The Incredible Hulk: A Man-Brute Berserk!

Rating:
Summary: Bruce Banner discovers it isn't easy being ol' Greenskin
Review: "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.

Rating:
Summary: Bruce Banner discovers it isn't easy being ol' Greenskin
Review: "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.

Rating:
Summary: Hulk is a smash!
Review: Here we have all six issues of the Incredible Hulk's first series. It's a fun series. It holds up pretty well, other than the commie smashing. You can see how they were struggling with how to present the Hulk in the early days. They change his color, his means of transformation, his powers and his personality all within these six issues. The hardcover format with glossy pages is an excellent presentation of this material. If you can afford it, it's a good deal. It's still cheaper than buying the original issues.

Rating:
Summary: Hulk is a smash!
Review: Here we have all six issues of the Incredible Hulk's first series. It's a fun series. It holds up pretty well, other than the commie smashing. You can see how they were struggling with how to present the Hulk in the early days. They change his color, his means of transformation, his powers and his personality all within these six issues. The hardcover format with glossy pages is an excellent presentation of this material. If you can afford it, it's a good deal. It's still cheaper than buying the original issues.

Rating:
Summary: Good Ol' Greenskin
Review: My very first encounters with The Incredible Hulk came in my childhood, watching the television series, starring Bill Bixby. As a fan of the show, I thought that the way it was presented, mirrored how Marvel Comics titans Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, had envisioned the character. I had no idea that the comic book origin and mytholgy of the Hulk was completely different. As I started to delve into the world of superheroes, I sought out any book that featured characters I liked, The Hulk was among those heroes. I have to say that as much I liked the show and how it entertained, I prefer the mythology of the comic book, over the show. I see both incarnations as individual entities, very loosely related, like a cousin, 7 times removed.

As the Hulk returns to the spotlight, thanks to the film version, and as an owner of other Marvel Masterworks editions, the Hulk was a natural choice. Volume One reprints the first six issues of the comic book series. Written at a time when fears over nuclear war with the Soviet Union, was an every day reality, the plight of Dr. Bruce Banner struck a chord with readers. Another popular aspect of the character is of course his brute strength, as well as his similarties with Frankenstien-the misunderstood monster. It was great to read these early adventures. It was interesting to see the Hulk as a grey behemouth for the first issue, as opposed to the now famous color green. Stan Lee's stories, in the book, may have a certian 60's feel to them..but they still hold up and are lots of fun to read. The lengendary art from Jack Kirby for issues 1-5 (Spiderman's artist at the time, Steve Ditko, completed the chores on issue #6) is made even bolder, brighter and better (is that even possibe?), thanks to the use of glossy pages in the book

My only real problem with this book is that it's so much shorter than most of the others in the Marvel Masterworks series. What a shame... The book also reprints the original 6 covers, an introduction from Hulk Co-creator Stan Lee, first penned in 1989. The six issue reprint should have been longer though. That said, the 150 page book, is still reommended

Rating:
Summary: The Earliest Stuff!!
Review: 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!