Hulk, Vol. 3: Hulk No More

Hulk (2008) (Collected Editions) #3

by Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness (Illustrator)

An anthology of Incredible Hulk adventures includes the work of an Emmy-nominated and Eisner Award-winning writer, combining Hulk 10-13 with Incredible Hulk #600 for a story arc that reunites the original Defenders against an insidious threat. Reprint.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 11, 2009

About the author

Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an Emmy and WGA nominated American film and television writer, producer and award-winning comic book writer. Loeb was a Co-Executive Producer on the NBC hit show Heroes, and formerly a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost.

A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner (see below), Loeb's comic book career includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who provides the comic art seen on Heroes.

Reviews

[Jokoloyo]

I like the art of Defenders vs. Offenders story, but the story... it is one of the predictable end. Sorry, I made a mistake, the end is even worse than my guessing at the end, nothing changed as predicted. But deus ex machina way to made it unchanged is a new low. I feel pity for Red Hulk.

The premise of Defenders vs. Offenders resembles the Marvel character based online gacha game that involving The Collector and The Grandmaster.

[Anne]

Worth reading to see how Banner gets de-Hulked, but to get to it you have to wade through a pretty cheesy story with Namor, Silver Surfer, and Dr. Strange. I know, with those three headlining a story you'd think it would be good. It's not.

[Tym]

I really like the art, the story is okay, better than some of Jeph Loeb’s other volumes but definitely not great. Love Ed McGuiness though

[Alex E]

Good lord, this was almost a complete waste of time.

You know that thing in comics where they give you a story, have some monumental things happen within them then at the end say, sike! this was all a dream. Yeah... this is that.

The Grandmaster and the Collector...sigh.... are once again having a "game" where they pit their own team of chosen characters against each other. One team is led by Hulk and comprises of his Defender compatriots, and the other is Rulk and his "Offenders". Sigh....

I already have problem with that setup cause its so cheesy and overdone. This really felt like a late 80's or early 90's comic instead of something written in 2008. And Rulk is so overpowered and "extreme" in this book that its annoying. I mean him using the Silver Surfers board and screaming "this is the most fun ive ever had with my clothes on!" is just... no. We're kind of passed that Loeb. Rulk pretty much kills everyone, which is then retconned by the Grandmaster, then he kills the Grandmaster. Sigh....

Issue 600 saves the volume from being a complete mess, as we get a pretty cool story involving spider man, which I'm guessing will become important soon. This was a fun story and not so cheesy. Also it has a story by Stan the man, which is always a fun throwback,if not inconsequential.

This is definitely my least favorite since WWH. Hopefully things get back on track in volume 4.

[Angela]

There's a fun team up with the Defenders before they knew the Hulk. It's kinda fun to see the characters interact with each other before they became who we know today. The other story is very short. An ok read.

[Malum]

"Stories where everything turns out to be a dream at the end and everything was pointless are great!" said no one ever. A bunch of crazy stuff happens in the Defenders storyline but, of course, godlike beings make it all reverse everything and wipe almost everyone's memories.
The other story, where Banner loses his ability to Hulk out is a little better, but any Hulk story where the Hulk doesn't appear (or only appears for a moment) already has a strike against it.

[Aarthika]

2.5

This was kind of a mess, like bringing people from different parts of the timelines then putting them back and erasing their memories, like how does that work? Red Hulk is very annoying but badass and the fight between him and Hulk was nice. I liked the art in this and seeing my favourite character, Silver Surfer was good. But it was quite all over the place, why was this whole galactic arc even necessary?????

[Shannon Appelcline]

Taken as an action adventure, this volume rather surprisingly does not suck. (Perhaps the previous two volumes just lowered my standards.) There's actually a bit of plot advancement and some interesting storytelling amidst the fighting.

[Omni Theus]

3.25 out of 5 stars. Jumped the shark a bit here...

[Emmett Spain]

Hulk hijinks. Fun but not overly memorable.

[Quentin Wallace]

3.5 Stars

This run seems a little..mindless. Things seem to happen randomly that have nothing to do with, well, anything. Just out of the blue we get a Defenders vs. Offenders battle orchestrated by The Gamesmaster and the Collector. It just didn't seem to fit, plus by the time it was over it made even less sense.

Then we get back into the core story, which was I guess was on a different timeline? We have Banner as the Hulk, then we have Banner not being the Hulk.

