Category: Marvel Essentials

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Essential Godzilla


By Doug Moench, Herb Trimpe & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2153-4

What’s big and green and leaves your front room a complete mess? No, not a Christmas tree, but (arguably) the world’s most famous monster. In 1976 manga and anime were only starting to creep into global consciousness and the most well known popular culture Japanese export was a colossal radioactive dinosaur that regularly rampaged through the East destroying cities and fighting monsters even more bizarre and scary than it was.

At this time Marvel was well on the way to becoming the multi-media corporate giant of today and was looking to increase its international profile. Comic companies have always sought licensed properties to bolster their market share and in 1977 Marvel truly landed the big one with a two year run of one of the world’s most recognisable characters. They boldly broke with tradition by dropping him solidly into real-time contemporary company continuity.

Gojira first appeared in the eponymous 1954 anti-war, anti-nuke parable directed by Ishiro Honda for Toho Films; a symbol of ancient forces roused to violent reaction by mankind’s incessant meddling. The film was re-cut and dubbed into English with a young Raymond Burr inserted for US audience appeal, and the brobdignagian beast renamed Godzilla. He has smashed his way through 27 further Japanese movies, records, books games, many, many comics and is the originator of the manga sub-genre Daikaijû (giant strange beasts).

The Marvel interpretation began with ‘The Coming!’ by Doug Moench, Herb Trimpe & Jim Mooney (#1 August 1977) as the monstrous aquatic lizard with radioactive fire breath erupted out of the Pacific Ocean and rampaged through Alaska.

Superspy organisation S.H.I.E.L.D. is quickly dispatched to stop the monster, and Nick Fury calls in Japanese experts Dr. Yuriko Takiguchi, his grandson Robert and their eye-candy assistant Tamara Hashioka. After an inconclusive battle of ancient strength against modern tech Godzilla returns to the sea, but the seeds have been sown and everybody knows he will return.

In Japan many believe that Godzilla is a benevolent force destined to oppose true evil, young Robert among them, and he gets the chance to expound his views in #2’s ‘Thunder in the Darkness!’ (inked by Frank Giacoia and George Tuska) as the monolithic saurian resurfaces in Seattle, and nearly razes the place before being lured away by S.H.I.E.L.D. ingenuity.

Veteran agents Dum-Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones and Jimmy Woo are seconded to a permanent anti-lizard force until the beast is finally vanquished, but there are lots of free-lance do-gooders in the Marvel universe and when the Green Goliath takes offence at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, the Champions – a short-lived team consisting of Angel, Iceman, Ghost Rider, Black Widow and Hercules – in ‘A Tale of Two Saviours’ (with the solids inks of Tony DeZuniga adding a welcome depth to the art) the humans spend more time fighting each other than the monster.

There’re only so many cities even the angriest dinosaur can trash before tedium sets in so writer Moench begins his first continued story in #4 with ‘Godzilla Versus Batragon!’ (guest-pencilled by the superb Tom Sutton, inked by DeZuniga), wherein deranged scientist Dr. Demonicus enslaves Aleutian Islanders to grow his own world-wrecking giant horrors – until the real thing shows up…

The story concludes in ‘The Isle of Lost Monsters’ (inked by a fresh-faced Klaus Janson) and #6, ‘A Monster Enslaved!’ begins another extended epic as Herb Trimpe returns and Godzilla as well as the general American public were introduced to another now common Japanese innovation.

Giant, piloted battle-suits (Mecha) first appeared in Go Nagai’s 1972 manga classic Mazinger Z, (and Marvel would do much to popularise the sub-genre in their follow-up licensed comic Shogun Warriors, based on an import toy rather than movie or comic characters but by the same creative team as Godzilla), and here young Rob Takiguchi steals S.H.I.E.L.D.’s latest weapon, a giant robot codenamed Red Ronin, to aid the Big Guy when he is finally captured.

Fred Kida stirringly inked the first of a long line of saurian sagas with #7’s ‘Birth of a Warrior!’ and the uneasy giant’s alliance ends in another huge fight in the final chapter ‘Titan Time Two!’ ‘The Fate of Las Vegas’ (Trimpe and Kida) in Godzilla #9 is a lighter morality tale as the monster destroys Boulder Dam and floods the modern Sodom and Gomorrah, but it’s soon back to big beastie bashing in ‘Godzilla vs Yetrigar’, another multi-part mash-up that concludes in ‘Arena for Three!’ as Red Ronin returns to tackle both large lizard and stupendous Sasquatch.

The first year ends with #12’s ‘The Beta-Beast!’, the first chapter in an invasion epic. Shanghaied to the Moon, Godzilla is co-opted as a soldier in a war between alien races who breed giant monsters as weapons, and when the battle transfers to Earth in ‘The Mega-Monsters from Beyond!’, Red Ronin joins the fray for the blockbusting conclusion ‘The Super-Beasts’ (this last inked by Dan Green). Afterwards, loose in cowboy country, Godzilla stomps into a rustling mystery and modern showdown in ‘Roam on the Range’ and ‘The Great Godzilla Roundup!’ before the final story arc begins.

‘Of Lizards, Great and Small’ in #17 begins with a logical solution to the beast’s rampages as superhero Ant-Man’s shrinking gas is used to reduce Godzilla to a more manageable size, but when the diminished devastator escapes from his cage and becomes a ‘Fugitive in Manhattan!’ it’s all hands on deck whilst the city waits for the gas’ effects to wear off. ‘With Dugan on the Docks!’ sees the secret agent battle the saurian on more or less equal terms before the Fantastic Four step in for ‘A Night at the Museum.’

The FF have another humane solution and dispatch Godzilla to an age of dinosaurs in #21’s ‘The Doom Trip!’, which allows every big beast fan’s dream to come true as the King of the Monsters teams up with Jack “King” Kirby’s uniquely splendid Devil Dinosaur – and Moon Boy – in ‘The Devil and the Dinosaur!’ (inked by Jack Abel) before returning to the 20th century and his full size for a spectacular battle against the Mighty Avengers in ‘The King Once More’.

The story and series concluded in #24 (July 1979) with the remarkably satisfying ‘And Lo, a Child Shall Lead Them’ as all New York’s superheroes prove less effective than an impassioned plea, and Godzilla departs for new conquests and other licensed outlets.

By no means award-winners or critical masterpieces these stories are nonetheless a perfect example of what comics should be: enticing, exciting, accessible and brimming with “bang for your buck.” Moench’s oft-times florid prose and dialogue meld perfectly here with Trimpe’s stylised interpretation, which often surpasses the artist’s excellent work on that other big, green galoot.

These are great tales to bring the young and disaffected back to the comics fold and are well worth their space on any fan’s bookshelf.

© 1977, 1978, 1979, 2006 Toho Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved. Godzilla, King of the Monsters ® Toho Co., Inc.

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Essential Avengers volume 3


By Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Gene Colan, Barry Smith & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-0787-3

Slightly slimmer than the usual phonebook sized tome, this third collection of the Mighty Avengers’ world-saving exploits (here reproducing in crisp, stylish black and white the contents of issues #47-68 of their monthly comic book and their second summer Annual) established Roy Thomas as a major creative force in comics and propelled John Buscema to the forefront of fan-favourite artists. These compelling yarns certainly enhanced the reputations of fellow art veteran Don Heck and Gene Colan and made the wider comics world critically aware of the potential of John’s brother Sal Buscema and original British Invader Barry Smith…

With the Avengers the unbeatable and venerable concept of putting all your star eggs in one basket always scored big dividends for Marvel even after the all-stars such as Thor and Iron Man were replaced and supplemented by lesser luminaries and Jack Kirby moved on to other Marvel assignments and other companies. With this third volume many of the founding stars regularly began showing up as a rotating, open door policy meant that almost every issue could feature somebody’s fave-rave, and the amazingly good stories and artwork were certainly no hindrance either.

Opening this fun-fest is ‘Magneto Walks the Earth!’ from Avengers #47 by writer Roy Thomas (who wrote all the stories contained here), illustrated by John Buscema and George Tuska wherein the master of magnetism returns from enforced exile in space to put his old gang together by recruiting mutant Avengers Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch… whether they’re willing or otherwise…

Tuska assumes full art chores for the second chapter in this saga, ‘The Black Knight Lives Again!’ which introduced a brand new Marvel Superhero, whilst furthering a sub-plot featuring Hercules’ return to an abandoned Olympus and #49, (pencilled and inked by Buscema) concluded the Mutant trilogy with ‘Mine is the Power!’ clearing the decks for the 50th issue tussle as the team rejoins Hercules to restore Olympus by defeating the mythological menace of Typhon in ‘To Tame a Titan!’

Reduced to just Hawkeye, the Wasp and a powerless Goliath the Avengers found themselves ‘In the Clutches of the Collector!’ in #51 (illustrated by Buscema and Tuska), but the brief return of Iron Man and Thor swiftly saw the Master of Many Sizes regain his abilities in time to welcome new member Black Panther in the Vince Colletta inked ‘Death Calls for the Arch-Heroes’ which premiered obsessive super-psycho the Grim Reaper.

Next follows the slightly disconcerting cross-over/conclusion to an epic X-Men clash with Magneto from (issues #43-45) that dovetailed neatly into a grand Avengers/mutant face-off in the Buscema-Tuska limned ‘In Battle Joined!’ whilst issue #54 kicked off a mini-renaissance in quality and creativity with ‘…And Deliver Us from the Masters of Evil!’, which re-introduced the Black Knight and finally gave Avengers Butler a character and starring role, but this was simply a prelude to the second instalment which debuted the supremely Oedipal threat of the Robotic Ultron-5 in ‘Mayhem Over Manhattan!’ (inked by the superbly slick George Klein).

