Nov. '86 - The Incredible Hulk # 325

I started buying this title when John Byrne took over. His time on it was very short - 6 months- before leaving to do Superman at DC. I remember Byrne talking at one time about his 100,000 (or was it 10,000?). This was the number of fans that would follow him to each project that he did, thus increasing the circulation. I guess I was one of those number. I bought Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, Hulk, Superman and Next Men (from Dark Horse) because he was doing them. I stopped buying this title very soon after he left and have only recently been picking up issues from the 50 cent bins. That's where I got this one.

Al Milgrom took over as writer/artist when Byrne left. I enjoyed Milgrom's art on Avengers but on this title I thought it was awful. My guess is that he was rushed to do it with Byrne's departure. The art on this issue was by Steve Geiger and it was much better than the previous issues done by Milgrom. I did think Milgrom was telling a good story and I am going to continue to hunt for more of these back issues.

Bruce Banner and Hulk had recently been rejoined after being physically separated in Byrne's run. No one is sure if the Hulk is gone for good. Milgrom began introducing subplots with the Hulk-Busters, Doc Samson, Rick Jones, SHIELD, Betty Ross, and Thunderbolt Ross plus a mysterious green creature on the loose. Not having a lot of the later issues I'm not sure where he went with all this but I was intrigued by what I read in this issue.