The quarter bin again comes through; since I don't think I recalled this series, and I'm usually more than game for whatever Alan Davis feels like doing. This one is set during a very specific window, though! From 2014,
Savage Hulk #1, "The Man Within" Story and pencils by Alan Davis, inks by Mark Farmer.
The story is set immediately following
X-Men #66, which had been the last issue of the series before it went to reprints from
#67 to
#93. The X-Men had a brief scuffle with the Hulk, with Jean Grey turning him back into Banner, so they could get a gamma device to resuscitate Professor Xavier. (Resuscitate him from...? Something? Look, nobody was reading
X-Men then.) But, the Leader had been watching that fight, and reviewing the tapes, catches Bruce say the word "Xavier," and begins investigating for the device.
Meanwhile, out in the desert, the Hulk was getting shot at with advanced missiles from the Hulkbuster division of the United States army, that are probably the reason America can't afford healthcare; and he still ends the fight by throwing a big ol' rock at the launcher. Back at Xavier's school, the Professor was still fiddling with Banner's device, having determined it had been intended to cure the Hulk: Xavier still felt a psychic imprint of Banner's torment, and was determined to help him. (Davis draws an excellent tormented Xavier: you believe he's seen how much being the Hulk sucks and was compelled to save him by any means he could.) The Hulk, momentarily at peace in the desert, reverts to Banner, who later is taken in by an elderly couple for dinner. The X-Men--a full boat of them, the original five, plus Havok and Polaris--investigate Banner's desert lab, but when they then try to follow a gamma radiation source, they don't find the Hulk, but the Abomination! Who is getting shot at by missiles like those shot at the Hulk earlier. To be continued...
This was a fun four issues, with gamma radiation affecting some of the X-Men in unusual ways, as they make a good effort to save Banner from the Hulk. Sure, it wasn't gonna happen, but still. The last two issues of the series were from
Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko, and were set post-
Hulk #300, with the mindless Hulk banished to the Crossroads, then Dr. Strange is taken from testifying in front of Congress, to save an alien world from the Hulk. Those were pretty good too, glad I grabbed the lot!