Captain America’s introduction to the 1960s got a spectacular reworking in Avengers #56 as ‘Death be not Proud!’ accidentally returned him and his comrades to the fateful night when Bucky died, which segued neatly into 1968’s Avengers Annual #2 (illustrated by Don Heck, Werner Roth and Vince Colletta). ‘…And Time, the Rushing River…’ found Cap, Black Panther, Goliath, Wasp and Hawkeye returned to a divergent present and compelled to battle the founding team of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Giant-Man and the Wasp to correct reality itself.

Buscema and Klein were back for the two-part introduction of possibly the most intriguing of all the team’s roster. ‘Behold… the Vision!’ and the concluding ‘Even an Android Can Cry’ retrofitted an old Simon and Kirby hero from the Golden Age – an extra-dimensional mystery-man – into a high-tech, eerie, amnesiac, artificial man with complete control of his mass and density, and played him as the ultimate outsider, lost and utterly alone in a world that could never, never understand him.

As the adventure and enigma unfolded it was revealed that the nameless Vision had been built by the relentless, remorseless robotic Ultron-5 to destroy the Avengers and especially his/its own creator Henry Pym. Furthermore the mechanical mastermind had used the brain pattern of deceased hero-Wonder Man (see Essential Avengers) as a cerebral template, which may have been a mistake since the synthetic man overruled his programming to help defeat his maniac maker.

Avengers #59 and 60, ‘The Name is Yellowjacket’ and ‘…Till Death do us Part!’ (the latter inked by Mike Esposito moonlighting as Mickey DeMeo) saw Goliath and the Wasp finally marry after the heroic Doctor Pym was seemingly replaced by a new insect-themed hero, with a horde of heroic guest-stars and the deadly Circus of Evil in attendance, followed in swift succession by yet another crossover conclusion.

‘Some Say the World Will End in Fire… Some Say in Ice!’ wrapped up a storyline from Doctor Strange #178 wherein a satanic cult unleashed Norse demons Surtur and Ymir to destroy the planet, and the guest-starring Black Knight hung around for ‘The Monarch and the Man-Ape!’ in Avengers #63; a brief and brutal exploration of African Avenger the Black Panther’s history and rivals.

The next issue began a three-part tale illustrated by Gene Colan whose lavish humanism was intriguingly at odds with the team’s usual art style. ‘And in this Corner… Goliath!’, ‘Like a Death Ray from the Sky!’ and ‘Mightier than the Sword?’ (the final chapter inked by Sam Grainger) was part of a broader tale; an early crossover experiment that intersected with both Sub-Mariner and Captain Marvel issues #14, as a coterie of cerebral second-string villains combined to conquer the world by stealth.

Within the Avengers portion of proceedings Hawkeye revealed his civilian identity and origins before forsaking his bow and trick-arrows, becoming a size-changing hero, and subsequently adopting the vacant name Goliath.

The last three issues reprinted here also form one story-arc, and gave new kid Barry Smith a chance to show just how good he was going to become.

In ‘Betrayal!’ (#66, inked by the legendary Syd Shores) the development of a new super metal, Adamantium, triggers a back-up program in the Vision who is compelled to reconstruct his destroyed creator, whilst in ‘We Stand at… Armageddon!’ (inked by Klein) Adamantium-reinforced Ultron-6 is moments away from world domination and the nuking of New York when a now truly independent Vision intercedes before the dramatic conclusion ‘…And We Battle for the Earth’ (with art from young Sal Buscema and Sam Grainger) sees the team, augmented by Thor and Iron Man, prove that the only answer to an unstoppable force is an unparalleled mind…

To compliment these staggeringly impressive adventures this book also includes ‘Avenjerks Assemble!’ by Thomas, John Buscema and Frank Giacoia: a short spoof from company humour mag Not Brand Echh, the five page full-team entry from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and a beautiful terrific team pin-up.

As the halcyon creative days of Lee and Kirby drew to a close, Roy Thomas and John Buscema led the second wave of creators who built on and consolidated that burst of incredible imagineering into a logical, fully functioning story machine that so many others could add to. These terrific transitional tales are exciting and rewarding in their own right but also a pivotal step of the little company into the corporate colossus.

© 1967, 1968, 2001 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Essential Spider-Man volume 3


By Stan Lee, John Romita & various (Marvel)
ISBN 0-7851-0658-8

The rise and rise of the wondrous web-spinner continued and even increased pace as the 1960s progressed, and by the time of the tales in this third spectacular volume of black and white reprints (collecting the contents of Amazing Spider-Man #44-68) Peter Parker and friends were on the way to being household names as well as the darlings of college campuses and the media intelligentsia.

The Marvel merriment begins with the return of a tragedy-drenched old foe as Stan Lee and John Romita reintroduced biologist Curt Conners in #44’s (Jan 1967) ‘Where Crawls the Lizard!’ The deadly reptilian marauder threatened Humanity itself and it took all of the wall-crawler’s resourcefulness to stop him in the concluding ‘Spidey Smashes Out!’

Issue #46 introduced an all-new menace in the form of seismic super-thief ‘The Sinister Shocker!’ whilst ‘In the Hands of the Hunter!’ brought back a fighting mad Kraven to menace the family of Peter Parker’s friend Harry Osborn. Apparently the obsessive big-game hunter had entered into a contract with Harry’s father (the super-villain Green Goblin until a psychotic break turned him into a traumatised amnesiac) and now he wanted paying off…

Luckily Spider-Man was on hand to dissuade him, but it’s interesting to note that at this time the student life and soap-opera sub-plots became increasingly important to the mix, with glamour girls Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy (superbly delineated by the masterful Romita) as well as former bully Flash Thompson and the Osborns getting as much or more “page-time” as Aunt May or the Daily Bugle staff, who had previously monopolised the non-costumed portions of the ongoing saga.

Amazing Spider-Man #48 introduced Blackie Drago a ruthless thug who shared a prison cell with one of the wall-crawler’s oldest foes. At death’s door the ailing super-villain revealed his technological secrets, enabling Drago to escape and master ‘The Wings of the Vulture!’ Younger, faster, tougher the new Vulture defeated Spider-Man and in #49’s ‘From the Depths of Defeat!’ battled Kraven the Hunter until a reinvigorated arachnid stepped in the thrash them both.

Issue #50 introduced one of Marvel’s greatest villains in the first of a three part yarn that saw the beginnings of romance between Parker and Gwen Stacy and the death of a cast member, re-established Spidey’s war on cheap thugs and common criminals (a key component of the hero’s appeal was that no criminal was too small for him to bother with) and saw a crisis of conscience force him to quit in ‘Spider-Man No More!’ only to return and be trapped ‘In the Clutches of… the Kingpin!’ before tragically triumphing in ‘To Die a Hero!’ This gang-busting triptych saw Romita relinquish the inking of his art to Mike Esposito (moonlighting from DC as Mickey DeMeo).

Another multi-part saga began in #53 with ‘Enter: Dr. Octopus’ as the many-tentacled madman tried to steal a devastating new piece of technology, but after being soundly defeated the madman went into hiding as a lodger at Aunt May’s house in ‘The Tentacles and the Trap!’, regrouped and succeeded in ‘Doc Ock Wins!’ and even convinced a mind-wiped Spider-Man to join him before the astonishing conclusion in ‘Disaster!’

Shell-shocked and amnesiac, Spider-Man was lost in New York in #57 (with lay-outs by Romita, pencils from the reassuring reliable Don Heck and inking by DeMeo) until he clashed with Marvel’s own Tarzan clone in ‘The Coming of Ka-Zar!’ whilst in the follow-up ‘To Kill a Spider-Man!’ vengeance-crazed roboticist Professor Smythe convinced J. Jonah Jameson to finance another mechanical Spider-Slayer…

In Amazing Spider-Man #59 the hero returned his attention to sinister street-crime in ‘The Brand of the Brainwasher!’ as a new mob-mastermind began to take control of the city by mind-controlling city leaders and prominent cops – including Gwen Stacy’s dad. The drama continued as the mastermind was revealed to be one of Spidey’s old foes in ‘O, Bitter Victory!’ before the concluding part ‘What a Tangled Web We Weave…!’ saw our hero save the day but still stagger away more victim than victor…

‘Make Way for …Medusa!’ in #62 is a fresh change-of-pace yarn as the wall-crawler stumbled into combat with the formidable Inhuman due to the machinations of a Madison Avenue ad man, whilst ‘Wings in the Night!’ in #63 saw the old Vulture return to crush his usurper Blackie Drago, and then take on Spidey for dessert. The awesome aerial angst concluded with ‘The Vultures Prey’ which led to another art-change (from Heck and DeMeo to the sumptuous heavy lines of Jim Mooney) in #65 as Spider-Man was arrested and had to engineer ‘The Impossible Escape!’ from a Manhattan prison, foiling as mass jailbreak along the way.

The psychotic special-effects mastermind returned seeking loot and vengeance in #66’s ‘The Madness of Mysterio!’ (by Romita, Heck and DeMeo) which ended in an all-out action-packed brawl (rendered by Romita and Mooney) entitled ‘To Squash a Spider!’ This volume closes with a small tale that acts as a prologue for a greater epic to come. In ‘Crisis on the Campus!’ scripter Lee tapped into the student unrest of the times in a clever tale of fantastic skulduggery. One of Peter Parker’s tutors was deciphering an ancient tablet, unaware that the Kingpin wanted it for the world-shaking secrets it held. And such a ruthless manipulator would have no qualms in fomenting a bloody riot to mask his theft of the artefact…

Spider-Man became a permanent unmissable part of many teenagers’ lives at this time and did so by living a life as close to theirs as social mores and the Comics Code would allow. Blending cultural authenticity with beautiful art, and making a dramatic virtue of the awkwardness, confusion and sense of powerlessness that most of the readership experienced daily, resulted in an irresistibly intoxicating read, delivered in addictive soap-opera instalments, but none of that would be relevant if the stories weren’t so compellingly entertaining. This book is Stan Lee’s Marvel and Spider-Man at their peak.

© 1967, 1968, 1969, 1998, 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Essential Fantastic Four volume 3


By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2625-6

This third collected black-and-white volume of the “World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” certainly lives up to its own hype as it re-presents those tales wherein Jack Kirby finally unleashed his vast imagination and Stan Lee scripted some of the most passionate superhero sagas that Marvel – or any publisher, for that matter – has ever produced. Both were at the height of their creative powers, and full of the confidence that only success brings, with Kirby in particular eager to see how far the genre and the medium could be pushed.

The wonderment begins with the first part of a tense and traumatic trilogy (inked by Vince Colletta) in which the Frightful Four – Wizard, Sandman, Trapster and the enigmatic Madame Medusa – brainwash The Thing and turn him against his former team-mates. It started in Fantastic Four # 41 (August 1965) with ‘The Brutal Betrayal of Ben Grimm!’, continued in rip-roaring fashion with ‘To Save You, Why must I Kill You?’ and concluded in bombastic glory with #44’s ‘Lo! There Shall be an Ending!’

After that Colletta signed off by inking one of the most crowded Marvel stories ever. Fantastic Four Annual #3 featured every hero, most of the villains and lots of ancillary characters (such as teen-romance stars Patsy Walker & Hedy Wolf and even Stan and Jack themselves) in the company pantheon. In ‘Bedlam at the Baxter Building!’ Reed Richards and Sue Storm finally wed, despite being attacked by an army of baddies mesmerised by the diabolical Doctor Doom. In its classical simplicity it signalled the end of one era and the start of another…

FF #44 was a landmark in many ways. Firstly it saw the arrival of Joe Sinnott as regular inker, a skilled brush-man with a deft line and a superb grasp of anatomy and facial expression, and moreover an artist prepared to match Kirby’s greatest efforts with his own. Some inkers had problems with just how much detail the King would pencil in; Sinnott relished it and the effort showed. What was wonderful now became incomparable.

‘The Gentleman’s Name is Gorgon!’ introduced a mysterious powerhouse with metal hooves instead of feet, a hunter implacably stalking Madame Medusa, who embroiled the Human Torch and thus the whole team in her frantic bid to escape, and that’s before the monstrous android Dragon Man showed up to complicate matters. All this was merely a prelude: with the next issue we were introduced to a hidden race of super-beings that had secretly shared the Earth with us for millennia. ‘Among us Hide… the Inhumans’ revealed that Medusa was part of the Royal Family of Attilan, a race of paranormal beings on the run ever since a coup deposed the true king.

Black Bolt, Triton, Karnak and the rest would quickly become mainstays of the Marvel Universe, but their bewitching young cousin Crystal and her giant teleporting dog Lockjaw were the real stars here. For young Johnny Storm it was love at first sight, and Crystal’s eventual fate would greatly change his character, giving him a hint of angst-ridden tragedy that resonated greatly with the generation of young readers who were growing up with the comic…

‘Those Who Would Destroy Us!’ and ‘Beware the Hidden Land!’ (FF #46 and 47) saw the team join the Inhumans as Black Bolt regained his throne from his brother Maximus the Mad, only to stumble into the usurper’s plan to wipe humanity from the Earth.

Ideas just seem to explode from Kirby at this time. Despite being halfway through one storyline, FF #48 trumpeted ‘The Coming of Galactus!’ and the first Inhumans saga was swiftly wrapped up by page 6, with the entire race sealed behind an impenetrable dome called the Negative Zone (later retitled the Negative Barrier to avoid confusion with the gateway to sub-space that Reed worked on for years).

Meanwhile a cosmic entity approached Earth, preceded by a gleaming herald on a surfboard of pure cosmic energy. I suspect this experimental – and vaguely uncomfortable – approach to narrative mechanics was calculated and deliberate, mirroring the way that TV soap operas were increasingly delivering their interwoven storylines, and a way to keep the readers glued to the series.

They needn’t have bothered. The stories and concepts were enough…

‘If this be Doomsday!’ saw the planet-eating Galactus set up shop above the Baxter Building despite the team’s best efforts, whilst his cold and shining herald had his humanity rekindled by simply conversing with the Thing’s blind girlfriend Alicia. Issue #50’s ‘The Startling Saga of the Silver Surfer!’ concluded the epic in grand style as the reawakened humanity of the Surfer and heroism of the FF bought enough time for Richards to literally save the World. Once again the tale ended in the middle of the issue, and the remaining half concentrated on the team getting back to “normal”. To that extent Johnny Storm enrolled at Metro College, desperate to forget his lost love Crystal and his unnerving jaunts to the ends of the universe. On his first day, the lad met the imposing and enigmatic Native American Wyatt Wingfoot, destined to become his greatest friend…’

Fantastic Four #51 is considered by many the greatest single FF story ever. ‘This Man… This Monster!’ found the Thing’s body usurped by a vengeful and petty scientist who subsequently discovered the true measure of a man, whilst another innovation and great character debuted in the next issue.

‘The Black Panther!’ was an African monarch whose secretive kingdom was the only source of a vibration-absorbing alien metal. These mineral riches had enabled him to turn his country into a technological wonderland. He attacked the FF as part of an extended plan to gain vengeance on the murderer of his father. He was also the first Negro superhero in American comics (Fantastic Four #52, cover-dated July 1966). His origin was revealed in ‘The Way it Began..!’, which also introduced sonic super-villain Klaw. Johnny and Wyatt then embarked on a quest to find Crystal but discovered instead the lost tomb of Prester John in #54’s ‘Whosoever Finds the Evil Eye…!’

Imprisoned on Earth the brooding ex-herald of Galactus had become an instant fan-favourite, and his regular appearances were always a guarantee of something special. ‘When Strikes the Silver Surfer!’ found him in uncomprehending, brutal battle with the Thing, whose insecurities about Alicia had turned into searing jealousy, whereas it was business as unusual when ‘Klaw the Murderous Master of Sound!’ attacked again in # 56.

Throughout all the issues since their imprisonment a running sub-plot with the Inhumans had been slowly building, whilst the on the other side of the Great Barrier, Johnny and Wyatt wandered the wilds also seeking a method of liberating the Hidden City. Their quest led directly into the landmark tale ‘The Torch that Was!’: lead feature in the fourth FF Annual (1966), in which The Mad Thinker resurrected the original Human Torch (actually the World’s first android) to battle destroy the flaming teenager…

Fantastic Four #57-60 displayed Lee and Kirby at their very best; with incredible drama and action on a number of fronts as the most dangerous man on Earth stole the Silver Surfer’s power, the Inhumans finally won their freedom and we discovered the tragic secret of Black Bolt in all its awesome fury. It all began with a jailbreak by the Sandman in #57’s ‘Enter… Dr. Doom!’, continued in ‘The Dismal Dregs of Defeat!’ and ‘Doomsday’ culminating in brains saving the day and humanity in magnificent manner with ‘The Peril and the Power!’

But there was never a dull moment: no sooner had they relaxed than a new and improved foe resumed his aborted attack in #61’s ‘Where Stalks the Sandman?’, another explosive multi-part tale wherein Johnny and Crystal were reunited, the Surfer regained his stolen power and Reed was lost to the anti-matter hell of the Negative Zone’s sub-space corridor.

‘…And One Shall Save Him!’ guest-starred Triton and the newly liberated Inhuman Royal Family, and saw the introduction of another unique enemy, who followed Reed back from the anti-matter universe and straight into partnership with the Sandman. The battle against ‘Blastaar, the Living Bomb-Burst!’ (FF #63, June 1967), concludes the incredible run of superb stories in this volume, but there was still room to include some fascinating freebies in the form of pages of original art, the initial designs for Coal Tiger (who became Black Panther) and an unused cover for #52.

These are the stories that cemented Marvel’s reputation and enabled the company to overtake all its competitors. They’re also still some of the best stories ever produced and as exciting and captivating now as they ever were. This is a must-have book for all fans of graphic narrative.

© 1965, 1966, 1967, 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Essential Hulk volume 3


By Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Harlan Ellison, Herb Trimpe, & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-1689-9

By the close of the 1960s the Incredible Hulk had settled into a comfortable niche and enjoyable formula as the tragic Bruce Banner sought cures for his gamma-transformative curse, alternately aided or hunted by prospective father-in-law US General “Thunderbolt” Ross and a variety of guest-star heroes and villains.

Herb Trimpe made the character his own, the “house” Jack Kirby based art-style quickly evolving into startlingly abstract mannerism, augmented by an unmatched facility for drawing technology and especially honking great ordnance and vehicles – all of which looks especially great in the crisp black and white of these magically affordable Essentials volumes. And of course no one can deny the cathartic reader-release of a mighty big “Hulk Smash” moment…

This chronologically accurate treat contains issues #118-142, as well as the corresponding parts of a couple of cross-overs, Captain Marvel #20-21 and Avengers #88, but the action begins with Incredible Hulk #118 (August 1969) wherein a duplicitous courtier at the Sub-Mariner’s sunken  citadel orchestrated ‘A Clash of Titans’, (as related by Stan Lee and Trimpe) before the Jade Giant stumbled into a South American country conquered by and ‘At the Mercy of… Maximus the Mad’, a two-part-tale which concluded with the Roy Thomas scripted ‘On the Side of… the Evil Inhumans!’

