Back Issue #70 by TwoMorrows Publishing

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INCREDIBLE HULK IN THE BRONZE AGE!

HULK COMICS OF THE ’70s & ’80s • HULK AS A TEAM PLAYER • INSIDE HULK’S HEAD • ABOMINATION VILLAIN HISTORY • HULK ON TV & MORE!

THE RETRO COMICS EXPERIENCE!

Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ISSUE magazine celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through recurring (and rotating) departments like “Pro2Pro” (dialogue between professionals), “BackStage Pass” (behind-the-scenes of comicsbased media), “Greatest Stories Never Told” (spotlighting unrealized comics series or stories), and more!

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“JLA in the Bronze Age”! The “Satellite Years” of the ‘70s and early ‘80s, with BUCKLER, ENGLEHART, PÉREZ, and WEIN, salute to DICK DILLIN, the Justice League “Detroit” team, with CONWAY, PATTON, McDONNELL, plus CONWAY and GEOFF JOHNS go “Pro2Pro” on writing the JLA, unofficial JLA/Avengers crossovers, and Marvel’s JLA, the Squadron Supreme. Cover by McDONNELL and BILL WRAY!

“Toon Comics!” History of Space Ghost in comics, Comico’s Jonny Quest and Star Blazers, Marvel’s Hanna-Barbera line and Dennis the Menace, behind the scenes at Marvel Productions, Ltd., and a look at the unpublished Plastic Man comic strip. Art/comments by EVANIER, FOGLIO, HEMPEL and WHEATLEY, MARRS, RUDE, TOTH, WILDEY, and more. All-new painted Space Ghost cover by STEVE RUDE!

“Halloween Heroes and Villains”! JEPH LOEB and TIM SALE’s chiller Batman: The Long Halloween, the Scarecrow (both the DC and Marvel versions), Solomon Grundy, Man-Wolf, Lord Pumpkin, Rutland, Vermont’s Halloween parades, and… the Korvac Saga’s Dead Avengers! With commentary from and/or art by CONWAY, GIL KANE, LOPRESTI, MOENCH, PÉREZ, DAVE WENZEL, and more. Cover by TIM SALE!

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“Tabloids and Treasuries,” spotlighting every all-new tabloid from the 1970s. Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, The Bible, Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles, The Wizard of Oz, even the PAUL DINI/ALEX ROSS World’s Greatest Super-Heroes editions! Commentary and art by ADAMS, GARCIA-LOPEZ, GRELL, KIRBY, KUBERT, MAYER, ROMITA SR., TOTH, and more. Wraparound cover by ALEX ROSS!

“Superman in the Bronze Age”! JULIUS SCHWARTZ, CURT SWAN, Superman Family, World of Krypton miniseries, and ALAN MOORE’s “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”, art & comments by ADAMS, ANDERSON, CARDY, CHAYKIN, PAUL KUPPERBERG, OKSNER, O’NEIL, PASKO, ROZAKIS, SAVIUK, and more. Cover by GARCÍA-LÓPEZ and SCOTT WILLIAMS! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

“British Invasion” issue! History of Marvel UK, Beatles in comics, DC’s ‘80s British talent pool, V for Vendetta, Excalibur, Marshal Law, Doctor Who, “Pro2Pro” interview with PETER MILLIGAN & BRENDAN McCARTHY, plus BERGER, BOLLAND, DAVIS, GIBBONS, STAN LEE, LLOYD, MOORE, DEZ SKINN, and others. Fold-out triptych cover by RON WILSON and DAVE HUNT of Marvel UK’s rare 1970s “Quadra-Poster”!

“Bronze Age Backup Series”! Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Metamorpho, GOODWIN and SIMONSON’s Manhunter, PASKO and GIFFEN’s Dr. Fate, “Whatever Happened To…?”, Nemesis, Rose and the Thorn, Seven Soldiers of Victory, art and commentary by CARY BURKETT, JOHN CALNAN, DICK GIORDANO, MIKE GRELL, ELLIOT S! MAGGIN, DAN SPIEGLE, cover by GRELL and JOE RUBINSTEIN.

“Bronze Age B-Teams”! Defenders issue-byissue overview, Champions, Guardians of the Galaxy, Inhumans, PETER DAVID’s X-Factor, Teen Titans West, Legion of Substitute Heroes, an all-star chatfest of Doom Patrol interviews, plus art and commentary by ROSS ANDRU, SAL BUSCEMA, KEITH GIFFEN, TONY ISABELLA, PAUL KUPPERBERG, ERIK LARSEN, GEORGE PÉREZ, BOB ROZAKIS, cover by KEVIN NOWLAN.

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“Bronze Age Team-Ups”! Marvel Team-Up and Two-in-One, Super-Villain Team-Up, CLAREMONT and SIMONSON’s X-Men/New Teen Titans, DC Comics Presents, SuperTeam Family, HANEY and APARO’s Batman of Earth-B(&B), Superman/Captain Marvel smackdowns, plus art and commentary by BUCKLER, ENGLEHART, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, GIFFEN, LEVITZ, WEIN, and a classic GIL KANE cover inked anew by TERRY AUSTIN.

“Heroes Out of Time!” Batman: Gotham by Gaslight with MIGNOLA, WAID, and AUGUSTYN, Booster Gold with JURGENS, X-Men: Days of Future Past with CHRIS CLAREMONT, Bill & Ted with EVAN DORKIN, interview with P. CRAIG RUSSELL, “Pro2Pro” with Time Masters’ BOB WAYNE and LEWIS SHINER, Karate Kid, New Mutants: Asgardian Wars, and Kang. Mignola cover.

“1970s and ‘80s Legion of Super-Heroes!” LEVITZ interview, the Legion’s Honored Dead, the Cosmic Boy miniseries, a Time Trapper history, the New Adventures of Superboy, Legion fantasy cover gallery by JOHN WATSON, plus BATES, COCKRUM, CONWAY, COLON, GIFFEN, GRELL, JANES, KUPPERBERG, LaROCQUE, LIGHTLE, SCHAFFENBERGER, SHERMAN, STATON, SWAN, WAID, & more! COCKRUM cover!

TENTH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE! Revisit the 100th, 200th, 300th, 400th, and 500th issues of ‘70s and ‘80s favorites: Adventure, Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Batman, Brave & Bold, Casper, Detective, Flash, Green Lantern, Showcase, Superman, Thor, Wonder Woman, and more! With APARO, BARR, ENGLEHART, POLLARD, SEKOWSKY, SIMONSON, STATON, and WOLFMAN. DAN JURGENS and RAY McCARTHY cover.

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Volume 1, Number 70 February 2014 Celebrating the Best Comics of the '70s, '80s, '90s, and Beyond!

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond! TM

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael “Doc Banner” Eury PUBLISHER John “The Leader” Morrow DESIGNER Rich “Rick Jones” Fowlks COVER ARTISTS Herb Trimpe and Gerhard (art from the collection of Charles Costas) COVER DESIGNER Michael “Thunderbolt” Kronenberg

SPECIAL THANKS David T. Allen Mark Arnold John Bligh Rich Buckler Steve Bunche Sal Buscema Kurt Busiek Jarrod Buttery Dewey Cassell John Cimino Chris Claremont Gerry Conway Peter David Daniel DeAngelo Ronnie Deen Gerard DiPego Jo Duffy Barry Dutter Steve Englehart Chris Franklin Dr. Sigmund Freud Russ Garwood Grand Comic-Book Database Steven Grant Glenn Greenberg Nicholas Guarracino Larry Hama Ed Hannigan Zaki Hasan

Brian Heiler Karl Heitmueller, Jr. Heritage Comics Auctions Joe Hollon Tony Isabella Kenneth Johnson Greg Kirkman David Anthony Kraft Alan Kupperberg Christopher Larochelle Larry Lieber Andy Mangels Michael Mantlo Marvel Comics Bob McLeod Al Milgrom Gary M. Miller Richard Morgan Pamela Mullen Greg Pak Greg Plonowski Dr. Leonard Samson Jason Shayer Roger Stern Roy Thomas Herb Trimpe Timothy Tuohy Len Wein

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BACK SEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 DC Comics’ Hulkmania during the summer of ’66 FLASHBACK: Hulk Smash: The Incredible Hulk in the 1970s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Creators galore recall the decade of Jim Wilson, Jarella, Wolverine, Hulking out, and more BACKSTAGE PASS: The Televised Hulk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Series creator Kenneth Johnson certainly isn’t jaded when recalling this TV smash EPISODE GUIDE: The Incredible Hulk TV Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 PRINCE STREET NEWS: TV Hulk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Richard Simmons as the Hulk? Karl Heitmueller, Jr. is at it again! FLASHBACK: All About the Green: Hulk Merchandise in the BACK ISSUE Era . . . . . . . . . .34 Admit it—you’ve got a Hulk Mego on your shelf… FLASHBACK: Smashing into Syndication: The Incredible Hulk Newspaper Strip . . . . . . . .37 Hulk smash Peanuts! When Ol’ Greenskin was read in black-and-white WHAT THE--?!: Teen Hulk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 Hulkmania (the incredible kind) spawned this Crazy magazine satire BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: The Abomination: Diary of a Mad Monster . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 Is Emil Blonsky playing with a full deck? FLASHBACK: Hulk Smash More: The Incredible Hulk in the 1980s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 The eras of two longtime Hulk scribes, Bill Mantlo and Peter David BACKSTAGE PASS: The Incredible Hulk 1982 Animated Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 The Saturday morning success of some amazing friends led to this super-toon FLASHBACK: Teaming Up with the Hulk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 The Hulk as a “team player” in The Defenders and Marvel Team-Up OFF MY CHEST: Three Men and a Little Psyche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 How Mantlo, David, and Freud redefined the Incredible Hulk BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Reader feedback on BI #65 and more BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Six-issue subscriptions: $60 Standard US, $85 Canada, $107 Surface International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by Herb Trimpe and Gerhard. The Incredible Hulk and Wolverine TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2014 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing except Prince Street News, TM & © Karl Heitmueller, Jr. BACK ISSUE is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. ISSN 1932-6904. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING. Hulk in the Bronze Age Issue

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Detail from the cover of the 1978 The Incredible Hulk trade paperback published by Fireside. Art by Bob Larkin. Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

