College career of Banner

[Leoparis]

Here are my notes:
[H3 1-FB] college early, not in med school
HMAG 26 (12:4)-FB with a roommate in college
IH2 226-FB with girlfriend Sally in university
IH2 410 (14:2)-FB-BTS Susan FB-OP
IH2 410 (14:4)-FB-BTS Susan FB-OP
IH2 377 (15)-FB 20 yr-old w/Susan
IH2 410 (14:6)-FB-BTS 20 yr-old w/Susan FB-OP
Immortal Hulk 4 (4:3) Banner meets Langkowski
IH2 313-FB roommates with Langkowski at university, posing for photo
AF 11/2 student w/ Langkowski group discussion
Immortal Hulk 4 (4:4 - 4:5) above discussion content revealed
Immortal Hulk 4 (5:2 - 5:3) w/Langkowski
IH3 12 (14 - 15:1)-FB med school Angela girlfriend
IH2 367 (6:2)-FB in graduate school w/Phil Sterns
IH3 12 (15:2 - 16:4)-FB med school Angela girlfriend
[INDH@ 1-FB] Stark and Banner as students in conference
[INDH 17-FB] Stark and Banner through studies montage 4 images over number of years
[OSIN 3.1 (7)-FB] Stark meets Banner as students
A@ 13 (14:1)-FB Bruce in college, generic picture

In IH2 410 Bruce is not BTS but off panel:
**IH2 410 (14:2)-FB-OP
**IH2 410 (14:4)-FB-OP
IH2 377 (15)-FB
**IH2 410 (14:6)-FB-OP

With only the length of their hair and Stark's moustache to go by, it's difficult to assess but the narration in INDH 17 indicates that several years pass. (how do you indicate pictures in a montage panel?)
In the 1st picture they look like high schoolers. In INDH @1 they still look like high schoolers but older. Maybe a summer conference before college.
In 2nd and 3rd picture of INDH 17 Stark has no moustache.
OSIN 3.1 (7)-FB tells how they met but also their later relationship. They look in their twenties. Stark has a thin moustache.

The odd thing is Bruce in med school and IH2 367 fb in the middle. It says graduate school in the issue. Does it say somewhere else that Phil Sterns was trained as a doctor?
IH3 12 (15:2 - 16:4)-FB is the end of his college studies so should be last. Unless... Banner started a new course of study because he had no professional prospects?

The narration in IH 85 (reprised in IH 87) says Bruce and Monica Rappaccini had a fling in college. That narration should warrant inclusion in the chronology. With Sally, Susan and Angela, that's four relationships. The Monica fling is after Susan (IH 85) and the only fling Banner had in college. Angela is after in grad school.

So this is my tentative chronology proposal:
[INDH 17-FB] (3a)
[INDH@ 1-FB]
[H3 1-FB]
HMAG 26 (12:4)-FB
IH2 226-FB
IH2 410 (14:2)-FB-OP
IH2 410 (14:4)-FB-OP
IH2 377 (15)-FB
IH2 410 (14:6)-FB-OP
Immortal Hulk 4 (4:3)
IH2 313-FB
AF 11/2
Immortal Hulk 4 (4:4 - 4:5)
Immortal Hulk 4 (5:2 - 5:3)
IH3 12 (14 - 15:1)-FB
IH2 367 (6:2)-FB
[INDH 17-FB] (3b - 3c)
[OSIN 3.1 (7)-FB]
A@ 13 (14:1)-FB
IH3 12 (15:2 - 16:4)-FB

Updated Oct 24 2019 to include flashbacks in Immortal Hulk 4.

[Russ Chappell]

(how do you indicate pictures in a montage panel?)

From the Stylebook:

13. panelinset
Rarely, a single panel can show more than one flashback scene. This is most commonly encountered when a panel displays multiple television or computer monitors, each showing a scene from a different time. These "mini-scenes" can be notated, if necessary, by lower-case letters, starting with a. The monitors are counted left to right, top to bottom, the same as panels in a comic book.

[Leoparis]

In Savage She-Hulk #1 page 2 panel 2, Jennifer Walters says, "I haven't heard from you since you quit med school for nuclear physics."
On page 1 Banner thinks, "Last time I saw Jen she was just my kid cousin." So she heard from him by phone or from another source. (Let's not mention Bruce visiting Jen in Giant-Size Hulk.)

The current chronology has Banner at university then in med school where he meets Angela Lipscombe who draws him out of his shell (she is after Sally and Susan and Monica).
Possibly he quits med school between IH3 12 15:1 & 15:2 but stays a couple with Angela until graduation. That explains why IH2 367 is inserted there.

In Immortal Hulk 4 Langkowski says Banner transferred from Desert State to Penn State University for a semester (implying it was temporary).

So the five flashbacks where he studies nuclear physics with Langkowski would need to move after IH3 12 15:1.