This all-out Armageddon with the Hulk also fighting the Costa Salvador army, the ubiquitous rebels, General Ross’ specialist forces and even a giant robot gave way to a moodier menace as Ol’ Greenskin returned to the USA – Florida to be precise – to find ‘Within the Swamp, There Stirs… a Glob!’, a muck-encrusted monstrosity that predated both DC’s Swamp Thing and Marvel’s own Man-Thing; designed as tribute in equal parts to Theodore Sturgeon’s “It” and the Hillman Comics Character The Heap, who slopped his way through the back of Airboy Comics in the early 1950s.

Incredible Hulk #122 promised ‘The Hulk’s Last Fight!’ when the Fantastic Four thought they’d found a cure for Banner’s condition, but as the concluding episode ‘No More the Monster!’ showed, you don’t always get what you want – specially when gamma-super-genius the Leader has involved himself in the plan.

Seemingly cured of the curse of the Hulk Bruce Banner was set to marry his troubled sweetheart Betty Ross, but ‘The Rhino Says No!’ and the subsequent set-to (rather heavily inked by Sal Buscema) re-set the tragic status quo of hunted, haunted hero on the run…

Trimpe again took up the inker’s brush for the bludgeoning battle in #125 ‘And Now, the Absorbing Man!’ whilst Doctor Strange guest-starred in an other-dimensional duel with the malign Undying Ones: ‘…Where Stalks the Night-Crawler!’ (a tidying up exercise closing a saga from the good Doctor’s own cancelled title – and one which directly led to the formation of the anti-hero super-group The Defenders).

In ‘Mogol!’ (#127) the child-like, lonely Hulk was transported to the Mole Man’s subterranean realm where he thought he’d finally found a friend, only to face bitter disappointment once more, and his pain-filled rampage threatened to destroy California (#127) when he tore his way surface-ward via the San Andreas Fault. ‘And in this Corner… The Avengers!’ found a solution to the problem, even if they couldn’t hold the Green Goliath, leading him to more trouble when ‘Again, The Glob!’ attacked.

Next up is a two-part tale from Captain Marvel #20-21 (June and August 1970) where erstwhile partner Rick Jones sought Banner’s aid to free him from a twilight existence bonded to the Kree hero – and intermittent exile to the Negative Zone. Astoundingly illustrated by Gil Kane and Dan Adkins ‘The Hunter and the Holocaust’ and ‘Here Comes the Hulk!’ compounded the mismatched battle with topical student unrest, in a brilliant story that presaged a move towards more “relevant” comics fare throughout the industry.

Incredible Hulk #130 saw Banner separate himself from the Hulk in ‘If I Kill You… I Die’, but the separation had potentially disastrous consequences for Los Angeles, if not the world and only Iron Man could help when ‘A Titan Stalks the Tenements!’ This powerful tale introduced black ghetto kid Jim Wilson, and is made doubly enjoyable by the inking wizardry of the legendary John Severin who signed on for a three-issue stint.

In #132, the Hulk was ‘In the Hands of Hydra!’ – although not for long and to their eternal regret. His desperate escape left him stranded in the Mediterranean dictatorship of Morvania, an unwilling freedom fighter against the despicable Draxon on the ‘Day of Thunder… Night of Death!’ Sal Buscema returned as inker for the conclusion ‘Among us Walks… the Golem!’ in Incredible Hulk #134, and one of the strangest Marvel team-ups then occurred in ‘Descent into the Time-Storm!’ when Kang the Conqueror dispatched the Hulk to the dog-days of World War I to prevent the Avengers’ ancestors from being born, only to fall foul of the masked aviator known as the Phantom Eagle.

Moby Dick (among other cross media classics) was homaged in ‘Klattu! The Behemoth From Beyond Space’ and ‘The Stars, Mine Enemy!’ (this last inked by Mike Esposito) as a vengeance crazed star-ship captain pursued the alien beast that had maimed him, press-ganging the Hulk in the process and pitting him against old foe the Abomination.

It was back to Earth and another old enemy in ‘…Sincerely, the Sandman!’ (inked by Sam Grainger) as the vicious villain turned Betty Ross to brittle glass, whilst #139’s ‘Many Foes Has the Hulk!’ saw the Leader attempt to kill his brutish nemesis by exhaustion as seemingly hundreds of old villains attacked at once…

Another cross-over next, and a very impressive one as Harlan Ellison, Thomas, Sal Buscema and Jim Mooney produced ‘The Summons of Psyklop!’ for Avengers #88 where an insectoid servant of the Elder Gods abducted the Hulk to fuel their resurrection, which led directly into Incredible Hulk #140 and the landmark ‘The Brute that Shouted Love at the Heart of the Atom’ (drawn by Grainger over Trimpe’s layouts). Trapped on a sub-atomic world, Banner’s intellect and the Hulk’s body were reconciled, and he became a barbarian hero to an appreciative populace, and the lover of the perfect princess Jarella…

only to be snatched away by Psyklop at the moment of his greatest happiness.

The sudden return to full-sized savagery was the insectoid’s undoing and the Hulk resumed his ghastly existence… at least until #141 when a psychologist proved a way to drain the Hulk’s gamma-energy to restore the crystalline Betty – and even turn himself into a superhero in ‘His Name is … Samson!’ (with Severin returned as inker).

This volume closes with a satirical poke at “Radical Chic” and the return of the “feminist” villain Valkyrie when the Hulk was made a media cause celebre by Manhattan’s effete elite in the oddly charming ‘They Shoot Hulks, Don’t They?’ But don’t fret, there’s plenty of monumental mayhem as well…

The Hulk is one of the most well-known comic characters on Earth, and these stories, as much as the movies, TV shows and action figures, are the reason why. For an uncomplicated, honestly vicarious experience of Might actually being Right, you can’t do better than these yarns so why not Go Green (even if its only in monochrome and your own head)?

© 1969, 1970, 1971, 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Essential Spider-Man volume 2


By Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, John Romita & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-78511-863-3

The second volume of chronological Spider-Man adventures sees the World’s Most Misunderstood Hero begin to challenge the dominance of the Fantastic Four as Marvel’s top comic book both in sales and quality. Steve Ditko’s off-beat plots and bizarre art had gradually reached an accommodation with the slick and potent superhero house-style that Jack Kirby was developing (at least as much as such a unique talent ever could), with less line-feathering, moody backgrounds and less totemic villains.

Although still very much a Ditko baby, Spider-Man had attained a sleek pictorial gloss. Stan Lee’s scripts were comfortably in tune with the times if not his collaborator, and although his assessment of the audience was probably the correct one, the disagreements with the artist over the strip’s editorial direction were still confined to the office and not the pages themselves.

Thematically, there’s still a large percentage of old-fashioned crime and gangsterism here. The dependence on costumed super-foes as antagonists was still finely balanced with thugs, hoods and mob-bosses, but those days were coming to an end too. When Ditko abruptly left the series and the company, the feared loss in quality – and sales – never happened. The mere “safe pair of hands” that John Romita (senior) considered himself blossomed into a major talent in his own right, and the Wall-Crawler continued his unstoppable rise at an accelerated pace…

This volume (reprinting Amazing Spider-Man #21-43 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 and 3) kicks off with ‘Where Flies The Beetle’ featuring a hilarious love triangle as the Human Torch’s girlfriend uses Peter Parker to make the flaming hero jealous. Unfortunately the Beetle, a villain with a high-tech suit of insect armour (no sniggering, please) is simultaneously planning to use her as bait for a trap. As ever Spider-Man is in the wrong place at the right time, resulting in a spectacular fight-fest.

‘The Clown, and his Masters of Menace’ was a return engagement for the Circus of Crime (see Essential Spider-Man volume 1, ISBN: 978-0-7851-2192-3) and #23 was a superb thriller blending the ordinary criminals that Ditko loved to highlight with the arcane threat of a super-villain attempting to take over the Mob. ‘The Goblin and the Gangsters’ was both moody and explosive, a perfect contrast to ‘Spider-Man Goes Mad!’ in #24. This psychological thriller found a delusional hero seeking psychiatric help, but there’s more to the matter than simple insanity, as an old foe made an unexpected return…

Issue #25 once again saw the obsessed Daily Bugle publisher taking matters into his own hands: ‘Captured by J. Jonah Jameson!’ introduced Professor Smythe, whose robotic Spider-Slayers would bedevil the Web-Spinner for years to come, hired by the bellicose newsman to remove Spider-Man for good.

Issues #27 and 28 comprise a captivating two-part mystery featuring a deadly duel between the Green Goblin and an enigmatic new criminal. ‘The Man in the Crime-Master’s Mask!’ and ‘Bring Back my Goblin to Me!’ together form a perfect Spider-Man tale, with soap-opera melodrama and screwball comedy leavening tense thrills and all-out action. ‘The Menace of the Molten Man!’ (#28) was a tale of science gone bad and is remarkable not only for the action sequences and possibly the most striking Spider-Man cover ever produced but also as the story where Peter Parker graduated from High School.

