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 #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 #175. The Inhumans.

(Cover from May 1974.)

"Man-Brute In The Hidden Land!"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Jack Abel.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Colours by P Goldberg.

A well-known 1950s sci-fi movie exhorted us to keep watching the skies, and it's advice the Inhumans would do well to heed. Following the Cobalt Man's explosion in space, the Hulk crashes to Earth in the Great Refuge where, as Bruce Banner, he learns the Inhumans are planning to flee the planet, in a rocket bound for Counter-Earth. Unfortunately, while later taking a walk, Banner bumps into a gang of human-hating Inhumans and, under attack from them, changes into the Hulk.

After managing to knock the Hulk out, Black Bolt orders he be put into the rocket and fired into space, as the only means of stopping him from destroying the Great Refuge when he recovers.

Despite the potential of the Hulk versus an entire city of super-humans, it's a straightforward and relatively low-key tale that exists more as a way of getting the Hulk into space, so he can have an adventure on Counter-Earth, than it does in its own right. Sadly, we only get to see him against the Inhuman royal family and even then not at any great length. It actually feels like a very short story.

If it's not a major tale as such, it does its job and feels like something of a throwback to the offerings from Trimpe's earlier days on the strip. The main complaint'd probably be Black Bolt defeats the Hulk by using the sonic power of his voice. Obviously it makes sense for that to happen but the tendency for Black Bolt to save the day on behalf of the rest of the Inhumans, does always tend to undermine them and it would've been more dramatically pleasing for the Inhumans to work as a team to bring the Hulk down. It also has to be said that Black Bolt solving a problem by unleashing the power of his voice has by this stage long since become a cliché.

It's odd though that the Inhumans want to go to Counter-Earth thanks to it having no super-powered beings. Their argument being they might be more welcome on such a world. You'd have thought a planet with no previous experience of super-powered beings would be less likely to accept them than our own, not more.

But then again, there's a thought. If Counter- Earth has no super-powered beings, does that mean we're not living on the real Earth at all but on Counter-Earth? And does that mean that, on the other side of the sun is a version of our world filled almost to bursting with super-heroes?

If so, it seems like the Inhumans aren't the only ones who need to keep watching the skies.

Incredible Hulk #173. The Cobalt Man

(Cover from March 1974.)

"Anybody Out There Remember... The Cobalt Man?"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Art by Herb Trimpe.

Lettering by Jean Izzo.

Colours by Petra Goldberg.

Bruce Banner just doesn't know how to stay out of trouble. No sooner has he, in the form of the Hulk, stowed away on a ship than it turns out its owner Ralph Roberts wants to sail it into the thick of a nuclear explosion as a protest against atomic testing.

As if that wasn't enough, there's more to Roberts than even that.

Once upon a time he was the Cobalt Man, a scientist in Iron Man style armour who, driven mad by wearing it, had to be stopped by the X-Men. Now a reformed character, he's created himself a new suit of armour which he claims'll protect him from the explosion.

But then doesn't use it.

This being a comic book, Roberts quickly turns blue, grows some muscles and puts on his brand new armour, just in time for a fight with the Hulk. A fight the Hulk wins, but the Hulk turns back into Bruce Banner as the ship starts to sink, with him trapped below deck.

It's nice to get a change of scenery as we leave behind the Hulkbuster Base and Thunderbolt Ross' problems with Colonel Armbruster, and so it's a shame that Ross shows up in a scene where he protests to a French counterpart about the atomic testing. Leaving aside the fact the scene serves no real purpose other than to keep Ross in our minds, after two consecutive issues on Hulkbuster Base, it would've been refreshing to get a story with no Hulkbuster involvement at all.

Roberts cuts a rather ambiguous figure. His motives in wanting to protest against atomic testing suggest he's a good guy but his method, sailing unprotected into a nuclear explosion, suggest a certain mental instability and egomania even before the radiation starts to mutate him. It makes him an intriguing - if slightly mystifying - presence in the story.

