Featuring: Hulk Release: January 4, 1966 Cover: April 1966 12 cents Story by: Stan Lee (Certainly!) Layouts by: Jack Kirby (Naturally!) Artwork by: Bill Everett (Surprisingly!) Lettering by: Sam Rosen 10 pages
Everett is on art now. We know him as the creator of Sub-Mariner, who told Namor’s original stories. And as the co-creator of Daredevil with Stan Lee, who worked on that series for a single issue. He was removed for being very over-deadline. I think a full-length comic for an entirely new character takes longer than a 10 page Hulk story.
Nonetheless, Kirby is brought in for layouts. Though Everett is the more senior of the two and has long been a writer/artist.
Hulk’s story hasn’t had a pause to breathe since he got his new title. No sooner had the Leader finally been defeated than Hulk was transported into the future. Thinking him dead, Rick revealed Banner’s secret to Major Talbot. But Hulk lives, and has returned from the future.
Has Talbot not told anybody his news yet? Not even Ross?
Featuring: Hulk Release: December 2, 1965 Cover: March 1966 12 cents Script by: Stan Lee Layouts by: Jack Kirby Pencilling + inking by: Johnny Romita! Lettering by: Sam Rosen 10 pages
Why shouldn’t I tell? It’s time the world learned the truth…!
That’s a damn compelling cover, a collaboration between Kirby and Romita, with the Romita influence coming in heavy, but a unique look for the Hulk that is very distinctive compared to either man’s style. Dramatically, we shockingly hear Rick Jones tell an officer (presumably Talbot) Hulk’s secret. We’ll see how that plays out.
John Romita took over as the regular artist on Daredevil last month. He’s just filling in here, as the series has floundered without a regular artist for the last 10 months. Bill Everett will be taking over next issue. We also saw Romita filling in on last month’s Captain America
As we noted in our recent Daredevil post, John Romita just recently passed away in June 2023 at the age of 93. One of the greatest comic artists of all time.
It is a compelling title. “Bruce Banner is the Hulk!” Is this the issue where his secret identity is finally revealed? Secret identities have been revealed on occasion before, but the learner of the identity usually develops amnesia or dies.
Recall from last issue the army built Banner’s T-Gun without knowing what it did. They hit Hulk with it and now everybody assumes Hulk is dead. In fact, Hulk has been transported to the future.
Featuring: Hulk Release: October 5, 1965 Cover: January 1966 12 cents Story: Stan Lee Layouts: Jack Kirby Illustrations: M. Demeo Lettering: S. Rosen Enjoying: That’s your job, pussycat! 10 pages
At last I got somethin’ to smash out against… somethin’ to fight… a chance to do the thing I can do better than anything that lives!
This picks up right where the last issue left off, though we paused for a bit since reading the last issue and since reading the earlier half of this comic.
Hulk had just acquired the Ultimate Machine for the Leader from the Watcher’s world. Leader’s attempt to use the machine resulted in his death.
Featuring: Hulk Release: May 4, 1965 Cover: August 1965 12 cents Take a Stan Lee story, add Jack Kirby artwork, mix with Mickey Demeo inking, and Artie Simek lettering… Presto! Instant confusion! 10 pages
A little surprising this series is continuing since last issue ended with Bruce Banner dead. But then, the title of this issue is “To Live Again!” So maybe we shouldn’t give up on him.
We’d probably have gotten around to this story sooner if I hadn’t just assumed he was dead and it was over. Now I’m beginning to think this Hulk guy is Immortal.
Plus, the threat of the Leader still looms.
Are we going back to the days of the constantly changing status quos for Hulk? We’d been able to hold on to this one for an entire dozen issues. Now we’re back to: always Hulk, Banner’s mind. Perhaps all creators except for Ditko struggle with how to deal with a non-heroic protagonist.
Featuring: Hulk Release: March 4, 1965 Cover: June 1965 12 cents Story and art by Marvel’s modern masters: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Inking: Mickey Demeo Lettering: Artie Simek 10 pages
With Ditko off the title, Kirby is back to take another shot at his co-creation. Stan shares the top billing with Jack for this triumphant return. The original Lee/Kirby run on Hulk lasted 5 issues. This one will make it around 15 or so. I’m expecting it to be largely immemorable.
We open with a trick out of the Ditko run. The last issue ended with Banner facing impending death and transforms to the Hulk just in time to be saved. Banner and Talbot are falling to their death when Banner transforms.
Hulk crosses the Pacific with leaps. Isle to isle, plane to plane.
That’s… a very long distance, even if you can jump very far. Maybe there are enough islands between Japan and Hawaii to hopscotch it, but it’s 2500 miles from Hawaii to California with nothing in between.
