69 books like Incredible Hulk Epic Collection

I’m recommending this book because it grapples with death from illness in a way most superhero comics will not.

This collection features a key story in the long-running X-Men subplot about the Legacy Virus, a science fiction analog to HIV/AIDS (a time-traveling supervillain’s evil scheme, not a storyline one would want to attempt with a real-world virus).

Superhero stories tend to rely on a type of moral causality, but viruses do not discriminate between heroes and villains. Junior X-Men member Jubilee must confront the unfairness of a fatal condition in a world where death is usually a plot contrivance to be overcome. It’s a moving and thoughtful pause in the action, setting stakes that feel paradoxically far more significant than globe-trotting adventures.

Deadpool is superhero comics', and perhaps literature in general’s, most consistently challenging fictional engagement with cancer. Deadpool’s healing factor prevents his cancer from ever being cured, which traps him in a never-ending cycle of remission and relapse.

Unlike a superhero who responds to a bodily transformation by self-sacrificingly upholding the status quo, Deadpool is a mercenary and anti-hero. In this collection, writer Joe Kelly creates much of the narrative infrastructure that eventually made the character one of Marvel’s most popular.

Kelly also crafts a story where Deadpool is offered a heroic transformation that—through personal weakness, history, bad luck, and supervillainous interference—tragically fails. This book establishes the template for Deadpool stories and digs into Deadpool’s cancer for the first time.

I’m recommending this book for how delightfully it considers the ill human body as a site of new possibilities. The Doom Patrol have never been well-known superheroes, perhaps because of the willingness of writers to confront the bodily trauma at the heart of their stories.

Morrison’s contribution to the series was to consider the Doom Patrol truly as freaks: people who could not fit into a society that demands gender, mental, and physical homogeneity. Mixing allegorical forms of illness—Cliff “Robotman” Steele’s fallible technological body—with more direct conditions like Kaye “Crazy Jane” Callis’ dissociative identity disorder.

Morrison, along with artistic collaborators, built a celebration of difference into a genre where most heroic bodies never break the mold.

This book has one of the most fun depictions of heart disease you’ll read. Wait! Don’t leave! That came out wrong!

Superhero comics rarely consider the toll of an intensely physical role. In this continuation of the landmark superhero series, Blue Beetle struggles with his sense of self-worth when he puts on weight and discovers that he has heart disease. The character’s role in the long-running series had mostly been comic relief, and this storyline gave the character some greater nuance and shading.

As a less-popular character, Blue Beetle can consider retirement without the guarantee that writers will have him miraculously discover the cure to a lifelong condition. While cracking jokes about himself in spandex to cover up his own insecurity, this comic takes time to consider aging, chronic conditions, and the way friends react to a life-changing diagnosis.

The Incredible Hulk was not only an inspiration to me but also a “martyr for Change” in my opinion.

The honest reason why I enjoyed reading Al Ewing books is that I was bullied as a child in the same aspect as “the Hulk”.

Fighting battles on both sides of the spectrum internally and externally. He proved himself not to be a reckless monster of sort but a man possessing exceptional powers that was willing to smash to pieces anything that stood in his way of triumph.

He in this book exudes a fighter-type energy that will make you want to “Smash Things to Pieces” along with him. His isolated, broken existence was only fuel to the fire propelling him into a courageous, fearless relenting superhero.

Never surrendering, never throwing in the towel. Immortal Hulk, Vol. 9: The Weakest One There Is, is a masterpiece, a showpiece of success that… show more.

Theo never wanted to be a superhero, so when he suddenly develops superpowers all he’d prefer to do is go back to life as normal.

But he’s already got a super nemesis that’s out to kill him.

If Theo doesn’t learn how to use his powers and become the superhero he needs to be, he could lose everything and everyone that’s important to him.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the rest of the series.

Portico Reeves tries hard to escape the “mean time.” When his parents are fighting, he retreats to his fantastical castle home, where he becomes Stuntboy to protect everyone who dwells within. But as often happens when our fantasy flights bump into our reality, Portico gets a bad case of the frets.

I admire how Jason Reynolds tackles a serious issue with a framework of fun, complete with humorous commercial breaks. I could relate to Portico’s dilemma and was rooting for him all the way. I hope kids will read this and realize their parents’ “mean time” is not their fault, and it’s not their job to stop the fighting.

David Charleston’s character resonated with me. He’s eccentric, passionate, and meticulous, while also being a great friend.

He’s also out for revenge against his father’s killer—A supervillain named Steelheart who has taken over Chicago. David unites with a secret group of people called the Reckoners who are trying to learn each villain's weakness to assassinate them.

David’s obsession with details is relatable, and against the terrifying powers of these supervillains, you're left on the edge of your seat hoping the Reckoner's schemes will be enough.

This is a relatively lighthearted superhero romance about Ava, an alien who works as the personal assistant to a big Hollywood star named Gwen. When Gwen asks Ava to pretend to be her girlfriend because it will help Gwen with the custody battle with her ex-husband, all the predictable fake dating shenanigans ensue.

The book is a fun, comfortable read with a good bit of pining, a fun sister relationship, and an interesting superhero plot.

The focus on Ava’s and Gwen’s emotional journey through the story makes it an engaging read the first time through, and a nice, comfortable reread for those days when you just want to lose yourself in a comfy book.

Kit is a scavenger in a city ruined by an alien spaceship that crashed decades ago, giving rise to superheroes. When a chance meeting leads to her starting a relationship with Valene Blackwood, one of the most powerful superheroes on the planet. A little too powerful. 

Valene’s powers are slowly driving her mad. Kit sets out to find a way to help Valene, but ends up getting superpowers of her own, and in a duel to the death with Valene’s father, who wants to take over the city. 

I love this book because it’s a unique take on the question of what makes someone a hero, while also looking at how people with privilege respond to marginalized people gaining power, and why some relationships are doomed to fail.