Hulk: Gray - with Logan Crowley
We’re back with another episode of Trade School! This time, we’re talking about Hulk: Gray! Our host this week is Logan Crowley!
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Edited by Case Aiken
Scored by Bret Eagleston
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⏱️ Chapters
00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:45 Why Hulk: Gray
01:37 Tim Sale’s Hulk
02:46 Hulk and Banner as One Person
03:45 Thunderbolt Ross
04:37 Betty Ross
05:36 Rick Jones
06:26 Why Hulk: Gray Works
07:04 Final Recommendation
07:32 Single Bound Promo
Transcription
00:00
Welcome to Certain Point of View's Trade School, where each episode a different host talks about a comic book trade paperback that they loved and why they love it. Hello everyone, my name is Logan Crowley from the Single Bound podcast which you can find on Spotify and I will be your guest instructor on Trade School. So I know that a couple episodes before this, probably depending on how Case wants to release them, I did Superman for All Seasons and I promise to the other Trade School contributors listening to this, I do not intend to swallow up all of the low and sale miniseries for myself. I would not do that. That is very selfish. There's somebody here panicking right now and you should know that Long Halloween is, as far as I know, still available, as is Spider man blue and etc.
00:45
But thinking about Superman for All Seasons made me want to shout out what I think is the most underrated of the Tim Sale Jeph Loeb projects, one that is not even currently in print, which baffles me, and that is Hulk Gray. Hulk Gray is again by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, in my opinion, the quintessential Hulk comic. And if somebody asks you, they come up to you in a panic and they say, please help. I don't know anything about the Hulk and I need to learn in a very brief amount of time. You first of all don't ask them any questions. Clearly from the tone of voice, it's an emergency, just respond and you tell them that the answer is Hulk Gray. I think Hulk Gray is the best origin of the Hulk, the best first Hulk story that you could possibly give someone.
01:37
It is incredibly rendered by Sale. He has such a fantastic design of the big guy himself in that it is sensitive, it is friendly, but it is also terrifying. And what mood he is in greatly changes how you are going to perceive the behemoth that he is and how much danger you are in. And at different points in this comic, he will have your heart absolutely torn open with sympathy for him, and he will have you absolutely terrified for the other people of the Marvel universe around him. I I think there are some guest appearances that will catch you off guard in an incredible way. There is a fantastic superhero fight, but I think what it best captures is who the three most important Hulk characters are. And yes, I am not breaking Bruce Banner and Hulk into two characters.
02:46
They are one character, one person, regardless of what is happening with him psychologically. It is one man who contains infinite contrast within himself, but is one person. And isn't that the most beautiful thing about the Hulk? Doesn't that tell us so much about every person that we meet that they are at different times in their life. Hulk and Banner, yin and Yang, the extremes of every single one of God's children and the violence and kindness and innovation that they are all in immediately capable of. That's what makes the Hulk as a character incredible. And that is really on display in this comic. As well as the brash, sort of power hungry, but in his mind for good mentality of Thunderbolt Ross and how he really has as much contrast within him as the Hulk does.
03:45
He is simultaneously an American hero and a sort of fascist monster. And that, that both things are true. Right. He thinks he's protecting everyone around him through the cruel and ruthless things that he does in the calloused way that he approaches the world. And is he doing more harm or more good? You know, I think that is a question that is greatly determined by whether or not the Hulk smashed your house recently. You know, I think it's very easy to think of Thunderbolt Ross as just a bad guy. But the Hulk has consequences, human consequences. And sometimes we do reach out to violent men to combat them. Is that right or wrong? I don't know. No one does really. And Hulk Gray really puts that on display.
04:37
And in the middle of these two men, unfortunately timid, unfortunately overlooked, unfortunately, you know, being crashed against the rocks of these two very caustic personalities is the woman who loves them both. Thunderbolt Ross's daughter and Bruce Banners future wife, Betty Ross. And the comic so perfectly captures that her sensitivity and kindness is something that brings out the best in these two men. But also that her needs and her well being is often victims of what these two men are like and how they live their lives and the decisions that they are both forced to make and decide to make for selfishness and for the greater good. Out of anger, unthought out. Really just an incredible look at the three of them and how they interact with each other. And that is the core of the Hulk.
05:36
I don't think any Hulk solo project ever needs to be made that doesn't have some version of those three characters in it, at least to some degree. And also actually I'm going to add a fourth character who really reading this, you will see needs to be in almost every Hulk project is Rick Jones. Rick Jones, the child who Bruce Banner gave his humanity to rescue and the burden that Rick now lives under. And how much of that is Rick's fault? Right? How much of that is the fault of the life that Rick was forced into before he ever got there that he made that bad decision? Is he even on the hook for a decision a grown man made for him? Right? Does he owe Bruce anything when Bruce is the one that decided to run out into a bomb site for him?
06:26
But I think Rick would tell you that he does. I think Rick would tell you that he owes him everything. Because that's the kind of person that Rick Jones is constantly trying to amend the bad things that have happened into his life after the fact. And Loeb, I think, really captures that. So I say if you are a big Hulk fan but you haven't read it, you've got to read it. And if you have never really gotten the Hulk and you don't know why people like this character as much as they do, I say again, you've really got to read it. This is the perfect first Hulk book and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.
07:04
I appreciate Case Aiken so much for giving me the opportunity to talk about this incredible comic, and I hope that someone at Marvel is listening. Please print more of these, because I would probably buy this book every Christmas and give it to somebody if I had it available at a reasonable price. And I can't do that because you're not printing them. So consider that. Thank you so much and happy reading.
07:32
We love digging into epic comic book runs, but what about the art of the single issue? Single Bound is a new podcast series hosted by married couple Amy and Logan as they review single issues of comics. And if the title also makes you think of Superman, you're not alone as the man of Steel is Logan's favorite character and a regular topic of discussion on Single Boundary. Listen and subscribe on Spotify and YouTube and follow the show on Instagram @singleboundpodcast.cpov certainpov.com.