Featuring: Hulk Release: January 5, 1965 Cover: April 1965 12 cents Power-packed script by: Stan Lee Hard-hitting art by: Steve Ditko Two-fisted inking by: Vince Colletta Silken-soft lettering by: Art Simek 10 pages
We are almost up to date with our Hulk stories. This is the last issue where we’d read the Giant-Man/Wasp stories in the past.
We just had a discussion about how Colleta’s inking over Kirby.
How do we feel about Colletta over Ditko? The answer is that we dislike all inkers over Ditko. Ditko is best when inking himself. However, the final artwork here looks close enough to Ditko work. Ditko must have done tight pencils. So we don’t hate it. But we don’t prefer it.
Featuring: Hulk Release: November 3, 1964 Cover: February 1964 12 cents Written with the sparkling skill of Stan Lee! Drawn with the peerless power of Steve Ditko! Inked with the classic clarity of George Bell! Lettered with the TV set on by: Artie Simek 10 pages
Recall we read the Giant-Man/Wasp story in this issue a while back, but we’ve saved the Hulk stories for a big push.
Interesting that Stan refers to this as “the only super-hero soap opera”. I feel like that phrase with epitomize Marvel comics for decades to come.
I think it’s time to bid farewell to George Roussos, one of the most prominent inkers of our early reading, always under the pseudonym George Bell (oft abbreviated to Geo. Bell). We’ve read almost 50 stories with his inks, including Fantastic Four, Sgt. Fury, Iron Man, Thor, Human Torch, Giant-Man/Wasp, and Hulk stories. He’s off to do other work. He’ll return to Marvel in the 1970s and become one of Marvel’s most prominent colorists. He’s also been coloring much of the work we’ve been reading, but I’ve read most of his stories in recolored reprints, so miss out.
We open with Banner in jail, suspected of treason. He is taking tranquilizer pills to keep himself from transforming. Remember, it’s now strain that triggers the transformation.
Let’s begin by noting this is not the most amazing story of all time. This is an awful series and nobody should read it. Least of all me.
This story drags on for 45 bloody pages. At least it’s not as bad as the last one we read. And it’s actually a much faster and smoother read than the first issue. Perhaps that’s Stan Lee’s scripting at work.
We noted last time how awful all the characters are, so we’ll just try to skip to the Red Skull stuff this time.
I’m including this story only because the continuity remains pretty tight, and I do want us to be able to untangle Red Skull’s contradictory appearances intelligently.
We’re well into Captain America’s adventures, but it’s worth noting this still predates America’s entry into World War II.
The Red Skull’s modus operandi has all been variations on a theme so far. Originally, he had a death gaze; he killed you by looking you. (It turned out he was also injecting you with a poison while he looked at you.) Then, the death touch; he killed you by touching you. (It turned out his glove was electrified and shocked his victims to death.)
Now… the tune he plays on his flute is deadly.
This time, the explanation is simpler. Red Skull whistles Chopin’s Funeral March, but then just shoots the guy.
Featuring: Captain America Release: January 12, 1965 Cover: April 1965 12 cents Writer: Stan Lee Illustrator: Jack Kirby Delineator: Frank Ray Letterer: S. Rosen 10 pages
This is an extremely close retelling of the second story from Captain America Comics #1, which we covered back when Captain America first returned in Avengers #4.
The original story is most notable for being Captain America’s first case and for introducing Betty Ross.
I see I didn’t go into great detail on the plot in that post, writing this:
The story of the comic doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. I can’t begin to try to explain it and I’m not sure it’s worth considering all the many ways in which it makes no sense. Suffice it to say they stop the bad guys.
We’ll delve deeper here.
Last issue was a close retelling of the first story from Captain America Comics #1, which was the story of Captain America’s origin. Next issue will be a retelling of Captain America’s first battle against Red Skull from the same issue. It makes sense why one might want to revisit those two stories. And then there’s this one.
The original stories are by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Joe Simon’s name should probably have been in the credits of this comic, as it’s based so closely on his original story. The plot owes more to Simon than many of the comics Stan Lee claims “plot” credit on owe to Stan.
My issue with the original is that I didn’t really understand what Sando and Omar brought to the scheme. There were Nazi saboteurs in America successfully blowing things up. Why have a member of your crew go onstage and warn people about the attacks in advance by pretending to be psychic? The comic didn’t really try to explain.
Let’s compare the new one to the original. The first thing we will notice is the new one fits into very regular grid patterns that make it easy to crop out groups of panels. The original felt bound by no such structure, so the croppings will all be imperfect.
Looking to the opening splash pages, the crystal ball image is very close. The changes fit Kirby’s more dramatized style and generally make a more modern splash page. Omar is a little less freakish in the new one. The biggest loss is Sando, whose fingers had an unusual positioning in the original, almost suggesting his role as puppeteer. Kirby opted for a more standard-for-Kirby dramatized positioning.
The modern comic claims to be “introducing” Sando and Omar. This seems blatantly false, as they were obviously introduced 25 years earlier.
