humanoids – Coke & Comics

Tales to Astonish #73, Story B

Another World, Another Foe!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: August 3, 1965
Cover: November 1965
12 cents
You’ll never forget Stan Lee’s script!
You’ll never forget Jack Kirby’s layouts!
You’ll never forget Bob Powell’s art!
You’ll never forget Artie Simek’s –eh– let’s see now, what did Artie do?
10 pages

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Tales to Astonish #73	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #74
Tales to Astonish #73	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #74

I’m no good to anyone– including myself! The world hates me– fears me–

Mike Esposito has drawn the last few issues over Kirby’s layouts. This time the art goes to Bob Powell, a semi-regular name by this point. Powell brings a distinctive level of details to Hulk’s facial expressions. The failure to find a consistent creative team over this extended story arc is one of the things keeping Hulk from greatness. It would have been better if Ditko could have stayed on, but he clearly never had his heart in this title. Still, the work Ditko phoned in was enough to lay a foundation for the character that writers have spent decades building on.

Notice these need longer and longer exposition boxes at the beginning to explain the plot so far. Hulk is about to turn back into Banner, at which point the bullet in his brain will kill him. But he is also helpless against the Leader’s Humanoids.

Tales to Astonish #72, Story B

Within the Monster Dwells a Man!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: July 1, 1965
Cover: October 1965
12 cents
Thrills, as only Stan Lee’s story can provide them!
Power, as only Jack Kirby’s layouts can create it!
Drama, as only Mickey Demeo’s artwork can present it!
Sound effects, as only Sam Rosen’s pen point can letter them!
10 pages

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Tales to Astonish #72	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #73
Tales to Astonish #72	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #73

I mustn’t change… I won’t let myself change…!! For… if I change… I die!!

Where were we. Banner has a bullet in his brain. Only alive so long as he stays in Hulk form. He has Banner’s intelligence, but his personality seems darker, more like Hulk’s. The equipment he needs to maintain his Hulk state is in his secret lab, which has been uncovered by the military, who are closing in.

His only way out is to accept an offer of help from his enemy, the Leader.

The Leader is Hulk’s opposite. Both exposed to gamma radiation, Hulk received the world’s most powerful body, while Leader received the world’s most powerful brain. Together, they could be unstoppable.

The Leader transforms Hulk into electro-waves to transport him to Italy. “Matter-portation”, he calls it. Star Trek premieres next year; did the writers read this comic?

I appreciate the Leader’s science experiments; they’ll get this story a higher score. His ambition is to create a new life.

He secretly exposed Hulk to a gas that he himself has built up an immunity to. Similar to what one might do with iocaine powder.

Tales to Astonish #69, Story B

Trapped in the Lair of the Leader!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: April 1, 1965
Cover: July 1965
12 cents
Hulking story by: Stan Lee
Hulksome art by: Jack Kirby
Hulkish inking by: Mickey Demeo
Hulkable lettering by: Art Simek
10 pages

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Tales to Astonish #69	Reading order	Avengers #17
Tales to Astonish #69	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #70

This is the 10th chapter of the Leader Saga. For 9 issues, Leader has been lurking in the background, secretly behind various threats Hulk has faced. Now they finally meet.

This weird scene weird Hulk is being transported by magnetic waves is notable as it directly ties into Avengers #17, which we will read next.

Tales to Astonish #68, Story B

Back from the Dead!

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

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Tales to Astonish #68	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #69
Tales to Astonish #68	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #69

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.

We check in with the Leader, still scheming.

Tales to Astonish #65, Story B

On the Rampage Against the Reds!

Featuring: Hulk
Release: December 3, 1964
Cover: March 1965
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee (our faithful writer!)
Drawn by: Steve Ditko (our reliable artist!)
Inked by: Dick Ayers (our dependable inker!)
Lettered by: S. Rosen (our other letterer!)
10 pages

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Tales to Astonish #64, Story B	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #66, Story B
Tales to Astonish #65	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #66

Our saga continues. Stan offers a recap. Hulk and Talbot are on Astra Isle with a new nuclear device of Dr. Banner’s. Hulk is fighting the Leader’s humanoids and a Marine task force is closing in.

We know now that strain triggers the transformation. When Dr. Banner feels strain, he turns into the Hulk. And when the Hulk feels too much strain, he turns back into Dr. Banner.

Now that Roussos has moved on, Ditko will have rotating inkers to finish off his run on the Hulk. Of course, Ditko’s work looks its best when he inks himself.

The cliffhanger of last issue resolves by page 2 as Hulk and the Humanoids fall into the ocean.

This leads to the actual plot of this issue. Banner is rescued by a Soviet sub and taken to an unnamed Soviet country as a prisoner.

Tales to Astonish #64, Story B

The Horde of Humanoids!

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

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Tales to Astonish #63, Story B	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #65, Story B
Tales to Astonish #64	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #65

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.