your mind with wonders. Sure these are almost 50 years old so they do have some cobwebs hidden around, but I was totally surprised at how much I got swept away in the sci fi fantasy of it all. I had no idea until I read these omnibus collections of marvels main heroes what an epic sweeping symphony Stan Lee and company choreographed across these titles, which were each released in small monthly installments but here you get the long and continuous flow of these first 30 something issues.

Hoping Marvel releases full runs of these titles in omnibus format so that one might be able to go back and experience all they missed- like me- beginning back with that first marvel title Fantastic Four in 1961...