The Incredible Hulk vs The Metal Master
Featuring: Hulk
Release: January 3, 1963
Cover: March 1963
12 cents
Story: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
24 pages
I read this story in Incredible Hulk Omnibus vol. 1.
All good things must come to an end. Turns out things like this series also come to an end.
The great Steve Ditko takes over for Jack Kirby for the first full-length Hulk story since the second issue, and what is also the final issue of Incredible Hulk. Though no hint of that ending can be found in the cover or the letters pages. There simply isn’t an issue 7.
Perhaps it’s for the best. The first issue was one of the best comics we’ve read and showed so much potential. A dark psychological sci-fi drama, with elements of Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. That potential was squandered on constant tweaks to the character, a series that had the feeling of throwing things at the wall until something stuck, then giving up when nothing stuck. It will take Steve Ditko to reshape the character into a more enduring form, but he won’t get a chance to do that now, as the series is being cancelled.
Jack Kirby would return to a similar concept a decade later for DC Comics and do a better job with it. His Demon comics tell the story of a man who sometimes transform into a Demon, who is basically evil but nonetheless tends to mostly accomplish some good.
Originally the Hulk had the personality of a villain, and Bruce Banner transformed into him at night, then back human during the day. Then, he was always Hulk, but under the mental control of Rick Jones except when Rick Jones slumbered– then Hulk rampaged. Then, Banner was able to change back and forth using a machine while retaining his own mind, but with the Hulk’s mind seeming to battle for dominance when in Hulk form. In this issue, that’s basically the status, except that the machine is faulty, having delayed effects and partial transformations, so that at one point we get Hulk’s body with Bruce Banner’s head, which forces Hulk to wear a Hulk mask.
By this point in the series, it seems clear Banner is always putting on those purple short-shorts before transforming. So it’s basically Hulk’s uniform. At first he’d just been wearing torn versions of Banner’s ordinary clothes; note that Banner’s ordinary clothes were purple a few times.
Bruce and Betty seem to be dating now. So that’s good. We actually see surprisingly little of that. Reed and Sue seem to have a thing going, but we’ve seen her on more dates with Namor than Reed. Dr. Pym doesn’t have a partner we’ve seen. We’ve met several partners for Anthony Stark in the one story we’ve read. We’ve similarly seen Johnny out with various girls, but no steady one. Peter Parker had no luck with the ladies. Dr. Blake is afraid to ask Jane out. The only other seemingly stable relationship in these stories is Ben and Alicia.
That said, there’s some within-issue confusion over whether her name is Betty or Betsy. Usually Betty, but the narrator calls her Betsy. Likely a typo, but both could be correct, as each name is a common shorthand for Elizabeth. I think Betsy Ross designed the American flag; perhaps that’s who the narrator was thinking of.
In this issue, Rick forms the Teen Brigade to help out superheroes. We haven’t seen the last of them. Hulk needs them to help gather lots of parts for his plan against Metal Master. It’s not clear why he needs all those parts as his weapon of choice is a fake plastic gun. It’s not the first time it seems like the scripter is filling into dialogue before learning how the story ends.
General Ross finally captures the Hulk in this issue.
Only to have the Hulk issued a pardon by issue’s end. You win some, you lose some, General.
There is a question that can often be asked, so I will try not to ask it too often. The world is filling up with superheroes, so when one hero stands alone against a worldwide menace, where are the rest? If Spider-Man is stopping a bank robbery, I get why not everybody rushes in. But here, Metal Master went to DC. Hulk lives in New Mexico. Bruce had to undergo the dangerous procedure that changes him into the Hulk, then make his way to DC to fight Metal Master. Metal Master at this point seemed to have made his intentions known quite publicly. And there are other heroes much closer to DC. Where are the FF? Where is Thor? Peeking at their own titles this month, the FF actually are off on the moon. They must have been taking off just as Metal Master was coming to earth. And Thor is thwarting an alien invasion. But this wasn’t a single ship Thor fought; it was an entire fleet. Since neither the FF nor Metal Master see this fleet when travelling through our solar system, we can deduce Thor’s story is not precisely concurrent. Which suggests he should be free to fly to DC and help out with Metal Master. Now that we’ve mentioned it, the Teen Brigade with their ham radios should have tried to contact Thor. A better use of their time than collecting parts for Hulk he didn’t use.
The idea of a villain who can control metal is pretty cool. Wonder if Marvel will ever return to it?
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 53/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
Characters:
- Bruce Banner/Hulk
- Metal Master
- General “Thunderbolt” Ross
- Betty (Betsy) Ross
- Rick Jones
Minor characters:
- Charlie (Member of Teen Brigade)
Story notes:
- First feature-length story since issue 2
- Final issue
- Banner had designed space probe for military; about to be tested
- Hulk in the purple shorts that now seem to be his uniform
- “The longer I remain the Hulk the harder it is to change back”
- “I hate having to become that weakling Banner all the time.”
- Machine changes Hulk to a stronger version of Bruce; it doesn’t last
- The cave has a TV set with the camera tuned to Ross’ base, I guess?
- Metal Master from Planet Astra; many galaxies away; an exile looking for a world to conquer for “time beyond measure”.
- Hulk wears Hulk mask
- They refer to Human Torch within the comic
- Metal Master offers alliance to Hulk
- Metal Master knocks out Hulk with piece of metal
- Recon Unit C
- Ross finally captures Hulk
- Hulk thinks Rick betrayed him and turns on Rick
- Rick wants to enlist in army
- Rick is 16
- Rick forms Teen Brigade– teens from around nation coordinating by ham radio to offer assistance when needed
- Betty spends issue worrying about Bruce
- Narrator refers to Betty as Betsy Ross; a child refers to her as Betty; both could be short for Elizabeth
- Bruce recognizes Rick as loyal; Hulk’s mind is an amalgam of Hulk and Bruce
- Teen Brigade gathers condensers, tubes, circuits
- Soviets also at war with Metal Master
- Hulk faces Metal Master in Washington DC
- Ross gets to DC implausibly fast
- Hulk beats Metal Master pretty easily
- Hulk tricked Metal Master with fake plastic gun
- Hulk receives pardon
- Betty and Bruce seem to be a couple
#54 story in reading order
Next: Tales to Astonish #42
Previous: Journey Into Mystery #90
