Ah, the Hulk. The big green, lovable guy that nobody seems to know what to do with. Sometimes he's a superhero. Sometimes he's an intelligent superhero. Sometimes his best friends throw him into space and he comes back and beats all of them in near-mortal combat. Sometimes he dies. Sometimes there's an entire squadron of Hulks. And to think all of this started when the fine folk at Marvel in 1962 just thought "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was a cool story, let's make that a superhero." Weird how things work out 55 years later.
Some of you may be wondering why the Hulk in the cover image is grey rather than green. Well he was intended to be grey forever, but a now-famous printing accident turned him green. Fans responded well and the Hulk was forever changed to the green beast we see today. There were a few occasions when grey Hulk would appear, and that was as a more sentient Hulk (before it became an everyday thing for Banner and the Hulk to share a single mind/ body).
Now while the connection between Banner and the Hulk are similar to Jekyl and Hyde (or, if you're a Power Rangers fan, Hekyl and Snide), the true inspiration for the Hulk came from the original Frankenstein monster movies, since Stan Lee saw the Hulk as ultimately a sympathetic character. While those movies still portray him as monstrous, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein ultimately turns Frankenstein into, essentially, a true human, with feelings of love and hate like all of us. I think this interpretation more fits the Hulk, particularly as we see him now.
See, many of you know the Hulk from The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Over time the character does develop and becomes more of a team player, a bit more human. The man and monster are less visible to see. This development has been going on for the last fifty years of comics, though it seems the biggest Hulk stories focus on the now-cliche question: "What if the Hulk snapped?" They're just as bad as the "What if Superman killed someone?" question.
What's incredible to me is how drastically the Hulk's origin story has changed. A lot of the times in comics, we usually get an origin story change that's different, but similar enough to the original concept. Sometimes, especially in these earlier stories, we don't get the full origin story until later. Personalities and situations will change over time, obviously, as the comics and their meta-timeline evolve. But man oh man will this comic introduce something that'll make you go "really?" when you read it. Let's find out what that is!
The comic is standard for the time and paints a pretty solid picture of what it's going to be about: some geek in glasses morphing into some dude with completely different hair. But, since I'm a bit of a jerk, I'll poke a little fun at it. Like how it says "Fantasy as you like it!" Yeah, great, except this story is way more science fiction than it is fantasy. It has everything to do with some guy deciding to build a gamma bomb and then jumping out into the blast field (though we'll get to that). Next there's the "man or monster or both" bit that could've been slapped onto any "Hulk" comic prior to 2017. And finally there's the people in the back. It could be clever foreshadowing for things to come, but for anyone who hasn't yet read the comic, it looks like those military men are pointing at the Hulk and shooting the missile at him. Don't they see the innocent civilians standing right there?
This story is unique compared to any other I've reviewed so far in how it is constructed: the comic is divided into five different parts. Nowadays, this single comic would probably end up being a five issue arc (and then subsequently get cancelled, because that's how Marvel comics work).
Part 1 begins with, you guessed it, Bruce Banner, a scientist obsessed with gamma radiation who has just completed the construction of the G-Bomb!
Banner, smoking a cigar in front of a computer like always, is apparently incredible nervous despite his calm demeanor. The Frankenstein allusion is all the more prevalent here as he addresses his counterpart, a scientist named Igor. Igor is not a bumbling, hunchbacked fool. Instead he's Russian. Just remember that this comic was made in the 60s and you'll know where his story winds up.
They're rudely interrupted by General Thunderbolt Ross, who proceeds to berate Banner that the bomb is not complete. Obviously he wants an unfinished product so we can totally use it on the Russians in this cold war. Yeah. Great thinking. Next you'll tell me he wants to create some stupid Registration Act for the Avengers in a mega-hit blockbuster movie.
But while this is going on, Tony Stark is sitting around in a hotel room nudging Banner to do it while they're both getting stupid drunk and--
Oh, wait, I forgot, this is before that stupid retcon. Silly me, thinking Tony Stark should at all be involved with the Hulk's continuity. Wouldn't that be great?!
So the plan gets going but it seems like a certain side-character really wanted in on this story.
And you know the story. Banner gets caught in the blast, sucks in a ton of radiation, and badda-bing, he'll be the Hulk unless he cancels his free trial.
The man Banner saved from the explosion (somehow...why would the test site be so close to the bomb/ was the explosion really so small?) is Rick Jones, who would later go on to not only be a sidekick to Captain America, but have a hand in forming the very first team of Avengers. That's actually pretty awesome.
Banner begins to feel funny, thinking he's about to die, but instead he transforms into the Incredible
Blue Hulk!
So yeah, I guess the first wasn't originally grey, he was blue. Also I can't help but feel that in the second panel he's not slapping Rick Jones, he's actually showing him off like some college professor showing off the guest he's brought to class.
Also: Jesus, Rick Jones, are you made of metal! You're one of the few humans that can take a shot from the Hulk like that and live!
Something you may notice is that the Hulk managed to speak a complete sentence. Oddly enough (and similar to the Thing back in Fantastic Four #1), the Hulk manages to speak fluently throughout the issue. He and Banner seem to be two separate entities living in the shared body. Again, it plays to the Jekyll-Hyde dynamic that Lee and Kirby wanted to mix with Frankenstein. While it is jarring to see nowadays, it does add an extra layer of humanity to the Hulk throughout the issue.
