Fred Hembeck’s Hero Complex: The Hulk (Part 2)

‘Journey Into Mystery’ No.112 (January 1965)

Kirby and Chic Stone, original artists

A year later, in a sequel of sorts to the Hulk/Avengers melee, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby revisited their original story by having Thor sit down with some youthful -- and opposing -- fans of the pair who wondered, golly gee, just which of the two was the stronger? Turns out, the Asgardian and the Incredible One slipped away for a little private slug-fest of their own during the events depicted in ‘The Avengers’ No. 3--and now it could be told!! And it was. And there was no definitive answer as to whom came out top dog. And c’mon, you’re surprised...?

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‘Tales to Astonish’ No.59 (September 1964)

Kirby and Sol Brodsky, original artists

After battling a veritable god to a standstill, did anyone honestly think that a really, really tall guy was gonna give our irritable friend all that much trouble? Well, truth is, Giant-Man didn’t, but that wasn’t the point. The whole thing was a setup, y’see. Because in the very next issue...

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‘Tales to Astonish’ No.60 (October 1964)

Kirby and Brodsky, original artists

Hulk finally had a home again! Oh sure, it meant shaving six pages off the lead Giant-Man story and deep-sixing the Wasp back-up feature entirely, but c’mon -- all these years later, exactly how many big or small screen Hank Pym adventures have you seen? Next to Spider-Man, I’d venture to say the Hulk is the most well-known character to spring from the original Marvel Age of Comics -- hard to believe he spent so many of those early years kicking around the way he did, only to finally find some stability backing up a third-rater like G.M.! Fact is, I’d say it was downright astonishing!...

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‘Tales to Astonish’ No.77 (March 1966)

Kirby and John Romita, original artists

I’ll confess that when I first laid eyes on this cover, I didn’t believe it for a minute. It had to be some sort of trick -- teen sidekicks just didn’t rat out the secret identities of their betters back in the ‘60s! But much to my eventual amazement, Rick Jones wasn’t kidding around here -- he really was blowing Banner’s cover! A pretty bold move, I thought, but in retrospect, maybe the only logical one for Stan to make -- after all, this wasn’t exactly Clark Kent slipping into the Daily Planet storeroom when he wanted to change I.D.s here. Trying to account for Bruce’s continual absences to the rest of the clueless cast must have become wearisome for Lee, so, voila! No more secret identity! And you know what? The strip still worked.

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‘Tales to Astonish’ No.91 (May 1967)

Gil Kane, original artist

Each of the previous Hulk covers on display today were originally penciled by the great Kirby, but here’s one that wasn’t. Gil Kane was the one responsible -- as well as being the artist who conjured up the Abomination’s unique look! Long associated with DC Comics at the time, Kane’s brief -- but memorable -- tenure penciling and inking several of the Hulk’s escapades was the artist’s first tentative foray into transferring his talents over to the upstart Marvel group from the more staid and established DC line. When he came over pretty much full-time a few years later to work primarily on Spider-Man, I was always a bit disappointed that he never got another go-round with the Hulk, as I always really dug his version!

And that, gamma-groupies, completes the second segment of our Hulk trilogy. Be with us one more time to see what happens when the man-monster again takes command of a full-length book! As always, for more of this sorta stuff, allow me to point you toward my own website, and as for something you can grasp in your hands, may I suggest purchasing a copy of ‘The Nearly Complete Essential Hembeck Archives Omnibus?’ More than 900 pages -- a bargain at any price (but especially at the one we’re asking!)! See ya!!

-- Fred Hembeck