Incredible Hulk #134. Draxon and the Golem

(Cover from December 1970.)

"Among Us Walks... The Golem!"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Sal Buscema.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Darn those infernal children, with their puppy dog eyes and their bawling. Just as you're having a nice relaxed lumber around a bombed-out city, they come along and beg you to overthrow their dictator for them.

That's right, the Draxon two-parter concludes with the half that makes it a classic as, prompted by the tears of a little girl, our anti-hero steps into the shoes of the Golem to free the people of Morvania from their servitude. It's an inspired idea from Roy Thomas, the legend's historical roots and inevitable World War Two parallels adding an extra layer of resonance to both the tale and the concept of the Hulk.

The Hulk of course, as we all know, can't resist the pleading of a child and so decides to get rid of Draxon which, despite Draxon's new high-tech weapon - whose final part, ironically, arrived in the same crate as the Hulk - he does in short shrift. Given the chance to rule the kingdom, the Hulk rejects the offer, spotting, in a way the locals can't, the sheer stupidity of the customs on which their society's built.

You can hardly blame him. It's a land of fools convinced that whoever wears a medallion has a right to rule the place, no matter how unfit he is to hold that power. With ideas like that, no wonder their country's in a mess.

But it's all great stuff, the little girl tugging at all the right heart strings, and the peasants of Morvania learning a valuable lesson about not placing your trust in inanimate objects and irrelevant traditions. The fact it took a brainless beast to teach them the errors of their ways says it all about the potential folly of adults and the potential wisdom of those infernal children, of whom the Hulk, when you get down to it, is basically one.

Incredible Hulk #133. Draxon the Dictator

(Cover from November 1970.)

"Day Of Thunder.. Night Of Death!"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by John Severin.

Lettering by Sam Rosen.

Sometimes in life, things can get on top of us. People try to blow us up. People try to kidnap us. People try to disintegrate us.

And when they do, what better solution than to climb inside a crate and have ourselves shipped to the Mediterranean?

Sadly, that's as good as things get for the Hulk as his improvised method of globe-trotting takes him to that well known land of Morvania, famous for being ruled by the evil tyrant Draxon, a man who gives new definition to the phrase, "an iron fist in an iron glove." Upon encountering the Hulk, the dictator tries to enlist the monster's services in his plans to rule the world and when the Hulk says he's not interested in ruling the world - giving a very Lennonesque speech about seeing no boundaries or countries when he's leaping through the air - the tyrant tries to kill him. Needless to say this attempt fails miserably and, after threatening to squish Draxon like a prune if he doesn't leave him alone, the Hulk bounds off to hang around in the peace and solitude of the mountains.

But, in the village below, the forces of rebellion are a-stirring...

This is another of my favourite Hulk tales of the era which, as in issue #112 sees the Hulk cast in the role of liberator of the oppressed. It's a role he suits well, given his combination of power and innocence, which could explain why it's one that keeps recurring in his life. Foes completely deluded by hubris also work well, so, to some degree it's the perfect set-up for a Hulk tale and one that'll more than pay dividends in the next issue.

But the most impressive thing about the tale is its opening section in which Thunderbolt Ross risks his life to confront the Hulk alone and ask the monster to hand over the seriously injured Jim Wilson so he can be flown away for medical treatment. It's a nicely drawn sequence by Trimpe that leaves you in no doubt as to the General's physical vulnerability in such a situation and therefore the courage and the not-always-previously-glimpsed humanity he's showing just by being there. The general even makes something of a conceptual breakthrough as he tries to befriend the Hulk - only to have his attempt destroyed by the nervousness of his trigger happy pilots.

The irony is somewhat lost on him that it's the air of paranoia about the Hulk he's created among his men that's made them trigger-happy in the first place but still there are parallels with the development of J Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man comics in that both Ross and Jameson started out as one-dimensional ranters, hating the strip's protagonist for no good reason other than to generate drama, who, as time went along, started to show more admirable traits. The difference being that Jameson was never allowed to develop beyond a certain point and would always revert to his default position after brief periods of being admirable, whereas Ross continued his development as the strip went along.

Incredible Hulk #132. Hydra

(Cover from October 1970.)

“In The Hands Of Hydra!”

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by John Severin.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

“Many arms have Hydra! Cut off a limb and two more shall take its place!” which must come in handy if its members ever decide to take up chainsaw juggling.

