Comic Books 101

by Chris Ryall

  Finally, Banner is ready to test the device, and the countdown commences. Surveying the detonation site, Banner notices a teenager cruising his car through the heart of ground zero. Banner yells at his assistant Igor to halt the countdown, then runs out to get the boy to safety. Unfortunately, Banner has no idea that his assistant is actually a dirty Communist spy, sent by his Soviet masters to obtain the secrets of the gamma bomb. (You'd think the name “Igor” might have been something of a clue.) Igor decides to eliminate Banner and does not halt the countdown.

  Banner reaches the test site just soon enough to throw the teenager, Rick Jones, into a protective trench, but Banner is too late to save himself, and he catches the full blast of gamma radiation released by the explosion. Banner regains consciousness later that night. He's been locked in an observation room, along with Jones, who survived without a scratch. Banner, however, is not so lucky. As night falls, Banner begins to mutate before Jones's eyes, growing much taller and more muscular, bursting through the seams of his clothes, with his skin turning a deathly gray color.

  But isn't the Hulk supposed to be green? In the first issue of The Incredible Hulk, the Hulk is gray, as Stan intended. However, when Stan saw the final magazine, he decided that the gray color wasn't printing consistently enough. He changed the Hulk's color to green, and green it remained until the gray Hulk was reintroduced in 1986.

  At first, the Hulk emerges only at night. For a short while, Banner himself triggers the transformations in an attempt to control the Hulk. (Banner knows of the Hulk's existence, but has no memory of his actions when transformed, while the childlike Hulk often forgets that he's Banner.)

  HULK SMASH!

  In time, a new catalyst develops, one that cements the success of the series. When Bruce Banner becomes upset, angry or otherwise placed under stress, he loses control and transforms into the Hulk. As the Hulk grows more and more angry, his strength increases exponentially, with seemingly no limit. Or, in the words of Hulk, “The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets!”

  The Hulk's magazine only lasted six issues. After that, Stan employed Hulk as a kind of pinch-hitting guest star, touring him around the various Marvel series, before landing him in a secure spot as co-star of Tales to Astonish, along with perennial also-ran Ant-Man. It was in the Tales run, with art by Spider-Man creator Steve Ditko and later a return from Kirby, that Stan really hit his stride with the Hulk series, establishing the “Hulk-get-mad, Hulk-get-strong” motif, and building a strong supporting cast of friends and foes. Rick Jones and Betty remain Banner's closest friends, although only Jones (who later repeats his sidekick role for Captain America, Captain Marvel and even Rom the Spaceknight) knows the secret of Banner's curse. General “Thunderbolt” Ross also stays in the forefront as the Hulk's chief antagonist and major thorn in the side of Bruce Banner. Even worse, Ross now has a co-conspirator in the weaselly Major Glenn Talbot, who is not only convinced that Banner secretly works for the Soviets, but also has designs on Betty. (Some years later, believing Banner dead, Betty actually marries the pencil-mustachioed twerp on the rebound, but drops him like yesterday's papers when Bruce resurfaces.)

  Can you believe a guy who looked like this was once a national TV star?

  THE INCREDIBLE HULK: © 1978 MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT, INC. USED WITH PERMISSION. PUBLISHED BY FIRESIDE BOOKS. ART BY BOB LARKIN.

  BRAINS AND BRAWN

  The two strongest contributions from the Tales to Astonish are Hulk's popular adversaries the Leader and the Abomination. The Leader first shows his long face in Tales to Astonish #62 (December 1964), by Lee and Ditko. An average laborer working clean-up in a chemical research plant is accidentally caught in the blast of an experimental gamma ray cylinder. Inexplicably, the man survives, but after his recovery discovers he has a voracious desire for knowledge, retaining exact recall of everything he reads. The gamma radiation has a delayed physical effect, and some weeks after the blast, his skull and brain grow to oversized proportions and his skin turns green. He abandons his former identity, and, dubbing himself the Leader, turns his unmatched intellect to matters of world conquest. The Leader often tries to use the Hulk as his unwitting pawn in his schemes, but with little success.

