{"id":27266,"date":"2022-12-27T09:00:59","date_gmt":"2022-12-27T09:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=27266"},"modified":"2022-12-23T14:50:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T14:50:00","slug":"mighty-marvel-masterworks-the-incredible-hulk-volume-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2022\/12\/27\/mighty-marvel-masterworks-the-incredible-hulk-volume-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Mighty Marvel Masterworks The Incredible Hulk volume 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Stan Lee<\/strong>, Steve Ditko<\/strong>, Jack Kirby<\/strong>, Dick Ayers<\/strong>, Mike Esposito<\/strong>, Bob Powell<\/strong> & various (MARVEL)
\nISBN: 978-1-3029-4623-4 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Their stories are timeless and have been gathered many times before, but today I\u2019m once more focusing on format before Fights \u2018n\u2019 Tights – or is that Rags \u2018n\u2019 Shatters? <\/em><\/p>\n

The Mighty Marvel Masterworks<\/strong> line was expressly designed with economy in mind. Classic tales of Marvel\u2019s key characters as realised by the founding creators and re-presented in chronological order have been a company staple since the 1990s, but always in lavish, expensive collectors editions. These nifty nuggets are far cheaper, albeit with some deletions – such as the occasional pin-up – and with far fewer bonus features. They\u2019re printed on lower quality paper and – crucially – are physically smaller (152 x 227mm or about the dimensions of a B-format paperback book). Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but they\u2019re perfect for kids and if you opt for the digital editions, that\u2019s no issue at all\u2026<\/p>\n

Bruce Banner<\/em> was a military scientist caught in the world\u2019s first gamma bomb detonation. As a result of ongoing mutation, stress and other factors cause him to transform into a giant green monster of unstoppable strength and fury.<\/p>\n

After an initially troubled debut run, the Gruff Green Giant finally found his size 700 feet and a format that worked, becoming one of young Marvel\u2019s most popular features. After his first solo-title folded, The Incredible Hulk <\/strong>shambled around a swiftly-coalescing Marvel Universe as guest star and\/or villain du jour until a new home was found for him.<\/p>\n

1962 was a big year for burgeoning Marvel, with plenty of star debuts who all celebrate six decades of glory this year. Most oldsters will cite the Amazing Spider-Man<\/strong> as the most significant premier, but this guy can probably claim equal star status\u2026<\/p>\n

This tome gathers the Hulky bits from Tales To Astonish <\/strong>#59-74: spanning September 1964 to December 1965, and seeing the nomadic antihero settle down in a new home to restart his march to global fame and misfortune\u2026<\/p>\n

Way back then, the trigger for the Hulk\u2019s second chance was a reprinting of his origin in the giant anthology comic book Marvel Tales Annual<\/strong> #1. It was the beginning of the company\u2019s inspired policy of keeping early tales in circulation, which did so much to make fervent fans out of casual latecomers. Thanks to reader response, \u201cOl\u2019 Greenskin\u201d was awarded a back-up strip in a failing title\u2026<\/p>\n

Giant-Man<\/strong> Hank Pym<\/em> was the star turn in Tales to Astonish<\/strong>, but by mid-1964 the strip was visibly floundering. In issue #59 the Master of Many Sizes was used to introduce his forthcoming co-star in a colossal punch-up, setting the scene for the next issue wherein the Green Goliath\u2019s co-feature began.<\/p>\n

The second chapter of the man-monster\u2019s career was about to take off and power-packed prologue \u2018Enter: The Hulk!\u2019 <\/em>(Stan Lee, Dick Ayers & Paul Reinman) sees the Avengers<\/strong> inadvertently inspire woefully insecure Giant-Man<\/strong> to hunt down the Jade Giant Goliath.<\/p>\n

Although Pym\u2019s archfoe The Human Top<\/em> devilishly engineered that blockbusting battle, Lee was the real mastermind as – with the next issue – The Hulk<\/strong> began starring in his own series (and on the covers) whilst Giant-Man\u2019s adventures shrank down to a dozen or so pages.<\/p>\n

The event was heralded by a raucous house ad which supplements the story here.<\/p>\n

In TTA<\/strong> #60, \u2018The Incredible Hulk\u2019 <\/em>opens with Banner still working for General Thaddeus \u201cThunderbolt\u201d Ross<\/em>, despite the military martinet\u2019s deep disgust and distrust of the puny milksop who had won his daughter\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

Aloof and standoffish, Banner keeps secret his astounding condition: an affliction which subjects him to uncontrollable transformations, becoming a rampaging, if well-intentioned, engine of destruction.<\/p>\n

The 10-page instalments were uncharacteristically set in the Arizona\/New Mexico deserts, not New York, and espionage and military themes were the narrative backdrop of these adventures. Lee scripted, Ditko drew and comics veteran George Roussos – \u201cGeorge Bell\u201d – provided the ink art. The first episode details how an anonymous spy steals an unstoppable suit of robotic armour built by radiation-obsessed Banner, and concludes with a shattering battle in the next instalment wherein the Hulk is \u2018Captured at Last!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Cliffhanger endings such as the exhausted Man-Monster\u2019s imprisonment by Ross\u2019 military units at the end of the yarn would prove instrumental in keeping readers onboard and enthralled. Next chapter \u2018Enter\u2026 the Chameleon!\u2019 <\/em>has plenty of action and suspense with the mercenary spy infiltrating Ross\u2019 command, but the real punch is the final panel, hinting at the mastermind behind all the spying and skulduggery. The enigmatic Leader<\/em> would become the Hulk\u2019s ultimate and antithetical nemesis\u2026<\/p>\n

