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Review - Generations: Banner Hulk & Totally Awesome Hulk #1

By Leroy Douresseaux
August 4, 2017 - 05:57

Generations: Banner Hulk & Totally Awesome Hulk #1 cover image

Rated T+

Hulk created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee

“The Strongest”

Generations is a ten-issue anthology, weekly comic book series published by Marvel Comics.  Each issue is written and drawn by a different creative team, and each issue will feature a different team-up of a classic Marvel superhero with his or her modern-day counterpart.  The series is meant to unite the legacy of classic Marvel Comics characters with the next generation of heroes as both move into the future of Marvel Comics storytelling.

The first issue is Generations: Banner Hulk & Totally Awesome Hulk which brings together the classic Hulk who is Bruce Banner and the new Totally Awesome Hulk, who is the genius Amadeus Cho.  This comic book is written by Greg Pak; drawn by Matteo Buffagni; colored by Dono Sanchez-Almara; and lettered by Cory Petit.

Generations: Banner Hulk & Totally Awesome Hulk #1 (“The Strongest”) opens as Amadeus Cho, the Hulk, lands in Death Valley.  He was just in Washington D.C., so why is he here?  It must be to meet that other Hulk, not but several yards from him and fighting a pitched battle against a heavily-armed military unit.  These soldiers are throwing everything at this Hulk, who turns out to be Banner Hulk, but isn't Bruce Banner dead?!

THE LOWDOWN:  Halfway through Generations: Banner Hulk & Totally Awesome Hulk #1, I thought, “What's the point of this?”  Most of this comic book is one huge battle that occasionally shifts settings or adds a new player.  At some point in the story, the point Greg Pak is trying to make becomes clear.  There may be a new Hulk, but he can't escape the legacy of the original Hulk.

Bruce Banner has a message for Amadeus Cho, something along the lines of “Young blood, you don't know me, and you know the Hulk even less.”  Maybe, Marvel Comics is sticking by its new Totally Awesome Hulk.  [Cue the diversity complaints!]  Still, the classic Hulk's conflicts, motivations, dilemmas, trials and tribulations remain.  Amadeus Cho Hulk has 99 problems and the Hulk is all of them, or, at least, time will tell.

So Generations: Banner Hulk & Totally Awesome Hulk #1 is not a pointless event comic book, cynically meant to separate gullible fans from their money.  The fan can be a reader this time.  This is not a great comic book by any means, but it bridges the past and the future in a way that genuinely speaks to what is unique about our favorite incredible, rampaging, rage monster, the Hulk.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Marvel Comics' regular readers will want to try Generations, and some former readers may want to try an issue or two or three.

B+
7.5 out of 10

Rating: 7.5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12