If it's not clear at this stage whether Roberts is hero or villain, something else I'm not sure about is his armour. It has to be said that every time you see him he looks like he should have an American football in his hand. If the Cobalt Man was supposed to be some sort of all-American square-jawed cornball, it might make sense but, as far as I can make out, he isn't and you wonder if there was really any need for the armour at all. Writer Roy Thomas could've explained Roberts' new-found power simply by putting it all down to the radiation and not even bothered with a suit that, under the circumstances, seems an irrelevant detail.

Incredible Hulk #172. The Juggernaut

(Cover from February 1974.)

"And Canst Thou Slay... The Juggernaut?"

Plotted by Roy Thomas.

Scripted by Tony Isabella.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Lettering by A Kupperberg.

Colours by P Goldberg.

You have to hand it to Dr Peter Corbeau. Every time he tries to help the Hulk, he messes up on a scale few could even aspire to. Last time he showed up, he almost blew up the sun. This time his incompetence is less ambitious, managing only to bring the Juggernaut back to Earth and enabling him to team up with the Hulk in an unstoppable rampage.

But, of course, given the Juggernaut's evil intent, it's not long before the Hulk and he are hitting each other hammer and tongs.

You can't help feeling there's a certain amount of repetition going on here. Only last month we had the Abomination and Rhino teaming up to destroy the Hulkbuster Base, and this issue it's the Hulk and Juggernaut's turn. Editor Roy Thomas even acknowledges the fact in one of his captions.

In fact, the fight between the Hulk and the Juggernaut's arguably the most disappointing thing about the mag, simply because, when they first meet, the Juggernaut bucks the trend for comic book villains by showing no interest in fighting the Hulk at all. The Hulk shows no interest in fighting the Juggernaut. They merely see each other as necessary and temporary allies in their mutual bid to escape the base.

It makes a refreshing change to be offered the prospect that, once they've busted out, they're simply going to go their separate ways, with the story serving mainly as a means to reintroduce the Juggernaut to the Marvel Universe. Therefore it feels somewhat of a let-down when things revert to formula, and a sequence of events is contrived to make the Hulk and Juggernaut start to fight. It's not that we don't all want to see the answer to the question of who'd win a scrap between the Hulk and the Juggernaut. It's just that it feels a lazier and more obvious development than to have them simply split up once they're out.

There's also the problem that a battle between the Hulk and Juggernaut inevitably carries a sense of futility as, realistically, we all know there's never going to be a winner. And so it is that we get a Deus X-Men Machina ending in which the Juggernaut's helmet comes off just as Professor X and Marvel Girl show up to take advantage of his head-wear deficit and zap him with the mental blasts that finish him off. The Hulk's not even directly involved at this point, having grown tired of his scrap with the Juggernaut and wandered off. Echoes again of last issue.

In truth, given that neither the Hulk nor the Juggernaut could ever defeat the other, the most interesting conflict in the issue's really between Thunderbolt Ross and Colonel Armbruster. The General, who's matured over the years to feel he has a sense of duty to both the Hulk and Bruce Banner, doesn't approve at all of the way new Hulkbuster commander Armbruster's doing things. I suppose there's an irony that the gung-ho and cocksure Armbruster's basically doing things the way Thunderbolt Ross used to and, just like Ross - and Dr Corbeau - he manages to get it wrong every step of the way.

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.

Incredible Hulk #146. The Leader the Body Snatcher

(Cover from December 1971.)

“And The Measure Of A Man Is… Death!”

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

The Hulk goes Invasion of the Body Snatchers as Jim Wilson discovers the Leader’s been merrily replacing everyone who matters with killer androids. Meanwhile, the Hulk’s in the Middle East, fighting the Israeli army.

It’s all good stuff. While the Hulk’s busy doing his usual smashing and trashing, the focus of the story’s on Jim and his discovery of the Leader’s activities at General Ross’s spanking new base. As Jim’s the nearest thing to a normal person in the comic - and a natural outsider in such military surroundings - it’s pleasing to see him getting centre stage for the first time since issue #132, and he’s more proactive and resourceful than we’ve ever seen him before.

Granted he doesn’t exactly come across as Einstein in going back to the base to tell Thunderbolt Ross that the man he assigned to give Jim a lift has turned out to be an android but I suspect this is more down to confusion between artist and writer than anything else. I’m pretty sure Herb Trimpe’s pictures are meant to show Jim is aware Ross knew about the android all along. The look on Jim’s face throughout the scene where he and Ross discuss it in Ross’s office tells its own story but, for some reason, writer Gerry Conway’s captions and dialogue don’t have the youth become suspicious till after he leaves the building.

