Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk, Vol. 3

Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk #3

by Stan Lee, Gary Friedrich, Jack Kirby (Illustrator)

Collects Tales to Astonish #80-101, The Incredible Hulk #102

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes

276 pages, Hardcover

First published September 10, 2013

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

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume of the early Hulk stories featured in Tales to Astonish, a mag that green skin shared with the Sub-mariner, is a mixed bag. A slow start featuring such foes as Tyrannus , the Mole Man, and Boomerang leads into a pretty decent battle ( and some great John Buscema art naturally ) against the Humanoid, a rubbery creation of the Leader that General Ross and his boys stupidly give life to.
This leads into the Gil Kane art duties on Hulk that is a major let down. Kane works best on "regular" heroes such as Green Lantern and the Atom. He does not do his best work on muscle bound and savage heroes like Conan and the Hulk IMHO.
Marie Severin does a pretty decent job on art following as the stories get a bit more spacey with the always interesting ( to me ) High Evolutionary who abducts the Hulk in order to quell the uprising of the ani-men that he created off world. A so-so face off against the Legions of the Living Lightning occurs after which I didn't find to be too gripping.
My favorite issue by far of the whole volume is the knock down, drag out slug fest that occurs in Tales to Astonish #100 which is a solid 22 page issue featuring a battle between the Hulk and Sub-mariner due to the machinations of Puppet Master who manipulates the Hulk into attack Subby. Some very dynamic Marvel-type art by Severin explodes off the page and it is just classic Marvel comics right here.
The volume ends with The Incredible Hulk #102 and the start of him getting his own comic all to himself and an okay issue bringing our hero to Asgard embroiled in a war between the Asgardians versus Enchantress, The Executioner, and an army of trolls.

[Evan Leach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This third Masterworks collection, containing issues from 1966-1968, is a marked improvement over the first two entries in the series. The series slowly but surely continues to improve, with highlights including Hulk taking on the Leader’s last remaining android to save NYC, Hulk, under the Puppet Master’s control, battling Namor, and especially a two-part story featuring the first appearance of Abomination.



Still, Hulk remains a mediocre Marvel title when compared to its mid-60’s peers. Hulk as a hero is still too one-note, his rogues’ gallery continues to be subpar (although the introduction of Abomination is a welcome addition), and too many storylines are repetitive and predictable: Hulk is hounded by someone (often due to a misunderstanding), Hulk is reluctantly backed into a fight he wasn’t looking for, Hulk prevails, and Hulk wanders off on his lonesome. Some of these problems are issues that would plague the series and its creative teams for decades to come.

There are some fun moments here, and fans of the Stan Lee style will find much to enjoy. But overall, this series still has plenty of room for improvement. 3.0 stars.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tales to Astonish #80-83 - These 4 stories wrap up Kirby’s second run on the character, and Everett will be departing as well. First of all there’s a subterranean war brewing between Tyrannus and the Mole Man, and the Hulk gets trapped in the middle of it. Then we get a surprise appearance of the Secret Empire and their hired agent Boomerang. Next up, lots of shenanigans between Boomerang, General Ross, Major Talbot, the Army, the Secret Empire, and Rick Jones all before we get … well, you remember that seen in The Incredible Hulk film with Betty and the Hulk in a cave during a rainstorm? Here’s the inspiration. And on that moment, Kirby and Everett take their leave and there’s a lot of dangling plot threads that need tidying up. Is Lee gonna be up to the task?

Tales to Astonish #84-87 - This begins another clear tonal shift and stylistic change in the writing, even though Lee is still taking credit for writing the title. Further, #84 is definitely nothing more than a placeholder to get from the sudden end of Kirby/Everett’s run and waiting to see what direction the title is going to be heading in. But if Lee had been writing the title all along, this transition really shouldn’t have been as jarring and as obvious as this. Still the art by John Buscema for at least three of these installments is very nice.

Tales to Astonish #88-91 - Gil Kane. Four issues from the legendary pencil of Kane and they are a treat. At least visually. The writing is typical of Lee in that it at times seems that he doesn’t remember what happened in the previous issue, or what happened a few issues back. Only the current story thread, or threat, matters. It’s almost like the Hulk wrote the darn thing. Still, we get the defeat of Boomerang, the arrival of the Stranger and the creation of the Abomination in these stories, and nearly a pardon for Bruce Banner.

Tales to Astonish #92-96 - Marie Severin provides the art for these next five installments in the Hulk’s soap opera. Oddly, this is the art style I most associate with the Hulk stories from Tales to Astonish, maybe that’s because they’re coming at the end of the run. Not sure, but it doesn’t really matter. Lee is still writing and at least this transition is less jarring, but we’ve also taken some time off since the last issue and allowed at least a month to pass. Long enough for Banner to custom build a device to attempt and remove the gamma radiation from his body. Next up we have the Silver Surfer arriving and then the Hulk is whisked off to another world by the High Evolutionary in an attempt to put down an insurrection. In any case, this is a new direction for the stories and they have a different and more coherent narrative thread. Whether this is from Severin or from Lee is not readily clear.

Tales to Astonish #97-99 - This is a nice 3-part story that’s actually very topical right now, as Donny tRump (man-baby extraordinaire) is as much a treasonous criminal as the Lord of the Living Lightning. Different means to the same end. But they’re both just as two-faced, lying conmen as the other. So a fun, typical story about the dangers of “strong men” who are nothing but weakling hypocrites.