Instead, the criminal organisation who can only afford one cape between them have decided to do something far more dangerous - capturing the Hulk. They want to use him as their new super-weapon, and so recruit the services of Jim Wilson by convincing him the US military, who currently have the green-skinned behemoth, intend their captive nothing but ill.

Jim Wilson is of course spectacularly stupid in this tale, helping Hydra even though they make no attempt to act like anything but villains in front of him. “Few could talk thus to the Supreme Hydra -- and survive!” The Supreme Hydra tells him during a trip to the pictures. You think that alone might be enough to warn Jim they’re not the good guys in this tale. But no, he just ploughs straight on and helps them, somehow thinking he’s aiding the Hulk by delivering them into their hands.

Despite this, I can’t deny I have a soft spot for Jim Wilson. He’s currently as thick as two short planks and guaranteed to make the wrong decision at every turn but at least his heart’s in the right place.

I also can’t deny I have a soft spot for Hydra. Of the three Marvel criminal organisations of the age, AIM, the Maggia and Hydra, Hydra are the only ones who’ve ever grabbed me. Maybe it’s the masks, maybe it’s the tendency to burst into melodramatic mottoes - like some gang of malevolent boy scouts - or maybe it’s just the fact they don’t wear beekeepers’ hats or sound like the Mafia. Needless to say their nefarious plan turns out to be a dud and, like the Mandarin before them, who also sought to use the Hulk as a super-weapon, all they succeed in doing is bringing him into their secret lair so he can smash it to pieces.

But this issue's not about the Hulk, who's really just a supporting player here. It's about new cast member Jim Wilson and, at the tale's end, Jim's hurt and possibly dying. Will we have to say goodbye to our new sometime-sidekick before we even got to know him properly?

Incredible Hulk #131. Iron Man

(Cover from September 1970.)

“A Titan Stalks The Tenements!”

Written by Roy Thomas.
Drawn by Herb Trimpe.
Inked by John Severin.
Lettering by Sam Rosen.

The Hulk gets “relevant” as his quest to kill Bruce Banner takes him to the tenements where he finds a new friend in homeless teenager Jim Wilson and meets an old ally in Iron Man.

Banner and Iron Man have decided the only way to stop the Hulk is to fire a Gamma gun at him to make he and Banner merge once more. But it seems there’s a problem, because, once it’s done, Bruce Banner appears to be permanently trapped inside the Hulk forever.

With Rick Jones off having adventures with Captain Marvel and having anyway outlived his useful purpose in the pages of The Hulk, we get to meet what’s effectively his straight replacement in Jim Wilson who, like the Hulk, is a homeless outcast and not white.

The fact he’s not white might not seem like it should be any big deal but this is the early 1970s, and so Jim can barely get through a sentence without mentioning his and other people’s skin colour. Looking at it through modern eyes, it’s a characterisation somewhat lacking in subtlety but I suppose we should at least credit Roy Thomas and Marvel for making an effort, and Jim’s humble origins do enable him to serve his purpose perfectly as the strip’s conscience.

His presence also does the comic a favour by bringing out the more human side of Thunderbolt Ross who, in his treatment of Jim in future issues, starts to reveal himself to be more than just the empty-headed blowhard he was once routinely depicted as.

So, John Severin's back on inks, the Hulk's got a new friend, General Ross is turning into a more rounded human being. It seems like everything's right with the world.

Apart from Bruce Banner being gone forever, of course.

Still, that can all be sorted out next issue.

Can't it?

Incredible Hulk #130. The Hulk meets Bruce Banner

(Cover from August 1970.)

“If I Kill You.. I Die!”

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Herb Trimpe.

Lettering by Sam Rosen.

You don’t know what a splitting headache is till you’re Bruce Banner. Determined yet again to cure himself of being the Hulk, Banner goes to visit old colleague Raoul Stoddard who just happens to have a secret cave at the end of a secret tunnel, which just so happens to contain a secret machine that can just so happen to be able to cure the Hulk.

The trouble is, when it’s used, it doesn’t cure him at all, it simply splits Banner and the Hulk into two separate people, with the Hulk determined to kill Bruce Banner.

It’s another corking tale that feels almost like some metaphysical fever as all logic’s defied and Stoddard has a complete personality change halfway through, suddenly turning into a raving madman for no reason other than it’s good for dramatic tension. The whole tale stretches credulity pretty much to its breaking point, with Stoddard’s secret tunnel, cave and machine - not to mention his sudden change from good guy to homicidal nut job - but this is the Hulk and all such objections are cast aside by the vaguely surreal horror of it all as the Hulk squares up to Banner and then sets about smashing his way through the United States, on a mission to kill his former alter ego.