But that's not Conway’s main sin. He’s got Jim back to mentioning skin colour at every possible opportunity, and reveals the typical Marvel writer’s in-depth knowledge of black culture by having him gratuitously name-check James Brown, just to let us know Jim’s like, black, you know. Conway’s not alone in that. Superfly guy Roy Thomas was in the habit of doing exactly the same thing when he was writing the strip.

There’s also the sight of Conway putting the word, “Cripes,” into Jim’s mouth as he’s being shot at; something he used to do with Peter Parker in Spider-Man mags with a regularity that became laughable. I could be totally mistaken but I for one am not totally convinced people of any sort - let alone street kids - say cripes when confronted by life or death situations.

Still, it’s a well-structured tale, nicely balancing the twin story lines against each other, and the bit-by-bit reveal of what’s going on at the base is nicely handled. Let's face it, you can never beat a bit of good old-fashioned paranoia when it comes to story telling.

Highlight of the issue has to be the scene where the character we think is Glenn Talbot is revealed to be none other than the Leader in disguise. I assume this wasn’t just a matter of coincidence but is a visual pun on the fact that - green skin and huge forehead aside - the Leader and Talbot have always looked virtually identical.

Incredible Hulk #144. More Dr Doom

(Cover from October 1971.)

“The Monster And The Madman!”

Written by Roy Thomas and Gary Friedrich.

Drawn by Dick Ayers and John Severin.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

That great philosopher of our times Boy George once shocked us all by revealing that war is stupid. He then went on to tell us that people are stupid and that love means nothing in some strange quarters.

Well, it seems even Dr Doom’s quarters aren’t that strange as, smitten by his childhood sweetheart Valeria, he does what any man would while trying to impress the love of his life - causing nuclear Armageddon. Never one to under-do things, Doom gets the now brainwashed Bruce Banner to build Latveria a Gamma Bomb with which Doom might smite its enemies. Then he gets the Hulk to carry it to where foreign forces are waiting to invade, so he can wipe them out.

Sadly for him, that treacherous peacenik Valeria’s messed up the Hulk’s brainwashing, causing our green-skinned gargantuan to detonate the bomb over an unpopulated area. The question of what’s now happened to the would-be invading forces isn’t addressed.

Then again the question of what’s happened to all the Gamma Bomb’s nuclear fall-out’s not addressed either, and so I can only assume that, straight after this story’s over, Latveria finds itself at war with whatever unnamed country it is it borders and also dowsed with radioactive particles at the same time.

Such considerations aside, it’s a stronger tale than last month’s offering. Not that that wasn’t enjoyable but, in the end, that was mere set-up. This trumps it mostly because the Hulk’s again reduced to little more than a supporting character, as the real drama and conflict’s between Doom and Valeria, Doom determined to conquer and crush all opposition to impress her, Valeria wanting him to stop trying to crush and conquer all opposition to impress her.

Needless to say the man who didn’t listen to Reed Richards all those years ago when he warned him his calculations were a bit off and he was going to blow himself up doesn’t listen to any mere woman and so comes a cropper because of it, ultimately beaten with no great difficulty by the creature he’d sought to enslave.

But here at least Doom shows some dignity as, facing death at the Hulk’s hands, he refuses to surrender. Preferring death to disgrace.

Sadly, upon being released by the Hulk, who can no longer be bothered to fight such an irrelevant foe, Doom then shows his less dignified side by refusing to accept he’s been defeated, and trying to start the fight all over again, failing to accept how far beneath the Hulk’s notice he now is.

And so, like the Littlest Hobo, the Hulk bounds off to wherever his next adventure will be, as Doom kneels there, ranting futilely for him to come back, having failed to learn a single thing from the encounter.

So, Boy George was right. War is stupid and people are stupid. And none are more stupid than Dr Doom, a genius too dense to see he’d never have had any problems in life if his own flaws as a human being hadn’t created them in the first place.

Incredible Hulk #143. Dr Doom

(Cover from September 1971.)

“Sanctuary!”