I think Loeb just had a bunch of Hulk stories he wanted to tell and he used this run to tell them, even if they didn't "fit" exactly. The art is good, and really even with the flaws it's entertaining. Just not what I'd call smooth.

[Rick Ray]

The Collector, an Elder of the Universe, has plucked the Red Hulk as his champion to tackle the Defenders (among some other villains). Rulk proves surprisingly knowledgeable about the various heroes that make up the original iteration of the Defenders (Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange and Namor), so it's really up to Hulk to save the day. Jeph Loeb's writing here is awfully milquetoast, whereby everything is astonishingly predictable and relying heavily on similar deus ex machina-type designs to fill out the climax. Easily the weakest arc in the series yet, even despite McGuinness returning to the book for the art duties.

[Ian Raffaele]

Good but not great. The story progressed a bit but raised more questions than it answered. The Red She-Hulk showed up, which was nice. The art wasn't to my liking but wasn't so bad as to deeply offend me. The last 40 pages of the 260ish page graphic novel were all sketches design filler that padded out the book.

[Terry Murphy]

How does Jeph Loeb continue to get work?

He writes as though it were still 1963 and every thought must be spelled out in the most overt fashion possible. His writing is so ham-fisted, and the plotting so moronic that I'd be hard-pressed to find anything about this that isn't related to the pencils.

Avoid this mess.

[Chad]

Wow, that Defenders story was dumb. Half the people in it acted out of character. Red Hulk just killing people with ease. This was awful. At least Ed McGuinness made it all look great. Hulk #600 was better where we see what happens to Banner and I liked the Spider-Man appearance.

[Jeff Eggleston]

really enjoyed this one

Becoming a big fan of Ed Mcguinness’s art. Fun story. The colors were great. A very dynamic story with some twists. Reminds me of the stories I’d read in the early 90s.

[Doctor Doom]

This is okay but... each of the graphic novels in this series is of less quality than the previous one. Fortunately Vol. 1 set the bar fairly high so it is not like this one is horrible- it is just not as good as Vol. 2 which in turn was not as good as Vol. 1.

[Jonathan nichols]

it was awesome it was a team death-match for green hulk but a free for all for red hulk, perfect!

[guanaeps]

This whole run is starting to feel stretched out and fluffed up.

[Daniel]

The story was okay. Art was top notch.

[Jesse Baggs]

I couldn’t finish this volume and, as a result, decided to give up on Jeph Loeb’s Hulk run. The premise behind the Hulk is relatable and well-suited to comic-book mayhem: Bruce Banner has a temper that gets him into trouble, the kind of trouble that leads to lots of municipal property damage. Focusing on that premise in the first Hulk volume served Loeb well, but each successive volume moved away from what worked. In the second volume we got a fairly large crossover with barely any (Green) Hulk; in this volume we get an intelligent time-traveling Hulk who teams up with Dr. Strange, the Silver Surfer, and Namor, who form a superhero team called The Defenders. I’m not against an intergalactic Hulk, but the drama of the Red Hulk from the first volume is what first pulled me in, and there’s none to be found here. Plus, the Defenders arc requires too much Marvel-comics knowledge for this casual reader. In the end, a smart Hulk is just like any other superhero: boring. Fool me once, Jeph Loeb, shame on you. Fool me twice, Hulk smash book closed.

[Matt]

As far as I can remember, I had never read a Hulk-centric story until picking up this book. I had heard that writer Greg Pak was doing a great job with the Hulk in recent years, and I was highly intrigued by the little I knew of the Red Hulk storyline. For these reasons, I decided to give the Incredible Hulk a chance (even though I am typically not interested in the Hulk as a character). I was pretty satisfied with this read. The beginning of the volume (the Defenders vs. the Offenders) wasn’t great, but it did give some good story beats concerning the mystery of, “Who is the Red Hulk?” The second part of the volume was better, covering the fallout from Banner losing his Hulk identity, and continuing with the Red Hulk mystery. I should say that I was spoiled concerning the true identity of the Red Hulk months ago, but still enjoyed reading as the characters questioned who this mysterious monster really is. The Red Hulk is a good Hulk villain because he is not simply a red version of the Hulk that everyone already knows. He has new powers that make him intriguing. As I read this book, I learned that he has the ability to absorb the powers of others, and was even able to absorb the Hulk entity out of Bruce Banner. I’m sure that this will make for interesting future stories, and I have decided to read on in this recent Hulk saga.

