Review - Planet Hulk

Back in 'The Day' I used to read a lot of comic books. Probably not as many as many of my peers, but a fair number over the years. I've purged most of the comics I had collected; they were taking up space and most comics from Marvel or DC from the last 30 years aren't worth much. I sold them for what I could but saved a few short series I liked and a few "graphic novels."

However there was one more recent graphic novel I just had to pick up after seeing just the covers and learning about the concept of the original issues. That would be Planet Hulk.



The Hulk trapped on an alien planet becoming a slave and eventually ruler of the planet! Cool monsters, gladiator fights, The Hulk with armor and a sword, all sorts of goodness was promised by the covers of the original comic issues. All of that is collected into this graphic novel.

The basic story is the betrayal of the Hulk by a group of fellow heroes. They shoot him into deep space supposedly to a planet with no intelligent life where he can live in peace. Something goes wrong. The Hulk's ship falls through a wormhole and crashes on a world of violence, the world of Sakaar.

Our hero is weakened by his trip through the wormhole and is enslaved by the soldiers of the Emperor. He begins to quickly regain his strength thanks to the constant hostile stimulants he receives. He eventually befriends a number of fellow gladiators and they begin to work on gaining their freedom. The group eventually swears an oath making them Warbound.

Eventually the Warbound are given a task to finally gain their freedom that they are unwilling to perform. Luckily the obedience disks implanted on them are destroyed and they are able easily fight through the imperial army to freedom. They begin attracting more and more followers as the Emperor tries to have them destroyed.

After a long struggle against the insane Emperor the Warbound are victorious and the Hulk is proclaimed the Green King. His feats during the conflict were amazing and topped anything he has done in the past. At one point he even plunged into the cracking crust of the planet and managed to pull it back together, saving the world! Now he was victorious. He was now King of an entire world and had a queen and even an offspring on the way. The citizens celebrated their new ruler, they did not fear him. And while wanting to be left alone he now has the responsibility to rule a world; and it seems he will grow to fill that obligation.

However more happens in the last few pages that set they next stage of the Hulk's story in motion. I never continued on to find out what happened next. I knew what would happen next. The Hulk would get screwed and would never get proper vengeance. No need for me to read any of the comics that came after this.

I was never regularly read the Hulk comics, but I loved this story. A misunderstood being who just wants to live in peace and freedom who is betrayed by his friends and continues to try to live his life as best he can under constant unwanted events.

A short story related to the main one is also included. Amadeus Cho is a young man and the seventh smartest person on Earth. He is also a real friend of the Hulk. I love how Cho puts the evil Reed Richards in his place for Richards' part in the Hulk's exile. He even shows how the world's 'heroes' are more dangerous to the Earth than the Hulk ever was. "And you have to wonder if there wouldn't be fewer dead folks out there in your little civil war if you'd launched yourselves into space instead of him."

Rounding out the book are great write ups about the planet Sakaar and its solar system. A history of the world and its inhabitants including a map and other great information. All in all a great addition to the collection of comic book fans.

Sorry if this was light on details. Just trying to avoid any more spoilers than necessary.

PUBLISHER: Marvel Publishing, Inc.
GENRE: Graphic Novel; Science Fiction/Fantasy
PAGE COUNT: 416
2012 CHALLENGES: 150+ Reading Challenge 2012, 2012 Graphic Novel Challenge

Comic Book Binding

As I finish the purge of most of my comic book collection there are a few series which I intend to keep. The problem is that in the future pulling out all those dang plastic bags with individual issues and trying to read them I'd much rather just pull a single book off the self instead.

That's where comic book binding comes in. Now pretty much every comic book from the last thirty odd years is just about worthless. I've been to enough flea markets and toy shows to see the dozens of long boxes with comics marked down to a quarter or less. I don't own any old comics anymore, the ones with any value got sold.

Since they have no value now there is nothing wrong with having them bound. I know some collectors will shudder thinking of messing with comics like that, but luckily many more feel as I do.

So why should I spend twenty-odd dollars binding a bunch of worthless crap together? Well since these are the comics that survived my final purge I plan on reading them again in the future, possibly several times over the years. Binding them in hardcover format will help protect them and make it nice and easy to read. They will also look really spiffy on a shelf - no more comic boxes.

The first series I plan on having bound; the poor series that will get experimented on; is The Champions. My copies are in rough shape. They are old reading copies. Covers are still attached, all pages in good order. Hopefully there will be no problems in binding them.

I also plan a couple more experimental things to do with this first project. It'll take me a few weeks to prep these additional details. I'll also have to find a book binder with experience with binding comic books. Hopefully they will give me some pointers and help me with the additional things I'll want done with this book.

As this project gets closer to becoming a reality I'll post some more details. When it is finally completed by early 2012 I'll be sure to post some pictures.

For more information on Comic Book Binding check out the Comic Binding thread on The Comic Forums.

Have you ever had comic books bound? What were your experiences? Any regrets?

The Graying of Comic Book Fans

When I go to comic shops these days I’ve rarely seen anyone under the age of about 20 in them. I’m not sure if that is good for the comic industry in the long-run. Sure a thirty-something overweight comic collector may be able to afford stacks of overpriced comics, but who will replace him in twenty years when heart attacks have culled the herds of collectors?

Perhaps in this age of the internet, DVD players, video game systems, and such kids may not be as inclined to read comics like our parents & grandparents were, but the ever increasing cost of comics isn’t helping.

1938: Action Comics #1 – cover price ten cents. The regular price for a comic book would remain at this level until about 1962.

