Featuring: Hulk
Release: March 1, 1962
Cover: May 1962
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inks: Paul Reinman (uncredited)
24 pages
I read this issue in Incredible Hulk Omnibus vol. 1. Stan and Jack signed the issue. The omnibus’ table of contents notes Paul Reinman is the inker.
Now it seems like we’re getting somewhere. I began with a promise of reading this shared Marvel Universe starting with Fantastic Four #1. But it’s been a week and you might be asking, “Where’s the universe?” We’ve read 4 issues of Fantastic Four, a few random sci-fi/horror comics from the period, and you’ve read a handful of comics from BEFORE Fantastic Four #1. All fair points. Where are the other Marvel heroes?
We have covered in the last week about 6 months worth of ground. We started in August of 1961 and have found our way to March of 1962. Finally, we meet our next recognizable hero.
The word “hero” is a bit of a loose word here. As I’ve mentioned before, Marvel had not been publishing superhero comics for a while (there was a gap of 6 years between the last issue of Sub-Mariner in July 1955 and Marvel’s return to the genre with Fantastic Four). Sci-fi/horror was a prominent genre (along with romance, humor, and westerns). Monsters, mutations, aliens, weird happenings. And Marvel’s first steps back into the superhero game hedge bets some. The Fantastic Four were super-powered characters with code names. But they did not have secret identities, and at first did not have costumes. And they battled giant monsters in 3 of the first 4 issues, and aliens in the other. The stories fit in almost perfectly with the other sci-fi comics of the time. The story of Henry Pym, the shrinking man, was a sci-fi story of the period, just one that will be revisited later with more of a superhero flair.
And now we have Hulk. Not much of a superhero, as he’s in no way a hero, seemingly inspired instead by Mr. Hyde. He’s a monster. And whereas the Thing is a monster in form but hero in spirit, Hulk mostly seems to be monstrous in personality as well. It’s not clear there’s much good in him.
Dr. Banner is ready to test his experimental Gamma-Bomb (G-Bomb) when he sees a teenager in the testing range. He tells his assistant Igor to delay the countdown while he runs to save the boy. Igor has his own agenda and lets the countdown continue. Bruce shoves the boy out of the way in time but is caught in the radiation from his own bomb. He absorbed the full impact of the gamma rays! Come night, the geiger counter goes wild, and Bruce Banner transforms into a grey creature, a Hulk if you will.
Assessing the Hulk’s motive and character in this issue is interesting to me. It’s changed over the years, and different movies and other media adaptations have had different takes. He only has fragments of Banner’s memories, with more slowly returning, and is at first confused. He doesn’t know where he is and wants out. He slaps Rick, breaks through a wall, and destroys a jeep. But he is just trying to get away from people and figure things out. He is then driven by those memories to go to Banner’s house and retrieve his formula.
It looks to me like he is about to kill Rick to protect his own secrets when the sun rises and he changes back to Bruce Banner. Later, he seems interested in going to Betty’s house. He mocks her when she faints. If I were to ascribe motivation, it’s as though Banner’s motivations become instincts for the Hulk: retrieve the formula; see Betty.
Let’s get a sense of Hulk’s motives from his own words.
Betty has a different take on the Hulk. Not clear her father is listening.
His level of verbosity has also changed over the years. Here, he is shown to be perfectly capable of speaking like a normal person, and even has intelligent thought balloons. He is not a genius like Banner is, but nor does he seem like a child. He seems like a person of ordinary intelligence, just one very confused by scattered glimpses of memories of being someone else.
Kirby’s facial work is great in this issue, particularly the intensity in Dr. Banner’s faces. Famously when he turns into the Hulk, but also here when Banner accepts that he will again become the Hulk! Kirby is best known for his dynamic action, but I think I’m more partial to artists rendering softer moments. Hence my favorite FF page so far being about Thing being sad, and why I think this issue is better work than the FF issues thus far.
There’s a lot of good stuff in this issue. Dr. Banner is a basically good guy, but he’s also a bomb-maker. It’s likely Stan and Jack saw nothing too much wrong with that, but there is a certain poetic justice to a bomb-maker getting caught in the blast of his own bomb. This idea did not make it into the modern Hulk movies, but did make it into the 2008 Iron Man film, when the movie clearly shows the bomb that nearly kills Tony Stark has a Stark Industries logo.
The Jekyll/Hyde story is great. I’m always fascinated by this idea of a man’s greatest enemy being the demon within he strives to control. And the idea that the feelings are mirrored. They are the same person but hate each other.
And then there’s the character of the Gargoyle. The issue tried to do too much, and thus that whole sequence seems rushed. But there’s a lot of character work there. A deformed man, but brilliant, powerful, and feared. Easily bests the Hulk with his brains. But his real wish is to be human again, and is ready to die for that wish.
This is the most explicit Cold War comic yet. The Fantastic Four were motivated to outdo the Soviets in space in their first issue; that’s the only explicit mention before this. Cold War themes are implicit in FF #2, when they fight shape-changing aliens hidden among us. Here, a Soviet spy is responsible for Dr. Banner’s transformation, and the main super-villain is a Soviet counterpart to Hulk. The final words of the issue hope for an end to “red tyranny”.
The issue is a tour de force in terms of laying the groundwork for the Hulk. All the ingredients introduced here will last for decades. The budding love interest between Betty Ross and Bruce Banner. General Ross’ commitment to destroying the Hulk; Hulk battling the military. The hatred between Hulk and Banner. Hulk’s sidekick Rick Jones. It’s all there. The most notable changes from this issue will be the character of Hulk himself, and the skin color of the Hulk.
I’ll pick out these words from Betty to again emphasize the theme that the world is changing. The fantastic is encroaching upon reality more and more and people are starting to notice they are living in an age of marvels.
Hulk and Namor have similar ways with words. Maybe they can be friends.
Rating: ★★★★½ (out of 5), 80/100
Significance: ★★★★★
Tries to do a lot, and rushes some of it. But what’s there is great. Some iconic art and great facial expressions by Kirby. A rich and layered story by Stan. Introduces a lot of great characters, each unique and complex.
Characters
- Bruce Banner/Hulk
- Igor
- General “Thunderbolt” Ross
- Betty Ross
- Rick Jones
- Gargoyle
Story notes:
- Geiger counter goes wild as Bruce transforms
- G-Bomb/Gamma-Bomb harnesses gamma rays
- Hulk seems to be a little bigger than Banner, but not huge.
- Named by random soldier– it catches on
- Gunfire at close range doesn’t phase the Hulk.
- Does Hulk threaten to kill Rick?
- Officer notes Bruce has a shoulder wound. Hulk was shot in the shoulder.
- Soldiers describe Hulk as a gorilla or bear.
- From his cell, Igor transmits a message to the Soviet Union. It is delivered to the Gargoyle.
- Gargoyle takes a passenger missile to the US.
- Gargoyle’s gun makes men his slaves
- Ross resolves to destroy Hulk
- Gargoyle takes Hulk to Russia, but is moved to learn Hulk becomes human. Dr. Banner agrees to cure Gargoyle of his deformity with radiation.
#9 story in reading order
Next: Amazing Adult Fantasy #13, Story B
Previous: Fantastic Four #4
I’ve never heard of a “passenger missile” and yet we’ve seen it twice already in this nascent Marvel Universe.
Cutting edge technology!