Incredible Hulk #153. The trial of the Hulk

(Cover from July 1972.)

“The World My Jury!”

Written by Gary Friedrich.
Pencils by Dick Ayers and Herb Trimpe.
Inks by John Severin.
Lettering by Jean Izzo.

Here’s a tale so memorable it inspired a TV movie.

Happily, this is a whole lot better than that was. And we don’t even have to endure the sight of Daredevil in a costume that genuinely looked like it’d been made by a blind man.

Instead we get to see more heroes than we thought could be crammed into one comic, and the trial of the century, as the strip that refuses to settle on a genre becomes a courtroom drama.

Captured, at the airport, by the Fantastic Four, the Hulk’s on trial and, unless his attorney Matt Murdock can come up with the goods, he's facing the death penalty.

But it’s an odd sort of trial, as the prosecution offers neither evidence nor witnesses against the accused, while it never occurs to Murdock to ask psychiatrists to judge whether the Hulk’s even mentally fit to stand trial. Happily, in the end, none of that matters as, whipping up another of his impossible devices, Mr Fantastic engineers the monster’s escape.

You can’t get round it, Reed Richards’ behaviour in freeing the Hulk can’t be seen as anything but what it is, irresponsible. We may all be glad to see the star of the comic we’re reading dodge the death penalty but you can’t ignore the fact he’s caused innocent deaths in the past and will no doubt do so again.

It’s also a shame to see so little of Spider-Man at the airport. A couple of panels and he’s gone. Somehow it’s hard to imagine the infamously egotistical web head so easily agreeing to butt out of a fight - especially as, at that point, the Fantastic Four aren’t exactly setting the world alight. There is though an odd pleasure in seeing Daredevil get bashed against the tailpiece of a plane by the Hulk. Although you do wonder how he’s still alive after that. And of course we get to see yet another Hulk/Thing scrap.

But, despite the early action, the tale’s focus is on the trial and, with its grumpy judge, endless objections from the prosecution, and overall feel of a kangaroo court, it does what a legal drama should do which is make you sympathise with the accused and hate everyone else.

So, all in all, we get all we could ask of a Hulk tale. It’s good to see the strip still happy to veer away from our expectations of what a Hulk story’s like by having a tale dominated by people stood in a room talking - even though the whole way the court functions makes no sense in terms of how a real court'd do things.

That judge really does need to learn to relax a bit though.

Incredible Hulk #152. The Fantastic Four and Matt Murdock

(Cover from June 1972.)

“But Who Will Judge The Hulk?”

Written by Gary Friedrich.
Art by Dick Ayers/Herb Trimpe.
Inks by Frank Giacoia.
Lettering by Artie Simek.

Had an accident that wasn’t your fault? You need a lawyer. Caused a whole bucketful of accidents that were your fault? You need a great lawyer.

Sadly, in the world of Marvel Comics, there aren’t any great lawyers. There’s just Matt Murdock, a man who thinks it’s a good idea to give Bruce Banner a stimulant to liven him up a bit.

Yes, the Hulk’s been captured again and this time President Nixon - making yet another appearance in the strip - has ordered he be put on trial for his crimes. Thus Bruce Banner finds himself on a plane, headed for court, and Matt Murdock finds himself on board as his appointed legal representative.

It’s hard to know who’s stupider in this tale, Matt Murdock for ordering his client be given a gee-up, on a plane, thus inevitably turning him into the Hulk, or Thunderbolt Ross for instantly wrecking the truce Murdock sets up with the monster, thus sending the Hulk back on the rampage again.

Then again, there're other odd things afoot throughout the tale. Leaving aside the fact the issue has a different, writer, inker and penciller from normal, we get a guest appearance from both Captain America and Nick Fury, neither of whom do anything at all in the story before declaring their work is done and clearing off.

Fortunately, the Fantastic Four, who also guest in the tale, at least know what they’re there for, to fall out with each other and then arrive just in time for the story’s climax when the Hulk smashes out of the plane, delivers a line of dialogue he’d never deliver and sets himself up for a scrap with them.

Dick Ayers' and Frank Giacoia’s take on the strip stands out like a sore thumb, after Trimpe & Severin; less moody, more conventional and less sophisticated. But, although somewhat uninspired in its layouts, it does its job efficiently - and Herb Trimpe clearly had a fairly strong hand in page twelve at least. So, if we're not happy about the absence of our usual team, unlike the president we won't be calling in the lawyers just yet.

Incredible Hulk #122. The Fantastic Four

(Cover from December 1969.)

"The Hulk's Last Fight!"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Herb Trimpe.

Lettered by Artie Simek.

There are two things in life whose magic never fails you. One of them is randomly shouting the word, "Exterminate!" and the other's watching the Fantastic Four fight the Hulk. Leaving aside the fact it always gives us a green man vs an orange man, there's just something about it that's always going to grab you. Maybe it's the contrast between the Hulk, all alone and driven by brainlessness, and the more tactical team-play of the FF, or perhaps it's just because the Hulk and the Fantastic Four were Marvel Comics' first heroes of their post-monster age.

Realising it's only a matter of time before his alter-ego kills someone, Bruce Banner heads for the FF's Baxter Building, having read in a newspaper that Reed Richards claims to have found a cure for his condition. Needless to say, on the way, Banner has one of his turns, and the obligatory carnage breaks out before Mr Fantastic manages to stop the brute, with a sonic gun.

The start of this tale's genuinely disconcerting as the Hulk, for no good reason, annihilates a train. It turns out to be a freight train, with no passengers, and the handful of crew are somehow unharmed - although, given the way the Hulk flings the thing around, it's hard to see how - but the point is the Hulk has no way of knowing there are no passengers and, for all he knows, he's killing people on an industrial scale. It's one of those rare occasions when you can suddenly see why Thunderbolt Ross is so determined to stop the Hulk no matter what.

That aside, the main concern about this issue was always going to be how Herb Trimpe coped with drawing the FF. Whatever his strengths, Trimpe was never a natural super-hero artist and, at times could produce the least heroic-looking heroes you ever saw but he does fine here, mostly because he has the wisdom to repeatedly copy Jack Kirby poses. It's easy to knock artists for copying each other but, in this case, I'd see it as Trimpe merely acknowledging that he can learn from the master.

It's a bit worrying that, once he realises he can't out-muscle the Hulk, the Thing's master plan for dealing with him is to send him flying from a window and down onto the streets below. I don't like to teach my granny to suck eggs but I would've thought it'd be the first instinct of any good super-hero to protect the public from a menace like the Hulk, not send him flying right into the thick of them in an enraged state. Happily, this being the sparsely populated town of New York, there's no one around.

But you do wonder where the Fantastic Four get their security guards from. The staff they hire here really are a complete shower. They have only one job, to let Bruce Banner into the building without hassles. Needless to say, when Banner shows up he's promptly confronted by a guard who's positively itching to start using his gun at the first possible opportunity. It's explained he's filling in for a colleague at short notice and therefore isn't fully aware of the situation but, really, bearing in mind he was likely to come up against the Hulk, you would've thought someone would at least have told him what he was there for.