This is the culmination of what Hulk has been building towards ever since he got Banner’s brain power. He’s struggling with his “monster side,” and Bill Sienkiewicz’s cover to #297 is pitch perfect.
Gradually, issue by issue, we’ve seen him start to lose his temper, get haunted by dreams of losing control, etc. Eventually, brute Hulk takes over and we’ve got an “everybody versus the Hulk” big action fight. It’s fun, but I don’t understand why Nightmare has to be in this. In his dreams, savage Hulk has been haunting smart Hulk—and the dream aspect means Nightmare inserts himself and has savage Hulk take over. It seems like that could have just been a natural story development, rather than inserting a mystical force.
Art-wise, you might think Sal Buscema’s straight-forward style would not be a good fit for a mystical, weird villain like Nightmare, but it all works well. Nightmare’s motive is to manipulate Hulk into killing Dr. Strange.
Strange defeats Nightmare, but Hulk is still a brute.
So it doesn’t make a lot of sense—if Nightmare was behind it all, then defeating him should solve the problem. If he wasn’t, then there really wasn’t a need for the whole Nightmare story anyway.
The influence of Nightmare unleashes the beast, which means Hulk is on the loose in New York. After that, it’s just fun fighting stuff, which honestly is why most of read Incredible Hulk anyway.
Hulk beats up the entire Marvel A-List: Iron Fist, Power Man…
…The Avengers…
…Look what he does to Vision:
…And many more.
A terrific battle story. No fight against Thing, though, which is odd because their fights are legendary.
All of this makes a baby cry.
And Daredevil hears it.
Daredevil saves that child on the splash page; Spider-Man helps protect some cops; SHIELD and local law enforcement try to evacuate civilians and minimize damage. And even real-life mayor Ed Koch gets involved.
In the end Dr. Strange banishes Hulk to a dimensional crossroads, where he can explore and find a place where he can be at peace.
So this is just the first version of World War Hulk/Planet Hulk.
Final note: The corner boxes of the issues leading up to this transformation are great…
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