Incredible Hulk: Beauty and the Behemoth

The Incredible Hulk (1962-1963) #1

by Stan Lee, Steve Englehart, John Byrne

The Incredible Hulk has gone through many a transformation since he burst on the scene in the wake of an ill-fated Gamma Bomb experiment in 1962. Throughout his checkered history, however, one character has remained a constant in the annals of the Green Goliath: Betty Ross Banner, girlfriend and later wife of the Hulk's alter-ego, Dr. Bruce Banner. This retrospective volume charts the history of the Hulk through the experiences of Betty, from the monster's origin up to Betty's death in this June's shocking issue of The Incredible Hulk.Introduced as the meek but beautiful daughter of irascible General "Thunderbolt" Ross, Betty always represented the unattainable to withdrawn scientist Bruce Banner. After his transformation into the hulk, this perceived gulf grew even wider as the pressure of hiding his second self consumed much of Banner's life. Betty would marry Colonel Glenn Talbot, head of the Army's task force assigned to stopping the Hulk's rampages. Eventually, however, the two would reunite and finally marry, with Betty grounding Bruce in the real world and giving him new reason to fight against the monster within him throughout his various transformations.

Containing material from Incredible Hulk volume 1 #1, and Incredible Hulk volume 2 #'s 169, 319, 344, 372, 377 and 346.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comic Book

144 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

About the author

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Reviews

[Sfk · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK. This book shows the origin of the Incrdeible Hulk and spans from the Cold War to the early 2000s. I have always thought the Incrdeible Hulk was a parble about the importance of self-control.

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

We assume the best: that publishing a book reprinting important moments in the life of Bruce Banner and Betty Ross was a good idea. The problem is in the execution, and this should have been obvious once some assistant editor gathered together the stories.

The Marvel age of comics is an age of continuity. Thus the book begins with Bruce and Betty's first appearance together in the too-oft' reprinted origin story, then we skip to a much later story when Betty is a harpy. No, the story in which she was turned into a harpy is not included. It begins in the middle.

There is a sequence of three consecutive issues that begin in the middle of the book, but two of those stories are pretty bad. All the rest of the stories are unmoored from the sequence that gave them meaning. The result is a bad book.