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Dick Ayers.

Inked by John Severin.

Lettering by Sam Rosen.

Given his somewhat ubiquitous nature, it seems amazing it’s taken so long for Dr Doom to finally make his appearance in The Incredible Hulk but, at last, he's here and doing exactly what you’d expect him to do - trying to invade Europe. It’s somewhat ambitious for the ruler of a country that seems to be composed of one village, one castle, one graveyard and not much else but, like Draxon before him, Doom’s not a man to let such trifles as common sense override egomania and, with both Bruce Banner and the Hulk now in his custody, he feels he has the perfect weapons for the job.

It’s a relatively ordinary tale by the standards of the strip’s recent form, lacking the oddness and quirkiness we’ve grown used to, and we’ve seen the, "mad dictator trying to use the Hulk as a super-weapon," plot before, most notably from the Mandarin and Tyrannus. But Dr Doom always brings a touch of class to proceedings and there’s something appealing about the scientific genius Bruce Banner meeting the scientific genius Dr Doom, two men cursed by the results of their own experiments.

Dick Ayers is no Herb Trimpe but his story-telling’s good, and John Severin’s inks mean you almost don’t notice the difference, but I would like to know why Dr Doom dresses his lackeys in such silly clothes. Just what are those strange bobbly things on their hats?

Best moment is when our regular cast of characters think the Hulk’s dead and reflect on the event and what it means to them. It’s a nice bit of insight into their heads and reflects well on them that none are happy, not even General Ross who’s devoted his life to destroying the Hulk.

It also makes you realise what a man-magnet Betty Ross is, reminding us that Glenn Talbot, Doc Samson and Bruce Banner were all competing for her affections at the same time. Just how did the girl do it?

Not such a good moment is when Doc Doom arrives back in Latveria and the locals greet him with a quick outbreak of the old Nazi salute. I think we’ve all spotted the Hitler analogies with Doom. Showing us the salute does feel like we’re being somewhat bashed over the head with it.

Incredible Hulk #142. The Valkyrie

(Cover from August 1971.)

“They Shoot Hulks, Don’t They?”

Written by Roy Thomas.
Art by Herb Trimpe and John Severin.
Lettering by Artie Simek.

The Hulk enters the world of social satire as, while having a nap on the Statue of Liberty, the muddled mass finds himself “adopted” by the Radical Chic, a bunch of people whose heads are empty but their wallets full. It seems they like to show off their love of good causes in order to boost their popularity and bank balances and, right now, because he’s not been “done” before, the Hulk’s the goodest cause they can think of.

The chance to send-up then-fashionable social mores also gives writer Roy Thomas the chance to bring back everyone’s favourite warrior woman the Valkyrie. This time, thanks to the Enchantress still mithering over her most recent defeats by both the Avengers and the Hulk, the spirit of the Valkyrie takes possession of socialites’ daughter and Women’s Lib activist Samantha Parrington who promptly sets out to defeat the Hulk as a blow against the forces of male chauvinism.

As with her debut in The Avengers #83, it’s a somewhat different version of the Valkyrie to the one we’re used to from the Barbara Norris years, full of slogans and aggro, living just for the chance to beat up any bloke she doesn’t take a shine to (which is all of them), and because of that it’s all good fun.

It’s also good to see the Valkyrie knock the Hulk out with basically no effort at all, although it’s also good to see her and the Hulk transform back to their normal identities just as the fight’s about to enter Round Two, leaving Samantha Parrington and Bruce Banner stood there in the street, both clueless as to who the other is and just what it is they’re doing there. It has to be said, considering he doesn’t know who she is and has no reason to be hostile to her, Banner’s rather rude to Parrington in this brief encounter. It’s more of that socially dubious behaviour from the doc I was bemoaning last time out.

But I love this tale, the Valkyrie’s block-headed brand of feminism (“Up against the wall, male chauvinist pig!”) is irresistible fun and the Hulk’s total incomprehension of what she’s on about with her feminist rants make him the ideal counterfoil to her. It also features probably my favourite Hulk cover of them all.

Now if only I'd ever read anything by this issue's guest star Tom Wolfe...

Incredible Hulk #141. Doc Samson makes his debut

(Cover from July 1971.)

