Incredible Hulk #178. Warlock reborn

(Cover from August 1974.)

"Triumph On Terra-Two!"

Conceived by Roy Thomas.

Plotted by Gerry Conway.

Scripted by Tony Isabella.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Jack Abel.

Lettering by A Kupperberg.

Colours by L Lessmann.

Anyone who read last month's issue'll know exactly what happens here. Having been executed last time out, Adam Warlock's placed in a cave, comes back to life, gives everyone a speech and then flies off into outer space to continue his good work, on other worlds. In between all this he takes time out to devolve the Man-Beast and his cronies back to the animals they once were.

It's definitely a comic of two halves. The bits that don't feature Warlock are entertaining, as the Hulk takes on the Man-Beast, and two people from the Justice Department rescue the real President and his sister from the villain's cells. The bits that do feature Warlock are terrible, dragged down by their clod-hopping sanctimony as we get the Resurrection by numbers. It's not just that it's story-telling without subtlety but also that the fact we know it's doing a beat-by-beat rerun of Christ's Resurrection means at no point are we surprised by anything that happens.

What is surprising - not to mention baffling - is the Man-Beast's behaviour. Having "killed" Warlock, the villain starts walking around in front of everyone in his true form, in the belief that, with Warlock out of the way, they'll all do what he says because he's the President. Why he should think the US military would happily launch into World War Three on the say-so of a creature they've never seen before - that's not even human, let alone the man the nation elected - is a total mystery and can only be put down to lazy and expedient plotting. The story really needed the duo from the Justice Department to uncover the truth and then convince the military of what's going on; not have the Man-Beast telling them, "Look at me. I'm evil. I want you to destroy your planet for me."

So, if we have Warlock being predictable and his nemesis being baffling, at least we can comfort ourselves that a somewhat misconceived tale's over and, happily, next month it's back to the real planet Earth and what the strip does best - two monsters hitting each other.

Incredible Hulk #177. The death of Adam Warlock

(Cover from July 1974.)

"Peril Of The Plural Planet!"

Written by Gerry Conway.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Jack Abel.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Colours by L Lessmann.

If history repeats itself first as tragedy and then as farce, it seems it can also rerun itself as an XTC song and a super-hero action adventure, as Adam Warlock gets to play Peter Pumpkinhead and the Hulk gets to play...

Doing his usual thing, the Hulk escapes the Man-Beast's captivity but not before the villain's planted a tracking device in Bruce Banner's neck so the Hulk'll lead him to Adam Warlock and his followers. That plan having succeeded, the Man-Beast captures Banner and Warlock and then, before a national television audience, executes Warlock on the White House lawn.

It'd be lovely to say this story's New Testament echoes add a depth and resonance to it that turns it into the classic it clearly wants to be but the truth is it hits you so hard over the head with them they merely create a distancing effect that leaves your heart sinking with every outbreak of Jesusitis. We get the Hulk as inadvertent Judas, a re-enactment of the Last Supper and finally Warlock crucified while calling out, "High Evolutionary -- why have you abandoned me?"

From what I've seen of the original Warlock run, the biblical side of it was its weakest element and presumably therefore a major contributor to the strip's commercial demise. That in mind, if the Warlock storyline was to be tied off in these pages, it would've been a whole lot better to drop those elements and do something new with it. Gerry Conway may have been credited as writer on this issue but, as the thing was edited by Roy Thomas and he was the one who injected the Biblical element into Warlock's own comic, I suppose you have to assume he was the guilty party here and that, no matter how badly the approach had failed in Warlock's own mag, Thomas just wasn't willing to let it go.

The one good thing about this issue is the Man-Beast looks a lot more menacing and a lot less cuddly than he did last month. But, in the end, the greater appeal of the Man-Beast alone is sadly not enough to overcome the alienating weight of the story's references.

Incredible Hulk #176. Warlock, the Man-Beast and Counter-Earth

(Cover from June 1974.)