  Where as the Leader is more than a match for the Hulk in gamma-induced intelligence, the Abomination proves to be an equal threat in gamma-induced strength. Debuting in Tales to Astonish #90 (April 1967), Emil Blonsky is yet another Commie spy sent to infiltrate and sabotage General Ross's Air Force base. (Maybe if Ross and Talbot weren't so busy chasing Banner around and yelling, “Traitor!” all the time, they might have noticed all these guys with Russian-sounding names suddenly getting work at the military base.) Blonsky finds Banner's latest gamma weapon that, unbeknownst to Blonsky, is designed to bombard Banner's own body with enough gamma radiation to kill himself and end the threat of the Hulk forever. When security guards bust in and haul off Banner (no doubt to face the latest trumped-up treason charge from Ross and Talbot), Blonsky uses the machine on himself and is bombarded with a far more intense blast of gamma rays than the one that transformed Banner into the Hulk. Luckily for Blonsky, he happens to possess a rare genetic factor, just as Banner and the Leader had, that prevents him from being killed by the massive dose of radiation. The gamma rays give Blonsky strength much greater than that of the Hulk, but, unlike Banner, he retains his intelligence as well.

  SCOTT SAYS

  What accounts for the Hulk's perennial popularity? If you ask me, it's a simple factor: rage. Everyone can identify with the helplessness of feeling pushed to the very edge, and seeing Bruce Banner get so mad that he's able to swing a Sherman tank like a Louisville Slugger. Well, it's cathartic to say the least.

  The downside? The gamma rays mutate him dramatically, transforming him into a hideous creature that Betty Ross names the Abomination. Although Banner later invents a device to drain some of the excess gamma radiation out of the Abomination, taking away some of his strength, the Abomination maintains a baseline strength level greater than that of a relatively calm Hulk. When Hulk gets steamed, though, all bets are off.

  The Incredible Hulk comic continues in a happy rut throughout most of the 1970s and '80s, with things finally shaking up in 1985 with the arrival of writer/artist John Byrne, who, among other things, physically separates Bruce Banner from the Hulk and finally sees that Bruce and Betty marry, despite Thunderbolt's showing up and blowing a.32-caliber hole through best man Rick Jones.

  The Hulk not only gets a new job during Peter David's tenure, but stylin' new threads, as well.

  INCREDIBLE HULK #349: © 1988 MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT, INC. ART BY JEFF PURVES AND TERRY AUSTIN. COLOR BY GLYNIS OLIVER.

  Not long after that, Banner and Hulk are reintegrated, and writer Peter David began his landmark twelve-year run on the series, playing off of a story by writer Bill Mantlo that discusses Bruce's childhood torment at the hands of his abusive father, as well as writer Al Milgrom's re-introduction of the gray Hulk. Under David's pen, the fragmented consciousness of Bruce Banner is fully explored. The character is diagnosed as having multiple personality disorder — the Bruce Banner personality represents his intellect, the green Hulk his repressed rage (triggered by childhood abuse, which is why the green Hulk retains a childlike intellect and emotional state), and the gray Hulk his darker, repressed instincts, such as lust and greed.

  One of the many highlights of Peter David's run is in Incredible Hulk #347 (September 1988), in which the gray Hulk, who retains normal intelligence and a very bad attitude, takes on a new identity as Mr. Fixit, an enforcer for a casino owner in Las Vegas. Seeing the nattily dressed Hulk pound on mobsters, then cruise back to his penthouse with a fabulous babe on his arm is surreal, to say the least; just one example of the anything-can-happen approach that Peter David brought to the title.

  5 Spider-Man

  Wealth and fame he has ignoredBetween the Saturday-morning cartoons, the TV shows, the mountains of merchandise and his recent blockbuster motion picture trilo
gy, even people who've never seen a comic book in their lives must by now know a little something about Marvel's trademark character, and probably the single most popular superhero ever, the Amazing Spider-Man. Since he's been published for more than forty years, there's quite a lot to cover when it comes to Spidey, but we'll try to cover some of the high points. Let's open the floor to questions. Yes, you in the back?

  Peter Parker receives that fateful spider bite that changes his life.

  AMAZING FANTASY #15: © 1963 MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT, INC. USED WITH PERMISSION. ART BY STEVE DITKO.

  WHERE DID SPIDER-MAN FIRST APPEAR?

