Hulk & Doctor Strange #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeHulk & Doctor Strange #1 is part of J. Michael Straczynski's 2025 return to Marvel, a planned anthology of one-shots pairing unlikely characters from across the publisher's history — a creative framework that echoes his earlier DC work on The Brave and the Bold. The issue leans into the deep connective tissue between its two leads: Hulk and Doctor Strange are two of the three founding members of the Defenders, a team that first coalesced in Marvel Feature #1 (1971), giving the pairing genuine historical resonance beyond surface novelty. Its dual-story structure — a psychoanalytic revisit to the Hulk's gamma-bomb origin in the lead feature, and a cosmic-horror comedy pairing Aunt May with Agatha Harkness in the backup — positions it as a showcase for JMS's range as a writer within a single issue. Critics noted the issue enters crowded territory, with Bruce Banner's psychological interior having been deeply excavated by Peter David's run in the 1980s–90s, Al Ewing's 'Green Door' era, and Phillip Kennedy Johnson's ongoing work, which sets a high bar the one-shot's origin revisitation must clear.
ComicBooks.com Value
This exact issue on ebay
Raw — NM+ ▾ $14–$18.95 2 listings
Raw — NM ▾ $3.49–$37.99 9 listings
Raw / ungraded ▾ $1.99–$29.99 37 listings
More listings for this title
- Arcane Comics · Shoreline, WA2 on eBay ↗
- World's Best Comics and Toys · Sacramento, CA2 on eBay ↗
- CollegeComix.com · Athens, GA1 on eBay ↗
- JAF Comics · Bethlehem, PA1 on eBay ↗
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Straczynski publicly disclosed that he had been sitting on the concept for this one-shot series — which pairs Marvel characters who had rarely or never shared a book — for over a year before Marvel announced it. His relationship with Marvel had been complicated by the editorial handling of the 'One More Day' storyline during his Amazing Spider-Man tenure, making the 2025 one-shot run a meaningful professional re-engagement with the publisher. Hulk & Doctor Strange #1 was the fourth entry in the JMS one-shot initiative (following Doctor Doom & Rocket Raccoon, Captain America & Volstagg, and Nick Fury vs. Fin Fang Foom), released May 21, 2025, with interior art split between Germán Peralta on the main story and Natacha Bustos on the backup, and a main cover by Terry Dodson.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published as a 40-page one-shot on May 21, 2025, with a June 2025 cover date; rated T+ (ages 13 and up).
- Written entirely by J. Michael Straczynski; main story art by Germán Peralta, backup story art by Natacha Bustos, main cover by Terry Dodson.
- Main story title: 'Gray Dawn on Bleecker Street' — Doctor Strange uses an astral-projection technique to escort Bruce Banner back through the moment of the gamma bomb detonation to probe the psychological source of the Hulk's rage.
- Backup story title: 'What Happens in the Book Club Stays in the Book Club' — May Parker (Aunt May) and Agatha Harkness are drawn into a supernatural crisis when a fellow book-club member begins reading the Necronomicon.
- Hulk and Doctor Strange share founding-member status in the Defenders, a team established in Marvel Feature #1 (1971), giving the team-up a historical dimension that the issue's marketing explicitly invokes ('Two Defenders Reunite').
- One of at least five Marvel one-shots JMS authored in 2025, a series conceived around pairing characters who had rarely or never shared a title; others in the run include Ghost Rider vs. Galactus and Spider-Man vs. Doctor Octopus.
- Four variant covers were produced: the main Terry Dodson cover, a Germán Peralta variant, a Natacha Bustos variant, and a 1:25 retailer-incentive variant by Kyle Hotz.
- No new character first appearances have been identified in this issue across reviewed sources.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Marvel Tales by J. Michael Straczynski #[nn] (2025)
Variants (3)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.