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
| Previous | #357 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| 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.
General Ross isn’t messing around. After this disappearance, he’s convinced Banner is a traitor and has ordered him shot on sight. I wonder how Betty will feel when she finds out.
Also note this scene of Hulk busting through glass to confront the Leader. That will come up again too.
The issue ends with Dr. Banner found dead on the ground. The Leader Saga is still unresolved, but we’ll take a break here anyway and check in on the rest of the Marvel Universe. Anyways, with Hulk dead, there can’t be too much story left to tell.
Stan assures us the series is not over. I guess we’ll just follow the antics of everybody else on the military base. Betty will be in mourning; Glenn will be flirting with her anyway; Rick will just be hanging out. Maybe he can take up the guitar.
Quite the issue, actually. Giant-Man and Wasp decided to retire and then Hulk died. What can the next issue of Tales to Astonish possibly have in store for us? The answer might just astonish you.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 55/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in The Incredible Hulk Epic Collection vol. 2: The Hulk Must Die. You can also find the story in Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk vol. 2. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Hulk/Dr. Bruce Banner
- Leader
- Major Talbot
- General “Thunderbolt” Ross
- Rick Jones
Minor characters:
- Jack (soldier)
Story notes:
- Leader has Absorbatron and Hulk.
- Leader’s ship carries Hulk on the waves of the magnetic attractor beam.
- Hulk turns into Banner, unaffected by sleep gas Hulk had absorbed.
- Banner sends out morse code message; Rick detects it in old headquarters.
- Ends with death of Dr. Banner.
| Previous | #357 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Tales to Astonish #69 | Reading order | Avengers #17 |
| Tales to Astonish #69 | Tales to Astonish | Tales to Astonish #70 |
