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The Incredible Hulk (1968) #140,148,156,202-203,205-207,...
Hulk: Heart of the Atom
Follows Hulk's adventures as he finds love with the emerald empress on K'ai, leads her people to victory from the tyranny of Psyklop, and then loses the thing he holds most dear when Crypto-Man shatters his romance.
235 pages, Hardcover
First published November 12, 2008
3 people are currently reading
199 people want to read
About the author
Harlan Ellison
1,076 books2,799 followersHarlan Jay Ellison (1934-2018) was a prolific American writer of short stories, novellas, teleplays, essays, and criticism.
His literary and television work has received many awards. He wrote for the original series of both The Outer Limits and Star Trek as well as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; edited the multiple-award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions; and served as creative consultant/writer to the science fiction TV series The New Twilight Zone and Babylon 5.
Several of his short fiction pieces have been made into movies, such as the classic "The Boy and His Dog".
His literary and television work has received many awards. He wrote for the original series of both The Outer Limits and Star Trek as well as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; edited the multiple-award-winning short story anthology series Dangerous Visions; and served as creative consultant/writer to the science fiction TV series The New Twilight Zone and Babylon 5.
Several of his short fiction pieces have been made into movies, such as the classic "The Boy and His Dog".
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 15, 2019
For a character who is continually hunted down and feared, it was so nice to see Hulk’s presence invoke a different response! Moreover, through Jarella and her people of K’ai, Hulk finds something no one thought was possible; love and acceptance. But as the saying goes, nothing good lasts forever. After the tragedy of Jarella’s death, we once again see something other than what is typical for the green Goliath. We see Hulk grieve. It was one of the most incredible displays of emotion I’ve seen in comics so far. The heartbreak and utter hopelessness in the pages of issues #205-207 were so moving. I definitely recommend reading this collected edition if you want something other than just the typical ‘Hulk smash’ stories.
April 21, 2013
Some of the best and most remembered Hulk stories involve taking the “Green Goliath” out of his natural element and placing him where no one would expect to find him, and the stories collected here are no exception. A swords-and-sorcery fantasy epic in the vein of Conan the Barbarian, tailored for the Hulk, is a surprising deviation from the typical “Hulk vs. the army” stories that were so rampant during this period. Jarella, the green-skinned queen from the microscopic world of K’ai, has since become a beloved part of Hulk lore, and has left such an impact that she is still referenced to this day.
When the issues were first published, they were largely episodic, sometimes separated by years of other Hulk stories in between. Reading them together as a unified piece, the storyline holds together well, with plot and character consistency maintained despite the contributions of several different writers. Harlan Ellison, Roy Thomas, Archie Goodwin, Len Wein, and Bill Mantlo all add to the mythos, each nicely building on what came before.
The stories continue to benefit from the talents of two of the greatest comic book artists ever: Herb Trimpe and Sal Buscema. Both have enjoyed long runs on the Hulk series and have left an indelible stamp on the character, solidifying his “definitive look” in the minds of the public.
The Hulk would revisit Jarella’s world a couple of times afterward (those additional stories are now collected in the HULK VISIONARIES: PETER DAVID VOL. 3 and INCREDIBLE HULKS: DARK SON trades), but these are all the stories that directly involve Jarella, from her memorable first appearance to her tragic and untimely death, and finally to her burial and the Hulk’s touching farewell. There is also the added bonus of a “What If…” story, exploring the possibilities of what might have been had the Hulk been given a happy ending. Of course, for a character like the Hulk, happy endings are few and far between.
HEART OF THE ATOM is a treat for Hulk fans both old and new, a timeless story of fantasy and tragic romance.
When the issues were first published, they were largely episodic, sometimes separated by years of other Hulk stories in between. Reading them together as a unified piece, the storyline holds together well, with plot and character consistency maintained despite the contributions of several different writers. Harlan Ellison, Roy Thomas, Archie Goodwin, Len Wein, and Bill Mantlo all add to the mythos, each nicely building on what came before.
The stories continue to benefit from the talents of two of the greatest comic book artists ever: Herb Trimpe and Sal Buscema. Both have enjoyed long runs on the Hulk series and have left an indelible stamp on the character, solidifying his “definitive look” in the minds of the public.