PROOFREADER Rob “Doc Samson” Smentek

With the kind indulgence Roy Thomas, editor of our sister publication Alter Ego, which surveys the Golden and Silver Ages of Comics, I’d like to share with BACK ISSUE readers my first childhood memory of the Incredible Hulk. It was late August of 1966, and I was eight years old, living in my hometown of Concord, North Carolina. TV’s Batman was the rage, and I was utterly obsessed with the Caped Crusader, his live-action portrayal by Adam West pointing me to his four-color roots in comic books. Joining my dad on his weekly sojourn to Williams Candy Kitchen for the newest Sporting News, I plopped onto my chubby knees in front of the Candy Kitchen’s immense “funnybook” rack, transfixed upon the most bizarre yet enticing Batman comic I had ever seen (up to that point, at least): The Brave and the Bold #68 (cover-dated Oct.–Nov. 1966). It promised a team-up between Batman and some weirdo I’d never heard of, Metamorpho the Element Man. There, on the Mike Sekowsky/Joe Giella cover, were three of the Caped Crusader’s most dastardly foes—the Joker, the Penguin, and the Riddler, looking very much like I recognized them from TV—but something was wrong with Batman…! His shoulders, arms, and hands were brutish, and his legs were oddly foreshortened. He cast quite a ghastly appearance (and was even more frightening in the story inside, with his fiery hands and creepy smirk). The screaming yellow burst above the logo attempted to explain away this massive mutant passing himself off as my hero—“Look below! Batman becomes Bat-Hulk!”— but that meant nothing to me. I had yet to discover the real Hulk. But at least the word “hulk” was now in my burgeoning vocabulary. B&B #68 was actually the third cover appearance of a Hulk analog on a DC comic that very summer. The first appeared on Showcase #63 (July–Aug. 1966), an Inferior Five tryout issue, where the nebbish Merryman was the last Inferior standing opposite a jade giant (wearing purple gym shorts!) called Man-Mountain. Its story offered an alliterative secret identity for Man-Mountain (Brute Brainard) and included parodies of other Marvel characters. Released around the same time was a cover appearance by DC’s own “Hulk,” Blockbuster, Batman’s beatnik bad guy, punching superheroes alongside the marshland-spawned behemoth Solomon Grundy (who’s quite Hulk-ish in his own right), on Justice League of America #46 (Aug. 1966). Was there a memo generated among DC’s editors that year to riff on Marvel’s Incredible Hulk? That’s hardly likely, as Ol’ Greenskin was still building a readership back then, sharing space with co-feature Sub-Mariner in the pages of Tales to Astonish and preparing to be seen on TV in September 1966 as one of the rotating characters in the rudimentarily animated The Marvel Super Heroes series. These DC “Hulk” outings of the summer of ’66 are probably just an unusual coincidence. It was via television that I first met the real Hulk—but not in the cartoon mentioned above, as it wasn’t syndicated onto any of the five (yes, only five!) stations available back then in the Charlotte market. Premiering on Saturday morning, September 9, 1967 were animated versions of The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, introducing me to those Marvel flagship favorites … and, as a result, Marvel’s comic-book versions of those heroes, titles I had previously ignored given my Batmania (and subsequent DC fever). As Batman invited me into the larger DC Universe, FF, Spidey, and their interior Marvel Bullpen Bulletins and Stan’s Soapbox features opened the door to the House of Ideas, and before too long The Incredible Hulk was added to my reading list. Still, I will never forget that my first Hulk experience was courtesy of the Distinguished Competition!

2 • BACK ISSUE • Hulk in the Bronze Age Issue

Michael Eury

TM & © DC Comics.

It’s one of comics’ iconic origins: On a dare, teenager Rick Jones drives onto a military weapons-testing site. Spying the teenager, Dr. Robert Bruce Banner races out, pushes Rick into a trench, but is himself caught in the detonation of the gamma bomb. That evening, as a nearby Geiger counter runs wild, Banner undergoes a strange transformation...

DOC BRUCE BANNER, BELTED BY GAMMA RAYS…

Jarrod Buttery

The Incredible Hulk #1, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, debuted in March 1962, with a May cover date. Besides the Hulk, Bruce Banner, and Rick Jones, this first issue also introduced Betty Ross—the girl whom Banner loved (and vice-versa), and her father—General “Thunderbolt” Ross, who was to become the Hulk’s most implacable adversary. The first incarnation of the Hulk’s title lasted six bimonthly issues. Thereafter, the Hulk joined (and left) the Avengers, and also made guest appearances in Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, and the Giant-Man strip in Tales to Astonish #59 (Sept. 1964). This led to the Hulk’s second ongoing series, becoming that title’s co-feature in TtA #60 (Oct. 1964). With issue #102 (Apr. 1968) the title changed to The Incredible Hulk. Herb Trimpe came on board as penciler with issue #106 (Aug. 1968) and stayed until issue #193 (Nov. 1975), missing only two issues in an incredible seven-year run. Asked how he started at Marvel, herb trimpe and on The Incredible Hulk, Trimpe Photo by Luigi Novi recalls, “In October of 1966, I’d just gotten back from Vietnam and had separated from the USAF. A friend of mine from art school days, John Verpoorten, was production chief at Marvel. He recommended me to Stan [Lee], and I worked in the production department for a while, as well as doing some freelance inking on Westerns. After six months or so, Stan popped his head into our cubicle and asked if I wanted to draw The Hulk. ‘Sure,’ said I. No big deal. Not like today.” By 1968, Stan Lee was busy with an ever-expanding Marvel. Did he have time to provide detailed plots for his artists? “No detailed plots,” recalls Trimpe. “In fact,

The Great White North Herb Trimpe (and John Romita) rocked the comics world with this iconic cover for Wolverine’s first appearance (excluding his cliffhanger cameo in the preceding issue, that is), The Incredible Hulk #181 (Nov. 1974). We’re thrilled to have Mr. Trimpe’s recreation of that masterpiece gracing this issue’s BI cover—abetted by the kind and talented Gerhard, who “Canada-ized” Herb’s illo. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Hulk in the Bronze Age Issue

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Follow the Leader (right) Trimpe’s cover to #123 (Jan. 1970). (left) The new Hulk logo premiered here on issue #129 (July 1970), but “The Incredible” was added later. Original Trimpe cover art courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

no plots at all. Just a brief conference, and I would compose the plot from our conversation—write down what I remembered and come up with 20 pages of story. Granted, it was mostly Stan’s conversation, but he really knew what he was doing. I think this has proven itself out over the years.”

a month and asked ourselves what kind of paces we should put Banner and the Hulk through that month. It usually didn’t take us long to come up with an answer.” Herb Trimpe found the transition easy: “Roy was extremely easy to work with. The Stan Lee method of having the artist lay out the story filtered RAMPAGING ROY down to all the other writers at the Roy Thomas took over the title time. I am a very good storyteller almost exactly at the start of the ’70s and the writers very rarely requested (calendrical correctness notwithchanges. Stan favored artists who standing). Thomas’ first full issue, could tell a story, because a comic Incredible Hulk #121 (Nov. 1969), had book is primarily a picture medium. the Hulk facing a new adversary: To be precise, working with writers the Glob. Thomas kindly shares the Stan Lee way made the job a his recollections with BACK ISSUE: dream.” roy thomas “Stan gave me virtually no directions. In issues #122–123 (Dec. 1969– The first character I made up with Jan. 1970), Reed Richards manages Herb was the Glob, using an old Lee name but basically to “cure” Banner. However, due to input from Banner, an updating of the Heap, a character I liked from the the “cure” now enables Banner to control the change 1940s and ’50s. Herb and I just got together once into the Hulk while retaining his own consciousness. Believing his curse ended, Banner renounces the transformations and proposes to Betty. Astonishingly, things don’t go to plan. The Leader shows up to steal the military’s “Murder Module” and is only thwarted when Banner becomes the Hulk. Vowing revenge, the Leader enlists the Rhino and the twosome attack while Bruce and Betty are at the altar! Despite constantly pursuing the Hulk—when all he wants is to be left alone—the military repeatedly seeks his assistance when faced with a serious problem. A mysterious comet threatens the entire Earth in issue #125 (Mar. 1970), and only Banner can avert Armageddon. Piloting a rocket outfitted with a nuclear warhead Banner destroys the comet … but picks up a hitchhiker as the Absorbing Man returns to Earth.

4 • BACK ISSUE • Hulk in the Bronze Age Issue

Nobody Loves the Hulk (left) Writer Roy Thomas splits Bruce Banner from the Hulk in #130 (Aug. 1970). (right) A gruesome gang-up, in issue #139 (May 1971). Both covers by Herb Trimpe, with cover colors by Marie Severin. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

would be mistaken. Instead, a little girl meets the Hulk in the forest DAWN OF THE DEFENDERS Sidestep for a moment to recall that Dr. Strange’s own series concluded and presumes him to be the mythical Golem. The peasantry take this with the discovery of a strange idol in Dr. Strange #183 (Nov. 1969). as a sign to rise up against their dictator. Kang the Conqueror tries to use the Hulk to divert the course of The plot continued into Sub-Mariner #22 (Feb. 1970) as Strange enlisted Namor’s help against the Nameless One—an extra-dimensional entity World War I, by disrupting a crucial mission by the Phantom Eagle, seeking to use the idol to enter our world. This leads into Incredible in issue #135 (Jan. 1971). Issues #136–137 (Feb.–Mar. 1971) present Hulk #126 (Apr. 1970), as the Hulk encounters a cult seeking to free the a two-part story, scripted by Thomas but plotted by Gerry Conway, featuring the return of the Abomination. It was over 40 years ago, Nameless One and subsequently battles the Night-Crawler but Conway recalls some details: “There were a couple of (not Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler of the X-Men). different stages to becoming a writer at Marvel. One of Dr. Strange next appears in Marvel Feature #1 the first was what they called a writing test, for which (Dec. 1971) as he recruits both the Hulk and Namor you were given a handful of pages of a story that had against an old foe. “The Defenders,” as Strange dubs already been penciled and they’d ask you to write the loose grouping, graduate to their own title soon dialogue over those pencils. And I believe I did that after, and the Hulk features prominently in all but a for five pages of a Captain America story. I then wrote handful of their first hundred issues—becoming, in a couple of full scripts and plots, and then after that effect, the Hulk’s second monthly series. [Editor’s Roy asked me to write an outline based on the general note: If case you missed it, last summer’s BI #65 idea of ‘Moby Dick in space.’ I wrote an outline featured a thorough examination of The Defenders, which they spread out over two issues. And from and a Defenders cover by Kevin Nowlan.] there I started getting more regular assignments.” The Hulk’s petulance leads to the loss of his With the Sandman slowly turning into glass, friend Mogol—champion of Tyrannus—in Incredible gerry conway and desperately needing a total blood transfusion, Hulk #127 (May 1970). He battles the Avengers in he kidnaps Betty Ross in issue #138 (Apr. 1971). issue #128 (June 1970), followed by the Glob— The Hulk disposes of the Sandman, but Betty is under the control of the Leader—in the following issue. Banner finds himself at his old alma mater, Desert State University, in issue #130 turned to living crystal! One of the great Hulk covers graces issue (Aug. 1970). Enlisting the help of an old research colleague, Banner #139 (May 1971), insisting: “Many Foes has the Hulk—Add Them All attempts another cure. Terrifyingly for Banner, he and the Hulk are Together … They Spell Death!” as the Leader uses a MentalloProjector to create realistic projections of past foes to fight the Hulk. split into separate beings by the Gammatron device. With no possibility of relaxing and reverting to Banner, the Hulk THE BRUTE THAT SHOUTED LOVE AT THE HEART OF goes on a rampage as never before. Curiously, he is only calmed by THE ATOM a meeting with a street kid named Jim Wilson. Iron Man shows up to Roy Thomas had invited famed science-fiction author Harlan Ellison help with the Gammatron, and the Hulk and Banner are re-merged. to write some stories for Marvel. Ellison produced plots for Avengers After battling Hydra, the Hulk stows away on a freighter in issue #88 (May 1971)—wherein the Hulk is captured and shrunk by the #133 (Nov. 1970). No longer reverting to Banner, the Hulk arrives in alien Psyklop—and Incredible Hulk #140 (June 1971), where the Hulk the tiny Mediterranean nation of Morvania, where he confronts the lands on the sub-molecular world of K’ai. Welcomed as a champion dictator, Draxon. The cover of issue #134 features the Hulk “In the by K’ai’s green inhabitants and granted Banner’s consciousness by Shadow of the Golem,” yet those expecting a battle of behemoths sorcery, the Hulk meets and is enamored of their beautiful queen, Hulk in the Bronze Age Issue

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Kubert (was a) Smash! (left) Jarrod Buttery shares with BACK ISSUE not only this Hulk sketch by the amazing Joe Kubert (1926–2012), drawn at the 2010 Supanova con in Perth, Australia, but also the story behind it: “[Joe Kubert] politely informed everybody that he wasn’t doing any sketches. Mr. Kubert did very little work for Marvel, but he did draw a couple of issues of the Incredible Hulk. On the final day of the convention I gave him some green paper and suggested that he might like to sketch the Hulk and present it to Mr. [Lou] Ferrigno. Mr. Kubert replied, ‘No, I don’t think I’ll do that, but I’ll do one for you, Jarrod.’ And to my astonishment and elation, he did.” (right) Al Milgrom toes the line on the cover of Hulk #244 (Feb. 1980). Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

#244 (Feb. 1980) featured the return—and comprehensive smashing—of It, the Living Colossus, by Steven Grant and Carmine Infantino. “Virtually everything I wrote for Marvel in the early years was an inventory story. That one, though, wasn’t,” reveals Grant. “Al Milgrom suggested it, mainly because he’d already enlisted Carmine to draw the story, and we both very fondly remembered all the superhero and sci-fi stories Carmine drew at DC in the ’50s and ’60s featuring giants, with an emphasis on giant feet. According to legend, someone at DC had determined that whenever babies, apes, or giant feet appeared on covers, sales went up. No idea if it’s true, but that was part of the genesis. So Al suggested using It, Marvel’s most expendable giant character of the day. No longer sure which of us decided it was time to grind him into dust-Dust-DUST, but I do remember that was an intentional friendly rib at Jim Shooter’s Korvac storyline in Avengers.” Huge, green, and enraged. He’s one of the most recognizable characters in the world and just as popular with creators as with fans. Five writers and two artists handled the overwhelming majority of issues in the 1970s, and little would change in the next decade. But that’s a topic for another article. The author would like to express his sincere gratitude to Sal Buscema, Kurt Busiek, Chris Claremont, Gerry Conway, Jo Duffy, Steve Englehart, Steven Grant, Tony Isabella, Roger Stern, Herb Trimpe, Roy Thomas, and Len Wein. Thank you all for expressing your rage on the page. Thanks also to Pamela Mullin at DC Comics. JARROD BUTTERY lives in Western Australia. In attempting to thank those who helped with this article, no one put it better than Jo Duffy: “Isn’t it amazing the amount of sheer niceness that lies behind all these issues of the savage Hulk?” Speaking of nice guys, Lou Ferrigno visited the Supanova convention in Perth in 2010 and posed for this photo with Jarrod and his Hulked-out son.

18 • BACK ISSUE • Hulk in the Bronze Age Issue

Glenn Greenberg

The television landscape of the late 1970s was hardly an ideal place for the Incredible Hulk. This was a character routinely portrayed in comic books as being able to lift entire mountains and cover several miles in a single leap, able to battle the US Army without breaking a sweat. At that time, about the best that live-action TV had to offer when it came to that kind of fare was Lee Majors moving in slow motion accompanied by a “dit dit dit dit” sound effect. How could a concept like the Hulk possibly succeed in that environment? But it did—and the impact of that success is still felt today.

THE COMING OF THE (TV) HULK An acclaimed, highly rated two-hour TV movie starring Bill Bixby premiered on CBS on November 4, 1977, with a well-received sequel airing just 23 days later. That in turn led to a weekly series that launched on March 10, 1978, and would run for five seasons. It would be one of the first attempts to treat comic-book material in a serious manner, eschewing the campiness of the Adam West Batman series of the 1960s. True, the Hulk of the TV series was not the character as portrayed in the comic books. The show was an adaptation in every sense of the word. The premise, the status quo, the character’s strength level and abilities, and even the name of his alter ego were changed. No less an authority than the Hulk’s co-creator says that these changes were key to making the concept work for television. “The Hulk [TV series] was done intelligently,” said Stan Lee in a June 26, 2000, interview with the website IGN.com. “It was beautifully done. [It was changed] quite a bit from the comic book, but every change … made sense.”

THE STRONGEST ONE THERE IS? As noted above, the Hulk of the comics had near-limitless strength. The Hulk of the TV series could smash through brick walls, flip cars, leap several stories, knock down trees, and, if he was feeling really ambitious, tear apart a pressure chamber designed for deep-sea use. Most of the time, though, he just tossed around gangsters, thugs, and general troublemakers. The TV Hulk’s strength level was, of course, dictated by the show’s limited budget, but also by what developer/

Now You’ve Made Him Angry— Don’t Say You Weren’t Warned… Purportedly signed by the actor behind the green makeup, Lou Ferrigno, this 23" x 35" poster was released by Universal International in 1978. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). The Incredible Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. Hulk TV show © 1978 Universal Pictures.

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In the Studio (left) Kenneth Johnson recording his 2008 DVD audio commentary for “Prometheus,” the two-hour fourthseason premiere of The Incredible Hulk TV series. Courtesy of Kenneth Johnson. (right) An autographed publicity still of Ferrigno as the Hulk, courtesy of Heritage. © 1978 Universal Pictures.

during the TV series (in an episode titled “Free Fall”) and walked away from it without a scratch. Others took issue with the fact that Jack McGee was not on the scene when the Hulk died, thus depriving the reporter of any sense of closure. “I remember talking to Bill about Jack McGee,” DiPego explains. “I didn’t feel that he would add that much to the plot and it would be overloaded, and nobody put up a big fight about keeping him in.” Then again, the creature’s death wasn’t intended to be permanent, anyway. A fourth movie, Revenge of the Incredible Hulk, in which the character would have been revived, was already in the planning stages. DiPego, who was slated to write Revenge, refutes assertions made on the Internet and elsewhere that the story would have shown Banner gaining control of the Hulk and the creature finally being able to speak. DiPego no longer has access to his notes for the story, but he remembers the basic premise: “They found a way to bring Banner back, and he discovered that he had lost, through this death experience, the ability to change into the Hulk. He was finally living a normal life. And he ends up working for the government to ensure that no one else ever goes through what he experienced. He—or maybe his beloved—gets captured by bad guys and Banner is forced to turn some of their agents into Hulk-like beings and give them the power. Towards the end, he would mess up the plans of the bad guys, but in doing so, he has to sacrifice himself, he needs to be the Hulk again to save the day, so he exposes himself to gamma rays and gives up his freedom.” So why didn’t this movie happen? The common belief is that Bill Bixby’s battle with prostate cancer, which ultimately took his life in 1993, was the main reason. Not so, according to DiPego. “It’s very simple—it was the ratings,” he says. “[Bixby’s] health hadn’t begun to decline yet.” (It had indeed been reported at the time that the ratings for Death were significantly lower than those for the two previous movies.) “After Death, [NBC] said, ‘No, it’s just not living up to what we had hoped.’ So everybody just walked away. Nobody was sad or upset—except Lou Ferrigno!”