"Crisis on Counter-Earth!"

Story conceived by Roy Thomas.

Written by Gerry Conway.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Jack Abel.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Colours by Stan Goldberg.

It seems the Land of Liberty's the same no matter which planet you're on. No sooner do you arrive than everyone wants to shoot you, bomb you or capture you for a villainous President.

Launched into space by the Inhumans, the Hulk's found himself on Counter-Earth where, after one of his customary rampages, he's captured by that self-same villain.

No it's not Richard Nixon. It's an entity only marginally less evil, the Man-Beast, who's fooling everyone by wearing a cunning disguise of a suit and tie.

But the Hulk's not the only one with captivity problems as, below ground, a trusty Rigellian Recorder's trying to break Adam Warlock free from the Man-Beast's imprisonment.

Despite him being evil, I do feel sorry for the Man-Beast. It seems like every time anyone draws him they change his appearance completely. Gil Kane's version on the Warlock strip bore no resemblance to Jack Kirby's, and Herb Trimpe's version bears no resemblance to either of them.

It's a shame really, as Jack Kirby's original version may not have looked anything like a wolf - and slandered the species disgracefully - but was genuinely sinister and threatening, a foe who could give Thor a run for his money. And it's hard not to regret the gradual watering-down of him to the somewhat cuddly and un-threatening looking version we're getting by this stage in his history.

But Counter-Earth isn't the only place where it's at right now because, while artists and writers might take liberties with the Man-Beast, Glenn Talbot's grasping his own liberty with both hands as he makes a dash for freedom from a Soviet prison in the Urals.

But is all as it seems? Despite having a moustache that screams, "pure evil," that prison doctor seems very keen that he should escape...

Incredible Hulk #158. Counter-Earth

(Cover from December 1972.)

"Frenzy On A Far-Away World!"

Plot by Roy Thomas.

Script by Steve Gerber.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Sal Trapani.

Lettering by John Costanza.

Has there ever been a second part to a tale that had less in common with its first than this? Last issue, the Leader had possession of the Rhino's body and was off to kill Betty Ross at her wedding. This issue, the Leader's no longer in charge of the Rhino - and forget the nuptials because we're all off on a trip to Counter-Earth.

I suspect this sudden lurch in a whole new direction may have something to do with the fact this has different writers from last issue. Either way, it's only moments after arriving on Counter-Earth that the Hulk and Rhino are caught up in the battle between the High Evolutionary's good and the evil Beast-Men, each of them siding with a different faction.

The change in direction's for the better because this feels a lot more like a Hulk tale should. It could be argued it's a tale that ultimately resolves nothing. We never get to see anything but a snippet of the war between the Beast-Men, and, at the tale's end, the Hulk and the Rhino are on their way back to Earth, with the Beast-Men's dispute as undecided as it was at the start.

It really doesn't matter. The true focus of the tale is the Hulk's brief encounter with the Counter-Earth version of Bruce Banner - Banner as he would've been had he not become the Hulk, happily married, with a son. The meeting changes the Hulk's mind about Banner, the brute deciding he can't hate a man who's a good father.

This isn't coincidence of course. Even as we're seeing the man Banner would've been if not for that Gamma blast, back on the real Earth, the woman he would've married is tying the knot with Glenn Talbot. The contrast in fates is a much more interesting way to handle the situation than to do what was threatened last issue and just have the Hulk and the Rhino/Leader violently gatecrash a wedding.

How the Hulk and Rhino get away from Counter-Earth is another matter too. Who exactly's piloting the ship they're on? It's not the Rhino. He's out cold. It's not the Hulk, unless he's suddenly a qualified space pilot. And it's presumably not the Leader as, for reasons that aren't altogether clear, he wants to keep the Hulk and the Rhino on Counter-Earth.

There's also the question of how the Hulk's going to take it when he gets back to Earth and finds out about the wedding.

I may be a pessimist but, knowing his calm and reasonable nature, I get the feeling it might not be well.