Planet Hulk

Planet Hulk by Pak and Pagulayan was a major story that ran through "Hulk" issues 92 to 105.

Hulk was sent out into space via a trick by the Illuminati. The reason being that he was too dangerous to remain on Earth.

Another reason was that Marvel needed him out of the picture whilst Civil War played out. As the side which included the Hulk on their side would have a large advantage.

The story reminded me of a couple of stories from DC. Namely Superman circa 1989 which Supes goes on a self imposed exile and the last story in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing where swampy flees into space. Both stories were considerably better than this one.

The Superman one is a good comparison as he also becomes a gladiator before turning hero, overthrowing an overlord and saving a planet.


I didn't really care for any of the new characters who were introduced, and considering there were 14 issues to flesh them out, that was poor. The story was predictable. In fact one of the only elements that I did like was one of the predictable ones. Namely, the fact that the Hulk can never find happiness and so, in keeping with tradition, it all goes wrong for him just as he starts to believe that he can be happy. And, also keeping with tradition, it was the puny humans fault.

I hope World War Hulk is better.

Finally, I didn't much care for the art as many of the alien characters were indistinguishable from each other. Things got slightly better as the story went on as you would expect but still, not the best.

The covers were generally good, however, and I've included a selection here.

Rating (overall) 5/10