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A LASTING LEGACY The Bixby/Ferrigno incarnation of the Hulk was now truly a thing of the past—but it had long since left an indelible mark. The line, “Don’t make me angry— you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry,” uttered in the original 1977 TV movie and shown in the opening credits of every episode, became one of the most famous bits of dialogue in television history. It has been quoted and parodied countless times and was referenced in both the 2003 and 2008 theatrical Hulk movies. As for the concept of a non-speaking Hulk, even the comic-book series eventually started using it from time to time. And while the current movie Hulk is able to speak, he doesn’t do it much (though his single line of dialogue in 2012’s The Avengers is one of that film’s best, most beloved moments). Ask anyone from Kenneth Johnson to a casual Hulk viewer, “What’s the most significant impact the series had on the character?” and the answer is the same: “It brought the Hulk into the public consciousness.” With the success of the show, the Hulk joined the ranks of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Spider-Man, all of whom had already transcended their comic-book roots to become mainstream pop-culture icons. “Stan has told me many times that he attributed all of the later success that the Hulk had, and the resurgence of interest in it as a comic book—because it had never been much of a big seller as a comic book—on the TV series,” says Johnson. “We brought him into the forefront of the American public.” And he’s remained there ever since. Special thanks to John Bligh, Steve Bunche, Barry Dutter, Nicholas Guarracino, Zaki Hasan, Greg Kirkman, Gary M. Miller, Greg Plonowski, and Timothy Tuohy. While on staff at Marvel Comics, GLENN GREENBERG got to work on various projects featuring the Hulk, including a revival of The Rampaging Hulk series (as writer) and the acclaimed crossover with DC Comics, The Incredible Hulk vs. Superman (as editor). He recently watched the entire Bixby/ Ferrigno Hulk series (including the three reunion movies) with his ten-year-old daughter Maddie, who cites “Dark Side” as her all-time favorite episode.

SEASON 1 (1977–1978) Episode 1: “The Incredible Hulk” (TV movie – Airdate: 11/4/77) Synopsis: Dr. David Bruce Banner, hoping to tap into the hidden strength that all humans possess, receives an accidental overdose of gamma radiation and soon finds himself transforming into a super-powerful green-skinned creature whenever he becomes angry. Guest-stars: Susan Sullivan, Charles Siebert, Lara Parker (uncredited) Writer: Kenneth Johnson Director: Kenneth Johnson Episode 2: “Death in the Family” (TV movie, also known as “The Return of the Incredible Hulk” – Airdate: 11/27/77) Synopsis: While searching for a cure for his new condition, David Banner befriends a paralyzed young heiress and discovers that she is slowly being poisoned by her greedy, scheming stepmother. Guest-stars: Laurie Prange, Dorothy Tristan, William Daniels Writer: Kenneth Johnson Director: Alan J. Levi Episode 3: “The Final Round” (Series debut – Airdate: 03/10/78) Synopsis: Banner befriends a down-on-his-luck boxer who’s desperate for a big break and unwittingly involved with ruthless drug traffickers. Guest-stars: Martin Kove, Al Ruscio, Fran Myers Writer: Kenneth Johnson Director: Kenneth Gilbert Episode 4: “The Beast Within” (Airdate: 03/17/78) Synopsis: Banner lands a job at a zoo working with a female scientist who is testing an anti-aggression serum on the animals—but a smuggling operation jeopardizes the experiments and places David and his new colleague in deadly danger. Guest-stars: Caroline McWilliams, Dabbs Greer Writers: Karen Harris and Jill Sherman Director: Kenneth Gilbert Episode 5: “Of Guilt, Models, and Murder” (Airdate: 03/24/78) Synopsis: Dazed and disoriented after his latest transformation, Banner fears that the Hulk is responsible for the death of a beautiful model and becomes the valet of the dead woman’s boyfriend to get to the truth. Guest-stars: Jeremy Brett, Loni Anderson, Deanna Lund Writer: James D. Parriott Director: Larry Stewart

Episode 6: “Terror in Times Square” (Airdate: 03/31/78) Synopsis: Banner ends up in New York City working at an arcade and befriending the owner and his beautiful daughter—but trouble ensues when the old man decides to stop paying protection money to the local crime boss. Guest-stars: Robert Alda, Jack Kruschen, Pamela Shoop, Arny Freeman Writer: William Schwartz Director: Alan J. Levi Episode 7: “747” (Airdate: 04/07/78) Synopsis: Following a lead on a possible cure, Banner travels across the country on an airplane that happens to be carrying the treasures of King Tut—which the pilot and his flight attendant accomplice intend to steal. Guest-stars: Brandon Cruz, Edward Power, Sondra Currie, Denise Galik Writers: Thomas Szollosi and Richard Christian Matheson Director: Sigmund Neufeld, Jr. Episode 8: “The Hulk Breaks Las Vegas” (Airdate: 04/21/78) Synopsis: Working at a casino, Banner inadvertently gets pulled into a newspaper exposé on mob corruption and, as the Hulk, ends up having to save his own relentless pursuer, investigative reporter Jack McGee. Guest-stars: Julie Gregg, Dean Santoro, John Crawford, Don Marshall Writer: Justin Edgerton Director: Larry Stewart Episode 9: “Never Give a Trucker an Even Break” (Airdate: 04/28/78) Synopsis: Banner gets caught up in a young woman’s scheme to steal back her father’s truck from a group of hijackers. Guest-stars: Jennifer Darling, Frank R. Christi, Grand L. Bush Writer: Kenneth Johnson Director: Kenneth Gilbert Episode 10: “Life and Death” (Airdate: 05/12/78) Synopsis: Banner befriends a pregnant woman who intends to put her baby up for adoption, but he becomes highly suspicious of the medical center where she is supposed to give birth. Guest-stars: Diane Civita, Andrew Robinson, Julie Adams Writer: James D. Parriott Director: Jeffrey Hayden Episode 11: “Earthquakes Happen” (Airdate: 05/19/78) Synopsis: Banner infiltrates a nuclear power plant to gain access to its gamma ray equipment in the hope of curing himself—but a powerful earthquake occurs, leaving the facility headed

toward a devastating meltdown. Guest-stars: Sherry Jackson, Peter Brandon, Kene Holliday Writers: Jim Tisdale and Migdia Varela Director: Harvey Laidman Episode 12: “The Waterfront Story” (Airdate: 05/31/78) Synopsis: Banner takes a job at a tavern working for a pretty young widow whose late husband had been head of the local dockworkers’ union— but David soon discovers that the man’s death was not an accident. Guest-stars: Sheila Larken, James B. Sikking, Jack Kelly Writers: Paul M. Belous and Robert Wolterstorff Director: Reza S. Badiyi SEASON 2 (1978–1979) Episode 13: “Married” (TV Movie – Airdate: 09/22/78) Synopsis: Seeking a cure in Hawaii, Banner falls in love and marries Dr. Caroline Fields, a terminally ill scientist. Guest-stars: Mariette Hartley, Meeno Peluce Writer: Kenneth Johnson Director: Kenneth Johnson Episode 14: “The Antowuk Horror” (Airdate: 09/29/78) Synopsis: After the Hulk appears in a small dying resort town, thus bringing a wave of media attention and an influx of tourists, the townspeople create their own “monster” to keep the hype going. Guest-stars: Bill Lucking, Debbie Lytton Writer: Nicholas Corea Director: Sigmund Neufeld, Jr. Episode 15: “Ricky” (Airdate: 10/06/78) Synopsis: Working at a racecar track, Banner befriends a mentally challenged young man who dreams of becoming a driver and keeps ending up in life-threatening situations. Guest-stars: Mickey Jones, Robin Mattson, James Daughton Writer: Jaron Summers Director: Frank Orsatti Episode 16: “Rainbow’s End” (Airdate: 10/13/78) Synopsis: Banner enters the world of horse racing when he hears of a Native American trainer’s great success with a special herbal compound created to calm a wild racing horse—but someone has marked that horse for death. Guest-stars: Craig Stevens, Michelle Nichols, Ned Romero, Gene Evans Writers: Karen Harris and Jill Sherman Director: Kenneth Gilbert

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THE INCREDIBLE HULK Developed for Television by Kenneth Johnson Cast: Bill Bixby, Jack Colvin, Lou Ferrigno Executive Producer: Kenneth Johnson

Glenn Greenberg

With Thunderbolt Ross’ troops fast approaching, the Jade Giant made his way behind the mountains to his hidden van. The powerful green-and-purple machine traversed the barren desert plains, until finally arriving atop a hidden plateau. There the Green Goliath took to the skies in his custom-built helicopter, scanning the ground far below for any unforeseen threats. At last he arrived at his destination, his secluded Hulk Hide-A-Way headquarters, where he would be safe … for now. What, you don’t remember any of this? You could search your long boxes and DVD tower and you won’t find any such adventure of the Incredible Hulk. A story like this would have to be the product of a child’s imagination … combined with actual toys of the 1970s. Yes, Virginia, there really was a Hulk van, a Hulk helicopter, and a Hulk Hide-A-Way playset. From the sublime to the surreal, you name it, the Hulk was in on it during his Bronze Age merchandising heyday. Toys, clothing, lunchboxes—even toilet paper! When the Hulk TV show became a hit, manufacturers of all kinds saw green … and lots of it!

GREEN WITH ENVY The Hulk first graced retail shelves in the late ’60s, riding the wave of merchandise released in the wake of the Marvel Super Heroes animated series, of which Hulk was a part. Hulk was mostly just riding the coattails of the more popular Spider-Man and Captain America, always the third or possibly fourth choice to be added to a product line. He continued to appear sporadically on products throughout the early ’70s, always part of a larger Marvel line. He joined Mego’s World’s Greatest Super-Heroes line of action figures in 1975, but was only a marginal seller for the company. It appeared that the Hulk was forever doomed to be an also-ran in the Marvel licensing firmament. And then, millions of kids saw Bill Bixby get angry.

MARVEL’S TV SENSATION The Incredible Hulk aired as a television movie on November 4, 1977. Adult audiences were instantly captivated by the tragic story of David Banner, with Bixby deftly portraying a haunted man on the run. Kids loved it when Bixby turned into the green-hued Lou Ferrigno, whose massive presence wasn’t something regularly seen on TV. It didn’t take long for CBS to order a series, and The Incredible Hulk debuted as a mid-season replacement in March of the following year. Even though the TV series eschewed supervillains and military conflicts for smaller, human-interest stories, it didn’t matter. Both kids and parents were hooked on the Hulk, and soon there was plenty of Hulk merchandise for said parents to spend their hard-earned green on. Mego was in a great position to capitalize on Hulkmania, and quickly exploited the license while the

Hulk Want to Play! Pre-Bronze Age collectibles: Marvel’s 1966 Hulk poster, Marx’s 1967 Hulk figure, Tifton’s 1966 Hulk 45 RPM record, and the Traits’ 1969 “Nobody Loves the Hulk” record. Incredible Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Chris Franklin

original 8" Mego figure became one of their top sellers. 121/2" and 33/4" Hulk action figures were released, and Mego included the Jade Giant in its collector-aimed 5" diecast figure line, putting him in the esteemed company of Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman. Mego also produced a Hulk figure of a more dubious nature. Inspired by (or ripped off from) Kenner’s popular Stretch Armstrong, Mego made its own line of corn-syrup-filled stretchable figures under the Elastic Super Heroes brand, and the Hulk was one of them, joining Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman … but oddly enough, NOT Mr. Fantastic! [Editor’s note: However, that line did include the first stretchable superhero, Plastic Man, then the star of his own Saturday morning cartoon.]

