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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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.
Hulk almost succumbs to existential despair.
Status quo has slight update. Hulk still remains Hulk with Banner’s intelligence. But now it’s because he got exposed to extra Gamma energy by the Leader, as the Leader has dissolved the bullet in his brain.
We see Hulk put to a series of tests. Leader is unable to find the limits of his strength. Perhaps Hulk’s strength is limitless?
In Fantastic Four #13, we learned about the Blue Area of the Moon. It has a breathable atmosphere, ruins of some ancient civilization, and the current home of the enigmatic Watcher.
At last we have the answer to the immortal question. Who watches the Watcher? It’s the Leader.
Leader, like about half the characters, has technology that lets him see things happening anywhere on Earth on his TV screen. But now we learn the Leader’s version seems to let him follow the Watcher around the entire galaxy. That’s insane technology, on par with the Watcher himself.
We learn an interesting bit of science. The speed of thought is faster than the speed of light. I would argue that depends on the person doing the thinking.
Is this the Watcher we know? We have learned there are several Watchers from this planet. Do they all just refer to themselves as “The Watcher”?
This Watcher has been collecting flora and fauna. That sounds like more than watching.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 56/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in The Incredible Hulk Epic Collection vol. 2: The Hulk Must Die.
Characters:
- Hulk/Dr. Bruce Banner
- Leader
- Watcher
- Powerful creature
Story notes:
- Hulk ready to succumb to despair and death, believing it may be for the best.
- The Gamma energy from Leader’s body is preventing the Hulk from changing.
- Leader dissolves bullet in skull with Gamma ray laser-type beam.
- Hulk can withstand 100 Gs with ease; shrugs off extreme heat and cold; lungs as powerful as limbs; can go half hour without breathing.
- With telescope, Leader discovered Blue Area of the moon.
- Leader’s cameras long ago discovered Watcher (before Soviet or American satellites surveyed moon), and were able to follow him planet to planet; Leader deduced he just watches.
- Leader finally discovered the far-off planet of the Watchers.
- Speed of thought faster than speed of light; Leader will turn Hulk into micro-molecular pattern flow, a thought wave.
- Watcher has power to shatter planets, to make galaxies tremble, but he only watches.
- Leader able to see/hear what Hulk does across light years.
- Hulk and the most powerful creature in the galaxy will fight for the Ultimate Machine.
| Previous | #386 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Tales to Astonish #73 | Reading order | Tales to Astonish #74 |
| Tales to Astonish #73 | Tales to Astonish | Tales to Astonish #74 |
