Monstro

Thanks! Yeah I too am a big fan of DCs 48 & 52 page comics, these and Marvels picture-frame books are my main focus from the Bronze Age.

Just another amazing Kubert cover.

Cool cover.

Alright, it's worth an actual comment. Hulk #377 is the climax and culmination of a very well written, very well plotted 4 year journey that Peter David expertly crafted, with the help of McFarlane, Purves, and Keown. Beginning with issue #331, Peter David explored the psyche of Robert Bruce Banner, who the Hulk was, where he came from, why he existed, and what his relationship was with Banner, in ways that no other writer before him did. Not only did PD take the Hulk and redefine his persona so that the whole "Hulk Smash!" profile actually made sense, but he also introduced us to, and allowed us to watch, Banner's metamorphosis and acceptance of who and what he really was: the Hulk wasn't some separate creature who shared Banner's body and brain...the Hulk WAS Banner, and the different facets of the Hulk were merely Banner's way of working through his childhood issues...in other words, things many people deal with, but in Banner's case, exposure to gamma radiation gave his mind and body the ability to physically manifest the product of those issues in the real world. Even more, PD took us to the dark side of these issues, heavily suggesting that the Hulk was actually a result of schizophrenia in Banner, that the mental issues he had had so fragmented his mind, he couldn't face reality properly, which is why he could never be the respected scientist, husband, or even friend that is normal to desire in life, though he certainly tried. By doing this, he implied that everybody who didn't deal with these issues properly was really the Hulk, too, only without the ability to manifest into a giant green or grey monster as outward, physical expressions of what was happening in the mind. PD made the allowance that Bruce Banner WAS and IS a genius on the level of Tony Stark and Reed Richards...but he would forever be dragged down because of the dark manifestation of his psyche as a giant, musclebound brute who spent a good portion of the time smashing things, And "Hulk Smash!" was simply Banner's anger with, frustration at, and inability to even understand, much less change for the better, the things that had happened to him as a child at the hands of his abusive father. It was the angry and hurt inner child, given form in reality, with the power to DO something about it...although what, he had no idea, hence the constant rage at any and everything he imagined was opposed to him. The Grey Hulk, then, was the manifestation of Banner's teenage persona, rebellious, angry, snide, cold. Finally, with issue #377, after a long and difficult journey, Banner...for the first time in the character's then nearly 30 year existence....was psychologically healthy, having gone through and conquered the personal issues of his own life, and finally coming to terms with what had happened to him as a child. For the first time in his entire life, Banner was a functioning, normal human being, with his mind and all his faculties intact...albeit, as a giant, green powerhouse. But a SANE giant, green powerhouse. It is one of the finest sagas of the late 80's, and it forever ended the "Hulk Smash!" boring, two dimensionality of the character that had plagued him for DECADES (and was one of the reasons the original Marvel run was cancelled, and why the Hulk couldn't support his own book for 6+ years.) All the Banner/Hulk psychological angst that is so popular today? All the "intelligent Hulk" stories which have dominated the character for 20 years? It didn't START with PD, but it most certainly was given its solid foundation by him. All these ideas had been touched...but only touched...by earlier writers, with most of them, from Byrne to Milgrom to Mantlo to Lee...not really being able to grasp the concepts, and eventually just resorting back to "Hulk Smash!" stories. What Peter David did for the Hulk was JUST as important, and JUST as enduring as what Alan Moore did for Swamp Thing. And they both accomplished it without having to change one letter of what had gone before. Whereas, Moore accomplished it at the beginning of his tenure as writer, with the Anatomy Lesson in #21, PD used the majority of his run to reach that redefinition, finally coming to a smashing resolution in issue #377 (with a lot of really, really fantastic issues...like #339, 344, 345, 368, 373....in between.) PD took Banner, and made him a REAL character, with a REAL personality, and during the course of the story, did what all characters in any story is supposed to do: made him grow and change. Without that, real people cannot identify with the two-dimensional portrayals they are looking at. And it was a damn fun ride, too. No discernable story value...? I suppose, if one looks at just the issue itself. But that would be like bowing down to Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin at the coronation of Aragorn, and reading nothing prior to that scene. No story value, indeed. Great post!

Very nice, that Sub Mariner 54 is awesome.

The mother of all robot covers.

- - - And now for one of the most fearsome super heroes ever to grace a cover... - - -

Thanks Ghost Town.

Great Conan books!

Nice, you don't see many of these without either the "Marvels Comic Group" band cut partially off the top, or the same with the "Night Of The Vampire" along the bottom.

Nice!

Cool book with Daredevil #1 reprint.

These Kaluta and Adams covers are awesome.

Beauty!

Never realized this FEAR book was an exact copy of the TTA.

Nice! Love the 44