Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk Vol. 2 - The Lair Of The Leader

Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk #2

by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko (Illustrator), Jack Kirby (Illustrator)

Every great Marvel hero has a great nemesis, and Marvel's greenest hero has the greenest the Leader! For every ounce of strength the Hulk possesses, the Leader packs an intellectual punch to match. Now, in the Hulk's second Mighty Marvel Masterworks, witness the jade giant descend into the lair of the Leader and his horrible Humanoids! Brought to you by creative titans Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, it's a saga from the peak of the Marvel Age of Comics - and more fun than you can shake a tank at! Dr. Robert Bruce Banner will also tangle with General Thunderbolt Ross and compete for the love of Betty Ross against Major Glenn Talbot! Collecting material from TALES TO ASTONISH (1959) #59-74.

192 pages, Paperback

Published September 6, 2022

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

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I keep waiting for Stan to find his footing with the Hulk. I keep waiting for a decent story. And there's a bunch of them included here, as they're only half-length stories, ten pages in length. But it's simply endless Betty Ross handwringing, Thunderbolt Ross blustering, Major Talbot swearing Banner's a traitor and he'll get him next time, Rick Jones panicking, and the Hulk/Banner? Well, wwhen it comes to them, you never know, from issue to issue, if you're getting big brutish Hulk, or Hulk with Banner's brain, or some compromise of the two.

The stories are repetitive, the art, which should be good with Ditko and Kirby, is muddied by their inkers, making it subpar. Overall, just not a lot of fun to be had here.

[Gary Sassaman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This latest volume of the saga of the Hulk reprints Tales to Astonish 59 through 74. When last we saw the Hulk in Volume 1, Marvel had failed to sell his story; the first Hulk series ended after six issues. But following guest appearances in Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, and an aborted team spot on The Avengers, the Hulk returned as a back-up feature to Giant-Man in ToA #60 (#59 is a set-up story where Giant-Man and the Hulk fight). This part of the Hulk saga is a little more settled, although ol’ Greenskin’s persona once again alternates between bestial Hulk and smart Hulk (with the memory and knowledge of Bruce Banner). The first eight 10-page stories are drawn by Steve Ditko, with indifferent inking by George Bell (nee Roussos); neither Dick Ayers or Vince Colletta help on later stories. Ditko leaves with ToA #68 and Jack Kirby returns doing full pencils for a few issues, then layouts for Mickey Demeo (Mike Esposito) to finish and then Bob Powell is added to the mix as penciller. This is pure Stan Lee soap opera though and he even calls it that on a few occasions (“The only superhero soap opera in all of Comicdom!”). These stories introduce both The Leader, the only other gamma-infected, green-skinned person of color in all of Marvel Comics (the gamma rays made his brain super-powerful), who lusts after the Hulk to become his brawny partner so they can take over the world; and Major Glen Talbot, who is a Banner nemesis and rival (for the affections of hand-wringing Betsy Ross). General “Thunderbolt” Ross returns, as does Hulk sidekick Rick Jones, and the stories go around the world and off the planet (Hello, The Watcher!), but they’re not really that good, just a tad more focused than the Hulk’s first go-round. Still, these stories would form the basis for an ongoing Hulk series, which has survived to this day, albeit with many writers, many artists, and many Hulk personas. And once again, there is a certain amount of charm to these early stories, which run from 1964-65, the beginning of primo Marvel time.

[Paul Stanis · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Y-You did it! The mushroom cloud just missed us!”

Steve Rogers is asked, “You still can’t forget your dead partner, Bucky, can you, Cap??” (#62) Ya think?! The Hulk’s muscles are so strong he can defy the laws of physics in midair (#63). Unlike Dr. Evil, another product of the 60s, the Leader knows to extort for one billion dollars (#70). If the Watcher is bound to only observe, why does he collect specimens for a menagerie on his home planet? (#73) “I am the Watcher! That is enough! That answers all!” (#74) The Hulk fights a dark mirror of himself, an alien who’s the product of a kwisatz haderach-esque breeding program as opposed to a freak accident, and with a grudge against the upstart Earth! (#74)

“Big deal! I believe in action… not talk!”

Look for: Stan Lee mixing up Betty Ross and Betty Brant… twice! (#62); an LBJ cameo (#64); an awesome Hulk vs. tank sequence (#67); the Leader genuinely saving the Hulk’s life (#73); the Leader’s Irina Spalko-alike death (#74); and first appearances of: Major Talbot, whose given name Glen(n) is spelled two ways on consecutive panels! (#61); the Leader (#62); and “Smart Hulk” (#70).

“What does Hulk do next? Why am I here?”

[Mr. Stick · Rating 2 out of 5]

"YOUR VOICE!! YOUR WORDS!! YOU'VE THE BODY OF THE HULK -- BUT THIS TIME YOUR BRAIN OF BRUCE BANNER!"
- Rick Jones reacting to the new and improved Hulk.

This took longer than usual as I decided to read the Memoir of Patrick Stewart (which was a lot more fun than this) and, having just finished it, I'm now back to slogging through early 60's comics.
This was not much better than the first volume. Yeah, it's slowly (and painfully) finding its voice, but I still can't relate to Hulk OR Banner. General Ross might be a bigger ass than J. Jonah Jameson and Betty Ross is probably the weakest in a long line of sheepish female love interests. The Leader makes some good plot connections. The Watcher story was, by far, my favorite.
Still a slog. Still not fun. Two stars!

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, slight overall improvement on volume 1. After a good first issue, the book gets off to a poor start; the second and third issues (now 10 pages each) were pretty uneventful and quite boring. It does slightly improve however in the following issues, with the appearances of The Chameleon (from Spider-Man) and the introduction of The Leader.
Following these issues, the stories are far more enjoyable but do seem to be constantly finding any excuse to get Bruce Banner to change to the Hulk, and then back again.
The final few issues are quite strong and cement The Leader as Hulk’s arch enemy.
Overall, would recommend this classic book to a hardcore Hulk fan and I am now looking forward to Volume 3!

[Lee Bright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great 2nd volume of Hulk's early outings. Steve Ditko's work here is awesome, as much as I love Jack Kirby's work he's outdone here by Ditko.

The stories are pure Stan Lee genius, there's a heavy Banner focus to these early tales that really grounds the stories and makes them much more believable (if giant green monsters were to exist...).

I'm looking forward to Volume 3 and I hope we get some more of these Tales to Astonish stories as I need to know what happens next!

[Dean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tough getting through these issues. Grateful they're half sized stories.