The demise of the Hulk’s title with its 6th issue (March 1963) gave Marvel room to create a new character.
“Marvel was limited by a distribution deal with Independent News Company, owned by rival DC Comics, to only eight titles a month,’ wrote Joseph J. Darowski in The Ages of the Incredible Hulk: Essays on the Green Goliath in Changing Times. “Even though the output was maximized by publishing 16 titles on a bimonthly basis, there was no space for titles of limited appeal.”
So the end of the Hulk’s title arguably made room for somebody else, probably the first appearance of Nick Fury. The first issue of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s application of their new Marvel approach to war comics, was cover-dated May 1963, two months after the Hulk’s run finished.
From March 1963 to October 1964, the Hulk was not really out of sight or mind, thanks to Lee’s skillful use of his tortured former protagonist as an antagonist against the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Thor and Giant-Man.
That move accomplished two purposes, keeping the Hulk alive in the minds of young readers, and carefully nurturing their growing sense of a vast, interconnected fictional universe, a Marvel universe. Lee used Prince Namor to serve the same function at the same time.
The Hulk returned in a new feature in Tales to Astonish 60. Drawn by Steve Ditko, the character was finally established in the form in which most people now know him — as a scientist turned into a monster by stress or anger — the fight-or-flight response.
Shared titles were necessary in Marvel’s expanding universe, and each of them had its own theme.
Tales of Suspense featured the out-and-out superheroes, Captain America and Iron Man. Strange Tales featured two characters on the fringes of the superhero world, Nick Fury and Dr. Strange. And once Giant-Man departed, Tales to Astonish featured the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner, two super-antiheroes.
Cully Calloway wrote:
ReplyDeleteIt's enjoyable reading the early Hulk appearances in order. It took a while for Stan to lock in his personality, but half the fun is watching the character develop. Jack's early fight scenes are so creative, they're all over the place. I admit, some of my favorite Hulk books were not from his titles.
I replied:
I agree. I love the roller coaster ride of those early issues.
Bob Hughes wrote:
ReplyDeleteMarvel was publishing twelve titles a month in 1963.
I replied:
Yes, it looks like they expanded from eight to 10 titles a month in May 1960.
Bob Doncaster wrote:
ReplyDeleteAs a child I had no idea of the distribution deal, but loved getting two heroes for the price of one.
Mark Engblom wrote:
ReplyDeleteThe Hulk’s early presence in the Marvel Universe was almost a blueprint for his presence in the budding Marvel Cinematic Universe nearly a half century later! After starring in two solo movies, various behind the scenes legal limitations forced the character to appear in OTHER Marvel movies, serving much the same role as his comic book counterpart. Although the MCU’s Hulk wasn’t as much of an overt threat, his “wild card” presence had a similar catalytic effect.
I replied:
And the first Avengers movie did play up his horror-movie threat to the Blsck Widow, while also featuring a classic Hulk-Thor tussle.
ReplyDeleteRichard Meyer wrote:
I wondered if the distribution deal had anything to do with cover blurbs like “The Human Torch appears in Strange Tales by special arrangement with Fantastic Four magazine”, or whether it was just more of Stan’s sales strategy. And I did feel a loss when the last backup fantasy stories were replaced by heroes.
I replied:
There were some gems in those backup stories. A good number of them, in fact.
Claudio Piccinini wrote:
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written, thank you.