tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post2998317686724182196..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-amining Incredible Hulk #340Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-89532455536018990002017-02-21T12:50:47.959-06:002017-02-21T12:50:47.959-06:00A great issue, and like the best of Peter David...A great issue, and like the best of Peter David's run, endlessly rereadable.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04879371851313965079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-81042634000046340722014-03-08T12:40:55.484-06:002014-03-08T12:40:55.484-06:00@Jason: Tee, did you review Hulk 336-337, the X-Fa...@Jason: <i>Tee, did you review Hulk 336-337, the X-Factor issues? I love those as well, although they don't really get into X-Factor's heads the way this one gets into Wolverine's.</i><br /><br />I didn't review them - just noted them in the issue of <i>X-Factor</i> before they occurred (#20, I think). I read them, but X-Factor's role wasn't much more than your standard guest appearance schtick. Like you say, PAD didn't really get into their heads much, and there wasn't much in the way of adding to the overall X-narrative that happened. It was pretty much a Hulk story in which X-Factor guest starred, which is fine, but I didn't feel it warranted it's own post.<br /><br /><i> I do think it's a great Hulk issue and was an enjoyable chapter of the saga that was unfolding in that series at the time.</i><br /><br />PAD's Hulk run is one of those things on my "to read" list; I've read snippets of it here and there, but never the whole thing. Given how much I enjoy his <i>X-Factor</i> stuff, I really need to give it a look. <br /><br />@Lempo: <i>Funny that the weather was messed up when the story arch started in #187 and now that we are coming to the end it's the same thing all over again.</i><br /><br />Something which Claremont points out (via Rogue) in #225, even though, as you say, the snow is being caused by two DIFFERENT extradimensional evils. :) <br /><br />Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-14914139486261329122014-03-01T15:30:27.293-06:002014-03-01T15:30:27.293-06:00Hey... it was already snowing at this point in Dal...Hey... it was already snowing at this point in Dallas? Funny that the weather was messed up when the story arch started in #187 and now that we are coming to the end it's the same thing all over again. The extradimensional evils wanting to destroy universe lack some originality in the gimmicks department.Lemponoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-9916312622643597592014-02-28T07:36:15.122-06:002014-02-28T07:36:15.122-06:00@ Jason: "die in Dallas" thing is just P...@ Jason: <i>"die in Dallas" thing is just PAD referencing the concurrent storyline in X-Men. If anything, the joke probably seemed like a pretty obvious one to make.</i><br /><br />I feel in the context it's not only allowed but it really is mandatory, when there are people on their way knowingly to go die in Dallas, and more than the whole thing is a fine example of the continuity controlling they still did in the 80s.<br /><br /><i>Or maybe not. We'll have to wait until X-Men 225 and see if Claremont references J.R. Ewing out of the blue.</i><br /><br />It's the 80s, and it's Dallas. If they had chosen to mention that Forge's aerial was in the E-Wing of the Eagle Plaza it would have been completely acceptable too.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-57178114062442901292014-02-28T03:27:28.197-06:002014-02-28T03:27:28.197-06:00"I generally like Peter David. He's certa..."I generally like Peter David. He's certainly written some stories I really enjoyed. But sometimes his humor is way too contrived. The Dallas joke here is one of those lines, making a long jump from point A to point B just for a tepid punchline."<br /><br />Yeah, the editor really should have cut that one. But sadly the editor on this issue really sucks, hardcore. :)<br /><br />Seriously, wow, so much hatred for the "Dallas" joke. <br /><br />I have to go with Teemu here. In context, I'd say the joke is anything but forced. Like you said, Teebore, it was 1987. That plotline in "Dallas" was a pretty popular -- even notorious -- television moment, and the "die in Dallas" thing is just PAD referencing the concurrent storyline in X-Men. If anything, the joke probably seemed like a pretty obvious one to make.<br /><br />Or maybe not. We'll have to wait until X-Men 225 and see if Claremont references J.R. Ewing out of the blue. <br /><br />"The Hulk really comes off like a dick here (which, given the current status quo of the character at this point, is saying something)"<br /><br />I'm ... not sure it is saying something. :) That was Hulk's whole deal at this time. He was an asshole in every issue, and he always brought out the worst in the people around him. That was his thing.<br /><br />"But more specifically, I'm thinking of the time he had Betty Banner dye her hair blonde just so he could give a brunette rival named Veronica."<br /><br />Wasn't a rival; just a co-worker. And Betty stayed blonde for 40 issues after that one-page gag, so I'm not sure I buy that he made her blonde JUST for that.<br /><br />"I totally read it as a relapse thing for Wolverine - he's trying to be in control, trying to be a leader, and then this jerk-ass from his past comes along, pushes all his buttons, and makes him lose his cool."<br /><br />I think that's exactly what he's going for. And again, if you read this era of HULK, you see it's a running theme that the character brings out the "monster" in the people around him. <br /><br />"I'm pretty sure this was still relatively early in his run, and he certainly wasn't TODD McFARLANE (for good and bad) yet."<br /><br />Indeed -- in fact this issue might have been the first step in making him TODD MCFARLANE ... Like you said, Tee, that cover became an iconic one pretty quickly.