1979: comics were crossing into the 40 cent range from 10 cents over a 17 year period. This is when I got the first comic book I remember having (Action Comics #500, which was a huge issue so it cost $1.00). A dime from 1938 adjusted for inflation is about 52 cents, so comic books are still a great value.

1982: Cover prices increase to the 60 cent mark. This was the time I was getting into the Legion of Super-Heroes. Despite the 50% increase from just a few short years ago, the inflation adjusted dime from 1938 is 69 cents. Comics still cost less than in 1938.

1986: The post-Crisis on Infinite Earths comics start to show cover prices of 75 cents. Our good-old Action Comics #1 cover price adjusted for inflation is 78 cents.

1988: $1.00 for a comic book! Are they nuts?!? They sure were, our inflation adjusted dime is only worth 84 cents. Looks like things are going to get ugly.

1992: Now that the dollar point has been passed the increases continue. $1.25 is the new price of your average comic book – That dime from 1938 is adjusted to $1.00.

1995: $1.50 – a few years have gone by since the last price increase. I’m sure no one will notice if we round up to $1.50. Adjusted for inflation our old dime is worth $1.08.

1997: $1.99 – Just two years after a buck & a half we get another big jump in the cover price of a typical comic book. Our dime is not able to keep up, it’s sitting at $1.13.

2006: $2.99 for a comic book? If you are lucky you can find one that cheap from the two big companies. Small press books go for a lot more. The big publishers are also tempting fate by pushing up towards $3.99 by 2010. Insanity. That inflation adjusted dime is worth $1.42 in 2006. Comic books now cost more than twice they did back in ‘the day.’

The change in the type of paper used in comic books is factor in the price increase. I’m sure the overhead at the largest publishers has gone up considerably over the decades as the business world continues to increase in complexity. That doesn’t change the fact that kids aren’t going to be able to buy as many comics as they did in prior years.

On top of that the stories today are overly complex. Part of this complexity is just an attempt to hook the reader into buying additional books every month as well as special issues that explain the ‘universe-wide’ story arc. So now the reader is buying perhaps three books just to keep up on his hero for $8.97 when his grandfather could just buy one book for the inflation adjusted amount of $1.42.

Oh, and that Action Comics #1 could fetch up to $1,500,000 today. In 2082 issues of a comic bought today won’t appreciate in value by nearly as much. That better paper I mentioned earlier, as well as mylar bags, climate controlled storage, etcetera will keep too many copies of today’s comics in good condition to reduce the supply and drive up prices.

DC Adventures!

I finally had a little bit of money in the budget to pick up a new RPG book. I had planned to pick up a new Pathfinder players guide, even had it in my hand. Then I looked up on the shelf and saw the new DC Adventures Hero's Handbook! Holy cats! A new DC role-playing game.



I had loved the original DC Heroes RPG by Mayfair games back in the mid-'80s. I tried to like the one West End Games put out in the '90s based off their D6 Legend System. I knew nothing about this new game but knew I must have it.

It was the same price as the Pathfinder book I had planned on buying, but had a much smaller page count and slightly smaller dimensions than a regular RPG book, it was only a little larger in dimensions than a regular comic book.

When I finally got it home I started reading it. It was designed by Green Ronin, they make some good games a number based on the Open Game License. Wait a minute, this new DC Game was powered by the Mutants & Masterminds game engine. Certainly didn't look like M&M character sheets in the back. A little research on the Green Ronin website explained. They wanted to develop their system beyond its SRD (System Reference Document) roots and develop a better game. DC Comics didn't want them to just create a DC sourcebook for an existing game. This modified version of M&M suited both parties well.

Needless to say I didn't finish reading the book and analyzing the system. I started pulling up notes on my old DC Heroes campaigns and all the the countless adventures that were played out over the years. My mind began to wander into the DC Universe like it did in the old days when I was plotting that campaign. I had to remind myself I wasn't running this new game yet. In fact I bought almost no comic books over the last five or so years apart from Marvel Zombies and some Army of Darkness, I don't have any real idea of what the current DC & Marvel Universes are like.

Who knows, I might have to dust off my old DC campaign and get things rolling with a new group of heroes. It's been nearly 24 years since I first played the original DC Heroes, perhaps this new DC Adventures will be just as good.

Peter Parker, A Menace!

Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with the world when an event in a comic book is reported in the news like it was a real event. While I don't want to listen to terrible news all day for the lighter stuff I'd prefer reports on good things happening around the world.... Peter Parker being fired is not one of those.

From what I can tell Parker, a photographer for the Mayor (once a photojournalist for the Daily Bugle) , doctored a photograph (supposedly for the so-called greater good) and was caught. He is quickly fired and now has trouble paying for his web fluid. It would have been more timely just to give him a pink slip like so many other people are getting these days.

So doctoring a photo gets Peter Parker fired... is he really the only person out there in the media creating false documents and stories? Not by a long-shot, he just doesn't have the powerful friends.

Is what he did unethical. Probably. Then again Spider-Man/Peter Parker is not an exemplar of an ethical life. He hides his identity and prowls the streets of New York and commits various crimes (trespassing, assault & battery, destruction of public property, and violation of local noise ordinances). Not only this, but he learned to profit from his own alter ego by selling photos of 'Spider-Man' to the Bugle for years; there is something not right about selling photos of some masked vigilante to your boss when you are that vigilante. He has even made a deal with the Devil in order to save his family.... maybe a noble reason, definitely selfish, guaranteed to land him in Hell.