Hulk: Planet Hulk Omnibus By Greg Pak
Planet Hulk has long been regarded as one of the best Hulk storylines of all time and now that I've actually read it I've got to say that I agree. This book was really good from beginning to end and all the individual components moved together so well to craft a highly engaging story that really makes you feel for the Hulk as a character.
The Hulk is viewed by the people of Earth as a dangerous figure. Due to rising anti-hero sentiment of the time (This event happens at roughly the same time as Civil War, for context) the illuminati decide that Hulk needs to go away to keep things stable. So a plan is concocted to send him deep into space. Towards a peaceful planet without any dangerous wildlife that would keep him happy and content for the rest of his days.
Then the ship he's in hits a wormhole, thrusts him onto a war-torn extremely violent planet where he's immediately recruited to be a gladiator, and that's the gist of the story. There's an extremely violent, corrupt ruler of the planet who holds little regard for his subjects while having also subjugated every other race on the planet. Hulk is implanted with an obedience disk to ensure he can't fight back, and the story revolves around Hulk and his small band of Gladiators having to survive the increasingly cruel and violent challenges thrown their way, and eventually depose the king to save the planet.
And it's great. Hulk makes for an unlikely revolutionary, and many of the people are unsure what to make of him at first but it quickly becomes clear he cares for doing the right thing and a lot of people are moved by him. There's a rebellious army working against the king, there's a lot of super cool action scenes as Hulk fights off against monsters and stuff.
But at its heart this is a political story. A revolutionary uprising deposing of a corrupt, cruel ruler. As Hulk fights his way through the various problems on the planet he grows stronger and stronger, becoming an even more unstoppable being throughout it all making it feel almost like a video game where he's grinding levels. There's a lot of nice commentary on how even if the king's people are being kept under the king's thumb in a cruel manner, they still subjugate other races as below themselves even which is just pitch-perfect commentary on racial relations and of course the big green guy also punches a lot of things so that's cool
The art is wonderful throughout, all of the bonus material is very much worth reading and adds worthwhile context, and this package truly earns the title of one of the Hulk's greatest stories of all time.
Though I'm not sure how it'd compare to Immortal Hulk now... Greg Pak Planet Hulk was my first ever Marvel Omnibus i read.
I started collecting omnibusses in the summer of 2020, before this time i collectecd DC Singles issues. The omnibus format first scared me because of it's sheer size. But once i found the perfect reading position i wouldn't like my books any other way. The omnibus format is big, oversized and complete. After some time i decided to branch out to not only DC but Marvel stories aswell. But where to start? Well many forums and youtube videos later i made a selection of books that i wanted.
Planet hulk was on top of the list of those books and boy was i not dissapointed.
Short summary, after various voilent outbursts of the hulk on earth a group of heroes decides to send the hulk to a remote planet light years away where he can do no harm. After tricking him with the help of Nick Fury the Hulk is blasted off into space. Once in space a video message plays from the heroes explaining their motives. The hulk did not take this news lightly and started to SMASH. And ofcouse broke the ship which crashed via a portal on a planet overthrown by a sadistic leader. From here the story begins hulk must fight his way to freedom with a goal in mind , along the way he meets various characters who look up the the mighty hulk.
For me this was a great story, not much info is needed, you must be living under a rock if you dont know who the hulk is. How he is portrayed in this book was a suprise as he is not a mindless brute.
In short awesome book, awesome story , awesome art.
Af of now 2021 this book is Out Of Print but you will no regret the purchase.
i give it a 9,5 / 10 Greg Pak Planet Hulk is awesome and you should read it but don’t expect this to be like the MCU’s “Thor: Ragnarok”!
This is kind of a sad story about the tragedy of Bruce Banner. He can never accept himself as he is and destruction is inevitable whenever he is present; the potential for loss of life in his presence is highly probable. He is a hero yet he is shunned by society as a monster. Does he belong on Earth? His friends don’t think so. The Illuminati makes a call — Planet Hulk begins.
