Thanks for doing this series. I started buying F.F. around 67 - 68 when Joe Summit's inks defined Jack's style with more hard, bold, polished lines. But this is giving me a greater appreciation of those early years, both in story and illustrations. Great stuff.
Was just reading Hulk Thing Hard Knocks from 2004 this morning which substantially references this story - spooky coincidence! That 4 issue series by Bruce Jones has fabulously colored Jae Lee art, btw.
Completely. There was a sweet spot in between this Hulk and the invincible god he is now that I prefer but if I have to choose between the two extremes I like this version of these heroes.
A fun, but really haphazard comic. There's an awful lot of near-pointless screwing around before we get to the object of the story. I feel like, for Jack, this is still mostly the Fantastic Four Show and he was just having fun with the new characters using their powers, causing chaos and being entertaining. This was also on sale at the same time as the last issue of the Hulk, which means they at least knew the book was in trouble, if not cancelled. Stan and Jack never seemed to give up on the character, and for a time, he was given a very novel role as a nomadic villain, roaming from one comic title to another, until his series revival.
We can assume this took place after the events of Hulk 6. You could consider this Hulk 7. Also it should be explained here that at this time Bruce Banner had control over the Hulk, and both shared each other’s memories, and up to an extent the Hulk had some of Banner’s personality, although as the Hulk he had more violent, more aggressive tendencies. In Avengers 1, and 2, Banner’s control was starting to slip, and in Avengers 3 he lost it altogether. Hence the situation in Fantastic Four 25 and 26.
Growing up with the. Romita spider man and finally saw ditkos version. I’d say I was put off by ditko’s version and had to slowly gain appreciation as I matured. It’s weird because I felt the same way about Bullwinkle and black and white movies. And loved them when I reached a certain age.
The bazooka bola that the soldiers use seems to be something you'd associate with Hawkeye or Green Arrow with their bola arrows. I wonder if Jack ever used a bola arrow when he was working on Green Arrow in the 50s? I wonder if this is the last "imagine spot" where the FF talk about how they would handle a situation (the Hulk in this instance) like they did in issue 7 and in issue 10? I think Rick and Johnny are both alphas. Johnny has his hanger-ons when he's working on cars and Rick is the leader of the Teen Brigade. Karl Kort's subversive membership card is a bad idea. Things like that could get his security clearance revoked, just ask Oppenheimer. Speaking of Karl Kort, in Marvel Age: FF #12 where this story is retold, Kort has long hair and glasses. If Tom Scioli added more material to FF: Grand Design George Lucas style, he could put himself in the story as Karl Kort. Sue knocks the weapon out of Kort's hand, so I guess another rebuttal to the readers that she's not useless. The most famous homage to this cover I know of is Thor 404 by Ron Frenz.
I am not satisfied with this. The story had a very Looong introduction that took up the first half of the book . When the FF and the Hulk finally met, it was nearly at the end of the book and was squeezed in at 2 and a half pages with a lot of small panels. And when the Hulk and the Thing clashed, just when it was starting to really get interesting, the Hulk gets hit by a beam out of nowhere, and it just stopped. The confrontation with Kort and his pet robot was absolutely rushed. Everyone says goodbye, the end. One thing that this story showed to Stan and Jack was that single issue adventures were occasionally impossible to work with. Later stories would expand to one or more issues. That includes issues 24 and 25 (Which itself was actually a continuation of Avengers 3 and 4) and becomes a wonderful odyssey about the Hulk and other heroes interacting with him, including a terrific fight between the Hulk and the Thing that the readers didn’t get the year before.
It’s always funny to look at old comic to see that there was a early throw away character with the same namesake as a currently astablished character. Well there was even a comic addressing this with wonder man fights wonder man for the use of the name
The original comic Bruce is like captain America in that it’s a scrawny guy that gets turned to a brawny fighting machine. With a werewolf alter ego twist. Later the retcon is that the hulk was a attempt at a super solder along the lines of captain America. There is a really cool take on red hulk in the venture bros with a eccentric general gets turned into a hulk but still retains the eccentric generals slowly loosing touch with reality personality. They aldi through a sort of doctor strange love tribute of slim Pickens riding a rocket Schlick. Which is oddly haunting and endearing at the same time
3:51 Actually Tom, I think the setting for the early Silver Age Hulk stories
was New Mexico not Nevada.
That wire bullet that tangles the Thing reminds me of that blanket cartridge they shoot at Ikarus in the first or second Eternals issue!
Thanks for doing this series. I started buying F.F. around 67 - 68 when Joe Summit's inks defined Jack's style with more hard, bold, polished lines. But this is giving me a greater appreciation of those early years, both in story and illustrations. Great stuff.
Joe SINNOT. Man, I HATE spellcheck.
Well, Joe was the summit, I guess. Hi Tony!
Was just reading Hulk Thing Hard Knocks from 2004 this morning which substantially references this story - spooky coincidence! That 4 issue series by Bruce Jones has fabulously colored Jae Lee art, btw.
They should bring back the fantastic four cartoon the same way they did the X-Men, or even the iron Man cartoon
The Hulk says “Ow, it’s like punching a brick wall!”. Doesn’t he punch through brick walls all the time?😂
Does not mean it doesn’t hurt.
