The Hulk Completist – The 1960s

Collecting the Hulk is actually where I started.

As a kid the Hulk was my favourite. Sure, Spider-Man, Superman and Batman were all up there but judging by the number of Hulk comics I got my grubby young hands on, he was out in front.

So when I started collecting comics again, the Hulk was a natural place to start. I also had a couple of requirements: complete runs and preferably in collected editions.

Starting with high hopes, I soon gave up as it all seemed a bit, well bitty as well as hit and miss.

That was a few years ago now and a couple of lines of collected editions have come on in leaps and bounds. So I’ve been wondering whether it’s possible to get closer to a complete run of the Hulk in book form.

Part Two focusing on the 1970s/Bronze Age Hulk is now complete: The Hulk Completist: The 1970s

Best Laid Plans of Hulks and Men

This was going to be a short, quick article but it got completely away from me! I’m going to break it up into shorter posts based on the decades and (very) roughly corresponding to ages.

The Rules

Just a few short rules:

• The issues collected must be in issue order, i.e. #1, #2, #3, #4, etc.
• No skipping of issues. So books collecting a specific story arc, or focusing on particular characters, creators or themes are out.
• This one is a personal preference: no insertion of modern ret-cons/retellings even if they’re strictly correct in terms of chronology. I just find jumping from 1960s art and story telling to the modern equivalents and back again too jarring!

Let’s get stuck in!

The 1960s – The Silver Age Hulk

As a title in the 1960s, The Incredible Hulk is a little bit complicated. After debuting in spring 1962 – cover dated May 1962 but with an on sale date of March 1962 – it was the second superhero title Marvel published after the Fantastic Four. This original series was cancelled after just six issues.

Despite this, the Hulk popped up as guest star/villain in the Fantastic Four, the Amazing Spider-Man and of course as a founder member of the Avengers.

In 1964 he was awarded with a new feature in Tales to Astonish. At first our green-hued hero shared the comic with a long running Giant-Man feature, this was soon replaced by a new Sub-Mariner feature penciled by Gene Colan.

Finally in 1968 with Marvel was expanding its line of comics, the Hulk’s feature was expanded to fill the whole issue and Tales to Astonish was duly re-titled The Incredible Hulk! The numbering carried on with #102 while the Sub-Mariner started over at issue #1 in his own comic.

Still with me?

So strictly speaking Volume 1 of the title is just those six initial issues with Vol. 2 starting at #102. Volume 2 carried on all the way up to March 1999 with issue #474 when the series was re-titled simply as ‘Hulk’ and started at #1.

Even with the above complications, the Jade Giant in the 1960s is surprisingly well covered – you even have the choice of three formats:

Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk Vols. 1 – 6

Volume 1 collects just the initial six issues with volume 2 picking up when the Hulk got his feature in Tales to Astonish. Volume 3 finishes with #102 – the Hulk back in his own full-length comic.

The Paperback Masterworks

Volumes 4 and 5 take us up to November 1969 with December’s issue at the start of Volume 6.

The Hardback Masterworks

The Masterworks are Marvel’s top end hardback books collecting classic comics, fully restored and in issue by issue order. As these early volumes were published quite a while ago they can be hard to get.

It’s worth looking out for the first three volumes in paperback format as for a few years Marvel republished the Masterworks as paperbacks. In some cases these paperbacks even feature improved restoration over the original hardback versions.

Marvel Omnibus: The Incredible Hulk Vol. 1

This collects all of the material from the Masterworks Volumes 1 to 3. At the time of writing, only one volume of the Omnibus has been published and this was back in 2008. It is now very hard to find and very expensive.

Neither the Masterworks or the Omnibus collect the Hulk’s appearances while he was without his own title. This is where the Marvel Epic Collection line comes in…

Marvel Epic Collection: The Incredible Hulk

This line of chunky paperbacks, like the Masterworks collects the Hulk’s comics issue by issue but they also include the Hulk’s key appearances in other titles:

Volume 1: Man or Monster

Collects Incredible Hulk #1–6, Fantastic Four #12, 25–26, Avengers #1–3, 5, Amazing Spider-Man #14, Tales to Astonish #59, Journey into Mystery #112

So, that’s the first initial series plus the Hulk’s guest appearances: Tales to Astonish #59 has the Hulk appearing in Giant-Man’s feature which leads into the Hulk’s own in the next issue found in the next volume.

Volume 2: The Hulk Must Die

Collects Tales to Astonish #60-96, Not Brand Echh #3

A simpler collection this! Collects almost the entire run of the Hulk’s Tales to Astonish features. Not Brand Echh was Marvel’s comedy title from the late 1960s parodying their own superhero comics.

Volume 3: The Leader Lives

Collects Tales to Astonish #97-101, Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #102-117, Annual #1 and material from Not Brand Echh #9

Here we have the tail end of the Tales to Astonish features and the start of the Hulk’s own title with #102.

Volume 4: In the Hands of Hydra

Collects Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #118-137, Marvel Super Heroes #16

The final volume for the 1960s (it actually takes us up to part way through 1971). Marvel Super Heroes was a try out title where Marvel trialed new characters and concepts before awarding them their own titles (or not as the case may be!). #16 doesn’t star the Hulk at all but rather the Phantom Eagle; a First World War-era fighter pilot drawn by Herb Trimpe, the Hulk artist at the time. Included as a tribute as Herb Trimpe was an expert at drawing planes!

That completes the 1960s and the Silver Age! Coming up in the (hopefully) not too distant future will be the 1970s with Herb Trimpe coming into his own as one of the definitive Hulk artists.