<br /><br />As for McFarlane's HULK run, it was brief, only 16 issues long (with a fill-in in there, so actually only 15). This is his 10th. I like him a lot on HULK, personally; I thought he and David had good chemistry.<br /><br />At any rate, it's interesting to hear these reactions to the issue. I loved these Hulk issues, and read this one (and the rest of the David/McFarlane run) long before reading "Fall of the Mutants," so I like it a lot. I like McFarlane's take on Wolverine, and the fight scenes, and the green blood. :)<br /><br />And I think Peter David's take on Wolverine is pretty on-target. (I can't remember if this is the first time PAD wrote Wolverine? Only about a year or so later he'd end up succeeding Claremont on the Wolverine solo ongoing, albeit not for long.)<br /><br />Tee, did you review Hulk 336-337, the X-Factor issues? I love those as well, although they don't really get into X-Factor's heads the way this one gets into Wolverine's. (Funny, PAD also succeeded Claremont as scripter on X-Factor too, not counting Nicieza's single fill-in ...)<br /><br />Bottom line, I do agree that this is completely non-essential reading as far as "Fall of the Mutants" is concerned, but I do think it's a great Hulk issue and was an enjoyable chapter of the saga that was unfolding in that series at the time.<br /><br />Jasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13298753675007196538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-72717776462643453562014-02-27T23:31:41.581-06:002014-02-27T23:31:41.581-06:00Yeah but Teemu it's not like the came back to ...Yeah but Teemu it's not like the came back to life in Magneto's shower...wwk5dnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-45575974223883726662014-02-27T23:22:48.715-06:002014-02-27T23:22:48.715-06:00I believe we lost every right of complaining about...I believe we lost every right of complaining about the Dallas joke the moment the X-Men really did die and did come back. Sorry Betsy but everyone is joking about it, and us funny book people don't have a moral foot to stand on regarding Dallas.<br /><br />It's Bobby who would have been fully within his rights to joke about it when he was dying with cancer in the new series that he's really a carbon copy and his real self is healing in a cocoon at the bottom of some bay.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-58544984271905132972014-02-27T15:45:58.093-06:002014-02-27T15:45:58.093-06:00@wwk5d: Whatever moral point the Hulk (or by exten...@wwk5d: <i>Whatever moral point the Hulk (or by extension, PAD) was trying to make about this story falls flat. The point I got was, if you push someone hard enough, they are going to react a certain way.</i><br /><br />I totally read it as a relapse thing for Wolverine - he's trying to be in control, trying to be a leader, and then this jerk-ass from his past comes along, pushes all his buttons, and makes him lose his cool. <br /><br />Which makes for an interesting dynamic given who the star and guest star of the issue are. Then again, that could just be my X-Men-leaning bias at play...<br /><br />@Matt: <i>But sometimes his humor is way too contrived. The Dallas joke here is one of those lines, making a long jump from point A to point B just for a tepid punchline.</i><br /><br />Yeah, I'm a pretty big Peter David fan and a sucker for puns, so his humor is right up my alley, but the Dallas joke here just isn't worth it. <br /><br /><i>Or, in the early nineties, when apparently went on a Blackadder binge and gave Val Cooper an ex-husband named Edmund Atkinson and an assistant named Baldrick, who even used Baldrick's catchphrase, "I have a cunning plan."</i><br /><br />Heh. I remember being confused as hell by all those references reading those <i>X-Factor</i> issues as a kid, because I had NO IDEA what <i>Blackadder</i> was. <br /><br /><i>Anyway. I hate Todd McFarlane's artwork, I guess is the point I'm trying to make here.</i><br /><br />Ha! Nice segue. :) <br /><br />I like his stuff in some places, but nothing here is terribly exciting. I'm pretty sure this was still relatively early in his run, and he certainly wasn't TODD McFARLANE (for good and bad) yet. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-58129166032631419632014-02-27T14:25:23.446-06:002014-02-27T14:25:23.446-06:00I generally like Peter David. He's certainly ...I generally like Peter David. He's certainly written some stories I really enjoyed. But sometimes his humor is way too contrived. The Dallas joke here is one of those lines, making a long jump from point A to point B just for a tepid punchline.<br /><br />But more specifically, I'm thinking of the time he had Betty Banner dye her hair blonde <b>just</b> so he could give a brunette rival named Veronica. Or, in the early nineties, when apparently went on a <i>Blackadder</i> binge and gave Val Cooper an ex-husband named Edmund Atkinson <b>and</b> an assistant named Baldrick, who even used Baldrick's catchphrase, "I have a cunning plan." Some of that stuff is just cringe-inducing.<br /><br />Anyway. I hate Todd McFarlane's artwork, I guess is the point I'm trying to make here.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-83573308624598803262014-02-27T13:06:17.232-06:002014-02-27T13:06:17.232-06:00The Hulk really comes off like a dick here (which,...The Hulk really comes off like a dick here (which, given the current status quo of the character at this point, is saying something). Clay Quartermain even more so. <br /><br />Whatever moral point the Hulk (or by extension, PAD) was trying to make about this story falls flat. The point I got was, if you push someone hard enough, they are going to react a certain way. It reminds of that one issue from the late 90s Alan Davis run on X-men, right before the Magneto War, where Magneto is having a conversation with that normal guy...a few parallels there. <br /><br />Overall, a very missable issue if you're an X-men fan. wwk5dnoreply@blogger.com