Featuring: Hulk Release: April 5, 1966 Cover: July 1966 12 cents Hulkable script by: Stan Lee Hulksome layout by: Jack Kirby Hulkorious art by: Bill Everett Hulkated lettering by: Sam Rosen Costumes by Tibor of Transylvania! 10 pages
“His boomerang is causing a rock slide!” “It’s returning to him like an arrow!”
A lot happening in this issue. For Hulk, he’s finishing up his encounter with Tyrannus and Mole Man from last issue. But in the background, important villains are being introduced. They will set up a confusing mess of coming issues.
The secret empire known as Hydra has fallen. Nick Fury and Captain America have been having trouble with a new secret empire called Them, which may be connected to AIM. Now we meet a new secret empire, known as, er, the Secret Empire.
Featuring: Hulk Release: March 3, 1966 Cover: June 1966 12 cents Script: Stan Lee, D.H. (Doctor of Hulkishness) Layouts: Jack Kirby, M.H. (Master of Hulkability) Art: Bill Everett, B.H. (Bachelor of Hulkosity) Lettering: Artie Simek, P.H. (The Pride of Hulkdom) 10 pages
There is no Banner! Only the Hulk! I’m the Hulk! The Hulk!
At this point, continuity becomes complicated, and things will move fast. Let’s recall where we were.
We read the first half of this issue a while back. Namor had defeated the Behemoth, but returned in victory to find Dorma had fled with Krang, and that they were to wed. She agreed to the marriage only to save Namor’s life. But Namor doesn’t know that. So now he’s angry.
Hulk just had a fight with Hercules.
Thor defeated the Troll army in a war. Spider-Man bought a bike and met a girl named Mary Jane. Daredevil escaped from the Owl’s trap, but had not been around to defend the Rhino. The Avengers have returned from a South American adventure (though this may lead to a small continuity hiccup we’ll discuss). Hank and Jan have recently rejoined the team. Wanda and Pietro remain in Europe recovering their powers. Dr. Strange has defeated Dormammu (well, Eternity did most of the work). Iron Man defeated Ultimo and returned home to find Senator Byrd had closed Stark factories, but not before they were able to make a suit to contain John Jameson’s newfound powers.
The Fantastic Four and X-Men are mostly doing their own thing lately, without much interaction with the other heroes.
Most relevantly, Nick Fury had warned Captain America about the threat of an organization of scientists named Them in Tales of Suspense #78. Meanwhile, in Strange Tales #146, an organization of scientists called AIM was offering to help the US government with weapons technology, but only if they removed Nick Fury as the head of SHIELD.
Our story opens with Hulk moping about not having friends. When Tyrannus pulls him beneath the surface.
We met Tyrannus in Incredible Hulk #5. Tyrannus has long ago been banished beneath the surface by Merlin; there he found the Fountain of Youth, and the race called the Tyrannoids who now serve him. A race similar to those Tyrannoids (but a little different-looking) was also revealed to serve the Mole Man in Fantastic Four #22. Several people claim to rule the underworld, including Kala, and the Lava Men.
The Trap is Sprung Featuring: Daredevil Release: August 2, 1966 Cover: October 1966 12 cents Spellbinding script: Stan Lee Phenominal pencilling; Gene Colan Dynamic delineation: Fearless Frank * Darlin’ Dick * Wild Bill Laudatory lettering: Artie Simek Bombastic bird-watching: Irving Forbush 20 pages
Featuring: Hulk Release: February 3, 1966 Cover: April 1966 12 cents Hulkish story by: Stan Lee Hulkable layouts by: Jack Kirby Hulking artwork by: Bill Everett Hulksome lettering by: Artie Simek 10 pages
Even he cannot suspect that Bruce Banner’s gamma rays have miraculously given Hulk the power to grow stronger, rather than weaker, so long as his rage keeps mounting!
As Richard recently pointed out in the comments, this is a great cover of Hulk battling Hercules, courtesy of Kirby and Everett. I fear the issue itself won’t quite live up to the image.
There is some pretty tight continuity on display. When we last saw Hercules, he and a casting agent had left New York bound for Los Angeles. Here we see them on a train from New York to LA. We’ll next see them arriving in LA in Thor #128. The casting agent doesn’t know this is the real Hercules. He’s been cast to play Hercules, so the agent assumes he’s method acting.
Note how little time there has been to breathe in these stories. Hulk’s battle with the Leader led right into his battles in the future, which have led right into his battle with Dr. Zaxon. There’s been no room to breathe. Cliffhanger after cliffhanger. Not so much one long story, as a bunch of story threads that don’t respect issue boundaries.
