MARVEL SUPER-HEROES continued in reprinting Incredible Hulk stories from a couple short years earlier, but which were old enough that they were still new to me. To be honest, I often enjoyed these older tales more than the new ones appearing in the Jade Giant’s current series–that isn’t surprising, I had a real connection to the comics of the 1960s (though by this point MARVEL SUPER-HEROES was into 1970s reprints.) I continued to purchase the series regularly, and did so all the way up to its eventual demise some years later.
This was a relatively good period for the title back in the day. Writer Roy Thomas felt like he was a bit more invested in crafting a running narrative after a period when individual issues sometimes felt like one-off throwaways. But more crucially, the solid storytelling of Herb Trimpe was being embellished by one of the greats in the field, John Severin. Severin was a “thick sauce” and tended to somewhat overpower the pencilers that he worked over. But that was usually a benefit as he was a skilled craftsman with an expert line. He maintained Trimpe’s strengths but gave the finished work a lot more polish and texture. It was a terrific combination, one that also took the burden off of Severin to work out the layouts and the storytelling himself–I get the impression that he wasn’t a fan of the Marvel method where the artist drew the story from just a brief overall synopsis.
This story was done at a time when the other artists in the Marvel Bullpen were being encouraged to look at the work of Jim Steranko and emulate the manner in which he broke down a page and a sequence. Trimpe was never as imaginative with his layouts, but he did attempt to do just that during this period, as in the case of this page above with its top tier of staccato panels. Roy steered into these efforts, keeping that first panel silent to allow the artwork to tell the story. At a time when many of the Marvel books felt like they were a shade overwritten, this was a welcome development, though it only lasted for so long before attention shifted over to the latest new flavor-of-the-day creator.
Last time, with the aid of Iron Man and the betrayal of Jim Wilson, the army had succeeded in capturing the Hulk and reuniting him with Bruce Banner, who had been separated from him–though Banner’s persona appears to have been entirely subsumed by his brutish alter ego. As this month’s story opens up, the unified Hulk makes an escape attempt but can’t get himself to freedom before the safeguards the military has put in place strike him down. Young Jim Wilson is feeling like crap about his part in this, even though he knows that it was the only way to save both Banner and the Hulk, and so he cuts out. But T-Bolt Ross correctly reasons that having Jim around might help them to keep the Hulk docile, so he sends major Glenn Talbot out to bring the boy back. A chase breaks out, and in a clutch moment, Jim finds himself being rescued by a flying craft that belongs to the notorious terrorist organization Hydra.
The Supreme Hydra tells Jim that like him, he is sympathetic to the Hulk’s plight, and so he offers Hydra’s resources to help liberate the captive brute. So Jim heads back to the military base, where he bluffs his way into the Hulk’s cell and succeeds in opening up an air vent to the place through which Hydra can draw the Hulk out by magnetic attraction. But of course, Hydra only wants the Hulk so that they can turn him into an obedient slave bent on carrying out their world-dominating efforts. Hearing this, Jim shouts for the Hulk to wake up and break free, and he’s clobbered for his troubles by Hydra goons. But the sight of his friend being struck is all it takes to get the Hulk’s back up, and in another cinematic sequence, he gets angry enough to break the collar that has been restraining him and launch himself at the Hydra troops.
Seeing that the Hulk has broken free, the terrified Hydra men open fire–and while the Hulk himself is bulletproof, one shot ricochets off of the gamma-spawned goliath and strikes Jim. And the Hulk goes absolutely bananas, tearing apart the craft that they’re on with a vengeance. Hydra is in full retreat aboard their own flying base at this point, and to make matters worse for them, a pursuing squadron of fighters has launched from the Air Force base with orders to recapture or shoot down the Hulk. Taking the better part of valor, the Supreme Hydra and his men lit out in an escape craft, leaving the Hulk and Jim to whatever fate is waiting for them.
The Hulk, though, has turned his attention back to the stricken Jim, who is still breathing. Recognizing that the boy needs metical attention, the Hulk lifts him up in one arm and smashes his way through the Hydra ship to freedom, launching them both into the countryside below. By the time the military gets there, all they have to show for their efforts is a half-destroyed Hydra ship and a bevy of clobbered Hydra footsoldiers. The Hulk, though, is in the wind–and as the issue closes out, he vows revenge against the human race should his friend Jim perish. To Be Continued! This was typical of the Hulk plots of the era: it wasn’t especially complex or deep, it put a premium on action and demolition, but it had some good inter-personal moments between the Hulk and Jim Wilson and it was an entertaining and undemanding read. It’s easy to see why INCREDIBLE HULK did so well as an impulse purchase by readers who weren’t interested in following every issue but rather wanted some momentary mayhem in their lives.