The Hulk would revisit Jarella’s world a couple of times afterward (those additional stories are now collected in the HULK VISIONARIES: PETER DAVID VOL. 3 and INCREDIBLE HULKS: DARK SON trades), but these are all the stories that directly involve Jarella, from her memorable first appearance to her tragic and untimely death, and finally to her burial and the Hulk’s touching farewell. There is also the added bonus of a “What If…” story, exploring the possibilities of what might have been had the Hulk been given a happy ending. Of course, for a character like the Hulk, happy endings are few and far between.
HEART OF THE ATOM is a treat for Hulk fans both old and new, a timeless story of fantasy and tragic romance.
October 29, 2014
Am I a Hulk fan and I never knew it? I reread the review I wrote for another Hulk collection and I gave it a good review. And here I am, about do that again! I think I've only read these two Hulk books, and his appearances in some other comics. Could it be that I just picked out two excellent Hulk books by accident? Guess we will have to wait and find out!
The story for this collection is that The Hulk keeps being shrunk down to sub-atomic level where he ends up on K'ai, a planet inhabited by others who have green skin. He falls in love with the Queen, Jarella, as both the Hulk and Banner. However K'ai is always having some kind of overthrow, so the Hulk has to continually fight off these would be dictators. I'm really over simplifying it, but that's the basic story.
I liked this quite a bit. Hulk is an interesting character to read. During this period he was still dumb, but not dumb as a post. He was more like a very angry three year old. He can break things down that are simple, but once the pressure gets put on, he freaks out and throws a tantrum. It was also neat to see the different kinds of stories being told while Hulk is on K'ai. It isn't a simple story told over and over, but in a different way each time. It's different stories told with the same characters.
The art is good. There is some great character design here. The alien world of K'ai looks alien. It doesn't look like some fantasy world, or a generic sci-fi setting. Hulk is handled well through out. He looks big and powerful, but not bulging with muscle. I like it when Hulk looks more like a gorilla then a body builder. Herb Trimpe does the first few issues and his stuff looks somewhat Kirby like, which was cool. I like Kirby, so that's a plus.
The book also has some notes that appear after a few of issues. This collection is not one story, but several stories collected over time. It's nice that they threw in those notes to catch you up on what happen in the issues that don't deal with K'ai.
Overall, it was a nice read. I would definitely recommend this book.
The story for this collection is that The Hulk keeps being shrunk down to sub-atomic level where he ends up on K'ai, a planet inhabited by others who have green skin. He falls in love with the Queen, Jarella, as both the Hulk and Banner. However K'ai is always having some kind of overthrow, so the Hulk has to continually fight off these would be dictators. I'm really over simplifying it, but that's the basic story.
I liked this quite a bit. Hulk is an interesting character to read. During this period he was still dumb, but not dumb as a post. He was more like a very angry three year old. He can break things down that are simple, but once the pressure gets put on, he freaks out and throws a tantrum. It was also neat to see the different kinds of stories being told while Hulk is on K'ai. It isn't a simple story told over and over, but in a different way each time. It's different stories told with the same characters.
The art is good. There is some great character design here. The alien world of K'ai looks alien. It doesn't look like some fantasy world, or a generic sci-fi setting. Hulk is handled well through out. He looks big and powerful, but not bulging with muscle. I like it when Hulk looks more like a gorilla then a body builder. Herb Trimpe does the first few issues and his stuff looks somewhat Kirby like, which was cool. I like Kirby, so that's a plus.
The book also has some notes that appear after a few of issues. This collection is not one story, but several stories collected over time. It's nice that they threw in those notes to catch you up on what happen in the issues that don't deal with K'ai.
Overall, it was a nice read. I would definitely recommend this book.
December 28, 2017
I bought this collection because Ellison is listed as the primary writer but was disappointed to find that he didn't actually write any of the scripts; he wrote the storyline for the first issue and Roy Thomas adapted it, for some reason throwing titles of many other Ellison short stories into the script whenever he could to no good effect. Over the next decade other Marvel writers revisited Jarella and Hulk's relationship, which ultimately ended in prolonged tragedy. I always liked the way Sal Buscema drew The Hulk, and there are some good stories from Archie Goodwin and Len Wein, but overall this volume isn't among the best of the big green guy.