In 1965 Steve Ditko was blowing away audiences with another oddly tangential superhero. ‘The Wondrous World of Dr. Strange!’ was the lead story in the second Spider-Man Annual, and spectacularly introduced the Web-Slinger to whole other realities when he teamed up with the Master of the Mystic Arts to battle the power-crazed wizard Xandu in a phantasmagorical, dimension-hopping masterpiece. After this story it was clear that Spider-Man could work in any milieu. Also reprinted from that impressive publication are more pin-ups of Spider-Man’s fiercest foes.

‘Never Step on a Scorpion!’ saw the return of that lab-made villain, hungry for vengeance against not just the Wall-Crawler but also Jameson for turning him into a monster. Issue #30 was another off-beat crime-thriller which laid the seeds for future masterpieces. ‘The Claws of the Cat!’ featured the hunt for an extremely capable burglar (way more exciting than it sounds, trust me!), plus the introduction of an organised mob of thieves working for the mysterious Master Planner.

The sharp-eyed will note that scripter Lee mistakenly calls their boss “The Cat” in one sequence, but really, let it go. That’s the kind of nit-picking that gives us comic fans a bad name and reduces our chance of meeting girls…

‘If This Be My Destiny…!’ in #31 concentrated on the Master Planner’s high-tech robberies and led to a confrontation with Spider-Man, as well Peter in College, the introduction of Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy, and Aunt May on the edge of death. This saga is probably Ditko’s finest moment on the series – and perhaps of his entire career. ‘Man on a Rampage’ showed Parker pushed to the very edge of desperation as the Planner’s men made off with the only substance that could save Aunt May, with a berserk Spider-Man trying to locate them. Trapped in an underwater fortress, pinned under tons of machinery, the hero faced his greatest failure as the clock ticked down the seconds of May’s life…

Which in turn produced the most memorable visual sequence in Spidey history as the opening of ‘The Final Chapter!’ took five full, glorious pages to depict the ultimate triumph of will over circumstance. Freeing himself from the fallen debris Spider-Man gave his absolute all to deliver the medicine May needed, to be rewarded with a rare happy ending…

Kraven returned in ‘The Thrill of the Hunt!’ and so did another old foe in #35’s ‘The Molten Man Regrets…!’ a plot-light but inimitably action-packed combat classic, whilst a deranged thief calling himself the Looter proved little trouble in ‘When Falls the Meteor!’ In retrospect these brief, fight-oriented tales, coming after such an intricate and passionate tale as the Master Planner saga, should have been seen as some sort of clue that things were not going well, but the fans had no idea that ‘Once Upon a Time, There was a Robot…!’ which featured a beleaguered Norman Osborn assaulted by his disgraced ex-partner and his frankly bizarre murder machines, and the tragic comedy of ‘Just a Guy Named Joe!’ – as a hapless sad-sack gains super-strength and a bad-temper – were to be Ditko’s last arachnid adventures. When Amazing Spider-Man #39 appeared with the first of a two-part adventure that featured the ultimate victory of the Wall-Crawler’s greatest foe no reader knew what had happened – and no one told them…

In ‘How Green Was My Goblin!’ and the concluding ‘Spidey Saves the Day! (“Featuring the End of the Green Goblin!”)’ as it so facetiously and dubiously proclaimed, the arch-foes learned each other’s secret identities before the Goblin “perished” in a climactic showdown. It would have been memorable even it the tale didn’t feature the debut of a new artist and a whole new manner of story-telling…

By 1966 Stan Lee and Steve Ditko could no longer work together on their greatest creation. After increasingly fraught months the artist simply resigned leaving Spider-Man without an illustrator. Romita had been lured away from DC’s romance line and given odd assignments before settling with Daredevil, the Man Without Fear. Now he was given the company’s biggest property and told to run with it.

Issues #39 and 40 (August and September 1966) were a turning point in many ways, and inked by old DC colleague Mike Esposito (under the pseudonym Mickey Demeo) they still stand as one of the best Spider-Man yarns ever, heralding a run of classic tales from the Lee/Romita team that actually saw sales rise, even after the departure of the seemingly irreplaceable Ditko.

With #41, ‘The Horns of the Rhino!’ Romita began inking his own pencils and although the super-strong spy proved a mere diversion, his intended target, J. Jonah Jameson’s astronaut son was a far harder proposition in the next issue. Amazing Spider-Man #42 ‘The Birth of a Super-Hero!’, wherein John Jameson was mutated by space-spores and went on a rampage, was a solid, entertaining yarn but is only really remembered for the last panel of the final page.

Mary Jane Watson had been a running gag for years, a prospective blind-date arranged by Aunt May that Peter had avoided – and the creators had skilfully not depicted – for the duration of time that our hero had been involved with Betty Brant, Liz Allen, and latterly Gwen Stacy. In that last frame the gob-smacked young man finally realised that he been ducking the hottest chick in New York for two years!

‘Rhino on the Rampage!’ gave the villain one more crack at Jameson and Spidey, but the emphasis was solidly on foreshadowing future foes and building Pete and MJ’s relationship. This volume concludes with ‘…To Become an Avenger!’ (Amazing Spider-Man Annual # 3) as the World’s Mightiest Heroes offered the Web-Spinner membership if he could capture the Hulk. As usual all is not as it seems but the action-drenched epic, courtesy of Lee, Romita (on layouts), Don Heck, and Demeo/Esposito is the kind of guest-heavy package that made these summer specials a child’s delight.

This cheap and cheerful compendium is the ideal way to introduce or reacquaint readers with the early Spider-Man. The brilliant adventures and glorious pin-ups are superb value and this series of books should be the first choice of any adult with a present to buy for an impressionable child. Or for their greedy, needy selves…

© 1965, 1966, 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Essential Uncanny X-Men volume 1


By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, Werner Roth, Dick Ayers & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-90415-963-6

In 1963 things really took off for the budding Marvel Comics as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby expanded their diminutive line of action titles, putting a bunch of relatively new super-heroes (including hot off the presses Iron Man) together as the Avengers, launching a decidedly different war comic in Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos and creating a group of alienated heroic teenagers who were gathered together to fight a rather specific threat to humanity.

The eponymously entitled X-Men #1 (September 1963) introduced Cyclops, Iceman, Angel and the Beast: very special students of Professor Charles Xavier, a wheelchair-bound telepath dedicated to brokering peace and integration between the masses of humanity and the gradually emerging race of mutant Homo Superior. The story opens as the students welcome their newest classmate, Jean Grey, a beautiful young woman with the ability to move objects with her mind.

No sooner has the Professor explained their mission than an actual Evil Mutant, Magneto, single-handedly takes over the American missile base Cape Citadel. A seemingly unstoppable threat, the master of magnetism is nonetheless driven off by the young heroes on their first mission.

It doesn’t sound like much, but the gritty power of Kirby’s art, solidly inked by Golden Age veteran Paul Reinman, imparted a raw dynamism to the tale which carried the bi-monthly book irresistibly forward. ‘No One Can Stop the Vanisher!’ introduced a federal government connection in FBI agent Fred Duncan, who requested the teens’ assistance in capturing a teleporting mutant who threatened to steal US military secrets.

Issue #3’s ‘Beware of the Blob!’ featured a rare lapse of judgement as Professor X invited a sideshow freak into the team only to be rebuffed by the felonious mutant. Impervious to harm the Blob used his carnival cronies to attack the team, before they could come after him…

With X-Men #4 (March 1964) a thematic sea-change occurred as Magneto returned with ‘The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!’ intent on conquering a South American country to establish a global powerbase. Mastermind, Toad, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were very much his unwilling thralls in the bombastic struggle that followed, but from then on the heroes were the hunted prey of the malevolent mutants. ‘Trapped: One X-Man!’ in issue #5 saw early results in that secret war as Angel was abducted to Magneto’s orbiting satellite base Asteroid M, and only a desperate battle at the edge of space could save him…

‘Sub-Mariner Joins the Evil Mutants!’ is a self-explanatory tale of gripping intensity elevated to magical levels of artistic quality as the superb Chic Stone replaced Reinman as inker for the rest of Kirby’s tenure, and genuine progress occurred in ‘The Return of the Blob!’ as their mentor left on a secret mission, but not before appointing Cyclops acting team leader. Comedy relief was provided as Lee and Kirby introduced Beast and Iceman to the Beatnik inspired “youth scene” but the high action quotient came courtesy of the troubled teaming of the Blob and Magneto’s brotherhood.

Another invulnerable mutant debuted in ‘Unus the Untouchable!’ a wrestler with an invisible force field who tried to join the Brotherhood by offering to bring them an X-Man. Also notable is the first real incident of “anti-mutant hysteria” when a mob attacked the Beast, a theme that would become a cornerstone of the X-Men mythos.

X-Men #9 is the first true masterpiece of this celebrated title. ‘Enter, the Avengers!’ reunited the mutants with Professor X in the wilds of Europe, as the deadly Lucifer attempted to destroy the world with a super-bomb, subsequently manipulating the teens into an all-out battle with the awesome Avengers. This is still a perfect Marvel comic story today, as is its follow-up ‘The Coming of Ka-Zar!’ a wild excursion to Antarctica, featuring the discovery of the Antediluvian Savage Land and the modern incarnation of one of Marvel/Timely’s oldest heroes (Kazar the Great originated in Marvel Comics #1 November 1939). Dinosaurs, lost cities, spectacular locations, mystery and all-out action: it doesn’t get better than this…

Another turning point occurred in #11 with ‘The Triumph of Magneto!’ as X-Men and Brotherhood both searched for a fantastically powered being called The Stranger. None are aware of his true identity and purpose, but when the Evil mutants found him it spelt the end of their war…

With Magneto gone and the Brotherhood broken Kirby relinquished the pencilling to other hands, although he provided layouts and design for a few more issues. Alex Toth and Vince Colletta proved an uncomfortable mix for #12’s tense drama ‘The Origin of Professor X!’ a two-part saga that introduced Xavier’s half brother Cain Marko and revealed his mystic transformation into an unstoppable human engine of destruction.

