This is gonna be one meaty issue of awesome. Not only do we get the first part of the last leg of Planet Hulk – Allegiance: Part 1 – but we also get a back up story with pencils by the awesome Gary Frank, fresh off his stretch on Squadron Supreme:

This back up story – which will also be written by the main story’s writer, Greg Pak – deals with events from Civil War (specifically, supposedly involving some new info about the Thor clone), and the Illuminati’s role in punting the Hulk into space, and ALSO someone finds out what happened to the Hulk. Gasp!

The super-duper-special anniversary issue will also include reprints of The Incredible Hulk #’s 3, 152 and 300. Issue #3 was chosen because it’s a story where the Hulk tore up Manhattan, which led to Dr. Strange exiling him (actually to space, according to the cover). #300 is a story … well, it seems to be one largely about the Hulk beating the crap out of stuff. Greg Pak hints that it might or might not be a teaser of World War Hulk, but more topically, it touches on the ideas of exile and of the Hulk being a monster. #152 is a story where the heroes of the Marvel U put the Hulk on trial, and try to decide whether the Hulk is hero enough, or too much monster. I’d say the connection’s only marginally less obvious than it is with issue 3.

Also, here’s some unlettered pages from the main issue. Art chores are by Carlo Pagulayan, who did the first arc, and he’s splitting this last arc with Aaron Lopresti, who did the second arc.

Sources – Pak’s interview at The Pulse, Newsarama.com, Marvel.com

Updated – Previous articles indicated it would be issue #143 in the issue, but instead it’s issue #300. Sorry folks. On the upside, it makes previously confusing comments in other articles make a lot more sense, now that we know this. Also – We’ve added new images from the upcoming issue #100, both for the issue, and for Gary Frank’s pages.

Also, the issue will hit stands on November 1st, and it’ll cost $3.99.  I can’t wait!