It's time once again to put down the plastic and pick-up some reading material, as we present a MEANWHILE... feature you'll be talking about for YEARS to come! All in the Thrilling That Figures Fashion!
Last Ish: We saw how the Essential Marvel collections are black and white reprints of classic Marvel tales, presented in an affordable softback edition. Now you're up to speed, read on, True Believer!
Essential Marvel: The Incredible Hulk Volume 1 brings together the earliest appearances of Marvel's Mighty Man-Monster. With the full six-issue original run of the Incredible Hulk's self-titled comic to his 31 appearances in Tales to Astonish, this collection is a superb look at the earliest entries in his history.
So What's It All About?
When the testing of Physicist Bruce Banner's Gamma Bomb is interrupted by a teenager wandering into the blast site, Dr Banner has no choice but to attempt to get him clear of the blast. Although Banner manages to push him ouf of the way of explosion he receives the full brunt of the Gamma Bomb's might. Banner survives but finds himself changed. Initially when night-time comes, he transforms into a brutish being of immeasurable strength matched only by his desire to be left alone by the ''puny humans'' who keep hunting him. Thus The Hulk is born.
His only friend through all this is Rick Jones, the teenager that caused Banner to enter the blast site and who feels responsible for his role in creating the Hulk. The earliest issues follow Banner's attempts - along with Rick - to cure (or at least contain) his condition, all the while battling ''red spies'' (i.e. Soviet agents) who seek to either replicate the Hulk's powers or use Banner's genius to their own ends.
The Hulk also encounters a range of villainous enemies, including invaders from space, subterranean despots and super-powered criminals, none of which are hugely memorable but they do a good job of providing something for the Hulk to smash.
Or rather, in the case of the earliest issues, ''beat to a pulp for gettin' in my way.'' Yes, the Hulk was initially a more verbose creature than his later self, with his dialogue being closer to Ben ''The Thing'' Grimm than the fury-driven powerhouse of later years.
The Hulk's character and powers are established over the course of this first collection, so by the time we get to the final issue he's pretty much the Green-Skinned Goliath we've all come to know.
Writing
The early adventures of The Hulk come from the era in which Marvel was more used to producing monthly one-shots, or one-off stories, as seen in titles like Amazing Adventures and Strange Tales, with no need for any real continuity (as the stories were mostly self-contained) and this is evident in the way the Hulk's character is very shakily sketched to begin with. Put simply they were written as ''Event Comics'' - the idea being you read a good rip-roaring adventure, saw a few bad guys get beaten-up and then waited for the next issue, where the process would be repeated. This was not an age of collectors or online resources where the obsessive fan could scrutinise every detail of the plot. It was about creating an exciting adventure and giving the buyer a quick fix of four-colour fantasy.
It's therefore interesting to read these issues and see just how many plot elements are introduced and then discarded when they've had their one or two issues. For example, the Hulk's transformation - initially triggered by the coming of night - is later changed to being triggered when Banner becomes over-excited. And the established fact that the angrier the Hulk becomes, the stronger the Hulk becomes initially ran counter to that - if the Hulk became over-excited, it would trigger his metamorphosis back to Banner! Then there's the concept of Rick Jones sharing a bond with the Hulk that allows him to control him (which is then removed a few issues later.) In some issues Banner employs a Gamma Ray machine to control the change. It's clear Stan Lee was virtually making it up as he went along and would often ignore previous continuity if it got in the way of a good story. Even at this stage, Retconning was not unknown.
That's not to say Stan Lee can't write. Yes, his early stories here are simple but Lee injects more into them than simply being about the Hulk smashing things. There's a love story between Banner and the woman he fears to allow himself to love due to his secret, Betty Ross, who is also the daughter of the Hulk's nemesis General ''Thunderbolt'' Ross and there's even a rival for Betty's affections in the form of Major Glen Talbot, the General's right-hand man. Then there's Banner himself, constantly living in fear of unleashing the monster within (which if you want to go all chin-strokey about is a rich vein to mine) and the Hulk's view of himself and Banner as two individual beings. So whilst it's not the most intellectual of reads, it's also not as shallow as it could have been and there is some good drama here beyond it simply being the Hulk beating up Communists, with later stories becoming much more sophisticated as Lee explores the core themes of the Hulk's character and heralds the move toward Marvel's more socially-aware comicbooks of the late Sixties and Seventies.
Artwork
Score another one for Jack Kirby. Along with Lee, Kirby produced some of the most enduring and iconic characters of the era and the Hulk is no exception. Although - like Lee's writing - Kirby's Hulk has a few kinks to iron out when he first appears (he's more akin to the Universal Frankenstein's Monster than the character we know today and in some panels he's even covered in chest-hair) the artwork is always as dynamic and exciting as you'd expect from The King. His Hulk is a looming, petulant monster-child who's every move conveys weight and potential destruction and - as you'd expect from Kirby - his villains look great and his many mechanical designs are superbly-detailed.
Later issues see Dick Ayers, Steve Ditko, Bill Everett and pretty much everyone from ''The Batty Bullpen'' handling the art duties. The collection rounds-off with John Buscema shift in the art-style to a look modern fans will probably find more appealing/familiar and then a couple of issues from Gil Kane, whose style is sits comfortably between the older schools and the ''modern'' Marvel look.
Obviously with so many artists the visuals are a little mixed, but on the whole the standard is high and there's a good level of continuity between characters' appearances, even if the Hulk himself undergoes a number of changes throughout the book.
Final Thoughts
Like the Essential Marvel: The Avengers Volume 1, this collection is a fun, rip-roaring little read. Granted, you lose the colouring in these black and white reprints and the paper quality is maybe a little cheap, but for $16.99 you get 37 issues of The Hulk's adventures, including some of the most iconic moments from his history.
For fans wanting to see where it all started, this is a great place to begin. OK, so the science may be a little off in places and the earlier stories as a whole don't stand-up to scrutiny but there's enough gusto and excitement to just grab you and rush you along on what's a great, fun adventure.
Final Score: B+
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