Incredible Hulk #34-39 as collected in The Incredible Hulk: Return Of The Monster

Written by: Bruce Jones
Pencils: John Romita Jr.
Inks: Tom Palmer
Colors: Studio F
Letters: RS & Comicraft’s Wes Abbott
Cover: Kaare Andrews
Assistant Editor: John Miesegaes
Editor: Axel Alonso
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
President: Bill Jemas

There’s a great episode of The Simpsons when Grampa goes to the cinema to see a McBain movie, only to demand his money back afterwards because it wasn’t much good.

If Abe Simpson were to ever buy this collected edition of The Incredible Hulk, then he might well have a pretty good go at taking Marvel to the petty claims court for not including enough of the Hulk.

These six issues are quite unashamedly a Bruce Banner series, in fact, they concentrate on the Hulk’s human alter ego even more than the 1970s TV series did.

We get to live Banner’s life on the run, as the introvert evades the many factions who are after him, by moving quietly from town to town, and changing his appearance as radically as he can. Glasses, beard, baseball cap, shaved head… heck, even I can’t recognise this guy. Quinn Martin should sue.

All the time inside Banner has to deal with the same nightmare as always, piecing together fragments of just who he has apparently laid into while ‘asleep’.

The whole thing is bleakly written and awesomely drawn, making this collection as quick or slow a read as you wish.

I can’t ignore the obvious observation either – this would make a great weekly TV series.

With thanks to Herschel.