BANNER YEARS With Mego Hulk figures selling like hotcakes, it was no surprise that savvy toymakers jumped on their coattails. Empire, famous for its ride-on toys and blow-molded holiday decorations, produced a series of licensed plastic vehicles, conveniently scaled to fit Mego’s popular 8" size. Empire released helicopters and/or

vans for CHiPs, Batman, Spider-Man, and, strangely enough, the Incredible Hulk. Sure, the idea of an 8-foottall man-brute driving a van may seem strange to diehard fans, but to toymakers, it was just a matter of taking advantage of a hot property. Empire wasn’t the only manufacturer making licensed, but unofficial additions to Mego’s line. Tara Toys, mostly known for their vinyl action-figure playcases, created the Hulk Hide-A-Way playset in 1979. The pyramid-like playcase appeared to be a mountain headquarters for the Hulk, who is shown on the vinyl-covered cardboard exterior. When the case is opened, the walls flatten out to become the floor of the high-tech Hide-A-Way. Cardboard computers are included, as well as a transmutation chamber, where children could transform the included flat, cardboard David (Bruce) Banner into the Hulk. Sears carried this playset as a catalog exclusive. Long-running toy manufacturer Remco circumvented Mego’s lock on superhero action figures by making non-articulated, electronic versions of Marvel and DC’s biggest and brightest. Remco made Hulk in both its 12" Energized and 9" Powerized lines. Hulk was once again rubbing elbows with DC and Marvel’s top

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Mego and More (clockwise from left) The Mego Hulk in box, Hulk thermos and metal lunchbox, the Mego Hulk on blister card, and the Hulk Hide-A-Way playset. Incredible Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Weird, Wild Stuff (clockwise from top left) An ad for Remco’s shirt-filling Hulk Instant Muscles, Mego’s 12" Hulk figure in box, and a boxed Hulk utility belt (?!). Incredible Hulk TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

stars, Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man. Poor Captain America managed to get a 9" figure, but not a 12" version. During this period, Hulk clearly replaced the good Captain as Marvel’s #2 merchandisable hero. Remco also made one of the most novel and appropriate Hulk toys ever conceived. Hulk Instant Muscles allowed kids to “Hulk out” just like Dr. Banner; via a vest with plastic muscles that could be inflated with an attached pump. When placed under a loose shirt, the effect was actually quite convincing. Another role-play item by Remco that was less convincing was the Hulk Utility Belt. Remco’s parent company, rack toy king AHI, made Hulk merchandise of a similarly dubious nature. Much like they had done for Spider-Man, AHI simply took its previously released Batman themed-toys and reconfigured them for the Hulk. Of course, multiple vehicles and gadgets is one of the appealing aspects of the Batman mythos, but the Hulk usually has nothing but his purple pants to keep him company. This didn’t stop AHI from making Hulk helicopters (again!), Hulk motorcycles, Hulk gamma guns, and even Hulk speedboats! While these incongruous items have a whacky charm about them, other licensors put a bit more thought into their products. FunStuf released a rather ingenious Hulk toy known as the Hulk Rage Cage. A rubber figure of the Hulk with a breakaway felt and Velcro shirt was placed inside a large plastic cage. Much like Remco’s Instant Muscles, children could pump up the figure like a balloon, enlarging the Hulk, ripping the shirt, and bursting through the walls of the cage. The figure proved so popular FunStuf applied the mechanism to figures of Marvel’s the Thing, and even Frankenstein’s Monster and Dracula.

THE GAMMA GRAVY TRAIN DERAILS As good as the ’70s were to the Hulk, the ’80s were perhaps his roughest patch as far as his merchandising goes. The early ’80s were hard times for superhero merchandise in general. Mego struggled and eventually went bankrupt, and science-fiction and fantasy toys took up much of children’s time. Just as the Hulk’s live-action series was fizzling out, an animated version was added to the popular Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends cartoon. This didn’t result in any real spike in Hulk merchandise. The character continued to appear on toy shelves via rack toys and general Marvel releases, but few memorable Hulk items appeared during this time. 36 • BACK ISSUE • Hulk in the Bronze Age Issue

Perhaps the biggest slap in the face to Hulk fans was the character’s exclusion from Mattel’s Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars action-figure line. The toy line was based on a 12-part comics miniseries where the Hulk was prominently featured, but the toy line included some rather strange figure choices. Perhaps the Hulk was snubbed due to his large size, requiring Mattel to tool an all-new body. As the major Marvel toy line of the ’80s, it seems odd that one of the company’s top characters was completely overlooked. As rough as the early ’80s were, the end of the decade was absolutely abysmal for Hulk fans and collectors. As hard as it is to believe now, very little Marvel merchandise could be found between 1987 and 1990.

GOLDEN AGE OF GREEN Thankfully, in 1990 the fledgling toy company Toy Biz acquired the Marvel license and produced a new line of Marvel superhero action figures, and Hulk was front and center in the very first series. Throughout the decade, the Hulk made numerous appearances in the main toy line, and even received his first action-figure series of his own in conjunction with his mid-’90s animated series. There, Hulk’s rogues’ gallery and supporting characters such as the Leader, the Abomination, Doc Samson, and She-Hulk were represented on toy shelves for the first time. With two recent feature films and a scene-stealing role in the massive hit Marvel’s The Avengers, it’s impossible to walk into a toy department and NOT see the Hulk somewhere. Most of these modern toys make sense, from action figures, and electronic Hulk Fists that recall the old Instant Muscles. But even today you can find the Hulk riding an ATV or a Hulk Transformer toy that turns into a tank. As long as kids can think outside the box, toy companies will gladly take their green. CHRIS FRANKLIN would like to thank Brian Heiler, of www.plaidstallions.com and author of Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings. These resources were invaluable in composing this article.

Dewey

As with a lot of things at Marvel Comics, it all started with Stan Lee. The year was 1977 and Marvel had launched a syndicated newspaper strip based on The Amazing Spider-Man, with Lee scripting the stories and TM veteran Spider-Man comic-book artist John Romita, Sr. drawing the panels. The Spider-Man strip was a success, and soon Marvel began looking around for other characters to put in the funny papers. Next out of the gate was Howard the Duck, which debuted in June 1977, followed by Conan the Barbarian, which began its run in September of the following year. Then, on Monday, October 30, 1978, The Incredible Hulk first appeared in newspapers. As with Spider-Man, Howard the Duck, and Conan, the Hulk strip was distributed by the Register and Tribune Syndicate, but while the other strips from Marvel featured supporting characters from the comic books, the Hulk strip did not, because at the time the Hulk strip began, there was a place the Jade Giant was even more widely recognized than in comic books—television. With the success of the Incredible Hulk live-action television show, covered at length earlier in this issue, Stan Cassell Lee decided to use its Fugitive-inspired formula as the basis for the Hulk newspaper strip. Adults comprise the majority of newspaper readership, and they were more likely to have seen the show than to have read the comic books. However, the stories in the Hulk newspaper strip were unique— they didn’t mirror the television show, although they utilized a similar premise. Furthermore, likenesses of the television actors was not used in the strip. Like the television show, though, the Hulk did not speak and he was not as strong or resilient as in the comic books. The Incredible Hulk newspaper strip was initially written by Lee and penciled by his brother, Larry Lieber. larry lieber Lieber had been writing and drawing comic books for Marvel since the 1950s. However, Lee soon found that he had too much on his plate and Lieber took over writing the strip as well, initially ghosting for Lee and later scripting with his name in the byline.

GOOD TIMES Lieber enjoyed working on the Hulk strip: “It started out Stan was writing it and I was drawing it. But after a while, he gave up writing it and turned it over to me. He sort of left it in my hands. So I wrote it and drew it, and that I loved most of all. It was all mine when I wrote it. I felt more creative doing that. It is a story with pictures, but the main part of it is the story. I think that if you have wonderful pictures, but a poor story,

Buckle(r) Up for the Sunday Funnies Courtesy of the strip’s second artist, Rich Buckler, the Incredible Hulk installment for Sunday, October 14, 1979. Despite the byline, its writer was (the ghosting) Larry Lieber. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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The Incredible Kupp (top) Written and illo’ed by Alan Kupperberg, the daily from September 4, 1982. (bottom) Marvel baddies Hyde and Cobra slither into Kupperberg’s Hulk— but not into print, as the strip ended without these being published … until now. Courtesy of Alan K. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

