RIP: Peter David

I'm very sad to have heard writer Peter David passed away this weekend. Although he wrote in many mediums, I knew him best for his work as a comic book writer.

Certainly he'll be best-remembered for his many years as writer on the Incredible Hulk (1987-1998). He started shortly after the Hulk had become gray but wound up writing the gray Hulk for so long that he remains the writer most-associated with that version of the character. The years he spent writing the Hulk - paired with great artists like Todd McFarlane, Dale Keown, Gary Frank - he kept finding new ideas about where to take the Hulk and what could be done with the character. Even then, he wouldn't have left in 1998 except that his editor wanted a lot of changes to the book that he had no interest in implementing.

Plenty of Hulk writers before and since have delved into the character's multiple personalities and how he's rooted in Bruce Banner's earlier psychological traumas but aside from Al Ewing, no one has made it so central what the series was about. I was especially impressed with the story in Incredible Hulk #-1 where he revealed Banner had accidentally killed his own father but repressed the memory. David's story for what became Hulk: The End (originally a prose piece) is likewise a terrific exploration of Banner's trauma, in that instance set in a distant future where the Hulk is the last being left alive on Earth; where Banner simply wants to die, the Hulk views Banner as his enemy and sees their psychological conflict as another battle to be won.

And there was so much more; his X-Factor really surprised me in the 1990s. His version of that series was a team of mutant heroes (mostly those no other writers wanted to use at the time) working for the government. I think I started buying it just because I had been swayed by the impression it was a "hot" book. Then I stayed because it was funny and well-characterized. His story "X-aminations" (X-Factor #87) in which the team were psychoanalyzed remains by far the best-remembered issue in that series; I remember even at the time it came out, I was wowed by that one. It's certainly for me the defining version of Quicksilver's character.

At times his sense of humour was very obvious and a bit too pleased with his puns. Still, overall I enjoyed his writing. Past the 1990s I followed him on books like Captain Marvel and his 2nd version of X-Factor. I'm not certain if I ever read any of his DC comics, nor have I read any of his prose (not even his Star Trek novels), but I know he had a huge fanbase in those areas of his career as well. Back in the day I regularly visited his blog-- although mostly because I was interested in his political opinions.

Rest in peace, Mr. David.