June 25, 2016
8th book read in 2016.
Number 106 out of 501 on my all time book list.
Review Pending:
Number 106 out of 501 on my all time book list.
Review Pending:
Read
July 3, 2025Interesting survey of late Silver / Bronze age Hulk material here. Quite a bit of jumping around since the Jarella sub-plot spanned many years. The first Harlan Ellison story is great in a light, fun EC Comics kind of way, then they slide into 1970s Marvelness, which I personally like, and some won't. Art by Trimpe/Grainger, Sal Buscema, then more Trimpe at the end. Capped by Peter Gillis's unsatisfying What If? story at the end. Overall, a sure thing for Hulk fans, I guess, and a decent thing for Bronze Age fans, but not sure I'd recommend to others... perhaps a nice example of how crazy and imaginative a Hulk story could be if you really threw yourself into the "anything is possible" type of mindset (as Ellison did.)
December 13, 2025
A gorgeous hardcover collection of Hulk's adventures on the microverse planet K'ai - home of one of Jade Jaws' greatest loves: Queen Jarella. Harlan Ellison leads the creative charge by insinuating the tragic idea that the Hulk does in fact have a happy place, but it is so small that he doesn't even notice it exists as a mote of dust on his iconic purple pants. These are the first major stories with Hulk as a barbarian fantasy/sword and sorcery hero, a concept famously revisted decades later by Greg Pak in his groundbreaking Planet Hulk.
May 19, 2019
Meh. Sure it was a classic, but I just couldn't love it. Art was fine, not amazing. Story had some good hooks but nothing that really knocked me down. The Gardener in the final issue was a good decelopment and the What If had the best reveals of the series. But nothing to get excited about.
November 30, 2024
3.5/5.
I thought the first half of the graphic novel was a bit plain and tread a lot of the same ground over and over, but the second half was quite strong and enjoyable. Overall, a decently fun and interesting graphic novel.
I thought the first half of the graphic novel was a bit plain and tread a lot of the same ground over and over, but the second half was quite strong and enjoyable. Overall, a decently fun and interesting graphic novel.
January 15, 2022
This book captures an interesting piece of the Hulk's history, but actually reading through it can be a slog. Much of the text is poorly written and/or redundant.
April 11, 2016
Russell T Davies had a rule when writing Doctor Who - all his stories needed to be set on Earth or planets with human colonies on. He reasoned that it was far harder to make audiences care about obvious non-humans. Heart of the Atom is proof of the truth of this; the entire concept depends upon us caring about green skinned warriors on a fantasy planet we say hello and goodbye to inside 20 pages at a time. As Morrissey once said of Breakdance: THe Movie I found it almost impossible to care.
The central conceit springs from a Harlan Ellison short story with a typically understated title - 'The Brute that Shouted Love at the Heart of the Atom'. Roy Thomas riffs off this to fine effect, energetically selling a high-concept doomed romance aided by Sam Grainger's energetic, primitive art which is at its best in memorable full page panels. It goes on to collect the Hulk's subsequent expeditions to the heart of the atom and Princess Jarella's journeys in reverse. The problem is that what may seem epic when spread intermittently over 108 issues - nine years worth of story - is robbed of any epic power when compressed The story doesn't breathe and love, am emotion that gains resonance with time, appears compressed. It's the central problem with collecting pre-1980s comics; at this point they're written to fill the monthly quota of pages and don't tend to build their stories in a satisfying form. We're still dealing with haphazard RKO style storytelling.
Where it does presage the 80s is in focusing on the angst of the central character - the romance works fine, even if in abbreviated fashion, and there's definite pathos to the way things work out. But for a modern reader this concept - the Hulk finding contentment and love as ruler of another world - is done far more effectively in Planet Hulk where the decompressed storytelling allows the story room to breathe. Fascinating as a summary of the weakness of the approach to storytelling used in the decade and the futility of trying to create a unified narrative from something never intended to be a coherent story.
