Marvel 1974 Week--Hulk #182!!

Sometimes an issue is such a mixed bag, you don't know what to do with it. Equal parts cliche and touching, clumsy and graceful, so confusing that you can't make up your mind if you like it or not.

And then it brings a damned tear to your eye, so you forgive it everything.

Hey, what's with that little motto below the "Marvel circle?"

Odd...as near as I can tell they never used it again on any Hulk cover. Just randomly trying out a new catch phrase? Trying to preempt DC from trademarking the phrase "World's Mightiest Mortal" tagline that they were using on most of the covers of Shazam!? A mystery that will never be solved...

There's no proper splash page, so let's hop right to the creators:

Ah, Herb Trimpe. A lot of people I know don't like Trimpe's artwork, and I'm not sure why. Sure, his penciling is different, and quite idiosyncratic...but then again, so were Kirby and Ditko. And I concede that not all inkers grokked the best way to display his work--he's at his best when he inks himself, frankly.

But, while his work may not be as "pretty" or polished as we came to expect from Bronze Age artists, the man knew how to tell a story. Check out the panel layout on these two pages:


Trimpe rarely went with a boring set-up. He'd use a different layout every single page, and yet the reader never got lost. He'd manage every time to use the layout to give us exactly what the story needed at that point: close ups, pull backs, shifts between characters...Trimpe was a great storyteller.

So, anyway, what's the Hulk up to this month?

D'oh!! You mean we missed the Wolverine introduction story?? Sorry kids. But allow me to point out that, in this very early appearance, Logan comes across as a bit of a whiny lackey:

Meanwhile, the crack Canadian military takes down Hulk...and Len Wein can't resist pointing out how stupid Hulk is...

Long story short, Hulk escapes in precisely 4 panels (Oh, Canada...), and goes wandering through the woods, until:



Oh, dear. The musical Negro, dressed in minstrelly clothing, talking all that atrocious dialect?? Crackajack Jackson?? Really, Len and Herb? Really?? Let's just label this an insensitive cliche, and leave it at that, all right?

Oh, and the Bush's Baked Bean people should totally replace that dog in their commercials with this guy:

Let's go take a peek at the villains-to-be in our piece:

So we're going to do a complete rip-off of The Defiant Ones, are we?

Yes, we are. The sad part is, not only is this a terrible example of "tell, don't show," but their racism and hatred is never used in the story...not once!! Why proudly announce that you're lifting these characters from a famous movie, if you're not going to actually use those characteristics at all?? Puzzling, to say the least. Wein created a lot of pretty cool villains during his Hulk run...these guys ain't in that group.

We do, however, deviate from The Defiant Ones in just the teensiest manner:

Ok, if the original had aliens in it, it might have won Best Picture...meanwhile, our escapees apparently don't know proper first contact procedure:


Fortunately, this is an alien who likes to be shot!!


The reward??


No, it's not just a new chain--it's an "energy synthicon," that in a completely unspecified manner makes them in some undescribed way very powerful:

Well, you know these two are complete chowderheads, because instead of heading off for civilization and robbing bags or becoming mercenaries or whatever, they head straight back to the prison they escaped from, to beat the crap out of everybody who was mean to them. Sigh...

Meanwhile, Hulk and Crackajack continue their trek...and Crackajack has a goal:

But first, a timeout for more bean humor:


And Crackajack actually teaches the Hulk to read and write!!

OK, OK, Len, we get it...Hulk stupid!!

They finally make it to their destination...and the old coincidence machine is in high gear:

Damn, that's unlikely. And even unlikelier, of course, Hammer is Crackajack's son. But there you go. Time for some family drama:

And then, sadly, Crackajack touches the energy synthicon...

Which, predictably, enrages the Jade Giant.

But surprisingly enough, these guys are in Hulk's league...

...and he can't break the chain!

But then they try to strangle him with it, and he just gets madder, and...oh, you know the rest:




Ouch. Insanity?? Kinda harsh (then again, maybe not, since we never know the crimes that got these losers incarcerated in the first place...)

So Hulk takes off with Crackajack's body, and gives him a good Christian burial:



C'mon, admit it...there's a tear in your eye...

What a mixed bag. I'm not sure what the message is--be a better father? Don't visit your son in prison or you'll die? The story is chuck full of cliches, slipshod plotting and lack of characterization. But then there's Crackajack, who despite the cringe-worthy trappings, is actually a pretty good character. I didn't show you the stories of how he walked 1200 miles to visit his son, the kindnesses he showed the Hulk, the tales of his musical career (all, of course, done in ridiculously stereotyped dialogue). Damn it, I was sad when he died. I only wish his death had been for some other purpose than to trigger the "tragic Hulk rampage of the month."

Laughing at the Hulk's stupidity while simultaneously using it to up the cheap tragedy? New supporting characters you'll never see again? Cliched (and poached) villains mixed with odd moral lessons? Herb Trimpe? That's the Hulk in the 1970's for you...

ELSEWHERE IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE:

Speaking of super-strong heroes facing a lame villainous duo:

Poor Luke Cage, magnet for lame villains. This was Stiletto's second appearance, and this time he brought his brother Discus with him. Sons of the warden of the prison cage escaped from, they blamed Luke for their father's being fired. So they came to kill him for revenge. What, you can't just call the authorities and turn him in? C'mon, guys your dad was just fired, not dead.

PRO-TIP: When your foe has impenetrable skin, having a suit that shoots knives is probably insufficient...and having your brother hurl "deadly" Frisbees at him probably didn't help much. I'm just sayin'.

I wonder if Discus in on the Professional Disc Golf tour these days...?