“His Name Is… Doc Samson!”

Written by Roy Thomas.

Art by Herb Trimpe and John Severin.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Something that strikes me, reading this tale, is that almost a decade in we still know next to nothing about Bruce Banner. We simply haven’t seen enough of him to know how his mind works or what kind of man he is. He’s the protagonist of a comic book and a scientific genius and therefore we assume that, like the early Reed Richards, he’s noble, wise and mature.

But last issue we saw him happy to be dictator of a land he barely knew and, this issue, when confronted with what he thinks is a love rival, instead of doing what anyone in the slightest bit well-balanced would, which is talking to the object of his affections, he instead refuses to have anything to do with her and sneaks into a laboratory to turn himself into the Hulk. What he expects to gain from such an action is anyone’s guess but that combined with his dictatorial tendencies of the last issue and his history of getting over-excited at the drop of a hat, suggest the man we know so little about might actually not be quite right in the head.

If I was into blatant links between paragraphs, I might say he needs a psychiatrist, but there’s one at hand, and he’s the root of it all.

Dr Leonard Samson’s come up with a device to drain the Hulk of his energy, thus curing Bruce Banner of his affliction while using that energy to cure Betty Ross of the vitrification that’s afflicted her for the last few issues. How a psychiatrist came up with such a scheme - which is as far out of his field as a sheep would be on Jupiter - is anyone’s guess but blow me down if the plan doesn’t work.

Showing he’s just like the rest of us, Samson then uses the remainder of the Hulk’s energy to turn himself into a super-hero. Possibly not so like the rest of us, he then takes a shine to Betty Ross. Cue jealous strangeness from Bruce Banner and the return of the Hulk.

Whatever Bruce Banner’s mental state, it’s another classic as we get to meet a new, though unsuccessful, super-hero whilst the distancing of Bruce Banner from Betty Ross - which began with the introduction of Jarella - continues.

The story’s only failing is did Roy Thomas really have to christen Doc Samson “Dr Samson” before he got his powers - especially as his hair grows long in the process of gaining them? I’ve heard of nominative determinism but some coincidences stretch credulity to a breaking point that even Bruce Banner’s trousers couldn’t endure.

Incredible Hulk #140. Jarella makes her debut

(Cover from June 1971.)

“The Brute That Shouted Love At The Heart Of The Atom!”

Plot by Harlan Ellison.

Script by Roy Thomas.

Layouts by Herb Trimpe.

Art by Sam Grainger.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

After the Hulk’s descent into Lovecraftian horror last time out, it’s now time for him to get stuck into the battling realms of Sword and Sorcery.

Not that a man of his strength needs a sword of course as he finds himself in the sub-atomic land of the beautiful Queen Jarella where, thanks to her sorcerers, he now has the mind of Bruce Banner.

I complained about how the last time the Hulk had the mind of Bruce Banner he didn’t retain it long enough for the idea to be fully explored, cheating us of what could have been an intriguing and refreshing set of stories, so it’s good to see him getting another crack at that whip and, though his lucidity, again, lasts for just one issue, we see enough to know it was an idea that could have worked, as he gets betrothed to the green-skinned Jarella and becomes protector of her equally emerald subjects. Needless to say, such happiness doesn’t last and by the end of the issue he’s back to normal size and normal “intelligence”.

For some reason, all through this cross-over, Roy Thomas keeps doing in-jokes about the original Captain Marvel. In the tale’s first half - The Avengers #88 - he has Iron Man crack a joke about seeing a line of weird statues in an abandoned subway tunnel. In this, two of Jarella’s sorcerers are called Holi and Moli, not to mention the out-and-out reference to Billy Batson he throws in. My knowledge of the original Captain Marvel’s somewhat incomplete but, from what I’ve read of it, the feel of it didn’t seem to tie in at all with the style of these stories, so I can only assume Thomas must just have had some sort of bet going on as to how many references he could cram into one story.

But despite such affectations, it’s a great, if truncated, tale that at last introduces a bit of romance into the Hulk’s life - and a potential love rival to the rarely interesting Betty Ross. I’m not sure I’d have wanted to see more than one consecutive issue set in Jarella’s fairy tale style kingdom. It’s just too far away from the Hulk’s normal milieu but, as a one-off, it works, and highlight of the issue has to be Psyklop’s giant hand smashing through the domed ceiling to reclaim the Hulk, as the locals flee in panic.