  Spidey's first appearance is in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1963), in a tale called, appropriately enough, “Spider-Man!” As the legend goes, Marvel editor/writer Stan Lee, flush from the successful launches of Fantastic Four and Hulk, wanted to try an even more experimental superhero strip, one in which the hero himself would be a teenager, as opposed to the usual teen sidekick role, and which would feature a more “hard-luck hero” approach. Taking inspiration from the 1930s pulp hero the Spider, Stan dubbed his new creation Spider-Man, and premiered his new character in the final issue of Amazing Fantasy. Since the book was already going to get the axe, as Stan explained to then-Marvel publisher Martin Goodman, what's the harm in trying something new?

  Something new indeed. Thanks to Steve Ditko's brilliant costume design and spare, streamlined art style, along with the most inspired origin story of Stan Lee's career, Spider-Man caught the attention of comics readers in a big way. The first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man appeared a few months later.

  HOW CLOSE IS THE MOVIE TO THE COMICS?

  Very. Sam Raimi's Spider-Man may not follow every bit of the Spider-Man lore chapter and verse, but man, does it come close. The only real departures are the armored Green Goblin and the fact that Spidey's webs are organic.

  ORGANIC? MEANING WHAT?

  If you'll recall, in the film, after Peter Parker has been bitten by the genetically mutated spider, he soon discovers that the bite has affected him, granting him increased strength and speed, the ability to cling to walls, a mysterious “spider-sense” to warn him of danger and the ability to expel webbing from his wrists. Well, in the comics, he gets all of that except the webbing. Instead, Peter, a genius-level scientific prodigy, devises mechanical webshooter devices to wear on his wrists, which fire an adhesive “web-fluid” of his own design. By adjusting the nozzle, Spidey can fire a thick, sticky glue, a fine spray to act as a net, or long, sturdy strands that allow him to swing from building to building. (The web-fluid would dissolve after two hours, preventing someone else from gathering up the evidence and copying the formula.)

  The filmmakers decided to jettison the mechanical webshooters, thinking it too far-fetched that a teenager could invent so complicated a device. Also, director Sam Raimi has stated that he felt the organic web-shooters further served as a symbol of Parker's alienation and sense of being an outcast. This makes sense, and the minor detail certainly doesn't have any large effect on the film. Still, the original version is preferable. Peter Parker's scientific genius helps set him apart from most superhero-type characters, and brings his character of “mild-mannered bookworm” into sharper focus. Also, the fact that he creates his webs somewhat validates Spidey as a hero. Random chance may have given Peter Parker his powers, but his will and intelligence make him a hero.

  WHAT ABOUT THE ORIGIN STORY? IS IT LIKE THE MOVIE?

  Yes, indeed. Peter Parker, in a moment of arrogance and self-involvement, stands by and lets a criminal escape, and that same criminal later kills his beloved uncle. Some of the details change in the film: Spidey lets the criminal go at the wrestling match instead of the TV station, and Uncle Ben is killed in a carjacking rather than a home robbery, but the important stuff's all there.

  Spider-Man's is the most powerful of all superhero origins because it can be boiled down to a single motivation. Why is Clark Kent Superman? Because he was raised by decent people who taught him to always do the right thing. Why is Bruce Wayne Batman? Because his parents were killed by a mugger before his eyes when he was a child, and he wants to prevent that from happening to others. Both of these are good stories, but they require a basic sense of altruism that might be hard for a reader to identify with. Why is Peter Parker Spider-Man? Guilt. Guilt over the murder of his uncle, a murder he could have stopped if he'd done the right thing. Parker is compelled to do good as Spider-Man, because the absence of his uncle is a constant reminder of his failure to be responsible. It's right there in black and white in Amazing Fantasy #15, and we all heard Cliff Robertson's Uncle Ben say it in the movie: “With great power comes great responsibility.” There are worse things to learn from a comic book.

  WAS MARY JANE ALWAYS PETER'S GIRL?

  Nope. Initially, Peter's love interest is Betty Brant, J. Jonah Jameson's secretary at the Daily Bugle. Also competing for Peter's attention is classmate Liz Allen, who occasionally dates Pete's jock nemesis Flash Thompson. Mary Jane doesn't enter the picture until more than three years later, after Peter has graduated high school, and after a hilarious running gag in which Aunt May continually tries to set up Peter with Mary Jane, the niece of a friend, but the reader never gets to see her face. MJ's head is obscured by houseplants, trees, lampshades, you name it. When the gorgeous Mary Jane is finally revealed in The Amazing Spider-Man #42 (November 1966), as drawn by the fabulous John Romita, it is a moment Spidey fans will long remember.