The central conceit springs from a Harlan Ellison short story with a typically understated title - 'The Brute that Shouted Love at the Heart of the Atom'. Roy Thomas riffs off this to fine effect, energetically selling a high-concept doomed romance aided by Sam Grainger's energetic, primitive art which is at its best in memorable full page panels. It goes on to collect the Hulk's subsequent expeditions to the heart of the atom and Princess Jarella's journeys in reverse. The problem is that what may seem epic when spread intermittently over 108 issues - nine years worth of story - is robbed of any epic power when compressed The story doesn't breathe and love, am emotion that gains resonance with time, appears compressed. It's the central problem with collecting pre-1980s comics; at this point they're written to fill the monthly quota of pages and don't tend to build their stories in a satisfying form. We're still dealing with haphazard RKO style storytelling.
Where it does presage the 80s is in focusing on the angst of the central character - the romance works fine, even if in abbreviated fashion, and there's definite pathos to the way things work out. But for a modern reader this concept - the Hulk finding contentment and love as ruler of another world - is done far more effectively in Planet Hulk where the decompressed storytelling allows the story room to breathe. Fascinating as a summary of the weakness of the approach to storytelling used in the decade and the futility of trying to create a unified narrative from something never intended to be a coherent story.
May 1, 2016
I just couldn't suspend disbelief enough about the whole sub-atomic aspect of this storyline to appreciate it. The very idea of the Hulk finding his way to the same sub-atomic world every time he was shrunk down just didn't ring true, especially when it was made clear that some times it was pure random chance that brought him there. And then to have it supposedly travel their one time because the 'atom' had been lost in an explosion... Considering the billions of atoms even in a grain of sand, the implausibility of this is just staggering.
Okay, rant over, Now I'm going to assume that the world that the Hulk kept travelling to is some sort of extra-dimensional plane that exists parallel to Earth. Given this, the story can be viewed more sensibly as the love won/love lost story that it is.
In this story, the Hulk gains the short-lived love and respect of a green-skinned queen and her people, both with Bruce Banner's mind and his own. In a way it was good to see the green-skinned goliath gain a few moments of happiness and respect, but I'm afraid that story was somewhat hindered by the continual random strife that the comic genre demands. It was only when the Hulk lost everything he'd won and then tried to, if not regain it, at least gain some sort of closure over a number of successive issues, that I thought the story picked up somewhat. It seems there's a brain in their somewhere even if it does take sadness to overcome the rage so he can begin to think straight.
There are similarities between this story and the 'Planet Hulk' storyline that had a similar love-interest basis to it. I gave that story 3 stars. Apart from the obvious improvement in production standards, that story had the benefit of being a continuous tale while the story of Jarella was spread out over a number of years with a lot of other storylines disrupting the flow of the story (see previous comment about random strife).
With that in mind, and to be fair, I would probably give this 2.5 stars, if I could.
Okay, rant over, Now I'm going to assume that the world that the Hulk kept travelling to is some sort of extra-dimensional plane that exists parallel to Earth. Given this, the story can be viewed more sensibly as the love won/love lost story that it is.
In this story, the Hulk gains the short-lived love and respect of a green-skinned queen and her people, both with Bruce Banner's mind and his own. In a way it was good to see the green-skinned goliath gain a few moments of happiness and respect, but I'm afraid that story was somewhat hindered by the continual random strife that the comic genre demands. It was only when the Hulk lost everything he'd won and then tried to, if not regain it, at least gain some sort of closure over a number of successive issues, that I thought the story picked up somewhat. It seems there's a brain in their somewhere even if it does take sadness to overcome the rage so he can begin to think straight.
There are similarities between this story and the 'Planet Hulk' storyline that had a similar love-interest basis to it. I gave that story 3 stars. Apart from the obvious improvement in production standards, that story had the benefit of being a continuous tale while the story of Jarella was spread out over a number of years with a lot of other storylines disrupting the flow of the story (see previous comment about random strife).
With that in mind, and to be fair, I would probably give this 2.5 stars, if I could.
