The Incredible Hulk #319
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Incredible Hulk #319 marks one of the most significant relationship milestones in the Green Goliath's publishing history: the first (and long-deferred) consummation of the Bruce Banner–Betty Ross romance in marriage, a pairing that had been building since the original 1962 series. The issue also serves as the capstone of John Byrne's brief but structurally ambitious run, which had repositioned Banner and the Hulk as two literally separate beings — meaning Bruce walks down the aisle as a man finally free of his monstrous alter ego, only for that hard-won normalcy to be violently tested by Thunderbolt Ross crashing the ceremony at gunpoint. Betty's defiant stand against her own father — shielding Bruce with her body and demanding Ross shoot her too — gave the character her most assertive moment to that point in the series, a beat that resonated with readers well beyond Byrne's truncated tenure.
In "Member of the Wedding," Rick Jones arrives just as Bruce Banner and Betty Ross prepare to exchange vows, but their joy is interrupted when Thunderbolt Ross storms in to halt the ceremony. With the Hulkbusters and Samson on the scene, chaos erupts as the Hulk fights to protect his new life—while Rick, wounded but determined, stands firm. Written and illustrated by John Byrne, with cover art by Byrne, this 1986 issue captures a pivotal moment in the Hulk’s story, blending emotional stakes with high-octane action.
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The issue is the final chapter of John Byrne's six-issue run on the title (issues #314–319), produced under editor Denny O'Neil with Jim Shooter as editor-in-chief. Byrne had taken the assignment after pitching Shooter on a slate of structural changes — most notably the physical separation of Bruce Banner and the Hulk into two independent beings — and the wedding was conceived as the emotional payoff of that altered status quo. According to Byrne's own account quoted at Comic Book Resources, Shooter initially endorsed his ideas but then reversed course once the run was underway, and creative friction cut the run short after only six issues; a story Byrne had already completed for what would have been #320 was redirected and published in Marvel Fanfare #29 instead. The issue itself uses an unusual split-page layout, running the wedding subplot along the top half of each page and the simultaneous Hulkbusters/Doc Samson battle along the bottom half, a structural device Byrne employed to hold both plotlines in tension without interrupting either.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Title of main story: 'Member of the Wedding' (22 pages); written, penciled, and inked by John Byrne, with background inks by Keith Williams, lettering by Rick Parker, and colors by Andy Yanchus.
- Published May 1986 (cover date) by Marvel Comics, under editor Denny O'Neil; on-sale date recorded as January 21, 1986.
- Records the marriage of Bruce Banner and Betty Ross — the culmination of a romance that began in Incredible Hulk #1 (1962) and survived at least one earlier failed wedding attempt disrupted by supervillain interference.
- Rick Jones serves as best man, reuniting him with Bruce Banner for the first time since his appearances in Rom the Spaceknight; during the ceremony, Thunderbolt Ross (believed dead/disgraced) crashes the wedding at gunpoint and shoots Rick in the stomach before Betty's confrontation forces Ross to stand down and the vows are completed.
- Hideko Takata, Professor of Geophysics and member of Banner's Hulkbuster team, appears in this issue but is NOT a first appearance here — the Marvel Database and Grand Comics Database both record her debut as Incredible Hulk #317.
- The issue is Byrne's final issue on the series; he departed due to irreconcilable creative differences with editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, and his intended follow-up story was published posthumously in Marvel Fanfare #29.
- Byrne's split-page layout — running the wedding narrative along the top half of each page and the Doc Samson vs. Hulk battle along the bottom half simultaneously — was a notable structural experiment for Marvel at the time.
- The issue has been reprinted multiple times, including in Hulk: Beauty and the Behemoth (1998), Incredible Hulk Visionaries: John Byrne (2008), Marvel Universe by John Byrne Omnibus Vol. 1 (2016), and Incredible Hulk Epic Collection Vol. 14: Going Gray (2020).
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Reprints
Reprinted in L'incroyable Hulk #179 (1986), Marvel Superheltene #5/1988 (1988), Marvels universum #4/1990 (1990), Fantastici Quattro #27 (1990), Fantastici Quattro #28 (1990), Marvel Super-Heroes Megazine #6 (1995), Hulk: Beauty and the Behemoth #[nn] (1998), Hulk: ¡Libertad! #[nn] (1998), Best of Marvel : mariages Marvel #[nn] (2006), Marvel Masters: The Art of John Byrne #[nn] (2008), Incredible Hulk Visionaries: John Byrne #[nn] (2008), Marvel Universe by John Byrne Omnibus #[1] (2016), 100% Marvel HC. El Increíble Hulk de John Byrne #[nn] (2017), Incredible Hulk Epic Collection #14 (2020), Alpha Flight #36, Coleccionable El Increíble Hulk #2, De verbijsterende Hulk Special #17, Der unglaubliche Hulk #19, Marvel Superheltene #15
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