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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The HULK! "Is he MAN or MONSTER or . . . BOTH?", , March 9, 2005
The Marvel Masterworks volume, "The Incredible Hulk, Volume 1" (2nd Edition) brings together the six issues from the original comic book of "The Incredible Hulk," which were published before Ol' Greenskin became one of the co-tenants of "Tales to Astonish" (first with Giant-Man and then Namor, the Sub-Mariner"). Unfortunately the Hulk always seemed to be particularly ill-suited to the 10-page story format since in pretty much every story Bruce Banner changes into the Hulk (or the Hulk changes into Bruce Banner). For that reason, the original six issues of "The Incredible Hulk" stand out in such marked contrast.
In issue #1 we meet Dr. Bruce Banner, the brilliant scientist who has invented the gamma bomb. Right before the big test a teenager, Rick Jones, drives out on the site. Banner goes off to get the boy out of there but his assistant Igor does not tell anybody, thinking this will be a way to get rid of Banner, who pushes Rick into a ravine right before the gamma bomb explodes. In the hospital Banner changes into the Hulk for the first time, in front of Rick Jones, who feels he should look out for the man-monster seeing as how Banner saved his life, which would tend to create a sense of obligation even in a teenager. Of course, Rick Jones would go on to the side-kick for not only the Hulk but also Captain America and Captain Marvel.
Ultimately I think the idea of the Hulk is better than the stories, especially the ones being told in these first six issues. The combination of the Dr. Jekyll & Hyde transformation with the Frankenstein monster is inherently interesting. Those classic references also explain why the better stories seem to be those in which the army is going after the Hulk rather than the less than stellar super villains who pop up. Sure, the Leader would be rather ironic from the viewpoint of Dr. Banner, but the best conflicts with the Hulk involve not brains versus brawn but the one against the many. When "Thunderbolt" Ross has the U.S. Army go after the Hulk, then we are cooking with gas. Very few bad guys can go toe-to-toe with ol' green skin. Issue #2 comes up with the lame Toad Men, #3 has the Ringmaster and the Circus of Crime, #4 offers Mongu the Gladiator from Space, #5 has Tyrannus, and #6 provides the Metal Master. But not one of them slugs it out with the Hulk, who still finds ways to cause lots of damage to the landscape, buildings and furniture.
The lack of mano-e-mano fisticuffs probably explains why the soap opera element of the Hulk coming between Bruce Banner and Betty Ross are more appealing. That is actually what provides the continuity over the course of these stories. The end result is okay, but certainly not the best Marvel was putting out in the early Sixties. The origin story is far and away the best of the six stories, and really the only reason to get this one unless you are a really big fan of the Hulk. Stan Lee writes all of the stories and Jack Kirby does most of the art, except for #6, which is done by Steve Ditko. The stories are reprinted in color, but the idea of comic books being printed in a hardcover edition always strike me as being quite strange.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bruce Banner discovers it isn't easy being ol' Greenskin, February 16, 2004
"Marvel Masterworks, Volume 8" brings together the six issue-run of the original run of "The Incredible Hulk," before ol' Greenskin was sent off to "Tales to Astonish" to share with first Giant-Man and Wasp before the Sub-Mariner took over the other half. This explains why this is a relatively slim volume in the Marvel Masterworks series, which usually covers ten issues in the run of one of Marvel's comic book titles from the Sixties.The Hulk was what Stan Lee and Jack Kirby came up with after the success of "The Fantastic Four" gave birth to the Marvel Universe. Trying to build on the success of the F.F. Lee wanted to come up with a character with superhuman strength, which was not exactly an original idea (i.e., see Superman), but Lee wanted to take the cliché concept and make it exciting and relevant. Lee knew that the Thing was the most popular member of the F.F. and had always had a soft spot in his heart for the Frankenstein monster, who never wanted to hurt anybody and was just trying to come to terms with those who wanted to destroy him. Borrowing from the story of Jekyll and Hyde as well, Lee and Kirby came up with a scientist who was accidentally transformed into by a nuclear accident into a raging gray behemoth. That is right: originally the Hulk was gray, but the coloring was inconsistent in that first issue and so Lee decided to go with green because (drum role) no one green characters were running around in comic books. With the six issues of "The Incredible Hulk" reprinted in color in this volume you get the following: #1 "The Hulk," in which scientist Bruce Banner is hit by mysterious gamma rays when he saves the life of young Rick Jones, who was trespassing on the test site. We are also introduced to General Thunderbolt Ross and his daughter, Betty, who is just getting on a first name basis with the Doc, and the fact that only Rick Jones knows the secret of the Hulk. The villain is the Gargoyle, a mutated monster created by the evil Soviets (remember, the Cold War? It was in the newspapers back them); #2 "The Terror of the Toad Men" is another one of the early Marvel stories that Lee and Kirby did that has weird monsters, just like the stories they were doing for Timely. This is also the issue where the Frankenstein monster resemblance is the strongest. Issue #3 has three stories, with "Banished to Outer Space" having the army tricking the Hulk to going into a spaceship that is shot into space, a short recap of "The Origin of the Hulk," and an encounter between the Hulk and "The Ringmaster"; #4 has "The Monster and the Machine," where Rick tries to help cure the Hulk, and "The Gladiator From Outer Space," which has a strong guy from outer space showing up to battle the Hulk, only to be exposed as another commie plot; #5 offers "Beauty and the Beast," where the Bruce and Betty romance is interrupted by Tyrannus; and "The Hordes of General Fang," where the Hulk tangles with Chinese communists; and #6 "The Metal Master" has Steve Ditko taking over as artist as the Hulk battles a real alien menace. The Cold War aspects are a big part of these early Hulk stories and you can see that even before the move to "Tales to Astonish" the Hulk stories were already getting to be the length of half an issue. These stories are of more interest from a historical perspective, as the stories have to come up with new ways for Banner to change into the Hulk and visa-versa without anybody ever notices issue after issue. Through this limited run the only decent Hulk villain that Lee and Kirby came up with was Thunderbolt Ross and it was not until Marvel paid as much attention to the villains as they did to creating the tortured hero that the Hulk stories started to get a lot better.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Earliest Stuff!!, March 6, 2003
This is not the same book as that reviewed below - there is some mistake here.As far as I know it was never released in paperback and was written when Len Wein was a child!The book is a hardback collection from 1989 featuring the first six issues (the comic was cancelled after that)of the Incredible Hulk in his own magazine from 1962 & 1963. The quality of the reproduction & colors are superb. The first issue he is grey, but as this did not work well with the printing capabilities of the time, from issue 2 he was depicted as the familiar "jolly green giant!" With writing by Stan Lee and illustrations by Jack (King) Kirby (Steve - Spider-man - Ditko) took over with the 6th. issue's art), this is essential for anyone collecting the Hulk who can not afford the thousands of $$$ for the original comics (and who of us can!)Great stuff and brings back many memories!
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