January 18, 2016
An anthology that tracks the story of Princess Jarella from the sub-molecular world of K'ai. It includes The Incredible Hulk #140 (written by Harlan Ellison & Roy Thomas, illustrated by Herb Trimpe & Sam Grainger), #148, #156 (written by Archie Goodwin, illustrated by Herb Trimpe) and [on #156] Sal Trapani,) #202-203, #205-207 (written by Len Wein), illustrated by Sal Buscema & Joe Station) and #246-#248 (written by Bill Mantlo, illustrated by Sal Buscema).
I have to admit Sal Buscema is not my favourite illustrator for The Incredible Hulk. As it lifts stories out of the story line to focus on Jarella the story telling as it is transported by six (!) different writers is somewhat clunky. I was also disappointed by Harlan Ellison's story. The story itself was good and I do wonder what Ellison could have done if given a six issue run to tell the story in its full glory. I kept being thrown out of the story as the story made references back to short story titles from out of Ellison's catalogue ("this Dangerous Vision'; "You are Paingod"; "Repent Harlequin ..."said the Ticktockman")
I have to admit Sal Buscema is not my favourite illustrator for The Incredible Hulk. As it lifts stories out of the story line to focus on Jarella the story telling as it is transported by six (!) different writers is somewhat clunky. I was also disappointed by Harlan Ellison's story. The story itself was good and I do wonder what Ellison could have done if given a six issue run to tell the story in its full glory. I kept being thrown out of the story as the story made references back to short story titles from out of Ellison's catalogue ("this Dangerous Vision'; "You are Paingod"; "Repent Harlequin ..."said the Ticktockman")
December 5, 2015
This is a really good collection bringing the stories of Hulk and Jarella. Yes Hulk still smashes through and is misunderstood when all he wants to do is be left alone, but then he is shrunk and ends up in an microscopic alien world called K'ai where everyone is green skinned and he saves the people. The queen, Jarella senses the innocent kindness underneath the brutish posterior and they fall in love...however things keep happening that pulls them apart.
It's like all the writers at Marvel never want Hulk/Banner to be happy.
One of the reasons why I liked this is because it shows that Hulk like everyone just needs to find a place where he can be understood, content and loved and he will be happy.
It's like all the writers at Marvel never want Hulk/Banner to be happy.
One of the reasons why I liked this is because it shows that Hulk like everyone just needs to find a place where he can be understood, content and loved and he will be happy.
October 30, 2014
Collection of all the comics that transport the Hulk into a sub-atomic fantasy world where he falls in love with green-skinned queen Jarella, their sojourn into our world and ultimately tragic return to her home land.
The stories were written over quite a number of years in the 70s and the initial concept is from Harlan Ellison who was later on apparently disappointed what happened to his vision. He does seem to be forevermore disappointed with anything that is not written by him and truth be told, the weakest story is quite probably the first, his own.
Overall readable though I will never be able to turn into a huge Hulk fan.
The stories were written over quite a number of years in the 70s and the initial concept is from Harlan Ellison who was later on apparently disappointed what happened to his vision. He does seem to be forevermore disappointed with anything that is not written by him and truth be told, the weakest story is quite probably the first, his own.
Overall readable though I will never be able to turn into a huge Hulk fan.
May 25, 2023
Nota 7.
As primeiras edições naquele lugar medieval são nota 7.
Depois que a Jarella morre, tem 3 edições nota 8, muito emocionantes em sequência.
Depois vem o enterro anos depois e a nota é 6,5.
Infelizmente, de realmente incrível só as 3 edições lá. O resto é obrigatório ler pra se entender, mas não são lá essa coisa.
As primeiras edições naquele lugar medieval são nota 7.
Depois que a Jarella morre, tem 3 edições nota 8, muito emocionantes em sequência.
Depois vem o enterro anos depois e a nota é 6,5.
Infelizmente, de realmente incrível só as 3 edições lá. O resto é obrigatório ler pra se entender, mas não são lá essa coisa.
July 8, 2025
Uno de los cinco tomos (creo) dedicados a Hulk de esta colección, el más retro.
April 30, 2022
A story arc that takes place over a number of years, this book brings all the issues together in one place.
A Marvelised version of The Beauty And The Beast.
A Marvelised version of The Beauty And The Beast.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews