Copper's Heating/Selling Well on Ebay 33 33

[solarcadet]

kudos RMA! great breakdown!

 

377 is a defining copper no doubt. the cover itself is mammoth

[fastballspecial]

I couldn't have been the only one that liked the Pantheon storylines as well could I? I enjoyed the merged Hulk and I really thought PD's best issues were 380 and 420 in my opinion. I think 380 was brilliant and never gets any press.

 

[NinjaSealed]

RMA

 

I have not read much hulk but now am adding that arc to my must read list.

[FlyingDonut]

 

For that price you can buy a decent copy of many 1st appearances which are far more appealing and liquid than a 3rd print of a comic with no discernible story value.

 

 

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.

 

Well that, and the whole Rule of 25 thing. Again.

[rjrjr]

 

For that price you can buy a decent copy of many 1st appearances which are far more appealing and liquid than a 3rd print of a comic with no discernible story value.

 

 

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.

 

A very passionate and thorough response. While I cannot take back what I wrote, I will admit I was wrong about the importance of issue 377. I have all of the PAD issues of the Hulk, having jumped on the Incredible Hulk title sometime in the 280s and jumping off when the original title ended. I do remember enjoying the PAD issues for the humor (Rick Jones and Marla stand out as two characters I enjoyed reading about) and felt the Pantheon was an interesting group with a lot of potential whose storyline was cut far too short. As for the "smart" Hulk, I wasn't a big fan of the "smart" Hulk character, preferring the "split personality" Hulk more. But, I do understand many people do like the "smart" Hulk so I can see why this is considered an important issue to many.

Edited October 7, 2013 by rjrjr

[the blob]

i don't see the regular 377 bouncing much due to the # of them out there -- except maybe in 9.8 -- but the third print is indeed htf (and the cover is different too), so the thing that keeps many 90s books "down" doesn't afflict that edition (too much product).

 

i have never analyzed the issues much and couldn't tell you what they wrere about now (20 years later), but i do remember that, at the time, i really though they were exceptional. a real bright spot among some of the krapola pumped out in the early 90s both story and art-wise.

[Monstro]

 

For that price you can buy a decent copy of many 1st appearances which are far more appealing and liquid than a 3rd print of a comic with no discernible story value.

 

 

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!

[solarcadet]

i don't see the regular 377 bouncing much due to the # of them out there -- except maybe in 9.8 -- but the third print is indeed htf (and the cover is different too), so the thing that keeps many 90s books "down" doesn't afflict that edition (too much product).

 

i have never analyzed the issues much and couldn't tell you what they wrere about now (20 years later), but i do remember that, at the time, i really though they were exceptional. a real bright spot among some of the krapola pumped out in the early 90s both story and art-wise.

 

seems like the 1st print #377 in raw is worth next to nothing due to saturation.

 

Im definitively going to try to buy a 3rd print at Comikazee next month. Its funny that some really want the low print version of 3rd print when probably not many even know that a nearly identical Brazilian edition exists and is zero in CGC.

 

 

 

 

 

[Transplant]

 

For that price you can buy a decent copy of many 1st appearances which are far more appealing and liquid than a 3rd print of a comic with no discernible story value.

 

 

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!

Agreed. Exactly why this dude should post more.

[Transplant]

i don't see the regular 377 bouncing much due to the # of them out there -- except maybe in 9.8 -- but the third print is indeed htf (and the cover is different too), so the thing that keeps many 90s books "down" doesn't afflict that edition (too much product).

 

i have never analyzed the issues much and couldn't tell you what they wrere about now (20 years later), but i do remember that, at the time, i really though they were exceptional. a real bright spot among some of the krapola pumped out in the early 90s both story and art-wise.

 

seems like the 1st print #377 in raw is worth next to nothing due to saturation.

 

Im definitively going to try to buy a 3rd print at Comikazee next month. Its funny that some really want the low print version of 3rd print when probably not many even know that a nearly identical Brazilian edition exists and is zero in CGC.

 

 

 

 

No offense, but people are simply never going to desire foreign printings as much as their US counterparts. It hasn't ever happened and I don't foresee it ever happening. I don't knock people for wanting to collect rare (or not) foreign editions or reprints, but to try to equate the demand for a 377-3rd with a 377-Brazilian is a fool's game.

[solarcadet]

people want a really low print of something but the 3rd printing is not the lowest printing. that is all i am saying.

 

no offense, but dont read into it wrong that a foreign could ever be worth more than an original.

 

there is about zero demand on the brazilian so no dice on that equation.

 

 

 

 

[Apollo34]

I was looking for 377 3rd print maybe 3-4 years ago and passed on a few NM for $20 or so. I hate thinking I can find a better deal only to see it skyrocket. The second print is pretty cool looking as well.

[vaillant]

I have kept the second print only because the insides are printed better than the first, but the negative cover pretty much nullifies the idea behind the cover composition (shadows in a lighter color than the background).

 

I still prefer the first printing, for a million reasons.

[DiceX]

 

For that price you can buy a decent copy of many 1st appearances which are far more appealing and liquid than a 3rd print of a comic with no discernible story value.

 

 

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.

 

Good post and analysis. I agree completely. The Peter David Hulk run is one of my favorite stories in all of comics.

 

 

[DiceX]

i don't see the regular 377 bouncing much due to the # of them out there -- except maybe in 9.8 -- but the third print is indeed htf (and the cover is different too), so the thing that keeps many 90s books "down" doesn't afflict that edition (too much product).

 

i have never analyzed the issues much and couldn't tell you what they wrere about now (20 years later), but i do remember that, at the time, i really though they were exceptional. a real bright spot among some of the krapola pumped out in the early 90s both story and art-wise.

 

seems like the 1st print #377 in raw is worth next to nothing due to saturation.

 

Im definitively going to try to buy a 3rd print at Comikazee next month. Its funny that some really want the low print version of 3rd print when probably not many even know that a nearly identical Brazilian edition exists and is zero in CGC.

 

 

 

 

No offense, but people are simply never going to desire foreign printings as much as their US counterparts. It hasn't ever happened and I don't foresee it ever happening. I don't knock people for wanting to collect rare (or not) foreign editions or reprints, but to try to equate the demand for a 377-3rd with a 377-Brazilian is a fool's game.

 

I know my own personal excitement level of foreign comics are somewhere between none and none.

 

 

[divad]

i don't see the regular 377 bouncing much due to the # of them out there -- except maybe in 9.8 -- but the third print is indeed htf (and the cover is different too), so the thing that keeps many 90s books "down" doesn't afflict that edition (too much product).

 

i have never analyzed the issues much and couldn't tell you what they wrere about now (20 years later), but i do remember that, at the time, i really though they were exceptional. a real bright spot among some of the krapola pumped out in the early 90s both story and art-wise.

 

seems like the 1st print #377 in raw is worth next to nothing due to saturation.

 

Im definitively going to try to buy a 3rd print at Comikazee next month. Its funny that some really want the low print version of 3rd print when probably not many even know that a nearly identical Brazilian edition exists and is zero in CGC.

 

 

 

 

No offense, but people are simply never going to desire foreign printings as much as their US counterparts. It hasn't ever happened and I don't foresee it ever happening. I don't knock people for wanting to collect rare (or not) foreign editions or reprints, but to try to equate the demand for a 377-3rd with a 377-Brazilian is a fool's game.

 

I know my own personal excitement level of foreign comics are somewhere between none and none.

 

 

ditto xitto

[solarcadet]

i don't see the regular 377 bouncing much due to the # of them out there -- except maybe in 9.8 -- but the third print is indeed htf (and the cover is different too), so the thing that keeps many 90s books "down" doesn't afflict that edition (too much product).

 

i have never analyzed the issues much and couldn't tell you what they wrere about now (20 years later), but i do remember that, at the time, i really though they were exceptional. a real bright spot among some of the krapola pumped out in the early 90s both story and art-wise.

 

seems like the 1st print #377 in raw is worth next to nothing due to saturation.

 

Im definitively going to try to buy a 3rd print at Comikazee next month. Its funny that some really want the low print version of 3rd print when probably not many even know that a nearly identical Brazilian edition exists and is zero in CGC.

 

 

 

 

No offense, but people are simply never going to desire foreign printings as much as their US counterparts. It hasn't ever happened and I don't foresee it ever happening. I don't knock people for wanting to collect rare (or not) foreign editions or reprints, but to try to equate the demand for a 377-3rd with a 377-Brazilian is a fool's game.

 

I know my own personal excitement level of foreign comics are somewhere between none and none.

 

 

 

I used to feel same way. But after nearly 30 years of collecting, I found hunting the foreign keys fun and challenging.

 

Mucho props on the 377 analysis. The 2nd print cover looks more desirable. I cant wait to find 3rd print copy

 

 

 

 

[DiceX]

i don't see the regular 377 bouncing much due to the # of them out there -- except maybe in 9.8 -- but the third print is indeed htf (and the cover is different too), so the thing that keeps many 90s books "down" doesn't afflict that edition (too much product).

 

i have never analyzed the issues much and couldn't tell you what they wrere about now (20 years later), but i do remember that, at the time, i really though they were exceptional. a real bright spot among some of the krapola pumped out in the early 90s both story and art-wise.

 

seems like the 1st print #377 in raw is worth next to nothing due to saturation.

 

Im definitively going to try to buy a 3rd print at Comikazee next month. Its funny that some really want the low print version of 3rd print when probably not many even know that a nearly identical Brazilian edition exists and is zero in CGC.

 

 

 

 

No offense, but people are simply never going to desire foreign printings as much as their US counterparts. It hasn't ever happened and I don't foresee it ever happening. I don't knock people for wanting to collect rare (or not) foreign editions or reprints, but to try to equate the demand for a 377-3rd with a 377-Brazilian is a fool's game.

 

I know my own personal excitement level of foreign comics are somewhere between none and none.

 

 

 

I used to feel same way. But after nearly 30 years of collecting, I found hunting the foreign keys fun and challenging.

 

Mucho props on the 377 analysis. The 2nd print cover looks more desirable. I cant wait to find 3rd print copy

 

 

 

 

Wait...wait...I feel foreign desire arising in my loin.

Nah. That's not what that was. I'm still at none.

 

 

[juggernaut]

 

For that price you can buy a decent copy of many 1st appearances which are far more appealing and liquid than a 3rd print of a comic with no discernible story value.

 

 

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.

 

Pure quality. Great post.

[solarcadet]

i don't see the regular 377 bouncing much due to the # of them out there -- except maybe in 9.8 -- but the third print is indeed htf (and the cover is different too), so the thing that keeps many 90s books "down" doesn't afflict that edition (too much product).

 

i have never analyzed the issues much and couldn't tell you what they wrere about now (20 years later), but i do remember that, at the time, i really though they were exceptional. a real bright spot among some of the krapola pumped out in the early 90s both story and art-wise.

 

seems like the 1st print #377 in raw is worth next to nothing due to saturation.

 

Im definitively going to try to buy a 3rd print at Comikazee next month. Its funny that some really want the low print version of 3rd print when probably not many even know that a nearly identical Brazilian edition exists and is zero in CGC.

 

 

 

 

No offense, but people are simply never going to desire foreign printings as much as their US counterparts. It hasn't ever happened and I don't foresee it ever happening. I don't knock people for wanting to collect rare (or not) foreign editions or reprints, but to try to equate the demand for a 377-3rd with a 377-Brazilian is a fool's game.

 

I know my own personal excitement level of foreign comics are somewhere between none and none.

 

 

 

I used to feel same way. But after nearly 30 years of collecting, I found hunting the foreign keys fun and challenging.

 

Mucho props on the 377 analysis. The 2nd print cover looks more desirable. I cant wait to find 3rd print copy

 

 

 

 

Wait...wait...I feel foreign desire arising in my loin.

Nah. That's not what that was. I'm still at none.