My one worry is Bruce Banner takes a little too easily to the idea of being a king, not seeming to question for one second his right to be what’s basically a dictator of a land he’s only just arrived in. You’d think a man used to living in a democracy would have at least some concerns over the political system of Jarella’s land. It is, after all, a place where a man might rise to power through assassination and the accused can be found guilty and sentenced with recourse to neither judge nor a jury.

Then again Bruce Banner was a man who once made a living out of blowing up atom bombs. Maybe social responsibility never was his strong point.

The Avengers #88. Harlan Ellison, Psyklop and the Dark Gods

(Cover from May 1971.)

“The Summons Of Psyklop”

Plot by Harlan Ellison.

Script by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Sal Buscema.

Inked by Jim Mooney

Lettering by Shelly Leferman.

It’s ironic that one of my favourite Hulk tales of the era isn’t a Hulk tale at all and barely even features him. It’s an Avengers tale but it ties directly into the Hulk mag’s continuity and that gives me all the excuse I need to include it here.

My love for it’s also ironic because I hated the Hulk’s last meeting with the Earth’s mightiest heroes which could only be called a wasted opportunity.

This, however, is a whole other kettle of Cthulhu. It might be because it’s plotted by Harlan Ellison. It might be because it draws heavily on the work of HP Lovecraft or it may just be that, as it’s the Avengers’ own mag, they get a bit more room to spread their wings and therefore impress us. Contrast Thor - effortlessly taking out a giant caterpillar of death with one blow of mighty Mjolnir - with the Avengers’ hapless blunderings in The Incredible Hulk issue #128.

So here’s the deal. The Hulk’s been captured by Reed Richards and Charles Xavier who knock him out with a massive dose of electricity. Unfortunately, just as they’re about to enact Part Two of their plan, the Hulk vanishes, only to reappear in an underground chamber belonging to a compound-eyed being called Psyklop, servant of the Dark Gods. Meanwhile, above ground, after a tip-off from a dazed voodoo priest, the Avengers are closing in on Psyklop’s lair. I think we could all guess that a fight ensues. What we might not have guessed is that by the end of the tale the Hulk’s been shrunk to the size of an atom, and the Avengers are back in New York with no memory of any of it.

Being a bit of a sucker for HP Lovecraft, I was always going to love this outing, as the Avengers find themselves slap bang in the middle of one of his tales, complete with secret occult rituals, Dark Gods and creatures that time forgot.

I also have to praise the artwork. There are certain parallels between Sal Buscema and Herb Trimpe, the most obvious being that both have had a tendency to be criminally underrated over the years but also that it’s hard to think of many pencillers whose finished work was more dependent on who was inking them. Just as a change of inker could dramatically alter the whole look of Trimpe, so could Sal Buscema seem like a different artist in different hands. At times he could look like Don Heck, at times like big brother John. In Sam Grainger’s hands, he could even in places resemble Steve Ditko. In this issue he’s inked by gentleman Jim Mooney who does a fantastic job of it, his variety of line thickness giving a weight and solidity to Buscema’s pencils that could sometimes be lacking under other inkers.

Really, my only quibble with the tale is Psyklop’s motivation for shrinking the Hulk. Clearly he has no good reason to do so and only does it because Ellison wanted to shrink the Hulk. Oh well, what’s it matter? In the end it leads us into the next issue of The Incredible Hulk and yet another classic tale.

I tell you those classics are coming thick and fast now.

Incredible Hulk #139. The Leader and just about everybody else the Hulk's ever fought

(Cover from May 1971.)

“Many Foes Has The Hulk!”

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Sam Grainger.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Give them their due. Thunderbolt Ross and Glenn Talbot aren’t men who need a brick wall to fall on them twice.

They’re men who need a brick wall to fall on them a thousand times - and even then they might not get the message. After having seen proof, time after time, of the Leader’s pathological need for treachery, when he approaches them with his latest scheme, guess what? That’s right, they fall for it.

