The Incredible Hulk #390
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeIncredible Hulk #390 is the opening chapter of 'War and Pieces,' the crossover Peter David engineered between the two Marvel titles he was simultaneously writing — Incredible Hulk and X-Factor — placing the recently debuted Professor Hulk and government-sponsored X-Factor on opposite sides of a morally ambiguous Middle Eastern conflict. The story was deliberately structured so that each series could be read independently, a design choice that reflected David's ongoing frustration with crossover events that disrupted narrative momentum, and it stands as one of the cleaner inter-title crossovers of the early 1990s because of it. The issue also cements the Professor Hulk status quo — Banner fully merged with his Hulk personas — in a large-scale action context for the first time, and the cover image of a heavily armed Hulk in bunny slippers became one of the most recognisable and affectionately remembered images of the David–Keown era.
In "This Means War," the Hulk clashes with a battalion of SHIELD robots in the war-torn nation of Trans-Sabal, where he's teaming up with the Pantheon against government forces clad in Mandroid armor. With the country's leader pleading for U.S. intervention, X-Factor is dispatched to quell the rebellion—putting the Hulk's rage at odds with a new, high-tech threat. Written by Peter David and brought to life by Dale Keown’s dynamic art, with inks by Mark Farmer and colors by Glynis Oliver, the cover by Keown and Farmer captures the chaos in bold, striking detail.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 10 grades ▾
This exact issue on ebay
Raw — NM ▾ $3–$9.99 5 listings
Raw — VF+ ▾ $7.99–$14.99 2 listings
Raw — FINE ▾ $1.79–$2.99 2 listings
Raw / ungraded ▾ $1.99–$100 20 listings
More listings for this title
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
The issue went on sale December 17, 1991, with a February 1992 cover date, edited by Bobbie Chase under editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco. Peter David had been writing both Incredible Hulk and X-Factor concurrently, which made a crossover between the two books an organic — if logistically convenient — choice; because David scripted all chapters himself, the story avoided the tonal inconsistencies that plagued many contemporaneous inter-title events. Dale Keown, who had collaborated with David on 27 issues of Incredible Hulk by this point, provided both interior art and the cover, with Mark Farmer on inks and Glynis Oliver on colors.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published February 1992 (on sale December 17, 1991); written by Peter David, pencilled by Dale Keown, inked by Mark Farmer, colored by Glynis Oliver, lettered by Joe Rosen; edited by Bobbie Chase.
- Part 1 of 3 of the 'War and Pieces' crossover arc, titled 'This Means War'; the story continues in Incredible Hulk #391, crosses into X-Factor #76, and concludes in Incredible Hulk #392.
- Both Incredible Hulk and X-Factor were written by Peter David at this time, making him the sole writer of all chapters of the crossover — an unusual arrangement that allowed each book to stand alone narratively.
- The Hulk depicted is the Professor Hulk (Smart Hulk) introduced in Incredible Hulk #377, combining Bruce Banner's intellect with the Hulk's physical power — #390 is one of the first major action showcases for this incarnation.
- X-Factor appears as a cameo on the final page of this issue; the team's full roster includes Havok (Alex Summers), Multiple Man (Jamie Madrox), Polaris (Lorna Dane), Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff), Strong Guy (Guido Carosella), and Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair), alongside government liaison Val Cooper.
- The Pantheon members Hector and Ulysses appear alongside the Hulk; the fictional Middle Eastern nation of Trans-Sabal and its tyrant Farnoq Dahn serve as the story's central geopolitical setting, with the Pantheon supporting the rebels against a government using SHIELD Mandroid armor covertly supplied by U.S. intelligence.
- The story drew commentary from contemporary readers as a pointed parallel to early 1990s U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, in particular the Gulf War period.
- The issue has been reprinted in Hulk Visionaries: Peter David Vol. 8 (collecting Incredible Hulk #390–396 and material from Annual #18 and X-Factor #76) and in X-Factor Visionaries: Peter David Vol. 2 (collecting X-Factor #76–78 and Incredible Hulk #390–392), as well as in the Peter David X-Factor Omnibus Vol. 1.
Cast · 18 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Hulk #5 (1992), Der unglaubliche Hulk #37 (1993), Devil & Hulk #9 (1994), Mega Marvel #6 (1/1995) (1995), X-Factor Visionaries: Peter David #2 (2007), Hulk Visionaries: Peter David #8 (2011), Hulk : L'intégrale #1992 (2016), X-Factor Epic Collection #7 (2018), Incredible Hulk by Peter David Omnibus #2 (2020), X-Factor by Peter David Omnibus #1 (2021), Marvel Héroes #116 (2023)
Key issues in The Incredible Hulk
Variants (2)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.