The story concluded with ‘Where Walks the Juggernaut’, a compelling tension-drenched tale guest-starring the Human Torch, but most notable for the introduction of penciller Werner Roth (using the name Jay Gavin) who would be associated with the mutants for the next half decade. His inker for this first outing was the infallible Joe Sinnott. Roth was an unsung veteran of the industry, working for the company in the 1950s on such star features as Apache Kid and the inexplicably durable Kid Colt, Outlaw, as well as Mandrake the Magician for King Features Comics and Man from U.N.C.L.E. for Gold Key. As with many pseudonymous creators it was his DC commitments (mostly romance stories) that forced him to disguise his moonlighting until Marvel grew big enough to offer him full-time work.

‘Among us Stalk the Sentinels!’ from issue #14 (inked by Colletta), celebrated the team’s elevation to monthly publication with the first chapter of a three-part saga that introduced anthropologist Bolivar Trask’s solution to the threat of Mutant takeover: super scientific robots that would protect humanity. Sadly their definition of “protect” varied wildly from the expected, but what can you expect when a social scientist dabbles in high-energy physics and engineering?

The X-Men took the battle to the Sentinels secret base and became ‘Prisoners of the Mysterious Master Mold!’ before wrapping up their ferrous foes with ‘The Supreme Sacrifice!’. Veteran Dick Ayers joined as inker with the second chapter and his clean line blended perfectly with Roth’s clean, classicist pencils. They remained a team for years, adding vital continuity to this quirky but never top-selling series.

X-Men #17 dealt with the aftermath of the battle, probably the last time the US Army and government openly approved of the team’s efforts, and the sedate nature of ‘…And None Shall Survive!’ enabled the story to generate a genuine air of apprehension as the Xavier Mansion was taken over by an old foe who picked them off one by one until only the youngest was left to battle alone in the climactic conclusion ‘If Iceman Should Fail..!’

‘Lo! Now Shall Appear… The Mimic!’ in #19 was Stan Lee’s last script, a punchy tale of a troubled teen with the power to copy the knowledge, powers and abilities of anyone in close proximity, before the writing reins were turned over to Roy Thomas in #20, who promptly jumped in guns blazing with ‘I, Lucifer…’ an alien invasion yarn that returned Xavier’s arch-nemesis as well as Unus the Untouchable and the Blob, revealed how Professor X lost the use of his legs, and, with the concluding part ‘From Whence Comes Dominus?’, completely made the book his own.

At this time Marvel Comics had a vast and growing following among older teens and college kids, and the youthful Thomas spoke and wrote as they did. Coupled with his easy delight in large casts this made X-Men a very welcoming read for we adolescents…

The next two-parter resurrected the old Avengers villain Count Nefaria, who used illusion casting technology and a band of other heroes’ second-string foes (Unicorn, Porcupine, Plantman, Scarecrow and the Eel, if you’re wondering) to hold Washington DC hostage and frame the X-Men for the entire scheme. ‘Divided… We Fall!’ and ‘To Save a City!’ comprise a fast-paced, old-fashioned goodies vs. baddies epic with a decided sting in the tail, and this excellent black and white compendium concludes with another standard plot – Evil Scientist Grows Giant Bugs…

‘The Plague of… the Locust!’ from X-Men #24 isn’t the most memorable tale in the canon but reads well enough and has the added drama of Marvel Girl being forced to leave the team to go to college; another deft sop to the audience as it enabled many future epics to include Campus life in the action-packed, fun-filled mix…

These quirky tales are a million miles removed from the angst-ridden, breast-beating, cripplingly convoluted X-brand of today’s Marvel, and in many ways are all the better for it. Well drawn, highly readable stories are never unwelcome or out of favour though, and it should be remembered that everything here informs so very much of the mutant monolith. These are stories for the dedicated fan and newest convert, and never better packaged than in this economical tome. Everyone should have this book.
© 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1999 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Essential Marvel Team-Up volume 1


By various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2376-6

Inspiration isn’t everything. In fact as Marvel slowly grew to a position of market dominance in the wake of the losing their two most innovative and inspirational creators, they did so less by experimentation and more by expanding proven concepts and properties. The only real exception to this was the en masse creation of horror titles in response to the industry down-turn in super-hero sales – a move expedited by a rapid revision in the wordings of the increasingly ineffectual Comics Code Authority rules.

The concept of team-up books – an established star pairing or battling (often both) with less well-selling company characters – was not new when Marvel decided to award their most popular hero the lion’s share of this new title, but they wisely left their options open by allocating an occasional substitute lead in the Human Torch. In those long-lost days editors were acutely conscious of potential over-exposure – and since super-heroes were actually in a decline they may well have been right.

Nevertheless Marvel Team-Up was the second full-Spider-Man title (an abortive companion title Spectacular Spider-Man was created for the magazine market in 1968 but had died after two issues) and it launched in March 1972, with the Wall-Crawler and his friendly flaming rival reluctantly spending the holidays together as an old foe reared his gritty head in the charming ‘Have Yourself a Sandman Little Christmas!’ by Roy Thomas, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. (Merry Marvelite Maximii can award themselves a point for remembering which martial arts heroine debuted in this issue but the folk with lives can simply take my word that it was Iron Fist’s sometime squeeze Misty Knight.)

Gerry Conway assumed the writer’s role and Jim Mooney the inker’s for ‘And Spidey Makes Four!’ in the next issue as our heroes then took on the Frightful Four and Annihilus and seemingly without pause went after Morbius the Living Vampire in #3’s ‘The Power to Purge!’ (inked by Frank Giacoia).

The new horror-star was still the villain in MTU #4 as the Torch was replaced by most of the mutant team (The Beast having gone all hairy – and solo) in ‘And Then… the X-Men!’ a pacy thriller illustrated by the magnificent Gil Kane at the top of his form and inked by Steve Mitchell. Kane became a semi-regular penciller, and his dynamic style and extreme anatomy lifted many quite ordinary tales such as #5’s ‘A Passion of the Mind!’, (Conway script and Esposito inks) pitting Spidey and The Vision against Puppet Master and robotic assassin the Monstroid and its follow-up ‘…As Those Who Will Not See!’ (with the Thing against the Mad Thinker) that most other pencillers could only dream of…

‘A Hitch in Time!’ by Conway, Andru and Mooney guest-starred Thor as Trolls froze Earth’s time-line as a prerequisite step to conquering Asgard, whilst issue #8 is a perfect example of the team-up comic’s other function – to promote and popularise new characters.

‘Man-Killer Moves at Midnight!’ was most fans first exposure to The Cat, (later retooled as Tigra) in a painfully worthy if ham-fisted attempt to address feminist issues from Conway and Jim Mooney. Iron Man began the three-part tale ‘The Tomorrow War!’ (Conway, Andru & Frank Bolle) as he and Spidey were kidnapped by Zarkko the Tomorrow Man to battle Kang the Conqueror; the Torch returned to help deal with the intermediate threat of ‘Time Bomb!’ (Conway, Mooney & Giacoia) but it took the entire race of Black Bolt’s Inhumans to help Spidey stop history unravelling in ‘The Doomsday Gambit!’ – with Len Wein scripting Conway’s plot for Mooney and Esposito to illustrate.

The same writing team produced ‘Wolf at Bay!’ from MTU #12 as the Wall-Crawler met the Werewolf (By Night) and the malevolent Moondark in foggy San Francisco, drawn by Andru and Don Perlin, and Kane and Giacoia returned for ‘The Granite Sky!’ where Wein pitted Spider-Man and Captain America against Hydra and the Grey Gargoyle. ‘Mayhem is… the Men-Fish!’ (inked by Wayne Howard) matched him with the savage Sub-Mariner against Tiger Shark and Doctor Dorcas as well as mutant sea-beasts.

Wein, Andru and Perlin created The Orb to bedevil Spidey and the Ghost Rider in ‘If an Eye Offend Thee!’ in #15 whilst Kane and Mooney illustrated ‘Beware the Basilisk my Son!’, a gripping romp featuring Captain Marvel, which concluded in ‘Chaos at the Earth’s Core!’ (inked by “everybody”!) as Mister Fantastic joined the fracas to stop the Mole Man from inadvertently blowing up the world.

The Human Torch teamed with the Hulk in MTU #18 to stop Blastaar in ‘Where Bursts the Bomb!’ inked by Giacoia & Esposito, but Spidey was back with Ka-Zar to witness ‘The Coming of… Stegron, the Dinosaur Man!’ (Wein, Kane & Giacoia) whose plans to flatten New York by releasing ‘Dinosaurs on Broadway!’ was foiled with the Black Panther’s help – as well as the artistic skills of Sal Buscema, Giacoia and Esposito.

Dave Hunt replaced Esposito for ‘The Spider and the Sorcerer!’ in #21 as Spidey and Doctor Strange once more battles Xandu, a wizard first seen in Spider-Man Annual #2, whilst ‘The Messiah Machine!’ pitted Hawkeye and Spidey against Quasimodo and a mechanoid invasion. The Torch and Iceman teamed to stop Equinox, the Thermo-Dynamic Man on ‘The Night of the Frozen Inferno!’ (Wein, Kane & Esposito) and the first two dozen tales conclude with the defiantly quirky ‘Moondog is another Name for Murder!’– illustrated by Mooney and Sal Trapani – as the web-spinner met the decidedly offbeat Brother Voodoo to quash a Manhattan murder cult.