was done by Frank Giacoia and Joe Sinnott, with an occasional art mine.” Several strips featuring Hyde and the Cobra were already assist by Mike Esposito. I did ink some early strips, but it was hard to written and drawn, but never published. keep up with the deadlines, since I was still drawing comic books for Kupperberg enjoyed doing the Hulk strip, but he also kept it in Marvel, so I concentrated on just pencil art. I drew the strip for perspective, as he recalls: “When I was doing the Howard the Duck approximately six months.” strip, I lived in New York City. They ran it in, I think, The New Buckler’s replacement was no stranger to newspaper York Post, and I realized that as I walked around the city, comic strips: Alan Kupperberg. Kupperberg explains, my artwork was in every trash can that I passed by, “Rich Buckler had immediately preceded me on the whereas my comic books, people were saving them.” strip. I think he got too busy or wasn’t available The Incredible Hulk newspaper strip lasted longer to do it anymore. I had been drawing the Howard than both Howard the Duck and Conan, drawing to the Duck strip and the Conan the Barbarian strip, a close on September 4, 1982. (The last episode so when they needed help on the Hulk strip, they of the Hulk television show aired on June 2, 1982.) naturally thought of me. Of course, I had known In the early 1980s, Ace/Tempo Books reprinted several Larry when we worked together up at Atlas storylines from The Incredible Hulk newspaper strip [Seabord] Comics for Martin Goodman.” in a series of five paperback books. Like Buckler, Kupperberg ghosted some of the The Amazing Spider-Man is still in syndication earlier strips, but by late November 1979 his name and Lieber continues to draw the daily Spidey strip, appeared in the byline. Lieber still penciled some a run of some 26 years. But he still has fond memories alan kupperberg of the strips, as did artist Charles Nicholas, but of his other strip: “I liked the Hulk character and Kupperberg did the majority of the artwork on the I enjoyed writing as well as drawing the strip. I was later storylines, even taking over the scripting. Notes Kupperberg, “I was very proud when Stan looked at the Hulk strip, and he thought writing it, too, at the end. There are some sequences that I feel look it was very well written. At one point he better than others. I really like the look in the Mountain Man episode said, ‘I think it’s even more dramatic than toward the end.” He had even planned to introduce a rare appearance Spider-Man!’” of supervillains into the Hulk strip, but it was not to be. ’Nuff said. Kupperberg explains how the strip reached its conclusion: “The Sincere thanks to Larry Lieber, Rich Buckler, and Alan strip ended in the middle of a story. Sol grabbed me in the office one Kupperberg for their recollections and examples of the day late in the afternoon, and said, ‘The strip is dead.’ But we had to Hulk strip, and to Richard Morgan for the images from tie it up, so we needed six dailies to tie it up. So I went home and I his art collection. did six dailies. I was back 19 hours later with the six dailies to tie up the story, which had the Hulk walking off into the sunset or some- DEWEY CASSELL is a frequent contributor to BACK thing like that. I was going to bring him back to New York City to ISSUE and author of the book Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics, available from fight Hyde and the Cobra. I was going to have the Hulk have a new TwoMorrows Publishing. He is currently working on a sidekick or friend, temporarily, who was based on a real-life friend of book about another Hulk artist, Herb Trimpe. 40 • BACK ISSUE • Hulk in the Bronze Age Issue

Mark Arnold

Crazy Magazine began in 1973 as a black-and-white alternative to MAD. The first 14 issues were edited by Marv Wolfman and later Steve Gerber, and are among the best satire magazines ever produced, a worthy Marvel product. One of the regular artists assigned to the series was Marie Severin, sister of John Severin, who had made a comedy name for himself originally at MAD and more significantly at its competitor, Cracked. By issue Crazy #15 (Jan. 1976), the editorial reins were handed over to Paul Laikin, who had an amazing pedigree of writing for virtually all of the blackand-white humor magazines ever produced, but also editing three of the most prominent ones: Cracked, Sick, and Crazy at one time or another. With Laikin at the helm, Crazy declined from a rather witty, clever, and sometimes sardonic magazine into a somewhat tame and predictable publication along the lines of Cracked. The only thing going for Crazy at the time were the excellent covers painted by Bob Larkin and the fact that it was issued by Marvel. The humor larry hama was serviceable but unremarkable, Photo by Luigi Novi. and virtually all of the people associated with the first 14 issues went on to do other things, including Marie Severin. Then, with issue #59 (Feb. 1980), a strange thing happened. The inside back cover teased a new story written by Larry Hama and drawn by Marie Severin with a character named Teen Hulk. Obviously inspired by the recent Hulkmania of The Incredible Hulk TV show starring Bill Bixby and the Savage She-Hulk comic-book title, Teen Hulk loosely borrowed from what made Spider-Man so successful: an awkward teenager suddenly endowed with superpowers. Since the preview was only a page and Crazy had been known to not always follow through on ideas, seeing a full seven-page story in issue #60 was somewhat of a surprise. The origin story reveals that Marie Severin and Larry Hama were behind this new creation. It is a take-off on the origins of the Amazing Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk, where a teenager named Chester Weems is zapped by his dentist’s new Gamma Ray Cavity Decoder. The Decoder’s X-rays bombard Weems, and like the Incredible Hulk, Chester turns into Teen Hulk whenever he gets angry. As Teen Hulk, Weems beats up his Millard Fillmore High School bullies, and the initial story is left as a cliffhanger as Teen Hulk rides a skateboard on a collision course with a truck. Hama remembers the origin of where Teen Hulk came from: “We needed a new feature for Crazy. Jim Owsley (Christopher Priest) came up with most of it. It was funnier and more visual than a Teen Thor or any other ideas.”

Mean, Green Teen From Crazy #59 (Feb. 1980), the Larry Hama/Marie Severin teaser for the mag’s new Teen Hulk feature. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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TEEN HULK CRAZY MAGAZINE INDEX • #59 (Feb. 1980) – Untitled one-page preview written by Larry Hama and drawn by Marie Severin. • #60 (Mar. 1980) – “The Incorrigible Teen Hulk: The Origin” (7 pages) – Script: Michael Pellowski. Art: Marie Severin and John Tartaglione. A Marie Severin – Larry Hama Creation. • #62 (May 1980) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (5 pages) – Script: Mike Pellowski. Art: Tom Sutton. • #63 (June 1980) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (5 pages) – Script: Mike Pellowski. Art: Tom Sutton. • #66 (Sept. 1980) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (5 pages) – Script: no credit given. Art: Marie Severin and John Tartaglione. • #68 (Nov. 1980) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (3 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Pencils: Ron Wilson. Inks: John Tartagione. Lettering: Jose Rafael. • #69 (Dec. 1980) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (3 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art: Marie Severin. Lettering: Rick Parker. • #70 (Jan. 1981) – There is no Teen Hulk story in this issue, but Teen Hulk does appear playing the guitar on the front cover, drawn by James Sherman. • #71 (Feb. 1981) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (3 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art: Marie Severin. Lettering: Jose Rafael. • #72 (Mar. 1981) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (3 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art: Marie Severin. Lettering: Joe Albelo. • #75 (June 1981) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley and Marie Severin. Art: Marie Severin. Lettering: Irving Watanabe. • #77 (Aug. 1981) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art: Steve Toomey and Frank Giacoia. Lettering: Jose Rafael. • #78 (Sept. 1981) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (3 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art: Marie Severin. Lettering: Rick Parker. • #79 (Oct. 1981) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art: Marie Severin. Lettering: John Morelli. • #81 (Dec. 1981) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art and lettering: Bob McLeod. Teen Hulk also appears on the front cover, painted by Bob Larkin. • #82 (Jan. 1982) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art and lettering: Bob McLeod. • #83 (Feb. 1982) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art: Bob McLeod. • #84 (Mar. 1982) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art and lettering: Bob McLeod. • #85 (Apr. 1982) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art and lettering: Bob McLeod. • #87 (June 1982) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art and lettering: Gary Hallgren. • #88 (July 1982) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art: Gary Hallgren. • #89 (Aug. 1982) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art: Gary Hallgren. • #90 (Sept. 1982) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art: Gary Hallgren. • #91 (Oct. 1982) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art: Gary Hallgren. • #92 (Dec. 1982) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art: Gary Hallgren. • #93 (Feb. 1983) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art and lettering: Gary Hallgren. • #94 (Apr. 1983) – “Teen-Hulk!” (no title given) (4 pages) – Script: Jim Owsley. Art: Gary Hallgren. 44 • BACK ISSUE • Hulk in the Bronze Age Issue

my strength has always been humor and caricature more than superheroes. It’s too bad they weren’t equally in demand in our comics culture. “I was working on several projects around the same time, because the Teen Hulk strip was only four pages a month,” McLeod says. “I think I stopped doing Teen Hulk when I started work on The New Mutants, because that took up so much of my time.” With #87, Gary Hallgren took over the art chores until the end of Teen Hulk’s run with the cancellation of Crazy Magazine with issue #94. Will Teen Hulk resume? Will the series ever be reprinted? There are 102 pages of stories that appeared regularly from issue #59 through 94. To my knowledge, Teen Hulk or Baby Hulk never appeared in any other Marvel publication, but will there be a reprint? McLeod comments, “I really doubt it, although you never know. I don’t think humor comics sell well enough, for whatever reasons.” Hama adds, “Probably not. Seen the sales figures for MAD lately?” MARK ARNOLD is a pop-culture historian. His books cover the subjects of Harvey Comics, Archie Comics, Underdog, Cracked Mazagine, The Beatles, and Walt Disney Productions. He also also appeared on DVD commentaries for Casper, Underdog, and Tennessee Tuxedo. He is currently at work on another book about Harvey Comics.

Madness: (mad-nis) noun 1. the quality state of being mad: as rage, insanity, extreme folly 2. extremely foolish behavior.

John “THE MEGO STRETCH HULK” Cimino by

Madness: a word that best describes the Abomination, a villainous monstrosity that has been terrorizing the Marvel Universe for many years. His heated rivalry with the Incredible Hulk is legendary and has caused more collateral damage than the US Army cares to admit. By gaining immense size and strength through gamma-radiation poisoning, the Russian spy known as Emil Blonsky went from a quest to conquer the world to losing what was left of his sanity. Little did he know that this “transformation” would cause more pain and heartache in his life than he could have ever imagined. Not only would he lose the woman he loved, he would be constantly thwarted by the Hulk and repeatedly used and manipulated by villains for their nefarious schemes. Through it all, Emil would suffer from extreme emotional breakdowns and act so irrationally at times that no one, not even he himself, knew what he was going to do next. So the question has always remained: Was it Emil’s brush with gamma radiation that caused his descent into madness, or was his suppressed insanity already there?

“He was more complex than other villainous brutes.” – Steve Englehart

WHO IS EMIL BRONSKY? A vast majority of the Earth’s population cannot survive exposure to gamma radiation. This powerful radiation causes sickness and, in almost every case, immediate death. However, for a select few, gamma radiation transforms or mutates a person’s physical form based upon their subconscious image. In Emil’s case, this unique transformation was something more. It seems to affect his mental stability. Bringing up the question, Was Emil insane after the gamma radiation entered his physiology or was he always unstable from the very beginning?, with each exciting appearance of this massive monster, one could almost chart his descent into the insane. Even from his first appearance there is a hint of what was in store for this much-maligned enemy of Ol’ Greenskin.