Tales to Astonish #100-101 - The first of these stories pick up from both the Namor and Hulk stories from the previous issue and pits the pair against one another at the behest of the Puppet Master. And it a big slugfest between the shirtless and bare-chested titans. Then the second tale feature the Hulk, as a pawn of Loki’s, verses the Warriors Three. And this story continues into Incredible Hulk #102 - And the Hulk returns to his own solo title again. But with this new title, Lee departs and Gary Friedrich comes aboard as the comic’s script writer.

[J.B. Mathias · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I was confused by this collection, the back features covers that show off Namor just as much as they do Hulk and appear to be crossover titles, which was disappointing. Then I noticed the Hulk stories were only about ten pages long, half as long as most comics. Then I noticed the stories did not feature Namor at all and was confused. Then it clicked that what they did was they had issues released with both Namor and Hulk stories and they collected only the Hulk stories and left the Namor stories out. So the stories are only ten pages long and the featured covers will sometimes have a picture that has nothing to do with the story like they have a picture of Namor fighting Iron man, but the issue only shows Hulk fighting Boomerang. Weird choice to split comics up like that, I'd rather read both Namor and Hulk stories together as they were originally published and collected as an "astonishing tales" collection rather than a Hulk specific collection. It isn't until the last collected issue that there is a standalone Hulk story, I guess this was the first point that Hulk had his own comic series, which is weird Hulk number 1 starts in the the middle of another story that is a Thor crossover, so the Asgard story pauses to give a recap of Hulk's origin...it's super weird and kind of dumb.

The stories seem a little repetitive, Hulk is angry, everyone is out to get Hulk, Hulks not a bad guy afterall, Hulk smash... end of comic. It does have the first appearance of Abomination, a crossover with Silver Surfer and a few other decent villains. Enjoyable but definitely not some of my favourite comics.

[L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

You've gotta feel sorry for the Hulk. The guy (monster?) never gets a break. One adventure will barely have ended when he's plunged into another fight. Sometimes he's even in the middle of one adventure when he gets sidetracked into another one before he comes back to finish the first one. If anyone deserves a vacation, it's Hulk.

I've never been a fan of the Rick Jones character but I think I've finally learned what his secret power is. He has the ability to drive a car from Florida to New York City in just a couple of hours. Hey, it's a power I envy.

If you're a completist then you need to get Sub Mariner Volume 1 which contains some of the stories that were included in the comics when Namor and Hulk shared a title.

[Ross Kitson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The collection here continues the 10 page stories that Hulk shared with Sub-Mariner after the very brief run of his own book. It concludes as Hulk returns to his own comic, carrying the numbering of Tales to Astonish. As with many of these early stories it’s a mixed bag. There’s some fillers, like the Tyrannus story, and the League of Lightning ones. There’s some average ones, with a broad cast of villains like Boomerang, High Evolutionary, and the Loki in Asgard one which closes the series. Finally, there’s some ones I loved like the giant android, the Abomination, and against other heroes, like Silver Surfer and Namor.
It averages out a 3 star.

[Arturo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things start off boring again with villain Boomerang, Hulk makes a cave to protect Betty from the rain, humanizing him in her eyes (where have I seen that before). Abomination takes things up a notch, an issue with The Stanger, a tragic end to Boomerrang, a fight with Silver Surfer, Hulk in space with the High Evolutionary, another battle with the Sub-Mariner and finally Loki sends Hulk to Asgard.

[Jdetrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again, this seems a book without a plan, usually with our hero bouncing from one adventure to the next with not much connective tissue between them.

[Diago Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was like the old comics all in one book

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

last story has Hulk in his own magazine with a retelling of his origin and he goes to Asgard

[guanaeps · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marie Severin rules

[Rich Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent Marvel Masterworks volume! Good reproduction and color in this one (unlike some of them, like the FF volumes), and reprints a good chunk of Hulk-istory with the end of the Tales to Astonish run. This one features some great artists: Bill Everett, Marie Severin, Gil Kane, Herb Trimpe and John Buscema, to name a few. Content-wise, there's the introduction of Boomerang and the Abomination, the Hulk's real identity is revealed for everyone to see, and there's a trip to Counter-Earth and Asgard. An all-around good read!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The storytelling is a lot smoother than the preceding Marvel Masterworks Hulk collection. The Hulk was a backup featuring in an anthology comic he shared with the Sub-Mariner, so most of the stories are only 12 pages, which puts a limit on how complex the storytelling can get. This volume features the debuts of the Leader, the Abomination, and an early appearance from the High Evolutionary. Overall a bit corny and stilted at times but good fun.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the hulk, one thing confuses me, in the comics, the dialogue in text boxes says he's slow and dumb; in the text he's relatively cogent, and able to do tasks like splint a person's leg up. In visual media he's a mindless rage machine for the most part. I do wish they'd do accurate portrayal of the Hulk's personality.

[Edward Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

More action with everyone's favourite monster as his run in Tales To Astonish is finished and his ongoing series begins. Featuring first appearances from The Abomination and a guest appearance by the Silver Surfer, this also features an epic battle between Hulk and The Sub Mariner!

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Marvel Masterworks volumes are fantastic reprints of the early years of Marvel comics. A fantastic resource to allow these hard to find issues to be read by everyone. Very recommended to everyone and Highly recommended to any comic fan.

[Iain · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd probably have enjoyed this more when I was a kid. Enjoyable in a "HULK SMASH" kind of way.