Given its unlikely twists and turns, and the fact that what happens must be Bruce Banner’s worst nightmare, you wouldn’t be surprised if the good doctor woke at the end of the tale only to discover it had all been a dream.

But no, it’s not. At the end of the issue it’s all still real and we’re gonna have to wait a whole month to see how it ends.

Incredible Hulk #129. The Leader and the Glob

(Cover from July 1970.)

“Again, The Glob!”

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Herb Trimpe.

Lettering by Sam Rosen.

Never accept lifts from a stranger - especially one who’d give a ride to a man like you. It’s a lesson Bruce Banner should learn well as he inadvertently accepts a lift from the Leader who, to enact his latest plan, has reverted to his pre-mutation guise of a lowly truck driver. In this form, he’s a perfectly nice man and, remembering nothing of his alter-ego, strikes up a rapport with Banner, both of them being somewhat bewildered souls. From their conversation, however, the Leader learns the Glob was the one foe who might have defeated the Hulk and so, upon reverting to his high-headed guise, he revives the swamp monster and sets him on the Hulk.

Maybe it’s just me but as the long as the Glob’s in a story I’m happy. He’s like the Hulk pushed in a more extreme direction and it’s great to see our hero torn between the need to defend himself from the creature and the desire to make friends with it. It’s also good to see the Hulk defeat a foe by outwitting him. It must be conceded there aren’t many foes the Hulk could ever hope to outsmart but, in the Glob, he’s finally found one.

Herb Trimpe’s art’s much better this time out. He’s still using too thick a brush which gives the book too simplistic a look but it’s a huge improvement on the issue before, and the bolder lines suit the Glob well even if they’re not quite so ideal for normal everyday people. The impression you get is this is a period of experimentation for Trimpe as he tries different ways of doing things. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

Needless to say, despite his self-declared genius, the Leader’s as big an idiot as ever, determined to over-complicate his attempts at revenge on the Hulk, to the point of spurning a perfectly good chance of bumping off Bruce Banner right at the start of the tale. It also has to be said that, with the passage of time, his motivation’s gone down somewhat in the world. Once he sought to rule that world, then he wanted to destroy it. Now his sole purpose in life seems to be to follow the Hulk around, trying to come up with ever more arch ways to defeat him. You have to dig his aircraft though, which he’s clearly copied from the 1953 George Pal War of the Worlds movie. He might be a bit of an idiot but at least he has good taste in special effects.

Incredible Hulk #128. The Avengers

(Cover from June 1970.)

"And In This Corner... The Avengers!"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Herb Trimpe.

Lettering by Sam Rosen.

Following his recent encounter with Tyrannus, the Hulk's still roaming the nation's underground caverns. You might think out of sight out of mind, but there's only one problem.

He's heading straight for the San Andreas Fault.

If he decides to use that as his punch bag it's bye bye California.

Happily, General Thunderbolt Ross has a plan. He calls in the Avengers to lure the Hulk above ground so he can try out his latest super-weapon on him.

I suppose it was always the danger, given his style, that Herb Trimpe would have trouble drawing the Avengers. Costumed adventurers were never his strength. But the truth is, for some reason, in this issue, he seems to be having trouble drawing everything - even the Hulk. His artwork looks terrible; not just his pencilling and inking but his layouts too. It's like he's trying a whole new way of drawing the strip, and failing. Gone is the heightened visual drama we're used to, replaced by a form of story-telling that seems both flat and juvenile.

He's not the only one. Whatever malaise is afflicting Trimpe seems to have overcome Roy Thomas too. A man more used than anyone to writing the Avengers seems to have lost all feel for them. Apart from the Hulk and Goliath no one in this story seems to be speaking the way they should be.

To make matters worse, the Avengers are plain useless. They're just there to divert the Hulk so he'll step into the path of some beam or other that Thunderbolt Ross and his men have whipped up. When the Hulk finally obliges, the beam doesn't work, so the Avengers simply give up and leave, congratulating themselves on the fact they've proven they can work as a team, seemingly not caring for one moment that the Hulk's still on the loose. The various Avengers' dialogue as they depart is like some sort of parody of how super-heroes speak.

I really don't know what was going on with this issue. The impression you get is it was knocked out in a hurry under pressure of a tight deadline. Then again, maybe everyone's brains just sprang a leak during the making of it but it really is one of the few tales from the era that you'd avoid letting anyone see if you were trying to turn them on to the Hulk.

It's a shame because it's the Hulk, and it's the Avengers and it should be great. But sadly that's the one thing it isn't.

Incredible Hulk #127.Mogol and Tyrannus

(Cover from May 1970.)

"Mogol!"

Written by Roy Thomas.
Drawn by Herb Trimpe.
Inked by Herb Trimpe.
Lettering by Sam Rosen.

A man of infinite wisdom (it was Tony Hatch) once said everybody needs good neighbours, who should be there for one another, because that's when good neighbours become good friends.

Well, the Hulk and the giant subterranean Mogol might not have become good neighbours but they do at least become good friends as The Incredible Hulk goes further underground than even Robert Crumb could ever hope to manage.

Tyrannus, that would-be Caesar of the underworld, is in deep doo-doo. His arch-enemy the Mole Man's yet again captured the fountain of eternal youth that's been keeping him alive and is now planning an attack on Tyrannus' city itself. Fortunately for Tyrannus, his servant Mogol's convinced the Hulk to join the fray.

This is one of my favourite Hulk tales. For a start it has Tyrannus in it. Apparently, Tyrannus isn't exactly popular with comic book readers but he's always grabbed me, with his roman garb and totally unjustified god complex. There aren't that many super-villains I'd quite like to be but supreme ruler of an underground kingdom sort of grabs me - as long as I could have weekends off. Admittedly, the Mole Man's also in the tale but at least for once he justifies his existence by giving the big T someone to fight.

But the story centres around Mogol, the giant being who can't remember where he came from or how he came to be in the service of Tyrannus. All he knows is he somehow owes the dictator his life. Sent to the surface to recruit the Hulk's aid, he and the brute quickly become bosom buddies as each at last has found a kindred spirit to relate to.

Sadly, this being the Hulk, the ending doesn't reflect well on our hero as, in the heat of battle with the Mole Man's forces, we discover Mogol is in fact a robot.

"So what?" you might think. "The Hulk's a bright green mutant. As Phillip Drummond could have told you, it takes different strokes to move the world."

Sadly, the Hulk doesn't see it that way and promptly destroys his best friend for not being "real" enough. This is actually quite disturbing and goes against the view we mostly have of the Hulk from this era as being a basically gentle soul committing acts of violence only when provoked. Bearing in mind Mogol is his only friend and refuses to lift a finger to defend himself against the Hulk's attack, it can't be seen as anything other than a form of murder. But that's what happens when you have the Hulk's lack of brains and surfeit of muscles.

And so, at the tale's end, having destroyed Mogol, the Mole Man's citadel and Tyrannus' troglotopolis, the Hulk finds himself alone.

And this time he's got no one to blame but himself.

Incredible Hulk #126. Night-Crawler, Dr Strange and the Undying Ones

(Cover from April 1970.)

"...Where Stalks The Night-Crawler!"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Herb Trimpe.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

For some reason, the Hulk and magic have always mixed well, possibly because of his thinly disguised roots in horror tales like Frankenstein, The Wolfman and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and here he gets flung well and truly into the world of sorcery as he gets to meet Dr Strange for what appears to be the first time (though don't quote me on that).

But before he can do that he has to be kidnapped, in his Bruce Banner guise, and sent spiralling by some HP Lovecraft types into a dread dimension where he has to fight the dread Night-Crawler. No, not the X-Man, who no one would call "dread". This one's a demon with attitude who's the only thing keeping the evil Undying Ones from invading our world.

The main joy of the issue is it gives Herb Trimpe the chance to show he's equally at home drawing arcane horror as modern technology. The early scenes at the occultists' mansion are wonderfully melodramatic and, when he arrives, the Night-Crawler's great, a huge big demon with a bunch of tricks up his sleeves and an ego of galactic proportions. When the Hulk destroys his dimension, the Night-Crawler doesn't sit and sulk like the rest of us would, he just decides to help himself to the Undying Ones' dimension instead, blithely setting himself the task of taking on their entire world to get it. He might be a villain and I'm not too sure how many times he ever appeared after this but there's no getting away from it, while he lasted, he was a cool character.

A pre-Valkyrie Barbara Norris, meanwhile frees Dr Strange from the prison he's been in throughout the story, and Strange and the Hulk return to Earth.

I assume this tale was designed to tie-up loose ends from the cancellation of Dr Strange's own mag and it could explain his somewhat ungallant actions in happily leaving Barbara Norris in the Undying Ones' trap. Surely, being a hero, he'd make some attempt to free her but, instead, upon returning to Earth, he decides the world no longer needs Dr Strange and promptly retires, leaving poor old Babs trapped by the Undying Ones forever. There's gratitude for you. I wonder if her future incarnation The Valkyrie ever brought that decision up at any of their Defenders get-togethers?

Incredible Hulk #125. The one with the Absorbing Man

(Cover from March 1970.)

"...And Now, The Absorbing Man!"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Herb Trimpe.

Lettering by Sam Rosen.

The Absorbing Man's always been one of my favourite villains. After all, with his ability to add his opponent's powers to his own natural strength, all he needs is something cleverer than a cabbage between his ears and there's not a hero in the world can hope to defeat him.

Sadly, he always had something less clever than a cabbage between his ears, and so had an alarming tendency to lose. Admittedly, the fact that in his early days he was up against Thor who, like Superman, kept producing super-powers he'd never mentioned before, from thin air, did put him at something of a disadvantage.

Happily for Creel, this time he's up against a foe with even less smarts than him and, unlike the Avenging Asgardian, one who isn't going to whip up brand new super-powers from nowhere. It means there can only be one outcome.

Doesn't it?

What's happening is the world's in a bit of a bind. It's going to be hit by a comet that's appeared from nowhere. There's only one man can save us and that's Robert Bruce Banner who volunteers to fly a rocket into the comet's tail to detonate a nuclear explosion that'll destroy it. Unfortunately, on the way down, Banner discovers the comet contained the Absorbing Man and he's hitched a lift on the rocket's exterior to get back to Earth. No one's going to be surprised that Creel and the Hulk promptly start bashing away at each other the moment they meet.

Here's a turn-up for the books, because logic says the Absorbing Man should beat the Hulk, and blow me down if he doesn't do exactly that. Admittedly it's not totally clear how he does it. Basically, he grabs the Hulk's arm and, within seconds, the Hulk's out cold. Why having his arm grabbed would knock the Hulk out I'm not sure. It's explained he was partially weakened by the fact he was about to transform back into Bruce Banner, although why he should be transforming into Banner so soon after turning into the Hulk in the first place isn't explained and you wonder if it was a case of Roy Thomas looking at Trimpe's artwork and trying to explain away the Hulk's somewhat baffling collapse. I do wonder if Trimpe was under the impression that the Absorbing Man drains, rather than mimics, his foes' powers, leaving his victim powerless, whereas comics' historian Thomas knew better?

Regardless, in victory Creel finds defeat because he uses the Hulk's strength to lift a mountain to bury his foe under but, unconscious, the Hulk turns back into Bruce Banner, the Absorbing Man loses his strength and is promptly crushed by the mountain.

I was always going to like this story because of my liking for the Absorbing Man and he's appealingly nasty here; like the Leader last issue, doing bad things purely for the sake of doing bad things. Like the Sandman in issue #114, he too suffers a memorably nightmarish bout of body horror, starting to crumble and crack as the weight of the mountain bears down on his now stone form. It's also good to see the Hulk lose. I mentioned in a previous review the tendency for jade jaws to actually lose the occasional battle in this era and how it's good for the strip that its hero isn't seen as being completely unstoppable.

It has to be said the ink job on the first half of this issue's terrible. I don't know if Herb Trimpe'd decided to experiment with a new style or if he'd bought some new brushes that were twice as thick as the ones he usually had but the inking looks nothing like his usual work and has a somewhat amateurish feel to it. Oddly enough, in the second half of the tale, his inking's back to normal. I suppose we just have to put it down as one of those mysteries in life we may never know the answer to.

But who are those strange and silent young people approaching the unconscious Bruce Banner at the very end of the tale?

It looks like we'll have to read next month to find out.

Incredible Hulk #124. The Leader and the Rhino

(Cover from February 1970.)

"The Rhino Says No!"

Writer: Roy Thomas.

Innovator: Herb Trimpe.

Illustrator: Sal Buscema.

Letterer: Sam Rosen .

Things that start as tragedy might end as farce. Nothing better demonstrates that than The Incredible Hulk #124. In all honesty, the tragedy, although planned, never quite arrives but the farce certainly does - and from a highly unlikely source.

Having been cured of his unfortunate tendency to turn green, Bruce Banner's now free to marry Betty Ross. Sadly, no one's told him that the wedding of any Marvel hero's doomed to be gatecrashed by at least one super-villain.