Monster Mash-Up The Incredible One versus the Abominable One in a dynamite 1979 painting by Rich Larson and Steve Fastner, produced for a Marvel portfolio issued in 1980 by SQP, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com). TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Marvel Comics’ The Incredible Hulk of the 1980s was a transformative period for the Green Goliath with two milestone runs, the Bill Mantlo and Peter David eras. These runs explored the many facets of Bruce Banner’s fragmented psyche and subjected the Hulk to multiple physical and mental alterations. These groundbreaking stories challenged who the Hulk was and proved to be fertile ground that would inspire succeeding writers and artists.

ENTER: MANTLO Bill Mantlo had been writing for Marvel Comics since the mid-1970s, and took over as the new regular writer from Roger Stern with The Incredible Hulk #245 (Mar. 1980). The Hulk enjoyed an increased popularity because of the character’s TV series and proudly displayed “Marvel’s TV Sensation” on its covers. However, Mantlo broke from the TV show’s formula and took the book in his own direction. “Mantlo was huge with the emotional stories and lives of the characters that he cared about so deeply,” writer Greg Pak (The Incredible Hulk, 2006–2011) explains. “His Hulk work in particular was stunning in terms of the depth of his exploration of Bruce Banner and the Hulk. On an emotional level, Mantlo dug deep into those depths and looked at the Hulk and Banner in many different incarnations and found so many different ways to explore the character.” bill mantlo “Jarella” was the first word of Mantlo dialogue as the Hulk made his way across the New Mexico desert to the Gamma Base, searching for the remains of his love Jarella. Mantlo let us know from the start that his Hulk was an emotional being with a volatile anger, but also with love and compassion. The Hulk found Jarella’s body in the Gamma Base’s morgue, and through a series of flashbacks Mantlo spotlighted their love, creating emotional ties with the reader. The Hulk’s love for Jarella won over Captain Mar-Vell (Rick Jones’ sometimes partner), who stopped fighting the Hulk and helped him return to Jarella’s sub-atomic world with her body. On Jarella’s world (Incredible Hulk #247, May 1980), the Hulk battled through waves of threats to bury Jarella’s body in the sacred Valley of Life. Readers palpably felt the levels of frustration building as the Hulk had to overcome these hurdles. All he wanted to

Hulks Come in All Colors A Hulk hallmark of the 1980s was writer Peter David’s Gray Hulk, paving a path for the Red Hulk and other variations seen in more recent years. Detail from the cover of The Incredible Hulk #332 (June 1987). Art by Steve Geiger and Bob McLeod. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Jason Shayer

do was to put Jarella to rest. His ordeal was accompanied by an underlying feeling of loss and sadness. The final obstacle was the Elder of the Universe called the Gardener. In a typical Mantlo moment, the Gardener learned a lesson in humility from the Hulk’s love and allowed the Hulk to put Jarella to rest. “Bill’s approach to the Hulk was unique in the fact that he tried to humanize ‘the beast,’” Bill’s brother, Mike Mantlo, reminds us. “Bill took the green monster far beyond his simplistic ‘HULK SMASH!’ persona, giving him human emotions and flaws (like the rest of us).” Mantlo hit the ground running thanks to Sal Buscema, with whom he had worked in the mid-1970s on Marvel Team-Up. “Here I was being taught how to write comic books by Sal Buscema, who would in essence take my overly convoluted plots and milk them down to what they should have been, which was good, solid stories,” admitted Mantlo about their early work together in an interview in Comics Feature #17 (June 1982). “And I found as I wrote with Sal, that I was tailoring my stuff to fit his style, to the point where ninety percent of the time now, I think in terms of Sal Buscema when I’m plotting a story.” Over the next year, Mantlo and Buscema took the Hulk on a whirlwind tour of the world, visiting Israel, Egypt, Afghanistan, Russia, and Japan before returning to the US. While his stories felt driven by the TV series’ “Fugitive formula,” Mantlo tackled tough social justice issues such as the conflict in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan. Editor Al Milgrom, in the letters page for issue #258 (Apr. 1981), stated: “Strong statements about society and injustice were ever Marvel trademarks (…) we are committed to speaking out whenever we see the need. That doesn’t always mean that we’ll be right, or that Marveldom assembled will agree with our stance, but taking a stand never means making sure it’s fashionable first.”

The Hulk didn’t enjoy the comforts of home for long, being drafted into a motley crew of alien monsters tasked with defeating the cosmic threat known as the Galaxy Master (Incredible Hulk #269, Mar. 1982). In the next issue, the Hulk found himself on Halfworld, where he met Rocket Raccoon and helped him on his ongoing quest to keep the Gideon’s Bible out of the paws of the evil mole known as Judson Jakes.

Banner Smash! (left) Hulk #245 (Mar. 1980) cover by editor Al Milgrom. (right) Page 19 from Incredible Hulk #268 (Feb. 1982), penciled and inked by Sal Buscema. Bruce Banner seizes control of a situation where he sees an opportunity to free himself of the Hulk! From the collection of Joe Hollon.

AMNESTY In David Yurkovich’s book, Mantlo - A Life In Comics (2007), Mantlo revealed how he struggled early on: “I did retreads of old Hulk stories to try and find a new direction, and just kept doing more and more repetition of what had already happened. Then Al Milgrom said, ‘Well, don’t accept this. If you want to make changes, make them. Take some risks.’ That’s when we decided to give Hulk Bruce Banner’s intelligence. From that point on I felt as if I had finally had a direction and control over the character. So I guess I took a year and half or maybe two years to get to the point. I said I was going to write what I wanted to write. I just took off. I was having fun.” After a series of events that had overdosed him with gamma rays, Banner discovered in issue #272 (June 1982) Hulk in the Bronze Age Issue

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THE INCREDIBLE HULK (1982 ANIMATED SERIES) EPISODE GUIDE Episode 1: “Tomb of the Unknown Hulk” (Airdate: 9/18/82) Synopsis: Dr. Octopus invades the Gamma Base as solar radiation makes it impossible for Bruce Banner to control his transformations. Episode 2: “Prisoner of the Monster” (Airdate: 9/25/82) Synopsis: After hearing a legend about an ancient man afflicted by a Hulk-like transformation curse, Banner travels to South America in search of a cure. Episode 3: “Origin of the Hulk” (Airdate: 10/2/82) Synopsis: Bruce Banner is caught in a gamma explosion and transforms into the monstrous Hulk for the first time. Episode 4: “When Monsters Meet” (Airdate: 10/9/82) Synopsis: Bruce Banner visits Paris while a modern-day Hunchback of Notre Dame seeks a cure to his own monstrosity. Episode 5: “The Cyclops Project” (Airdate: 10/16/82) Synopsis: Gen. Ross implements new defense technology that gains sentience and traps the Hulk, Rick, and Betty in a series of holograms. Episode 6: “Bruce Banner Unmasked” (Airdate: 10/23/82) Synopsis: The Puppet Master comes close to letting out all of Banner’s secrets when he takes control of the Hulk. Episode 7: “The Creature and the Cavegirl” (Airdate: 10/30/82) Synopsis: A scientist’s time-travel device goes haywire when the Hulk destroys it. Thrust back into prehistoric times, the Hulk finds a woman who is perhaps as savage as himself.

Episode 8: “It Lives! It Grows! It Destroys!” (Airdate: 11/6/82) Synopsis: A power-hungry scientist named Dr. Proto creates a being made of yellow slime that multiplies in size as it consumes matter. Episode 9: “The Incredible Shrinking Hulk” (Airdate: 11/13/82) Synopsis: An accident ruins a gamma ray experiment and reduces the Hulk to miniature size. It’s up to a tiny Bruce Banner to get things sorted out. Episode 10: “Punks on Wheels” (Airdate: 9/17/83) Synopsis: A biker gang is being used as a means to an end by one of the Hulk’s all-time greatest enemies, the Leader. Episode 11: “Enter: She-Hulk” (Airdate: 9/24/83) Synopsis: The Hulk teams up with his cousin to stop a threat from HYDRA, while Banner tries to learn how to gain more control of the monster within. Episode 12: “The Boy Who Saw Tomorrow” (Airdate: 10/1/83) Synopsis: Betty’s nephew Jonah has precognitive abilities that foreshadow the Hulk’s involvement with an attempt to sabotage an American space mission. Episode 13: “The Hulk Destroys Bruce Banner” (Airdate: 10/8/83) Synopsis: Banner tests out a new machine that is designed to move matter from one place to another. He turns into the Hulk when testing it and everyone assumes that Bruce Banner is dead.

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his superpowered cousin still retains her own psyche and intelligence when she turns into She-Hulk and hopes that he can learn how to master that kind of control for himself. He has a few moments of actually being in the “driver’s seat,” but ultimately the Hulk’s rage is simply too much to keep a lid on. It’s another disappointing setback for one of the world’s greatest scientists. One of the series’ high points comes at the end of its seventh episode, “The Creature and the Cavegirl.” Flung back millions of years into the past thanks to the malfunction of a new time-travel device, the Hulk finds his savage self quite at home among the earliest humans. Hulk discovers a woman who can be almost as fearsome as he is, and he really thinks he has found himself a companion. By the end of the episode, of course, the time-travel device is repaired and the Hulk must say his goodbyes to the cavegirl. Slipping down the face of the monster is a steady flow of tears. The Hulk doesn’t want to leave and certainly wouldn’t have chosen to … the decision rests squarely on the small shoulders of Bruce Banner. In “The Hulk Destroys Bruce Banner,” the show’s final episode, Banner gets even more desperate to end the threat of the Hulk forever. After being transported away to some unknown town, Bruce Banner walks the streets following a reversion from Hulk form. “I am the Hulk! Throw me in jail,” he says as he walks into a police station. Not surprisingly, the officers just take him for some kind of lunatic and send him on his way. In the final scene of the series, Bruce Banner returns after everyone thought him dead at the hands of the Hulk. Betty’s anger toward the Hulk intensifies as she exclaims, “I hope he never comes back!” It is at this moment that the familiar voice of Stan Lee returns, summing up everything about the tragedy of the scientist and his inner monster: “No one hopes it more than Bruce Banner … for as long as the Hulk lives, he can never tell the girl in his arms how much he loves her.” At age five, CHRISTOPHER LAROCHELLE discovered superheroes on the small screen in cartoons like Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men ... a lifelong collection was born. Take a look at his comics-related scrawlings over at http://clarocomics.blogspot.com.

