Mighty Marvel Masterworks Incredible Hulk 4: Let There Be Battle

The smash hit adventures that led to the return of the Green Goliath’s own monthly book, INCREDIBLE HULK!

Bruce Banner is on the run! With the secret that he is the Incredible Hulk revealed, the law is hunting the man behind the monster. And the monster says: let there be battle! The Hulk rampages his way across Earth and outer space, ready to fight with everyone and everything. But even the Hulk might have second thoughts when the cosmically-powered Silver Surfer crosses his path! And when Marvel’s original antihero, Namor the Sub-Mariner, attempts to convince the Hulk to join him in war against the surface world, Hulk answers back with a green knuckle sandwich! Also featuring the High Evolutionary and his New Men, Hulk’s new solo series debut, and punchy parodies from NOT BRAND ECHH!

COLLECTING: Tales to Astonish (1959) 100, Incredible Hulk (1968) 102; material from Tales to Astonish (1959) 92-99, 101; Not Brand Echh (1967) 3, 9

Writer/editor Stan Lee (1922-2018) made comic-book history together with Jack Kirby in 1961 with Fantastic Four #1. The monumental popularity of its new style inspired Lee to develop similarly themed characters — including the Hulk and X-Men with Kirby, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange with Steve Ditko, and Daredevil with Bill Everett. After shepherding his creations through dozens of issues — in some cases a hundred or more — Lee allowed other writers to take over, but he maintained steady editorial control. Eventually, he helped expand Marvel into a multimedia empire. In recent years, his frequent cameo appearances in Marvel’s films established Lee as one of the world’s most famous faces.

During the 1960s, when males dominated the industry, Marie Severin earned the respect of her peers with her seemingly limitless talents in every facet of comic-book production — from penciling to inking to lettering to coloring. Her earliest recorded work was for EC Comics in 1949, and she went on to contribute coloring across the famous publisher’s line before moving to Marvel’s predecessor Atlas Comics. In the Silver Age of comics, Severin made her mark in the Bullpen, drawing the adventures of Doctor Strange and becoming the company’s head colorist before going on to concentrate on penciling. Her extensive contribution to Marvel across a wide array of titles includes providing the original design for Spider-Woman. Severin was inducted into the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame in 2001.