These stories are of variable quality but nonetheless all have an honest drive to entertain and please whilst artistically the work is superb, and most fans of the genre would find little to complain about. Although not really a book for casual or more maturely-oriented readers there’s lots of fun on hand and young readers will have a blast, so there’s no real reason not to add this tome to your library…

© 1972, 1973, 1974, 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Essential Spider-Man volume 1


By Stan Lee & Steve Ditko (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2192-3

Marvel is often termed “the House that Jack Built” and King Kirby’s contributions are undeniable and inescapable in the creation of a new kind of comic book story-telling, but there was another unique visionary at Atlas-Comics-as-was; one whose creativity and even philosophy seemed diametrically opposed to the bludgeoning power, vast imaginative scope and clean, broad lines of Kirby’s ever-expanding search for gods and the infinite.

Steve Ditko was quiet and unassuming, voluntarily diffident to the point of invisibility though his work was both subtle and striking: innovative, meticulously polished, always questing for detail he ever explored the man within. He found heroism – and humour and ultimate evil – all contained within the frail but noble confines of human scope and consciousness. His drawing could be oddly disquieting… and, when he wanted, almost creepy.

Drawing monster and mystery tales for Stan Lee, Ditko had been given his own title. Amazing Adventures/Amazing Adult Fantasy featured a subtler brand of yarn than Furry Underpants Monsters, invading aliens and the ilk which, though individually entertaining, were slowly losing traction in the world of comics since National/DC had reintroduced costumed heroes. Lee and Kirby had responded with Fantastic Four (and the ahead-of-its-time Incredible Hulk) but there was no indication of the renaissance to come when Amazing Fantasy #15 (the last issue) cover featured a brand new adventure character: Spider-Man.

In 11 captivating pages ‘Spider-Man!’ told the parable of Peter Parker, a smart but aloof High School kid who was bitten by a radioactive spider. Discovering his body had developed arachnid abilities which he augmented with his own natural engineering genius, he did what any lonely, geeky nerd would do when given such a gift – he tried to cash in for girls, fame and money.

Making a costume to hide his identity secret in case he made a fool of himself, Parker/ Spider-Man became a minor celebrity – and a self-important one. To his eternal regret, when a thief fled past he didn’t lift a finger to stop him, only to find a burglar had murdered his uncle Ben when he returned home.

Crazy for revenge Parker hunted the thief who had made his beloved Aunt May a widow and killed the only father he had ever known, only to find that it was the felon he couldn’t be bothered with. His social irresponsibility had led to the death of the man who raised him and the boy swore to use his powers to help others…

It wasn’t a new story, but the setting was one familiar to every kid reading it and the artwork was downright spooky. This wasn’t the gleaming high-tech world of moon-rockets, giant monsters and flying cars- this stuff could happen to anybody… Amazing Fantasy #15 came out the same month as Tales to Astonish #35 (cover-dated September 1962) which was the first to feature the Astonishing Ant-Man in costumed capers, but it was the last issue of Ditko’s Amazing playground.

However the tragic last-ditch tale had struck a chord with the reading public and by Christmas a new comicbook superstar was ready to launch in his own title, with Ditko eager to show what he could do with his first returning character since the demise of the Charlton hero Captain Atom (see Action Heroes Archive volume 1, ISBN 1-4012-0302-7). Holding on to the “Amazing” prefix to help jog reader’s memories, the bi-monthly Amazing Spider-Man #1 had a March cover-date and two stories. It prominently featured the Fantastic Four and took the readers by storm. The first tale, again simply entitled ‘Spider-Man!’ recapitulated the origin whilst adding a brilliant twist to the conventional mix.

The wall-crawling hero was feared and reviled by the general public thanks in no small part to J. Jonah Jameson, a newspaper magnate who pilloried the adventurer from spite and for profit. With typical comic book irony, Spider-Man then had to save Jameson’s astronaut son John from a faulty space capsule… The second story ‘Vs the Chameleon!’ found the cash-strapped kid trying to force his way onto the roster of the Fantastic Four whilst a spy impersonated the web-spinner to steal military secrets, in a perfect example of the high-strung, antagonistic crossovers and cameos that so startled the jaded kids of 1963. Heroes just didn’t act like that…

With the second issue our new kind of hero began a meteoric rise in quality and innovative storytelling. ‘Duel to the Death with the Vulture!’ found Peter Parker chasing after a flying thief as much for profit as justice. Desperate to help his widowed Aunt make ends meet, the hero began to take photos of his cases to sell to Jameson’s Daily Bugle, making his personal gadfly his sole means of support. Along with comedy and soap-operatic melodrama Ditko’s action sequences were imaginative and magnificently visceral, with odd angle shots and quirky, mis-balanced poses adding a vertiginous sense of unease to the fight scenes. But crime wasn’t the only threat to the world and Spider-Man was just as (un)comfortable battling science-fictional menaces like ‘The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer!’

Amazing Spider-Man #3 introduced one of the young hero’s greatest enemies in ‘Versus Doctor Octopus’, a full-length epic wherein a dedicated scientist survived an atomic accident which grafted mechanical tentacles to his body. Power-mad, Otto Octavius even thrashed Spider-Man, sending the lad into a depression until an impromptu pep-talk from the Human Torch galvanized Spider-Man to one of his greatest victories.

‘Nothing Can Stop… the Sandman!’ was another instant classic as a common thug gained the power to transform to sand (another pesky nuclear cock-up) and invaded Parker’s school, whilst issue #5 found the web-spinner ‘Marked for Destruction by Dr. Doom!’ and not so much winning as surviving his battle against the deadliest man on Earth. Presumably he didn’t mind too much as this marked the transition from bi-monthly to monthly status for the series.

Sometime mentor Curtis Connors debuted in #6 when Spidey came ‘Face-to-face with… The Lizard!’ as the hero fought his battle away from the concrete canyons of New York – specifically in the murky Florida Everglades, but he was back in the Big Apple in #7 to tackle ‘The Return of the Vulture’. Fun and youthful hi-jinks were a signature feature of the series, as was Parker’s budding romance with “older woman” Betty Brant.

She was Jameson’s secretary at the Bugle and youthful exuberance was the underlying drive in #8’s lead tale ‘The Living Brain!’ a robot calculator that threatened to expose Spider-Man’s secret identity before running amok at beleaguered Midtown High, just as Parker was finally beating the stuffings out of school bully Flash Thompson. This 17 page joy was accompanied by ‘Spiderman Tackles the Torch!’ (a 6 page vignette drawn by Jack Kirby and inked by Ditko) wherein a boisterous wall-crawler gate-crashed a beach part thrown by the flaming hero’s girlfriend with explosive consequences.

Amazing Spider-Man #9 was a qualitative step-up in dramatic terms as Aunt May was revealed to be chronically ill – adding to Parker’s financial woes – and the action was supplied by ‘The Man Called Electro!’ a super-criminal with grand aspirations. Spider-Man was always a loner, never far from the streets and small-scale-crime, and with this tale wherein he also quells a prison riot single handed, Ditko’s preference for tales of gangersterism began to show through; a predilection confirmed in #10’s ‘The Enforcers!’ a classy mystery where a masked mastermind known as the Big Man used a position of trust at the Bugle to organize all the New York mobs into one unbeatable army against decency. Longer plot-strands are also introduced as Betty Brant disappears, but most fans remember this one for the spectacularly climactic seven-page fight scene in an underworld chop-shop that has still never been topped for action-choreography.

‘Turning Point’ and ‘Unmasked by Dr. Octopus!’ saw the return of the deadly scientist and the revelation of Betty’s dark secret in a tragedy-filled tale of extortion and non-stop that stretched from Philadelphia to the Bronx Zoo and again tempered the melodrama with spectacular fight scenes in unusual and exotic locations.

A new super-foe premiered in #13 with ‘The Menace of Mysterio!’ hired by Jameson to capture Spider-Man but with his own dark agenda, whilst the next issue was a true landmark as a criminal mastermind manipulated a Hollywood studio into making a movie about the wall-crawler. With guest-stars the Enforcers and the Incredible Hulk ‘The Grotesque Adventure of the Green Goblin’ is most notable for introducing Spider-Man’s most perfidious and flamboyant enemy.

Jungle superman and thrill-junkie ‘Kraven the Hunter!’ made Spider-Man his intended prey at the behest of the Chameleon in #15, whilst the Ringmaster and his Circus of Evil prompted #16’s dazzling ‘Duel with Daredevil’ but separating those two classics here are the varied and captivating contents of Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (Summer 1964), starting with a 41 page epic peppered with guest-stars from the burgeoning Marvel Universe as the Web-Spinner battled Doctor Octopus, Kraven, Sandman, Mysterio, Electro and the Vulture, collectively known as ‘The Sinister Six!‘ This bombastic clash was augmented by a pin-up gallery of Famous Foes, fact-features ‘The Secrets of Spider-Man’, ‘Spidey’s Super Senses’, ‘Secrets of Spider-Man’s Mask’, a selection of posters and the legendary comedy short ‘How Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Create Spider-Man!’

