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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS |
First up, above, is MARVEL's The INCREDIBLE HULK #1 Facsimile Edition. Again, without the COMICS CODE stamp, the absence of which (in my view) compromises its integrity as a true facsimile - I do wish they'd just leave it where it's meant to be. This ish contains the same ad as in the AMAZING FANTASY Facsimile Edition, wherein an image was omitted, presumably for 'politically correct' reasons. Also, the proofs used for this issue are the same ones as in MASTERWORKS, OMNIBUS, and EPIC reprints, and show signs of 'word de-smudging', as well as a page (17) that has been horizontally separated in two at some stage and rejoined, resulting in an ever-so-slightly larger than normal gap between a couple of rows of lettering. That apart though, as most of these things are only noticeable to pedants like me, it's still a mag worth having. Next up...
The OTHER HULKS contains a couple of tales of two characters christened 'The Hulk', before BRUCE BANNER's alter-ego inherited the name. STAN LEE was certainly into recycling long before it became fashionable, wasn't he? For some curious reason there's a wobble on the top of the speech balloon on the JACK KIRBY/STEVE DITKO cover, which isn't on the reproduction of the original cover within. The furry and metal creature above was eventually reintroduced into the Marvel Universe in the '70s, but referred to as XEMNU The TITAN (instead of Xemnu The Hulk) to avoid confusion. And the next contestant is...
The above TRUE BELIEVERS mag features the return of the grey Hulk, from around the mid-'80s. I remember buying the original ish (which I still have) as though it were only last week, which scares the bejabbers out of me. I mean, where did my life go?! The cover has been cropped to allow for the True Believers banner at the top, but thankfully, the original cover is reproduced inside. (Surely Marvel could reduce the image slightly, so that the TB crop isn't so severe?)
Anyway, three great mags for you to add to your collection, so - if you haven't already got this trio of titanic treats, go and buy them now!
I recently re-read that 80s issue along with all the Byrne issues and the rest of Al Milgrom's run as writer. It's a very confused period, it feels as though no-one really knows what to do with the character- Milgrom obviously had to try and figure out what John Byrne had been planning to do and it comes across as a very disjointed time for the Hulk, and one that actually put me off the character for a while.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think Milgrom was thrown in at the deep end, and besides, he really wasn't an A-lister in the way that Byrne was, so may have been the wrong choice to take over the mag. The only thing I liked about the run was that the grey Hulk returned (eventually becoming Joe Fixit) and looked more like the original Kirby version. When I look at that cover though, I'm right back in my room of the house I lived in for four years in the '80s, and it's (surprisingly) a good feeling.
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