With him being the Hulk's arch-enemy, that villain's the Leader, who proves his love for over-egging his puddings by reviving the Rhino from his coma, to serve as his lackey. The Leader's genius plan is to show up at the ceremony and turn Banner into the Hulk so the Hulk'll kill Betty Ross.

That's the intended tragedy. The only problem is the Rhino and the Leader then fall out and the Leader has to flee the scene to escape his supposed ally, leaving the Hulk somewhat bemused as to what's been going on. However, thanks to the Leader's machinations, it does mean the end of Bruce Banner's ability to keep his own intellect when he becomes the Hulk,

For what set out out be such a dramatic tale, the last few pages really are surprisingly comedic as the Leader and the Rhino turn on each other in a way that makes the Leader look a complete and ineffectual idiot. "Stop shaking my Escape Module, you, brainless brute! It's powered by very unstable molecules!" Yes, who wouldn't power their emergency escape vehicle with very unstable molecules? I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. It's undeniably entertaining and it's always nice to see the ridiculously self-regarding Leader taken down a peg or two but it does somewhat undermine him as a menace. Still, I'm sure it's nothing his next grandiose scheme can't put right.

For whatever reason, Herb Trimpe doesn't draw this issue. He's credited as, "Innovator," while Sal Buscema's credited as, "Illustrator."Normally you'd assume that meant Trimpe did the layouts whilst Buscema did the pencilling. In truth, the layouts for the most part look like pure Sal to me. Regardless, a few lapses in scale aside, John's younger brother does a great job on the issue.

It's a shame the storyline that's seen Banner able to retain his normal intellect while in the Hulk's form ends here. While it was inevitable the old order'd be restored eventually, it would've been nice to see it last a few more issues. There was definite potential to the idea of the Hulk operating as a more conventional super-hero for a while. Sadly we barely had chance to get used to the development before it was taken away from us.

The thing that makes me happiest about this tale is the Leader's Giant Super Humanoid makes his return. As the last we saw of him was him being flung into an exploding volcano, presumably he's not the one we saw before. What makes me less happy is he's barely back before he's trashed by the Rhino. Exploding volcanoes, charging Rhinos, it seems life's no fun when you're a Super Humanoid.

Incredible Hulk #123. The Leader and his tripod

(Cover from January 1970.)

"No More The Monster!"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Herb Trimpe.

Lettered by Artie Simek.

Sometimes a man needs a new direction in life. Perhaps he needs to take up stamp-collecting or bird-watching. Maybe he needs to spend long hours in his shed, smoking a pipe and building crystal radio sets.

Of course, more often than not, he simply needs to stop being a homicidal green monster.

And so it's time for a whole new direction in the life of Bruce Banner, as the Fantastic Four cure him of being the Hulk. Not only that but, thanks to Banner's own tweaking of the formula, he can now become the Hulk at will and retain his original intellect. Thunderbolt Ross takes advantage of this by asking Bruce to guard the military's new super-weapon, the three-legged Murder Module, and the Leader decides to steal it. Banner decides to stop him, only for the Hulk's mind to reassert itself under pressure.

Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to end happily?

There are two obvious questions raised by the Murder Module. One is why you'd design a weapon to have three legs, a notoriously unstable method of locomotion? The other is why does the Leader want it in the first place? Obviously he wants it so he can kill people. The only problem with that is a man of his genius could easily create one for himself rather than wasting time trying to steal it and, given how quickly the Hulk reduces it to a pile of scrap, it clearly wouldn't have been much use in his plans for World conquest anyway. I think you have to conclude the Leader just likes to do bad things for the sake of doing bad things, which is fair enough when you're a gamma-ray mutated villain of questionable sanity who probably doesn't get out much.

For the second issue running, the Hulk shows himself willing to commit murder, failing to crush the Leader to death only when Banner's intellect prevents him. It's a far angrier, more destructive version of the Hulk than we've seen before and one whose arrival's coincided with the tenure of Roy Thomas whose view of the character seems far less benign than Stan Lee's ever was.

In a certain other blog I could mention, I pointed out the strange tendency for people in comics to only ever refer to each other by their surnames, and it goes into overdrive here. Despite the fact they've done him the biggest favour ever, Bruce Banner repeatedly and exclusively refers to the members of the Fantastic Four by their last names and they only ever refer to him as "Banner." Is there really no room for friendship in the world of Marvel heroes? Still, at least we should be grateful he doesn't insist on calling his fiancée "Ross" and she in turn doesn't call him "Banner."