This time he wants to kill the Hulk by making him, in quick succession, fight imaginary recreations of his greatest foes, thus dealing him a fatal heart attack. To do this the Leader needs the military who just happen to have a machine lying around that’ll enable him to do it. Needless to say, having gained their co-operation, he then betrays them, just in time for the normally dim-witted Jim Wilson to show more sense than everyone else put together and sabotage the machine.

Despite the stupidity of Ross and Talbot it’s yet another of those tales I love. Granted its plot’s basically purloined from The Fantastic Four issue #100 in which the FF had to face a whole string of fake versions of their greatest foes but while that story was a bit of a random mess and a sad reminder of how far Jack Kirby’s run had declined since its mid-1960s’ heyday, this tale works beautifully because, unlike that outing, it has a defined endpoint to give it focus. Each of the Hulk’s “fights” brings him inexorably closer to the place where the now glass Betty Ross is, meaning that, when he gets there, the vitrified victim’s likely to be smashed to pieces by the tremors from his fighting.

It also boasts a much stronger and better thought-out climax in which, thanks to Jim Wilson’s tinkering, the Leader’s machine back-fires and leaves him thinking he’s being pursued by a whole bunch of Hulks until his mind snaps and he’s left in a vegetative state of total mental shut-down.

Of course, if the Leader had any sense, he’d have set all the Hulk’s imaginary foes on him at once.

But it seems the Leader has even less of that quality than Thunderbolt Ross and Major Talbot do.

Incredible Hulk #138. The Sandman and Glass Betty

(Cover from April 1971.)

"...Sincerely Yours, The Sandman!"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Sam Grainger.

Lettering by Sam Rosen.

Marilyn Monroe didn't know she was born. She might have spent half of Billy Wilder's Some Like it Hot complaining she always got the fuzzy end of the lollipop but she should have tried walking in Betty Ross's shoes for five minutes because yet again life throws nothing but trouble at the girl.

It all kicks off when the Hulk returns to Earth with a splash, and the Sandman returns with a gun. In fact he should arguably be called Glassman as he's turning back into that substance, having been temporarily cured by the Wizard of the affliction he suffered in issue #114.

By one of those coincidences that could only happen in a comic book, he goes to the hospital where Jim Wilson and Betty Ross are being treated for their various ailments, and demands the nearest doctor gives him a total blood swap with Betty. And so it is the Sandman finds himself cured and Betty Ross finds herself turned into an immobile glass statue.

It is, it has to be said, a tale that makes no sense at all. Bearing in mind the Wizard's previous success, why does Sandy go to the hospital rather than back to his old team mate? How does the Hulk speak underwater? And how exactly do you give a blood swap to a man who's made of sand and as such seems to have neither blood vessels nor blood?

Still, you can forgive it because it's such a wonderfully unpleasant tale. The Sandman's in full-on bad guy mode, threatening to kill everyone he encounters and laughing gleefully at the thought of Betty dying - though he's still too eloquent for the liking of some of us - and poor old Betty cops it once again. Her boyfriend's a brainless monster, her wedding's wrecked by the Rhino, she's hospitalised by a nervous breakdown, and now, just as she seems to be getting over it, she's turned into the world's biggest paperweight.

Still, at least the Sandman gets his comeuppance.

For now.

Incredible Hulk #137. Cybor, the Abomination, Xeron and Klaatu

(Cover from March 1971.)

" The Stars, Mine Enemy!"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Mike Esposito.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Anchors aweigh, shipmates, it's another classic tale from a classic era as the Hulk finds himself as a crewman on an intergalactic whaling ship and we meet Captain Cybor, the half-man half-machine seeking revenge on the gigantic Klaatu for causing his unfortunate situation.

But first, of course, there's the murderous presence of the ship's first mate the Abomination to be dealt with.

I've written before about the challenges that must've faced the strip's writers for years, trying to construct compelling stories around a character with almost zero motivation and even less intelligence. One of the solutions to that problem was to make the Hulk at times a supporting character in his own book and that's what happens here. The truth is you could cut the Hulk out of this tale completely and the outcome would be precisely the same.

Still, if the Hulk hadn't been there we'd never have had the story, nor seen the return of the Abomination, nor gained witness to the strange visual poetry of the final few pages as Klaatu and his doomed nemesis drift, panel by panel, into the sun, while Xeron and his crew resign themselves to powerlessly circling that sun until their air supply runs out. It really is an oddly haunting ending and pushes the strip into the realms of art.

