Incredible Hulk #114. The Sandman and the Mandarin

(Cover from April 1969.)

"At Last I Will Have My Revenge!"

Written by Stan Lee.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Dan Adkins.

Lettered by Artie Simek.

If the definition of "intelligence" is the ability to learn from past mistakes, the Mandarin's clearly named after the literally brainless fruit of that name and not the traditional Chinese bureaucrat.

Having failed miserably last time out, the Gobi Gob decides that what he needs in order to defeat the Hulk is to team up with the Sandman. Having recruited his new ally, he then instigates a plan that in no way shape or form requires the presence of the Sandman. Needless to say, it all goes horribly wrong and it turns out neither villain has a Plan B, suggesting the Mandarin isn't quite the tactical genius he claims to be. For that matter, just what the Mandarin's Plan A was is anyone's guess as he makes exactly the same mistake as he did last time. Basically, he kidnaps the Hulk then takes him to his secret lair, enabling the Hulk to smash it to pieces.

But, of course, the Mandarin's stupidity aside, what this issue's most memorable for is one scene, where the Sandman's flung by his partner in perfidy into what seems to be a gigantic deep-fat fryer. Why the Mandarin has such a thing in his dread HQ's never explained. Maybe he likes his Mars Bars like his super-heroes; well-battered. Regardless, poor old Sandy emerges from it having been transformed into glass, meaning, in the space of one panel, he's gone from being a foe no one can harm to one who can be killed by anyone with a lump hammer. It's a wonderfully macabre and nightmarish fate for our villain and you have to congratulate either Herb Trimpe or Stan Lee (depending on which came up with it) for its shock value.

Argh! Thunderbolt Ross is at it again. Having finally got it into his thick head last issue that the Hulk isn't a bad guy, this issue he's droning on about, "That traitorous Bruce Banner!" Traitorous how? Why? When?

Still, at least his idiocy's equalled by Glenn Talbot who doesn't seem able to predict for one second that confronting Bruce Banner with a bunch of soldiers and threatening to shoot him might not be the best way to prevent him from turning into the Hulk.

Incredible Hulk #108. More of the Mandarin

(Cover from October 1968.)

"Monster Triumphant!"

Written by Stan Lee.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by John Severin.

Lettered by I Watanabe.

Anyone who doesn't think an inker makes that much difference to how a strip looks only has to be pointed towards The Incredible Hulk #108 because the transformation from last issue is genuinely astonishing. Gone is Syd Shores and in comes John Severin. Suddenly, it's like you're looking at the work of a completely different penciller. Whereas Shores' heavy inks weren't at all suited to Trimpe, Severin's more subtle and detailed work is perfect for him. And the comic looks fantastic, oozing energy, urgency and action in every panel as Trimpe finally starts to make the most of his strengths as an artist.

There's something else also started to change. From the moment the strip was born, it had the glaring problem of how to build stories around a stupid, inarticulate and witless character. Here, Stan Lee and Herb Trimpe simply bypass the problem by making the Hulk a supporting character in his own book, a catalyst as much as a protagonist. It's not something that hadn't been done before but it's a solution the strip would increasingly use from now on and enabled it to achieve an ever greater richness of story-telling.

So, what actually happens? Simple; the Mandarin, having captured the Hulk, uses him to launch an attack on the Chinese. For some reason, Nick Fury and his Russian equivalent Yuri Brevlov fear this'll cause China to declare war on their respective countries. Why they think this, is anybody's guess but it's enough to convince them to team up. Happily for them, and for no reason I can make out, Tony Stark concludes the Mandarin must be behind it all. And so the pair attack the Mandarin's fortress as the Hulk takes on the entire Chinese army. Needless to say it all ends with the Hulk smashing up the Mandarin's castle before blundering off into the distance, bemoaning the fact he can't find anywhere where he's welcome.

That's what he thinks because he's more than welcome in my house. I really can't stress how much of an improvement on recent issues this one is as, after years of inconsistency and sometimes plain floundering around, the strip's quickly starting to stumble upon a story-telling style and a format that'll finally put it up there among Marvel's genuinely great strips.

And next issue is where that moment'll finally arrive.

Incredible Hulk #107. The one with the Mandarin

(Cover from September 1968.)

"Ten Rings Hath The Mandarin!"

Written by Gary Friedrich.
Drawn by Herb Trimpe.
Inked by Syd Shores.
Lettering by Artie Simek.

There's only one man in the Marvel universe who loves purple and green more than the Hulk does and, with issue #107, at last our hero gets to meet him. After last issue and his spat with the exploding caveman, this time out the Hulk meets the megalomaniac Manchurian as he finds himself up against Iron Man's old nemesis the Mandarin.

Watching our hero blundering around in Russia, Mandy decides the Hulk's just the pawn he needs for his evil schemes and teleports him to his Chinese castle to inflict a series of tests on him. Luckily for the Hulk, none of them involve Advanced Calculus and most consist of smashing things. As the Hulk does "smashing" better than anyone this side of Jim Bowen, he passes with flying colours before trying to kill the Mandarin who, sadly, has one last trick up his sleeve.

It has to be said the general story-telling's not altogether ambitious in this tale. Basically, once the loose ends from the previous issue are tied up, it's just the Hulk smashing a string of machines, devices and robots before trying to smash the Mandarin. But is that really such a bad thing? What do we read the thing for if it's not an innate love of mindless violence? And it's always good to see the Hulk up against an over-confident self-declared genius. It always works with the Leader and it works here. It's oddly appealing to see Mandy so convinced of his superiority that he at no point grasps just what a clanger it is to bring the Hulk into his castle.

If the art wasn't exactly sensational last time out, this issue it's even worse, as Syd Shores' heavy-handed and unsophisticated inking almost completely swamps Trimpe's pencils. If you try really hard you can still just about see his style showing through but only just. Although she's not credited, I have to wonder if Marie Severin's still got a hand in the mix as there're several panels that look distinctly Marie-esque.

But none of this matters. What really matters is that possibly the greatest revelation of this issue is that the Hulk is quite the linguist as, surrounded by the sort of pitch-fork wielding Eastern Europeans that exist only in comics and 1930s' Frankenstein movies, he can understand their every word. If only the Mandarin had decided to test the Hulk's language skills instead of his hitting skills, who knows what unpleasantness he might have been spared?