[Jon M]

In a world long ago, Bruce Banner controlled the Hulk's body with Bruce Banner's mind. No longer did he have no control over his actions. And he was in love with a woman-hulk or something like that named Jarella and they lived in peace in a castle of some sort with a bunch of noble subjects with green skin, just like them. And Hulk ruled this place and they were all, as a Hulk-like race, were a big happy Hulk-family. Until one day a giant hand came down, out of no where, in the sky, and grabbed Jarella and left with her clenched in his giant fist and Hulk promised to get his love back but he never did! Until now, if he can beat Red Hulk then he shall save her and have her back.

In the next story, Hulk, later, goes crazy and defeats any hero you can think of! He is unstoppable! He attacks the whole town and ruins everything, destroys everything and everything is hopeless. How will this end? What will come of Hulk?

And later, watch Bruce Banner get rid of the Hulk and no longer turn into him when angry and watch the good come of it...and the bad.

[Brian Rosenberger]

The Hulk, Dr. Strange, the Surfer, Namor, Baron Mordo, Tiger Shark, Terrax, the Red Hulk, Grandmaster, and the Collector is a pretty good line up. Plus Galactus, Dormammu, and the Psycho Man even put in appearances. It's the standard contest of the Elders of the Universe playing a game of super human chess. I never get tired of it. Terrax should have his own series. I'm always pleased to see Tiger Shark in his orginal costume. Give him one of the trillion Wolverine books. A lot of people piss on the Red Hulk (including me) but to be honest, I like big dudes who pummel opponents. I don't need a lot of character development or motivation. The only thing I want from a Hulk movie is 90 minutes of Hulk Smash. With this book, you get a lot of Smash. I dig it.

[Lloyd]

Here we are. Another volume of Loeb's Hulk run, another volume of Hollywood action movie fare. It may be fun, but at the end, it's all but meaningless...

This one was a bit different from the previous two volumes, though. Along with the high action, low substance stories, we got a bit more of a look at the Red Hulk and an A-Bomb/Banner story that ended the volume with a bit of meaning.

The art is again stellar, with Ed McGuinness retaking the regular reins. His art has been the saving grace of these early volumes of Loeb's run on the title.

Recommended for Hulk freaks, searchers of light superhero reads, and fans of great comic book art.

[Martin]

The 3-parter that kicks off this collection is all but pointless in the grand "Who is the Red Hulk?" mystery/scheme. It's okay, but nothing to write home about. 2 stars.

The uncontested STAR of this collection is HULK #600. Not only do we get more pieces of the Red Hulk puzzle, we also:

(1) find out about the BAD Doc Samson (more pieces of THAT puzzle are given to us in subsequent volumes), and

(2) Bruce Banner gets de-powered by Red Hulk and Hulk is NO MORE. What does that mean for Banner? 4 stars.

Bottom line: about 60% of this book is inconsequential, but the remaining 40% that's good is actually very good. 3 stars.

[Jeff]

Loeb's uninspired take on the Hulk continues, as Hulk and his former teammates from the defenders are called upon to fight some of their most lethal enemies by the Grandmaster. Like the Red Hulk storyline, this means generally just pages and pages of combat. McGuinness' art, which worked so well on titles like Deadpool, is wasted here, where everyone is just muscle piled on top of muscle. It feels cramped and unenjoyable.

The backup stories with Spider-Man and Rick Jones are far more readable than the main fare.

[Fizzgig76]

Reprints Hulk #10-13 and Incredible Hulk #600. The Hulk and Red Hulk are pulled into a game between the Collector and Gamesmaster, and Bruce Banner finds he might be rid of the Hulk. The Hulk series is pretty bad at this point. It tries to be funny (it isn't), it isn't very action packed, and all the characters seem really out of character. The "mystery" of the Red Hulk is a mystery that no one seems to really care about (and they pretty much ignore in this collection).

[M]

Loeb decides to use a bit of fandom in this collection, pitting the Hulk and his Defenders crew against the Red Hulk and their opposite numbers. Pulled from various times, a Smart Hulk tackles Red Hulk, the free Silver Surfer battles a bloodthirsty Terrax, the blue-faced Doctor Strange matches up with Baron Mordo, and ornery Namor goes up against Tiger Shark. Despite the classic "gamesmanship" of the Marvel tale, it provides a good look at the Offenders!

[J.]

Standard comics silliness. A lot of fighting, trying to impress me with whose the toughest, and a typical comic-book ending that goes negates everything that happened. Loeb's Hulk series is just terrible--the ONLY promising thing is the question of who the Red Hulk is, and there appears to be no addressing that issue any time soon.