But would Banner transfer just when he has fallen in love? A more detailed analysis is required:
IH3 12 (14:1-2) Banner noticing Angela in classroom when still in med school
IH3 12 (14:3) Banner socializing with Angela and others. (probably still in med school)
IH3 12 (14:4) Banner first kissing Angela. (Can have transferred to physics by then)
IH3 12 (15:1) Banner & Angela in costumes at a party (celebrating school year's end?)
IH3 12 (15:2) Last semester, sending applications

I would guess that Banner actually transfers after IH3 12 (14:3). He seems to have learned to socialize when at Penn although he can still be abrupt. Returns to Desert State and Angela and starts a relationship with her in IH3 12 (14:4) . Gets through his studies (various flashbacks). Celebrates at year's end in IH3 12 (15:1) and waits for a response to his applications.

IH3 12 (14:1 - 14:3)-FB MODIFY
Immortal Hulk 4 (4:3)-FB ADD
IH2 313-FB MOVE HERE
AF 11/2 MOVE HERE
Immortal Hulk 4 (4:4 - 4:5)-FB ADD
Immortal Hulk 4 (5:2 - 5:3)-FB ADD
IH3 12 (14:4) ADD
IH2 367 (6:2)-FB (physics like Phil Sterns)
[INDH 17 (3b - 3c)-FB]
[OSIN 3.1 (7)-FB]
A@ 13 (14:1)-FB
IH3 12 (15:1 - 16:4)-FB MODIFY

[wolframbane]

World War Hulk Gamma Files seems to give a good breakdown of his college years. And the annotated bibliography of it is here:
http://web.archive.org/web/201706060048 ... _2007#Hulk

[Leoparis]

Thanks, both the annotated bibliography and the Gamma file are going to be very useful. However as chronology the annotated bibliography fails the mark. His college years are organized by thematic lists: list of teachers, list of classmates, list of girlfriends. Quitting med school comes first in the list but meeting Angela (which he did in med school) is placed much further down the lists toward the end. There is no mention of meeting Walter Langkowski, etc.

This list also includes mistakes I've pointed out, like The Order 6 when he's nine is placed before his mother's murder when he's seven.

The Hulk: Gray issues are all placed between pages of Hulk #1 but I've shown that the events depicted in Gray #1 to 3 are actually reorganized events from Hulk #1-4.

The Gamma File is more solid, but apart from the sequence of girlfriends and the fact he left med school, there are no precise details and no mention of his three doctorates. And that's because the bits of information in the comics stories, while numerous, are too sketchy.

The Original Sins details of his relationship with Tony Stark also needed to be taken into account.

Note: Considering that the US army has invested to clear Banner from the bombing attempt of his high school, it is likely that they are behind the applications rejections. As a bomber, Banner's mail would be under surveillance, so the army would know where he applied for a job and would exert pressure. They might even be behind his quitting med school.

[wolframbane]

This list also includes mistakes I've pointed out, like The Order 6 when he's nine is placed before his mother's murder when he's seven.

Where do they list the murder when Bruce was 7?

[Leoparis]

They don't give ages.

In my Banner childhood post I quoted the information about his age from the comics and pointed the problem with years given and the placement.

This is what the college and post-grad should look like:
Note: I have written <IH3 85 = IH3 87> this way because the full narration is in the House of M reality but IH3 87 confirms it happened the same in 616. < > is an idea for narration. IH3 85-N is another.

[H3 1-FB] is not the start of college but the start of grad school, cf. "he decided against joining us in med school."

HULK/ROBERT BRUCE BANNER
**[INDH 17-FB] (3a) insert
**[INDH@ 1-FB] move to here
**[H3 1-FB] move from here
HMAG 26 (12:4)-FB
IH2 226-FB
**IH2 410 (14:2)-FB-OP modify
**IH2 410 (14:4)-FB-OP modify
IH2 377 (15)-FB
**IH2 410 (14:6)-FB-OP modify
<IH3 85 = IH3 87> narration for which we have no code
**IH3 12 (14:1 - 14:3)-FB insert
**[H3 1-FB] move to here
**Immortal Hulk 4 (4:3)-FB insert
IH2 313-FB
AF 11/2
**Immortal Hulk 4 (4:4 - 4:5)-FB insert
**Immortal Hulk 4 (5:2 - 5:3)-FB insert
**IH3 12 (14:4) modify
IH2 367 (6:2)-FB
**[INDH 17 (3b - 3c)-FB] modify
[OSIN 3.1 (7)-FB]
A@ 13 (14:1)-FB
**IH3 12 (15:1 - 16:4)-FB move to here

[wolframbane]

This is such a minor point, but can help for placements of young Tony Stark. In IRON MAN: HYPERVELOCITY #1-FB, he rides a motorcycle with Naomi Clark at the "age of seventeen," and notes he is just starting to grow his moustache. He also dated Meredith McCall when they were "both seventeen" (IRON MAN #28-FB), without the moustache. So, any appearance of young Tony without a moustache was before IRON MAN: HYPERVELOCITY #1-FB, and any appearance with a moustache after. Also, he turned "fifteen" (INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #500.1-FB) when he started to drink regularly and pursue girls, so most appearances with alcohol or women would be after this.