INCREDIBLE HULK #5-6 (1963)

Issue #5 is the first appearance of Tyrannus, who will wage a long war with Mole Man in the future for the control of Earth’s underground.  But this first appearance is over in 14 pages.  In the issue’s second story, Hulk is clearly flying again…

He’s also become very abrasive, repeatedly calling Rick Jones names like “stupid” and “dummy.”  And not only ha he joined the Trenchcoat Disguise club, which heretofore had only Thing as a member, but he’s also cosplaying as a yeti…

…And fights the Chinese army.

Throughout the issue, Jack Kirby’s motion lines clearly indicate flight, while Stan Lee’s narration repeatedly says Hulk is leaping.

Interesting to see the two having conflict in the issue, with Stan winning, of course, because as editor he’s got the final word.

There’s no explanation why he appears to be becoming less smart again.–but that’s definitely happening.  Then, in issue #6, Steve Ditko takes over as artist, and we get the first partial transformation and the first clear indication that Banner and Hulk have different personalities…

This is the final issue of Hulk Volume 1.  It ends with him becoming Banner fully–and, it appears, unless he’s exposed to gamma rays again, his life as Hulk is over.  It ends with Banner reunited with Betty and Rick foreshadowing a return for Hulk.

From here, no more Hulk until he appears in The Avengers in 1964), from whence he will become a title character in the ongoing  Tales To Astonish anthology series. These issues aren’t very good.  Stan and Jack were right to retire the character for a while, and bring him back when they had a better idea what to do with him.

Leave a Comment