Featuring: Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner Release: February 3, 1966 Cover: May 1966 12 cents Now this is a story! By: Stan Lee Now this is pencilling! By: Adam Austin Now this is delineation! By: Bill Everett Now this is lettering! By: Artie Simek 12 pages
Without much fanfare, we have Bill Everett inking Gene Colan. Bill Everett is the creator of the Sub-Mariner. Of course, for whatever reason, it’s the publisher and not he that controls the character. So Marvel gets to publish and profit off Sub-Mariner stories, and he only gets paid if he does more work. So here he is inking Colan’s pencils with Stan adding dialogue. Once Everett wrote and drew Namor’s adventures entirely on his own.
He’s slowly coming back to do more work for Marvel. The last thing he did for them was create Daredevil. But his Daredevil comic was drawn with immaculate detail and unfortunately not within deadline. So he got immediately removed from his own character, and only now 2 years later is starting to get regular work with Marvel again.
As of last issue, he’s the regular finisher on the Hulk stories within this title. He’s just filling in on this Namor story, but will be returning to Namor regularly soon.
I was down to two choices for the pull quote at the top of this quote. I went with one that best exhibited Namor’s personality. I could have gone with the more standard Stan Lee heroic purple prose: There is a time to flee– and a time to fight! While life endures–I shall ever choose the latter course!
I’m never quite clear on what the powers of all these characters are. Namor sometimes seems like Superman. But we see here he’s not bulletproof. He gets shot in the shoulder, and is wounded and losing blood.
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?
The Human Torch Battles the Sub-Mariner as the World Faces Destruction!
Featuring: Human Torch Release: October 8, 1941 Cover: Fall 1941 10 cents 60 pages (!)
The comic gives no credits. I’ll point you to the GCD, which notes work from Carl Burgos, Bill Everett, Jack D’Arcy, Hank Chapman, Mike Roy, Harry Sahle and George Kapitan. That’s… a lot of names. I will make no attempt to untangle who did what.
Counting to 5
Let’s get the confusing part out of the way. We are looking at Human Torch #5, with a cover date of Fall 1941.
The previous issue of Human Torch was… Human Torch #5, with a cover date of Summer 1941. Why? I have no idea. I think somebody counted wrong.
Featuring: Daredevil Release: February 4, 1964 Cover: April 1964 12 cents Written by: Stan Lee Illustrated by: Bill Everett Lettered by: Sam Rosen 23 pages
Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four do not actually appear in this issue. They mention Spider-Man on the cover and the first page in an attempt to market Daredevil as their next Spider-Man.
Daredevil has a pretty distinctive logo, an expanding font with a swoosh running through it. Preceded by a “Here comes…”. And then the tagline which will endure to this day: “The Man Without Fear”.
Bill Everett is a name we should be plenty familiar with by now even though this is his first time showing up in the Marvel Age. We know him from our “Prelude” reading as the creator of Namor the Sub-Mariner 25 years earlier. Reportedly, he was very slow working on this issue of Daredevil, leading to this issue being released a full 7 months after it was originally scheduled. So he won’t be invited back to illustrate more Daredevil stories. He’ll be put on covers and finishes, jobs where he’s less likely to blow deadlines. A shame, because he does great work here.
Featuring: Sub-Mariner Release: February 25, 1954 Cover: June 1954 10 cents By: Bill Everett 8 pages
If the Nazis were the favorite enemy in the ’40s, by the ’50s it will be the Soviets. They are portrayed as rather silly here, believing their leader without question, constantly insulting capitalism, and generally being blind lemmings praising their fascist state.
That’s exactly how Soviets talked, I imagine.
Now, we read in Sub-Mariner Comics #1 how the Emperor died. Well, now he’s not dead. In truth, I haven’t read very many comics in the intervening 13 years, but I’ve done some internet research, and it doesn’t seem like the comics had explained this discrepancy. As far as I can tell, this is the first time we’ve seen the Emperor since his death. And nobody remarks on how alive he is. Eventually, we will come to a 1980s series called Saga of the Sub-Mariner that attempts to explain the wonky continuity on display.
Featuring: Sub-Mariner Release: October 26, 1953 Cover: February 1954 10 cents By: Bill Everett 8 pages
We’re continuing to sample some of Sub-Mariner’s older adventures to catch us up on his history. We’ve read the start of his self-titled series, the conclusion of his self-titled series, and his return to comics in Young Men #24.
Why this next issue as well? Well, because I have it. I mentioned before that JC Penney put out an odd set of new printings of assorted classic Marvel comics, which I acquired as a young child. Young Men #25 was among the set. So I may as well include it.