The minor Spider-Man<\/strong> villain worked well as a returning foe: his disguise abilities an obvious threat in a series based on a weapons scientist working for the military during the Cold War. Even the Leader himself has dubious connections to the sinister Soviets – when he isn\u2019t trying to conquer the world for himself.<\/p>\n

Preceded by a titanic Jack Kirby Marvel Masterwork Pin-up<\/em> of the Green Goliath, \u2018A Titan Rides the Train!\u2019 <\/em>(TTA<\/strong> #63, cover-dated January 1965) provides an origin for the super-intellectual menace whilst setting up a fresh subplot wherein new cast addition Major Glen Talbot<\/em> begins to suspect Banner is a traitor. The action component comes when the Leader tries to steal Banner\u2019s new anti-H-bomb device from a moving freight locomotive\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2018The Horde of Humanoids!\u2019 <\/em>features the return of guilt-stricken former sidekick Rick Jones<\/em> who uses his Avengers<\/strong> connections to obtain a pardon for the incarcerated Banner by the simple expedient of letting the American President in on the secret of the Hulk! Ah\u2026 kinder times…!<\/p>\n

Free again, Banner joins Talbot on an isolated island to test his hotly sought-after atomic device, only to be attacked by the Leader\u2019s artificial warriors – providing a fine example of Ditko\u2019s unique manner of staging a super-tussle.<\/p>\n

The chaotic clash continues into the next issue as Ayers assumes the inking. Banner is taken prisoner by those darn Commies, and sees the Hulk go ballistic behind the Iron Curtain \u2018On the Rampage against the Reds!\u2019.<\/em> This gratuitously satisfyingly onslaught spans three issues, with #66 – \u2018The Power of Doctor Banner!\u2019 <\/em>inked by Vince Colletta and \u2018Where Strides the Behemoth\u2019 <\/em>in #67 (inked by Frank Giacoia AKA \u201cFrank Ray\u201d), cumulatively demonstrating the brute\u2019s shattering might.<\/p>\n

His Commie-Busting fury finally expended, the Hulk reverts to human form and is captured by Mongolian bandits who see a chance to make lots of ransom money\u2026<\/p>\n

Jack Kirby returned as illustrator – supplemented by Mike (\u201cMickey Demeo\u201d) Esposito – in #68. \u2018Back from the Dead!\u2019 <\/em>sees dauntless Glen Talbot extricate and exfiltrate the tragic scientist, only to lose him again on the way back to America. Even so, Banner falls again into military custody and is ordered to activate his Atomic Absorbatron for one last test\u2026<\/p>\n

Yet again the process is interrupted by the Leader\u2019s attacking Humanoids, but this time the Veridian Villain succeeds and the Hulk is \u2018Trapped in the Lair of the Leader!\u2019 \u2026<\/em>but only until the US Army bursts in\u2026<\/p>\n

Issue #70 saw Giant-Man benched and replaced by The Sub-Mariner<\/strong>, making Tales to Astonish<\/strong> a title dedicated to aggressive, savage anti-heroes. Increasingly, Hulk stories reflected this shift, and \u2018To Live Again!\u2019 <\/em>sees the furious Leader launch a 500-foot tall Humanoid against a local US missile base, with the Jade Giant caught in the middle.<\/p>\n

Kirby reduced his input to layouts and Esposito handles the lion\u2019s share of the art in #71\u2019s \u2018Like a Beast at Bay!\u2019<\/em>: as the despondent Hulk actually joins forces with the Leader before \u2018Within the Monster Dwells a Man!\u2019 <\/em>finds Talbot getting ever closer to uncovering Banner\u2019s dark, green secret.<\/p>\n

With legendary illustrator Bob Powell pencilling and inking over Kirby\u2019s layouts, \u2018Another World, Another Foe!\u2019 <\/em>details how the Leader dispatches Hulk to The Watcher<\/em>\u2019s homeworld to steal an ultimate weapon, just as an \u201cunbeatable\u201d alien rival arrives. \u2018The Wisdom of the Watcher!\u2019 <\/em>ends the quest – and apparently The Leader – in an all-out, brutal action with a shocking climax\u2026<\/p>\n

The book closes with a glorious lost page of Ditko\u2019s pencils: a superb unused pin-up of the antihero and his supporting cast, that is quite frankly worth the price of admission all on its own\u2026<\/p>\n

To Be Hulk-inued\u2026<\/p>\n

Hulk Smash! He always was, and because of stories like this, he always will be\u2026
\n\u00a9 2022 MARVEL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, Mike Esposito, Bob Powell & various (MARVEL) ISBN: 978-1-3029-4623-4 (TPB\/Digital edition) Their stories are timeless and have been gathered many times before, but today I\u2019m once more focusing on format before Fights \u2018n\u2019 Tights – or is that Rags \u2018n\u2019 Shatters? The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Mighty Marvel Masterworks The Incredible Hulk volume 2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[222,98,72,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ant-man","category-hulk","category-marvel-masters-masterworks","category-marvel-superheroes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-75M","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27266"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27270,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27266\/revisions\/27270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}