  Mary Jane remains a presence in the series, but it is Gwen Stacy who becomes the major love interest of Peter Parker for the next five years or so. Gwen is a classmate of Peter's at Empire State University, and the daughter of police captain George Stacy, one of the few authority figures who don't automatically assume the worst about Spider-Man. Gwen is the first significant love interest for Peter in the series, at least until it all goes bad.

  UH-OH. BAD? HOW BAD?

  Very bad. Moviegoers will remember the climax of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, in which the Green Goblin dangles Mary Jane from the George Washington Bridge. Well, if you saw the film with any Spider-Man fans, you may have noticed a stunned, open-mouthed gape on their faces at that point. That's because this sequence is taken directly from The Amazing Spider-Man #121 (June 1973), except instead of Mary Jane in peril, it is Gwen. Just like in the movie, the Goblin drops her. And just like in the movie, Spidey catches her.

  Unlike the movie, however, it is not enough.

  GUEST LECTURER

  David Tipton, writer, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Intelligence Gathering

  THE BEST STORYLINE/ISSUE

  A common theme in Spider-Man stories involves him battling and defeating much more powerful opponents, either by his wits or with surprising strength. Two of the more extreme versions are versus the Juggernaut in The Amazing Spider-Man #229–230 (June–July 1982) and against Firelord in The Amazing Spider-Man #269–270 (October– November 1985).

  YOU MEAN SHE'S DEAD?

  Yes. Spidey manages to catch her with his webbing, but it's all for naught. To further twist the blade, in the panel that shows Spidey's webbing catching her, the small sound effect “SNAP!” appears by Gwen's neck. Was she already dead from the shock of the fall, or did the abrupt stop of the rescue attempt seal her fate? Neither Spider-Man nor the reader ever gets a concrete answer. What's Spider-Man's motivation again? Guilt.

  The Goblin pays the price for his sins.

  AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #122: © 1973 MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT, INC. USED WITH PERMISSION. ART BY GIL KANE, JOHN ROMITA AND TONY MORTELLARO. COLOR BY ANDY YANCHUS.

  SO WHAT HAPPENS TO THE GOBLIN?

  Once again, the movie follows the events of the comic very closely. After seeing to Gwen's body and saying his goodbyes, Spider-Man furiously pursues the Goblin, dead-set on revenge. After a heated battle in which the headpiece of the Goblin's glider is damaged, forming a now-lethal point, Spider-Man pummels the Goblin mercilessly, almost killing him — but he stops himself, not wanting to become
a murderer like the Goblin. Spidey coolly informs the Goblin that he's heading to prison for the murder of Gwen, knowing all too well that it will effectively ruin his life; the Goblin will undoubtedly expose Spider-Man's identity to the world if captured. The Goblin, meanwhile, has been surreptitiously controlling his glider remotely, and it is now hurtling toward Spidey's back, about to impale him. Spider-Man's spider-sense kicks in and Spidey leaps away at the last moment. No such luck for the Goblin, who is speared in the chest by his glider, killing him.

  GUEST LECTURER

  JOE HILL, novelist, writer, Locke & Key

  THE FIRST ISSUE OF SPIDER-MAN I EVER READ

  When my family went on vacation somewhere — like to Disney World — my dad would make up these multi-part Spider-Man stories for us, in which Peter Parker would just coincidentally be going on vacation in the exact same place as us. He'd tell a chapter every night at bedtime. These were really foul stories, too. Peter inevitably wound up with a case of diarrhea as the result of eating some bad road food, and would wind up fighting the Lizard and the Green Goblin, while trying not to fill his spider suit with crap. These stories would put me in an agony of suspense. As if it wasn't bad enough that Peter might be killed, there was also the possibility he'd suffer humiliation first. So those are the first Spider-Man stories I remember caring about, although it doesn't exactly answer your question.

  THE BEST CREATIVE TIME ON THE TITLE

  At the risk of providing a bland, uninteresting answer, I have to go with the first thirty-eight stories, the Ditko/Lee originals, beginning with Amazing Fantasy #15. Steve Ditko and Stan Lee built the sandbox that all the other Spidey writers and artists have spent the last forty years playing in.

  THE BEST COVER

  Amazing Spider-Man #90 (November 1970), baby. Beautifully composed, it instantly created suspense … and a feeling of tragedy. Oh, yeah, and one other great thing about the cover. Where it says 15 cents? Them were the days.