Daniel DeAngelo

With the big-screen success of The Avengers, more attention has been given to the Hulk’s membership in that team. The Hulk can now be seen with the Avengers in the comics and on TV (both titled Avengers Assemble). Since he was a founding member, newer fans probably assume that Hulk has had as long a history with the team as Iron Man or Thor and might just be surprised to learn that Hulk actually quit in Avengers #2 (Nov. 1963)! The Hulk, you see, was never much of a team player—a character trait that worked against him in the Avengers, but which made him a perfect candidate for Marvel’s so-called “non-team,” the Defenders. As covered in BACK ISSUE #65, the Defenders are an inconsistent gathering of anti-heroes including Dr. Strange, Namor the Sub-Mariner, and the Silver Surfer, who occasionally join forces to defend the Earth from evil. For someone as antisocial as the Hulk, the Defenders were a much better fit than an organized unit like the Avengers.

HULK NOT LIKE GROUPS When Dr. Strange first proposes the idea of joining forces with Hulk and Sub-Mariner as the “Defenders” in Marvel Feature #1 (Dec. 1971), Hulk responds, “Hulk never wants to get together again. Never! Hulk was in group once—called Avengers. Didn’t like it.” But like it or not (and he often didn’t like it), the Defenders would get together again, and the Hulk would usually be among them. “As in the first couple of issues,” says Defenders creator Roy Thomas, “I saw him as the ultimate I-don’t-want-to-be-in-any-dumb-group guy who still (unknown to himself) kinda needs their companionship.” When Dr. Strange first seeks out the Hulk to join him and Namor, he appears in his astral form and goads the Hulk into following him. Once the Hulk reaches Strange’s physical form and he explains their need, Hulk says, “If you want to be Hulk’s friend—Hulk will go with you.” Writer Steve Englehart notes, “The Defenders weren’t supposed to be a team, and the Hulk was easy to fit into that because he wasn’t a team player. His thought process is pretty limited, but that worked for the Defenders, because all you had to do was point him in one direction, and if you can convince him to go, he’ll go.” Sometimes, when things went wrong, Hulk would point out that he was opposed to the Defenders from the start. “Hulk thinks group is stupid idea!” he says in #54 (Dec. 1977). “Always has!” Englehart adds, “The secret of writing Hulk stories is to have what other characters get out of him; he’s going to give them the same thing in a very limited range. It’s a question of how other people play off of him. He’s the 500-pound elephant in the room, and the rest of you have to deal with him. Sub-Mariner didn’t like dealing with indirection and would stand up to the Hulk. He was

Really, Would You Want to Team Up with This Guy?? The Hulk “and” Power Man and Iron Fist, with guest-star Machine Man. Detail from the cover of Marvel Team-Up Annual #3 (1980). Art by Frank Miller and Joe Rubinstein. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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How Mantlo, David, and Freud Redefined the Incredible Hulk The True Monster Revealed

Ronnie Deen

Scribe Bill Mantlo’s tale “Monster” in The Incredible Hulk #312 (Oct. 1985) gave a new face to Bruce Banner’s rage. (left) Cover art by Mike Mignola and Bill Sienkiewicz. (right) Interior flashback sequence penciled by Mignola, inked by Gerry Talaoc, and colored by Bob Sharen. TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc.

There is a monster inside of Bruce Banner, but is it a monster created by science or by the mind? This is the question that two writers chose to explore within the pages of The Incredible Hulk. Bill Mantlo addressed the creation and cause for the Hulk in the penultimate story within his storyline “Crossroads of Eternity” in Incredible Hulk #300–313 (Oct. 1984–Nov. 1985), where he revealed Bruce Banner as the victim of child abuse. (“The Crossroads of Eternity” was a 13-issue storyline that saw the Hulk banished to a limbo-like plane that led him to different dimensions and planets. The end of each adventure saw the Hulk banished back to the very beginning, at the Crossroads.) Peter David followed up by exploring the psychological impact that the abuse had on Banner, resulting in the creation of multiple personalities. Make no mistake about it—these developments were extremely important to the character. When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the Hulk in 1962, they created a modern-day version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that served as a warning against science advancing faster than humans could handle, the result being a monster that terrorizes the populace. However, by the 1980s that depiction was old and stale. Establishing a history of child abuse and treating the Hulk as the physical manifestation of a mental disorder forever changed the dynamic of the character, taking him away from the Jekyll-and-Hyde analogy and making him the physical embodiment of modern psychosis and trauma. When Bill Mantlo became the Hulk writer in the early ’80s, he knew that the character needed some major revising. The old days of Banner 72 • BACK ISSUE • Hulk in the Bronze Age Issue

showing up and “Hulk Smash!” had become passé. Mantlo was a writer with a unique view and one who always wanted to blaze his own path. As Mantlo biographer David Yurkovich told Greg Pak in an interview, “On Incredible Hulk, Bill also bucked the status quo. The Hulk evolved from savage to intelligent to primal” (Pakbuzz.com, Feb. 2007). For decades, Dr. Bruce Banner was just a run-of-the-mill, meek scientist victimized by his own scientific achievement. The Hulk was merely the monster created from atomic science that would show up when Banner was under stress. Very little was given in the way of explanation beyond that. Mantlo’s approach was to show the Hulk as the personified inner rage of Bruce Banner, long suppressed for reasons unknown. This was a substantial change in the character. Before, the monster was created in response to whatever external stimulus was threatening him, but now there was evidence that the Hulk was always there under the surface. The Hulk slowly changed from an independent creature created from the mutated atoms of Banner to a part of Banner. It wasn’t until “Monster” in Incredible Hulk #312 (Oct. 1985), the penultimate issue of the “Crossroads” storyline, that the cause of Banner’s meekness and repressed anger was revealed when it was shown that he suffered physical abuse at the hands of his father, Brian Banner, ultimately resulting in Bruce witnessing the murder of his mother at his father’s hands. The importance of this issue cannot be overstated. The influences on Mantlo to approach this topic were common in the 1980s: Child abuse had become a huge societal issue in the United States by 1985,

Mainstream Awareness Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly Multiple Personality Disorder) reached a broader profile thanks in part to the theatrical release of The Three Faces of Eve, starring Joanne Woodward, and the telefilm Sybil, starring Sally Field. The Three Faces of Eve © 1957 20th Century Fox. Sybil © 1976 Lorimar Productions.

thanks in part to the Kern County child-abuse case in California that was on the minds of the American populace. The American Humane Association estimated that in 1984, 1.4 children were either abused or neglected. It is safe to say that by revealing Bruce Banner as an abuse victim, the Incredible Hulk became topical as a character that many could identify with and took on more significance as the very personification of repressed rage felt by victims of abuse. The biggest change in the comic book was reader’s view of the Hulk, who had previously been portrayed as a pseudo-antagonist to Banner himself. The Hulk was now seen as much of a victim as Banner had been and became a sympathetic creature of a sort. In the end, it was a single issue that touched upon the abuse suffered by Bruce. However, that history of abuse is extremely important not only for the reasons of relevancy but also for the fact that it was a necessary history that would lead to writer Peter David delving deeper into the complex psychological nature of Banner. The biggest implication of this revelation was the effect it had on the entire landscape of the Hulk’s history; it put his very existence into a much more relatable context. Sufferers of child abuse routinely bury their emotions and pain as a way to cope with trauma. An abused child taught to hide their emotions and bury their pain may result in a schism within his psyche. Peter David took this knowledge and further developed the Hulk to be the physical representation of that schism. When David took on the writing duties of The Incredible Hulk in the late 1980s, his creation of Joe Fixit established Bruce Banner as a man who suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder (D.I.D.). As Mantlo helped establish the Green Hulk as the personification of Bruce Banner’s anger, Joe firmly established the behemoths as personas (or “alters”) resulting from the trauma of Banner’s early life. In the entire decade of the 1980s, there were more than 20,000 cases of Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly Multiple Personality Disorder) in the United States alone. Thanks in part to the films The Three Faces of Eve and Sybil, there was a growing fascination with the disorder in the popular culture of America. David’s story of the Hulk as Joe Fixit was the result of the psychological impact that was built upon the work Mantlo started. One of the current accepted causes of Dissociative Identity Disorder is trauma in childhood that can lead, in most cases, to repressed emotions and

memories of the event. This is either due to guilt, anger, or fear. In many cases this is a form of self-preservation on the part of the child. However, in these cases where the patient begins to create new personas, this is believed to be caused by the brain compartmentalizing the grief and anger in a form that the person can handle. The patient’s base personality is more often than not unaware of the existence of the alters or their actions. The person enters into a sort of fugue state, at which point one of the alternate personas takes over. Bruce Banner suffered this thanks to the genetic mutation caused by the gamma bomb. Sufferers of D.I.D. only change personality traits and behavioral norms of the base persona. Any physical changes are merely cosmetic, with mostly appearance changes in the form of clothing, makeup, and hairstyles. However, Bruce experiences a complete transformation, representing a part of the Freudian dynamic of the Ego, Id, and Superego in its basest level. The Ego would be Banner. He is the intelligent center that interacts and interprets the outside world and stimulus. The Ego is formed once the person becomes self-aware. The Id is pure animalistic instincts. It is all the negative, primitive emotions with no moral or intelligent essence. The Id is established from birth; it is the basic nature of the psyche. It is where the survival instinct dwells. It cannot interpret the outside world; it merely concerns itself with its own immediate gratifications. Could this be anything other than the savage Hulk, a being animalistic in nature and fueled by all the negative emotions found in humanity? But what gave rise to this well of rage and anger? What could be a possible reason for this? The Ego has to give release to the baser instincts of the Id within the appropriate contexts in order to maintain harmony within. This interaction is normally hindered in the minds of sufferers of child abuse. Children with a history of abuse have been found to bury their negative emotions due to conditioning. Children of an abusive parent tend to bury these emotions out of fear of retaliation by that parent. It’s a form of denial used as a defense mechanism in order to function in that environment. What this leads to, in later years, is the eruption of those negative feelings that the child never learned to handle. This tends to be the underlying cause of why abused children become abusive themselves. The Ego is forced to bury the Id and is never taught how to express those emotions in constructive ways. Hulk in the Bronze Age Issue

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