However, things don’t go quite as Banner’s friends have meticulously planned. The Hulk arrives on Sakaar, becomes a gladiator, becomes angry, gets stronger, starts a rebellion, gets a team, gets angrier, gets stronger, and winds up becoming part of some prophetic quest Sakaar’s inhabitants have been waiting for. Perhaps, this new, strange planet can become a pathway to redemption for Banner as a savior or will it prove to be the undoing of Earth—if he can get back—as a worldbreaker?
I love Sakaar because it feels new to me with it’s own species and races of beings, cultures while being familiar (Star Wars-y), and helps the Hulk character and mythology stretch and grow a bit more. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll be surprised how different Korg and Miek are, how there is no GrandMaster, no Valkyrie, but it’s a whole other rich experience.
The Omni has a “Guidebook” That goes in depth about Sakaar and it’s inhabitants which enriches the reading experience even more and puts Sakaar in the running to be another repository of stories across different time periods.
I look forward to World War Hulk.
Greg Pak The strongest one there is, in his most savage story ever! After a brutal battle between the Hulk and the Fantastic Four, Earth's greatest heroes decide that for the good of all - they must shoot the Hulk into space! But when he lands on the savage world of Sakaar, an epic for the ages begins.
This novel is basically porn! And I loved it!!! The art is epic and beautiful, I was gushing at seeing the landscapes and character designs while the hulk just rips and tears through the landscape, just smashing everything! Art is powerful and I am one of those people that are drawn to comics because of the art, no matter how epic the story is, if the art is not there, then neither is my attention. Luckily here the story follows the art in it's greatness, the story follows the Hulk as he is forced off earth by the Illuminati for being to dangerous, they call him the monster and now hulk finally knows how what the humans think of him, so if they want the monster, that's what he'll be. Luckily for Hulk he has landed on Sakaar, the land of the monsters that other planets wanted to forget. And what do you do with the mosters? you make them fight other monsters in gladiator style combat! The Hulks weaker than normal here, but still he is a one man army and he rails through everything thrown at him. But next to the art and the epic fights theres true heart and breakthroughs for the character hulk, what he thinks of himself and his relationship with banner and humanity, and his fight between being left alone, but still wanting to keep being the moster and keep fighting, it was really deep and leads perfectly into my knowledge of his character in, The Immortal Hulk series of stories, so to see where thoses thoughts and feelings started was really interesting. Overall the art is stunning, and I loved the story/world and meik his dynamic with Hulk was just fantastic! And i highly recommend this story for all hulk fans!
5/5 Stars GoodReads ⭐⭐⭐⭐🌟
100/100 Hulk Smash 💪🟢 Greg Pak HULK SMASH
The classic tale of Spartacus, but then with Hulk. To be honest, it is all very very silly... No depth to the story whatsoever. But it is very very entertaining. Greg Pak
read & download Hulk: Planet Hulk Omnibus
The strongest one there is, in his most savage story ever! After a brutal battle between the Hulk and the Fantastic Four, Earth's greatest heroes decide that for the good of all - they must shoot the Hulk into space! But when he lands on the savage world of Sakaar, an epic for the ages begins. This one has it all: Strange alien planet! Oppressed barbarian tribes! Corrupt emperor! Deadly woman warrior! Gladiators and slaves! Battle-axes and hand blasters! Monsters and champions...and the Incredible Hulk! Let the smashing commence! Plus an alternate What If? take, a guidebook to Sakaar and the Totally Awesome debut of Amadeus Cho! COLLECTING: FANTASTIC FOUR (1998) 533-535, INCREDIBLE HULK (2000) 88-105, GIANT-SIZE HULK (2006) 1, WHAT IF? PLANET HULK, PLANET HULK: GLADIATOR GUIDEBOOK, MATERIAL FROM NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI (2006), AMAZING FANTASY (2004) 15 Hulk: Planet Hulk Omnibus
Vom Beginn in den frühen Sechzigern an hatte der Hulk etwas Tragisches: Seine beiden Persönlichkeiten, die sich zueinander wie Jekyll zu Hyde verhalten und seine Monsterhaftigkeit, die ihn zum ewigen Außenseiter macht wie Frankensteins Geschöpf.