I like the earlier, less powerful era of the characters.
Completely. There was a sweet spot in between this Hulk and the invincible god he is now that I prefer but if I have to choose between the two extremes I like this version of these heroes.
@@IntheClutch75why? Hulk can go toe to toe with Superman
A fun, but really haphazard comic. There's an awful lot of near-pointless screwing around before we get to the object of the story. I feel like, for Jack, this is still mostly the Fantastic Four Show and he was just having fun with the new characters using their powers, causing chaos and being entertaining.
This was also on sale at the same time as the last issue of the Hulk, which means they at least knew the book was in trouble, if not cancelled. Stan and Jack never seemed to give up on the character, and for a time, he was given a very novel role as a nomadic villain, roaming from one comic title to another, until his series revival.
We can assume this took place after the events of Hulk 6. You could consider this Hulk 7.
Also it should be explained here that at this time Bruce Banner had control over the Hulk, and both shared each other’s memories, and up to an extent the Hulk had some of Banner’s personality, although as the Hulk he had more violent, more aggressive tendencies. In Avengers 1, and 2, Banner’s control was starting to slip, and in Avengers 3 he lost it altogether. Hence the situation in Fantastic Four 25 and 26.
I owned that comic book, once upon a time.
It’s hard to believe that there was once a time when people couldn’t tell the Thing from the Hulk. At least that never happened again.
The scene where he helps a flying Thing from the sabotaged chair by doing a spiral is subtle 7:25
Yeah i have a lot of those comics. The old ones. I suggest to everyone to watch justice league..new frontiers. Thats based on the old dc characters
Darwyn for the win!
I prefer the flying bathtub.
I liked the 3-toed, 4-fingered Hulk..
Probably inker Joe Sennot’s error; probably forgot which one, the Hulk or the Thing had missing digits.
He always does that 3 toes. I wonder if Tom can comment on why he does that lol
Growing up with the. Romita spider man and finally saw ditkos version. I’d say I was put off by ditko’s version and had to slowly gain appreciation as I matured. It’s weird because I felt the same way about Bullwinkle and black and white movies. And loved them when I reached a certain age.
The bazooka bola that the soldiers use seems to be something you'd associate with Hawkeye or Green Arrow with their bola arrows. I wonder if Jack ever used a bola arrow when he was working on Green Arrow in the 50s? I wonder if this is the last "imagine spot" where the FF talk about how they would handle a situation (the Hulk in this instance) like they did in issue 7 and in issue 10? I think Rick and Johnny are both alphas. Johnny has his hanger-ons when he's working on cars and Rick is the leader of the Teen Brigade. Karl Kort's subversive membership card is a bad idea. Things like that could get his security clearance revoked, just ask Oppenheimer. Speaking of Karl Kort, in Marvel Age: FF #12 where this story is retold, Kort has long hair and glasses. If Tom Scioli added more material to FF: Grand Design George Lucas style, he could put himself in the story as Karl Kort. Sue knocks the weapon out of Kort's hand, so I guess another rebuttal to the readers that she's not useless. The most famous homage to this cover I know of is Thor 404 by Ron Frenz.
If this were ever made into a movie, Kort called have been played perfectly by ether Elsha Cook or John Fielder.
michael bell voice if banner in cartoon
Fantastic! 🤷🏻♂️😀
I am not satisfied with this. The story had a very Looong introduction that took up the first half of the book . When the FF and the Hulk finally met, it was nearly at the end of the book and was squeezed in at 2 and a half pages with a lot of small panels. And when the Hulk and the Thing clashed, just when it was starting to really get interesting, the Hulk gets hit by a beam out of nowhere, and it just stopped. The confrontation with Kort and his pet robot was absolutely rushed. Everyone says goodbye, the end.
One thing that this story showed to Stan and Jack was that single issue adventures were occasionally impossible to work with. Later stories would expand to one or more issues. That includes issues 24 and 25 (Which itself was actually a continuation of Avengers 3 and 4) and becomes a wonderful odyssey about the Hulk and other heroes interacting with him, including a terrific fight between the Hulk and the Thing that the readers didn’t get the year before.
10:25 Bruce really Looks like Geoff Darrow
Great grappling panels at 8:54.
It’s always funny to look at old comic to see that there was a early throw away character with the same namesake as a currently astablished character. Well there was even a comic addressing this with wonder man fights wonder man for the use of the name
I think the bath tube fantastcar is iconic
The original comic Bruce is like captain America in that it’s a scrawny guy that gets turned to a brawny fighting machine. With a werewolf alter ego twist. Later the retcon is that the hulk was a attempt at a super solder along the lines of captain America. There is a really cool take on red hulk in the venture bros with a eccentric general gets turned into a hulk but still retains the eccentric generals slowly loosing touch with reality personality. They aldi through a sort of doctor strange love tribute of slim Pickens riding a rocket Schlick. Which is oddly haunting and endearing at the same time
The same conclusion was made in the movie them. When the didused that the damage to the store and trailer was from the out side rather then from in
I love the bathtub car