I am slightly confused though as to how Bruce Banner and then the Hulk and the Abomination survive adrift in space in the last couple of pages, let alone how they manage to speak in the airless vacuum. I can only assume the ship's atmosphere shell extends an awful long way into space.

I also wonder if Cybor was called Cybor before he became a cyborg. If so, he clearly had the most prescient parents of any captain this side of a man called Mar-Vell.

Incredible Hulk #136. Xeron, Klaatu and the Abomination

(Cover from February 1971.)

"Klaatu! The Behemoth From Beyond Space!"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Sal Buscema.

Lettering by Jean Izzo.

They say talent borrows and genius steals. In which case Roy Thomas must be up there with Einstein, as he commits Larceny on a scale I think anyone would have to call Grand. He steals the story's title from the 1958 movie It! The Terror From Beyond Space, the name of its monster of the month from the protagonist in The Day The Earth Stood Still, and the plot from Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

And lo and behold it is indeed a thing of genius as the Hulk comes up against the gigantic Klaatu a space monster the size of the Empire State Building, and Xeron an interplanetary harpoonist out to kill the thing but having to settle instead for capturing the Hulk as his latest crew-member.

I love this tale. It's like some strange dream gone mad, with gigantic monsters hiding in skyscrapers, and aliens travelling across the universe in sailing ships and rowing boats.

Gasp as we see Klaatu, a foe so huge and powerful that even the mighty Hulk himself can do nothing more than mildly annoy it.

Thrill to see the Hulk helpless against superior alien technology.

Shudder to see the return of the dreaded Abomination, radiation-spawned menace.

I think that, like Roy Thomas, I may have been watching too many 1950s sci-fi flicks.

But, on the Abomination front, even if we only get a brief glimpse, it's great to see him. For a villain who's supposed to be one of the Hulk's arch-enemies, it's amazing how long it's taken him to make what's only his second ever appearance in the strip.

Incredible Hulk #135. Kang and the Phantom Eagle

(Cover from January 1971.)

"Descent Into The Time-Storm!"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Sal Buscema.

Lettering by Sam Rosen.

King Kang might not be as big as King Kong but he's a whole lot more devious. He's going to send the Hulk back to the First World War to stop ace pilot the Phantom Eagle from destroying a super-cannon that'll otherwise kill an ancestor of Bruce Banner. This'll stop the Hulk ever having been created and therefore prevent the formation of the Avengers, thus leaving the way open for Kang to take over the Twentieth Century.

I suppose it's best not to point out that if the Hulk never exists he's not going to be able to go back in time to prevent the destruction of the cannon, meaning he'll still exist and therefore so will the Avengers, prompting Kang to have to send the Hulk back in time to prevent the destruction of the cannon and thus setting Kang's life on an endless loop of cannon attacking. For some reason this doesn't seem to have occurred to the temporal tyrant.

Then again it never seems to have occurred to him that the 40th Century Earth's a bit rubbish and maybe, instead of wasting endless resources trying to take over the 20th Century, he should just try and make his own present a bit better, so he doesn't have to spend all his time in his castle, talking to a woman in a coma about his plans to invade the 20th Century. With conversational skills like that, I'm not surprised she never snaps out of her coma. Play her some of her favourite pop music, you fool. That always works. I've seen the movies.

Of course, if Kang had any real brains he'd simply just prevent the accident that turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk but that's clearly too simple for a criminal mastermind.

The best Hulk stories of this era are the odd ones and this is certainly an odd one as we get to see the Hulk meet Herb Trimpe's less than high profile co-creation the Phantom Eagle who's hardly a classic character but this tale's pretty much my entire exposure to him so it's nice to see him.

In truth we don't get to see that much of the Eagle himself, just the odd panel, as the action concentrates on the Hulk and the military hardware he comes up against in his brief spell in the Great War but the Eagle seems like a nice chap and, with his plan to fly a plane into the mouth of the super-cannon, could at least give Kang a lesson in the value directness.

His assistant doesn't half look like Thunderbolt Ross though.

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.