He isn't some raging monster. He's just another person that is lost and confused and doesn't have the proper rationale to do anything proper about it. He has all of Bruce Banner's memories and feelings but can't seem to handle them properly.
So the Hulk escapes and Part 1 ends with Rick Jones going after him.
Part 2 opens with the naming of the Hulk. Yeah. And guess who names him. No, really, I want you to go through your list of Marvel characters to think of who gives the Hulk his name. You ready?
You're wrong.
Whoever the heck that soldier is should be given BILLIONS of dollars for coming up with the name on the spot like that! He should at least take a cut of the Avengers's pay.
As the Hulk finally turns his proper grey--and looks like little more than a slim bodybuilder--he speaks a little less fluid and realizes that he needs the gamma radiation formula to turn himself normal again.
However, upon arrival at the house, we discover that Igor was evil this whole time! And he engages the Hulk in a furious battle: Russian scientist and raging blue-grey American monster! WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
So somehow Igor escapes and for some even stranger reason Bruce Banner had the formula tied to the bottom of a beaker...
And for the biggest "excuse me" moment of the comic:
The sun rises and, all of a sudden, the Hulk reverts back into Bruce Banner!
We'll ignore the science behind "I was hit by a gamma bomb and can transform into a hulking beast because the Sun goes away" and instead just remember that this is based on Jekyll and Hyde's logic of "The Sun goes away and so the monster comes out."
Wait...
Anyway so Rick Jones and Dr. Banner assess the pretty crappy situation before they're rudely interrupted by the cops, ending Part 2.
Part 3 picks up immediately and Betty Ross, General Ross's daughter, bails Dr. Banner out since he's a scientist, or something. It's a pretty lame excuse. Betty's biggest contribution to this comic is just so there could be a female role and provide ignored emotional support to Banner. He basically treats her as if she just kind of exists, constantly keeping her out of the loop. And yet we're supposed to have an emotional connection with her by the end that was never established prior.
The police begin their search for the Hulk, equating him to a loose bear or gorilla.
Because, you know, bears and gorillas are known to do be capable of taking down all of Earth's mightiest heroes in a single day.
Like Deadpool. Duh.
Part 3 ends with Banner contemplating what will happen when the Sun does finally set, and what will become of the Hulk.
Part 4 begins in prison, where Igor--looking immensely different--uses a chip in his fingernail to communicate with his allies in Russia.
DUDE.
How do I order that kind of manicure?
The Russians then contact the Gargoyle--
--no, not quite.
They all are too terrified to contact him, so we get two pages of solid padding before we meet our Gargoyle...
...who looks absolutely nothing like a Gargoyle but is grotesque enough that you would swear Frank Miller were drawing him.
He shall serve as our primary protagonist, claiming he has the one weapon that can take down the Hulk.
Meanwhile in America, Bruce Banner has the clever idea of taking the Hulk as far away from society as he can so the Hulk will have nothing to destroy out in the open. It's a great idea, but why does he bring Rick Jones along, too? If you want to put nobody in danger, you wouldn't bring anyone to be endangered!
Betty Ross, with General Ross, ponders the fate of our mysterious Dr. Banner. And is it me or does she look like she's about to burst into song?
Just look at the way she's standing, the way she's posed. She's about to sing to the night's sky (yes, that is the night's sky we're looking at). With the yellow dress and western atmosphere, you'd swear her and Emma Stone's character Mia from La La Land are the same person.
Except Mia actually had a personality!
The Hulk spies on Betty, rendering her unconscious when she sees him, and then the Gargoyle appears, ending Part 5.
And so we come to the final part, and if it feels like I'm rushing through the comic now it's only because there's nothing unique about the ending.
There's a forced "beauty is on the inside" message that comes out of nowhere regarding the Gargoyle, the Gargoyle suddenly turns good because Banner manages to change him back using gamma radiation (how'd he get his hands on that?) and the Gargoyle turns on the Russians.
Thus, the comic ends with Bruce Banner and Rick Jones soaring away in a Russian missile rocket headed for America, where I'm sure nobody will confuse it as a declaration of war.
Say, what was that thing that happened in 1961, again?
Anyway, this comic is perfectly harmless, and a bit of fun if you just ride with all of the goofy sciences. Sure the explanation of how Banner and the Hulk swap doesn't make any sense, but it's radiation, so it can do whatever it wants in comics.
Rick Jones is probably the biggest highlight of the book, providing some youthful levity and humor to it. Banner's incompetence is also remarkable, as is Ross's utter lack of compassion for humanity. There is a sympathetic aspect to the Hulk that I enjoyed, and would be explored much better in later stories. For an origin story, this is probably one of the best ones, telling a rather compact tale and introducing several brand new character and concepts to the Marvel Universe that we still see today. If you're curious about the Hulk's origin, check it out, see what you think for yourself.
Next time, it's another origin story...of sorts. Ever wonder how the Justice League formed? Me too! Except the New 52's Justice League doesn't start with that...instead, you should ask yourself: ever wonder how Batman and Green Lantern met in the New 52 universe?
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