Egal, wie oft er ein Held war, erinnert wird er immer nur als Monster. Hier setzt auch PLANET HULK an. Nachdem Bruce Banner aka der Hulk sich bei einer Mission eine weitere Portion Gamma Strahlen eingefangen hat und noch unbeherrschter denn je scheint, nutzen Reed Richards und die Avengers eine günstige Gelegenheit, den Hulk für immer ins Exil zu schicken: mit einer Raumkapsel wird er auf einen fernen Planeten geschossen, wo es kein andere Leben gibt und er endlich seine Ruhe finden soll. Kein sehr freundschaftlicher Zug, sollte man meinen.
Aber der Hulk kommt auf dem verlassenen Planeten nie an. Durch ein Portal gelangt er stattdessen auf eine andere Welt, die dringend eines Retters bedarf, der sie von der Tyrannei des roten Königs befreit.
(hier nicht etwas im Kampf mit dem Roten König, sondern mit dem Silver Surfer, der ebenfalls auf dieser Welt als Gladiator gefangen gehalten wird)
Nun liegt dem Hulk kaum etwas ferner, als der Retter einer Welt zu werden, zumal er gerade mies abserviert worden ist. Aber langsam, ganz langsam, wird aus dem barbarischen Helden, der in der Arena für seine Unzerstörbarkeit gefeiert wird, ein Hulk, der seine Menschlichkeit zurück gewinnt.
Von Dauer ist sein Glück auf diesem Planeten - einmal mehr und tragischer Weise - aber nicht und verraten sei nur, dass sein Hass gegen seine Freunde auf der Erde sich ins unermessliche steigert.
Die Handlung wird im WORLD WAR HULK=Omnibus fortgesetzt werden.
Über lange Strecken hat PLANET HULK einen Pulp=Charme, der E.R. Burroughs John Carter-Saga nicht unähnlich ist. Viele Elemente lassen sich eins zu eins übertragen, so dass ein Zuwenig an Action nicht zu befürchten ist. Und gegen Ende findet der Hulk sogar - wenn auch nur für kurze Zeit - seine große Liebe, so wie John Carter Deja Thoris fand.
Fazit: Kurzweilig, episch, heroisch, tragisch hat diese Story das Zeug dazu, auch Leser gut zu unterhalten, die mit dem Hulk sonst nichts am Hut haben. Greg Pak 8/10
I felt like I should have finished this earlier haha because I was pretty close to the ending already just page count was deceiving because of the What IF stories in the end. The Fantastic 4 issues was actually a great introduction to Planet Hulk in terms of setting up the conflict. Though besides that one most of the tie in issues were somewhat of a miss though they didn't really distract anything from the story just dislike the inconsistent art quality and evidently weaker writing. This is my first proper Marvel Comic I have read which is good as it's a pretty isolated story as it's far removed from everyone and all basically an original setting. I only decided to read this because I disliked how Thor 3 just butchered any potential of this storyline ever being adapted, because of a gag. When it comes to the art I will first state pretty much all of it top-notch. Though my criticism probably comes to the panel work. As the art is really well detailed just they not that much flow regarding the action. But delivered on those action aspects well. The writing actually was pretty solid, not the best I've read from comics but obviously, a ton of care went into that element just look at the end of the omnibus with 46 pages of in-depth notes regarding the lore etc. Anyways it stays true to the name of Planet Hulk pretty well, though if I say criticism maybe just too much build-up and went it occurred wasn't as satisfying as I would have desired. Regarding the romance, it was kinda a miss though I do see they tried which is commendable plus it's a hulk comic so realistic expectations regarding that topic should be noted. Anyways this was a kickass story and keen for the sequel World War Hulk after that I will have no desire to push forward.
