Once again I’ll call out Jack Kirby’s amazing comic imagery sense. He knows what elements of a scene to emphasize, and what to conceal. Note here how the rearmost soldier is in shadow, which simultaneously enhances his menace and points up his generic appearance, intimating that he’s merely one of many.
Okay, I don’t know about you, but even when I was a kid, I’d NEVER heard the word “hulk” outside of the comics. Was it really that common a usage? And notice how the others immediately pick up on it, even though probably NONE of them have seen the Hulk yet.
No. Come ON.
So… IS Bruce Banner the Hulk? This seems to imply that the Hulk is a different person somehow. If they’re not sharing the same brain… what’s happening here?
A guy speaking of himself in the third person, to my mind, is an immediate “no” when looking for a scientific partner.
But hey, Igor here’s definitely got the detached narrative sense of a scientist, doesn’t he?
Hulk acknowledges that he doesn’t want to be shot again, then seems to exclaim surprise at the existence of the gun. What?
And then, despite the fact that we already know how strong he is, the Hulk spends THREE WHOLE PANELS crushing the gun. Three panels without a single sound effect, I might add.
Oh, it’s CRUSHED. NOW I understand. The previous two panels were UNCLEAR.
Hulk, Igor didn’t say you WANTED to be human. He just said… nevermind.
Interesting.This lends credence to the idea that Hulk and Banner are actually two different personalities, not just the same person.
I’ve never really understood Rick Jones’s motivation here. But I think sidekicks were a big thing in superherodom at the time.
And then Hulk just whips him aside! I laughed aloud at this.
Aha, check this out… originally, Banner’s transformation was based on the day/night cycle, and not the level of anger he felt. I actually think this lends itself to more interesting situations, but ehnh.
Funny that a kid who seemed like a beatnik punk earlier in this very issue would say “Gosh!” like this just pages later. Not much character development for ol’ Rick.
And before we go, two last ads. I love that the ad touts as a feature the ability to turn this thing off and on.
I know it was a different time and all, but holy cats, three dollars for matched luggage? How much would UNmatched luggage cost? A firm handshake?
Please join us next Monday for more exciting Hulk adventures!
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