An ambitious three-part saga began in Amazing Spider-Man #17, which saw the hero touch emotional bottom before rising to triumphant victory over all manner of enemies. ‘The Return of the Green Goblin!’ saw the hero endure renewed print assaults from the Daily Bugle as the Goblin began a war of nerves using the Enforcers, Sandman and a host of thugs to publicly humiliate the hero, just as Aunt May’s health took a drastic downward turn.

Continued in ‘The End of Spider-Man!’ and concluded in ‘Spidey Strikes Back!’ featuring a telling team-up with friendly rival the Human Torch, this extended tale proved that the fans were ready for every kind of narrative experiment (single issue and even two stories per issue were still the norm in 1964) and Stan and Steve were prepared to try it.

The book closes with ‘The Coming of the Scorpion!’ wherein Jameson let his obsessive hatred for the arachnid hero get the better of him, hiring scientist Farley Stillwell to give a private detective Scorpion-based superpowers. Unfortunately the process drove the subject mad before he could capture Spidey, leaving the wall-crawler with yet another super-nutcase to deal with…

Such was the life of comic’s most misunderstood hero and this gloriously economical collection is especially welcome because of a secret I can now reveal:

Colour printing has never really been Steve Ditko’s friend.

His wealth of line variety, his blend of moody blacks and nuanced shading as well as his simplified, almost “big-foot” style of design and drawing is most powerful as dark against light – Black on White. These landmark tales still resonate with power and creativity and they’re at their very best without the pretty tints and hues – although don’t let me stop you from buying other versions of these oft-reprinted gems – just read this book first!

© 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Essential Hulk volume 2


By Stan Lee, Herb Trimpe, Marie Severin & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-0795-8

Bruce Banner was a military scientist who was caught in a gamma bomb blast. As a result stress and other factors can cause him to transform into a giant green monster of unstoppable strength and fury.

After an initially troubled few years the gamma-irradiated goliath finally found his size 700 feet and a format that worked, swiftly becoming one of young Marvel’s most popular features. This second Essential volume, covering Tales to Astonish #92 -101, Incredible Hulk #102-117 and his first Annual (plus a rather tasty page-filler from Hulk #147) in bombastic black and white, covering his last days of shared occupancy before regaining a solo title when the company expanded its publishing output in early 1968.

Following directly on from the previous volume (ISBN: 978-0-7851-2374-3) this blockbuster tome opens with ‘Turning Point!’ (Tales to Astonish #92, June 1967) by Stan Lee, the superb and criminally underrated Marie Severin and inker Frank Giacoia, which saw the Jade Giant hunted through a terrified New York City as a prelude to a cataclysmic guest-battle in the next issue. The Hulk didn’t really team-up with visiting stars, he just got mad and smashed them. Such was certainly the case when he became ‘He Who Strikes the Silver Surfer!’ ironically driving off a fellow outcast who held the power to cure him of his metamorphing affliction.

Herb Trimpe, associated with the character for nearly a decade, began his tenure as Marie Severin’s inker with #94’s ‘To the Beckoning Stars!’ a terrific three-part thriller that found the Hulk transported to the interstellar retreat of the High Evolutionary to battle against recidivist beast-men on ‘A World He Never Made!’ before escaping a feral bloodbath in #96’s ‘What Have I Created?’. Returned to Earth, the Man-brute fell into a plot to overthrow America in ‘The Legions of: the Living Lightning!’, but the subversives conquest of a US military base in ‘The Puppet and the Power’ soon faltered ‘When the Monster Wakes!’ (this last inked by John Tartaglione).

Tales to Astonish was a “split-book”, with two star-features sharing billing, a strategy caused by Marvel’s having entered into a highly restrictive distribution deal to save the company during a publishing crisis at the end of the 1950s. At the time when the Marvel Age Revolution took fandom by storm, the company was confined to a release schedule of 16 titles each month, necessitating some doubling-up as characters became popular enough to carry their own strip. Fellow misunderstood misanthrope the Sub-Mariner had proved an ideal thematic companion since issue #70, and to celebrate the centenary of the title Tales to Astonish #100 featured a breathtaking “who’s strongest?” clash between the two anti-heroes as the Puppet Master decreed ‘Let There be Battle!’ and Lee, Severin and Dan Adkins made it so.

The next issue was the last. With number #102 the comic would be renamed The Incredible Hulk and the character’s success was assured. Before that however Lee, Severin and Giacoia set the scene with ‘Where Walk the Immortals!’ as Loki, Norse god of Evil transported Ol’ Greenskin to Asgard in an effort to distract all-father Odin’s attention from his other schemes.

The premiere issue (#102) of The Incredible Hulk launched with an April, 1968 cover-date. ‘…This World Not His Own!’ completed the Asgardian adventure and included a rehashed origin. The issue was written by rising star Gary Friedrich, drawn by Marie Severin and inked by veteran artist George Tuska. With extra pages came not extra plot but more action: issue #103’s ‘And Now… the Space Parasite!’ and #104’s ‘Ring Around the Rhino!’ (both inked by Giacoia) are paeans to the Green Goliath’s destructive potential and visceral appeal before a longer plot-strand, tinged with pathos and irony began in Incredible Hulk #105, courtesy of surprise scripters Roy Thomas and Bill Everett, ably illumined by Severin and Tuska.

‘This Monster Unleashed!’ found a radioactive and violently mutating victim of Soviet aggression dumped in New York, and easily capable of burning our dull-witted hero into glowing ashes. The second part, ‘Above the Earth… A Titan Rages!’ by Thomas and Archie Goodwin, was pencilled by Trimpe over Severin’s breakdowns, with Tuska inking; a muddle nearly as great as the story itself since the action abruptly switched from New York to Russia when the battling behemoths were abducted by Yuri Breslov, the Soviet counterpart to Nick Fury and his agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. who promptly lost them over the a rural farm collective.

The story neatly segued into a much more polished yarn in #107’s ‘Ten Rings Hath… the Mandarin’(Friedrich and Trimpe with wonderfully rugged inking from the great Syd Shores) as the oriental despot tried to enslave the emerald engine of destruction. The extended tale concluded with epic success as Stan Lee and Trimpe, inked by the legendary John Severin (yep, big brother) pulled all the strands together in the action-packed ‘Monster Triumphant!’ guest-starring Nick Fury, Yuri Breslov and even Chairman Mao Tse Tung!

The Incredible Hulk Annual #1 was one of the best comics of that year. Behind an iconic Steranko cover, Friedrich, Marie Severin and Syd Shores (with lots of last-minute inking assistance) had concocted a passionate, tense and melodramatic parable of alienation that nevertheless was one of the most action-stuffed fight fests ever seen. In 51 titanic pages ‘A Refuge Divided!’ saw the Hulk stumble upon the hidden Great Refuge of genetic outsiders The Inhumans, overpower Maximus the Mad and his band of super-rebels before fighting the immensely powerful Black Bolt to a standstill. This is the vicarious thrill taken to its ultimate, and still one of the very best non-Lee-Kirby tales of that period.

Incredible Hulk #109 takes up from the end of the Mandarin saga with the Hulk rampaging through Red China, but still without a settled creative team in place. ‘The Monster and the Man-Beast!’ was written by Stan Lee, laid out by Giacoia, pencilled by Trimpe and inked by John Severin, wherein the Hulk trashes the Chinese Army and interferes with a Red super-missile, only to be blasted into the Antarctic paradise known as the Savage Land. This preserve of dinosaurs and cavemen is a visually perfect home for the Hulk and the addition of Tarzan analogue Ka-Zar and an alien device designed to destroy the world ramped up the tension nicely.

‘Umbu the Unliving!’ (Lee, Trimpe John Severin) was another extraterrestrial device left to facilitate Earth’s demise, but Banner and his green alter-ego dispatch it with Ka-Zar’s assistance, leading to a two-part outer space epic ‘Shanghaied in Space!’ and ‘The Brute Battles On!’ which sees the planet-destroyer’s builders come looking for the saboteurs at the behest of the cosmic overlord, Galaxy Master.

Issue #113 returned the Hulk to Earth to battle an upgraded Sandman in ‘Where Fall the Shifting Sands!’ and the sinister silicon villain popped right back with the Mandarin beside him in #114’s ‘At Last I Will Have My Revenge!’, two fast-paced yarns that whetted the appetite for the extended return of the Jade Giant’s greatest foe.

‘The Leader Lives!’ began with the man-monster a prisoner of the US Army, when the Gamma Genius – as smart as the Hulk is strong – takes over the base for his own nefarious purposes. ‘The Eve… of Annihilation!’ revealed the Leader’s plans for our pitiful planet as the Hulk escaped and the saga – and this volume – explosively concludes in the ticking clock thriller ‘World’s End?’ notable not just for its tense dramatic denouement, but also for Herb Trimpe’s taking over the inking of his own pencils.

At least that’s where the book should have ended. Obviously a few pages short, the editors have included a wonderful short tale by Roy Thomas, Herb Trimpe and John Severin entitled ‘Heaven is a Very Small Place!’, a dream-like, wistful taste of a better world for the embattled emerald innocent that is both clever and genuinely poignant, but which here acts as an abrupt antidote to the emotional high generated by all the pulse-pounding, cathartic destruction and villain-foiling that immediately preceded it. If you can, try reading this tale after the Annual segment, because that’s the last slow-moment before the rollercoaster ride starts…

These tales, in raw and gritty black and white, are the dawning of a renaissance in pure-action adventures that carried the Hulk to the large and small screen and proved a constant reminder that sometimes “breaking-stuff” is a primal thrill and necessary delight for the destructive eight-year-old in everyone. Just remember to read, not do…

© 1967, 1968, 1969, 2001, 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.