8/10
Greg Pak Hulk is something of a paradox. The idea of the Hulk is great: A normal guy who, when he gets angry, turns into an unstoppable rage monster. Actually reading a Hulk comic, however, can be a chore. It doesn't seem like many writers no what to do with the Hulk, and he has had more varying incarnations than maybe any other comic book character. Heck, even in the first handful of Hulk issues in the early 60s he went through change after change because even Stan Lee didn't seem to know what to do with him (remember Hulk that only transforms at night? or how about Hulk's body with Banner's head?).
Added to this problem is the fact that many writers just cater to one Hulk extreme or another: either they make their story all punches and explosions or they try to make a Hulk story that is all psychological with Banner vs. Hulk. These two options, however, have flaws of their own.
Enter Planet Hulk, one of the greatest Hulk stories ever written. We don't get pages and pages of the Hulk and Banner wrestling for control, and we don't get mindless punch fests. Here, we get a story that has just the right amount of everything that makes the Hulk good. Do you want the Hulk detonating bombs by jumping into them and tearing mountains in half? You get that here. Do you want a Hulk story where Hulk has to make some tough decisions and find his place in the world? You have come to the right place. Action, adventure, romance, drama, its all here. We have read the Hulk strong, Banner weak story for decades now, but here is something truly different and completely amazing.
As a bonus, this omnibus edition has all of the material leading up to and surrounding the Planet Hulk event, and most of it is pretty good. Greg Pak WOW! WHAT A READ!
Okay so this was epic. It pretty much starts with a FF story with Reed and sue maybe losing their childrens and Human torch and the Thing fighting the Hulk and we see the danger he represents and Reed making aplan to launch him into space and he does and we see the consequences of that and omg where it takes him is awesome into Planet Sakaar and well there he fights the gladitorial arena and all and then we see the consequences of that and also him meeting the warbound and its different members, fighting silver surfer, getting free, becoming rebels and fighting various threats like the imperials, the wildebots and the spikes and Caeira until she too joins and finally the adventures that take them to fight the Red king and ultimately the fate of the hulk but what is really a prologue to WWH and the ending omg it is like one of the saddest moments in Hulk's history! :(
What happens in the end changes everything but omg I love this comic for its epic nature and I love the way they explore the fights and in the end we get some what-ifs which are irrelevant and kind of boring but we also get like 50 pgs of text showcasing the planet and its world and the people which I appreciate but didn't read through fully but it really shows how much effort they put into making this planet. The world building is insane but its the conflict and the fights and Hulks journey that will keep you hooked and finally an epic ending that leads to another great story! One of my fav Hulk stories easily! Greg Pak It was nice to finally read this, having already read the sequel World War Hulk first. This volume starts out as the story of Spartacus, wherein Hulk is a slave and works his way up from there. It's an old tale, retold from a Hulk/alien perspective and goes a few steps further. While enjoyable, I found it slightly predictable, with only one or two surprises, mostly at the end. Along the way, there's an examination of Why does the Hulk do certain things? How much is guilt, knowing he's caused destruction? How much is him just wanting to be left alone? How much is wanting to NOT be left alone? When are his actions driven solely by pride? All of these are brought up, but none of it is really answered. Perhaps that's at least some of the appeal of the Hulk, his simultaneously simple and complex personality, both good and evil, never really knowing what he will do next.
The art is solidly above average but never rises to jaw-dropping. This omnibus also includes a couple short stories that surround Planet Hulk, including the introduction of Amadeus Cho as well as a surprisingly heart wrenching What If? story. Also included is a very detailed touristy guidebook detailing all about the planet Hulk is stranded on.
A fun and entertaining run, but not really anything ground-breaking (ahem).
Greg Pak