Dog Star Omnibus

Let's wrap up the Hulk's adventures 1973 to 1975 with these snapshots from The Incredible Hulk 159 to 194.

All stories written by Steve Englehart, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, and Len Wein. All pencils by Herb Trimpe. (Except 194, by Sal Buscema.) Inks by Sal Trapani, Jack Abel, Herb Trimpe, Joe Staton, and Marie Severin.

1. Beans.

From 194.

2. The Plots

The stories are better in this '73 to '75 stretch than they were last time around. Lots of filler, sure, but some genuinely weird stuff. This fight with Tiger Shark is not especially weird -

but it's fun, mainly because I always liked Tiger Shark's visual. We'll see a bit more of him when we get to the "Hulk Smash" section below.

Most issues have a mix of the pleasantly-weird and the maybe-too-weird. Here's a good example from issue 163:

Sci-fi city buried miles under the ice? Cool. Another / any Oompa-Loompa-looking bad guy? Decidedly less cool.

I think my favorite stretch of stories save for the ones showcased separately below was this trio of stories written by Roy Thomas:

a sequel to his Counter-Earth story from last time around.

The plot is too manic to summarize properly here (though the summary at supermegamonkeymind is certainly an admirable attempt.) You can get by on "Man-Beast: President / Adam Warlock: Jesus."

183 features the welcome return of Zzzax, although he really doesn't do too much.

And then in 184, the Hulk fights his shadow. "Alien has stolen Hulk's shadow?"

Unfortunately, his origin story goes on forever... the above is only a quarter of it or so. "Are you finished?" (in my best Master Shake voice)

3. Sound fx

I began to notice that Herb Trimpe was partial to big pop-art sound fx last time but didn't grab any. This time around, I made sure to. Comin' atcha!

"SSSA-KLUD!" is dedication. I can picture Herb at his drawing table, looking off into space, perhaps chewing on the top of his pencil, in-between saying various versions of this aloud.

I know, you're probably thinking this is all a bit excessive.

And I agree.

That is to say, my screencapping them all like this is excessive, not the existence of all these sound fx.

Okay, I'll stop now. I love this kind of stuff, though. A few years back I went to an Art Institute of Chicago retrospective of Roy Liechtenstein. If you're unfamiliar, have a gander at his stuff sometime. I would absolutely love to wander through a museum exhibit comprised of nothing but the above panels, blown up to display size. Herb Trimpe isn't on many people's short list for Greatest Comics Artists Ever, and I don't know if he'd be on mine, either, but if only for the above, he now has a special place in my comics-lovin' heart.

4. Wolverine

Of course, this stretch of the Hulk is best-known for one thing above all others: the introduction of the Wolverine.

First mention of Wolverine - one for comics trivia night.

The story itself is a sequel to 162, which introduced Wendigo. (Byrne and Claremont did a nice little homage / sequel to Wolverine's first appearance in X-Men 140.)

Here he is at the end of 181. (Notice: no "bub.")

Not the greatest story, but as you can see, very collectible.

This issue casts a long shadow. (The facade of my local comics shop, Variety Comics.)

5. Remember When I Said I Hate the Leader?

I still do.

But I have discovered I also hate Betty Ross's father, General Ross. Talk about a one-note character. I have the same reaction to him that I always used to have to Lt. Gerard in The Fugitive, mainly "Don't you have anything else to do? How do you have leave from all your other duties? And how are you still the point man on this with your track record of failure year after year?" Even worse with General Ross, since his failures to apprehend / neutralize the Hulk are so astronomically expensive.

And this time around, I couldn't help thinking of The General everytime I saw him.

Though apparently the car insurance General outranks General Ross by two stars.

6. Bad Bruce Hair

I think that these shots of Bruce are meant to indicate he is in the process of turning into the Hulk, but... they just look ridiculous.

But that's a problem with Bruce Banner in general. The stories downshift very perceptibly whenever the Hulk switches to Banner. Like General Ross, he's a bit of a one-note character. It's sad when you're out-dynamic-ed by the Hulk.

7. Hulk Smash

I promised my wife I'd include at least one "Hulk Smash!" section in the next blog. Here it is. Not too many - a lot of overlap with the "Sound fx" section - but here are a few, starting with this smackdown of Tiger Shark from issue 160.

And a satisfying punch is delivered unto the very irritating Doc Sampson. (193)

8. Hulk and the Harpy

For me the most memorable storyline from this period stretches from issue 167 to 170. The stage is set many issues before, as Betty (now Betty Talbott, married to this dude below:)

slowly has a nervous breakdown after thinking her new husband has died. (Actually he's alive and is just hiding out with the KGB, but Betty doesn't know that.)

Unlike the good folks at supermegamonkeymind, this is probably the only time Betty ever interested me as a character. This isn't a very deep deconstruction of the shrill harpy stereotype, but it's at least a deconstruction / tongue-in-cheek portrayal of it all. I mean, Betty is exposed to the same gamma radiation which ruined her life with Bruce Banner, and she becomes... The Harpy? I don't think we're swimming into impenetrable esoteric waters, here.

Modok!

Dear God, that visual is horrific. But it's likely deliberate. Wings and talons and green skin aside, she gains a pregnant paunch she otherwise does not have. Am I reading too much into this? The child she can never have with Bruce, or her new husband Glenn? Now transformed into violent, angry impulse? Maybe. If it was just a wink-wink sort of story about the doomed romance of Betty and Bruce, it'd be fun, but what really appeals to me about these issues is how the insanity unfolds:

First, Modok figures that someday the Hulk might pose a threat to his plans, so (he proactively reasons) he'd better brainwash someone close to him to come to his lair so he can employ the Gamma Ray Transformer.

After beating the Hulk (!) the Harpy flies off - and gets lost. She and the Hulk crash-land on the Eight Miles High Sky-Island of the Bird-People, protected by the Bi-Beast. (It was a simpler time.)

Which makes the Bi-Beast happy. Modok (r) less so.

The Hulk reverts to Banner, and the Bi-Beast puts him to work on the vast machines of the island that he and the Bird-People no longer understand. Modok arrives just in time for the island to blow up, and Betty (now cured of her Harpy persona) and Bruce tumble through the sky, eventually landing (thanks to Bruce's transforming into the Hulk before impact) on another island of monsters.

This last issue is an interesting wrap-up to all of the above, as Hulk continually tries to make Betty happy, and Betty continually pushes him away / snaps at him. And along the lines of aborted romance/ the child they cannot have, there's this interesting observation of Betty's in the first panel: