“The Curing of Dr. Banner!”

THE INCREDIBLE HULK — Issue no. 223, February 1978

Book: The Incredible Hulk

Issue No.: 223

Published: February 14, 1978

Title: “The Curing of Dr. Banner!”

Cover Price: 35¢

A note in the credits on page one explains that this is “the beginning of a bold new Hulk saga.” So hey, we’re apparently jumping on at the start of a major story arc for once! Since it is the first issue of a story starring a big (as in physically huge) character, it seems appropriate that it opens with a splash page and is followed up by a double-splash page.

That said, the story begins with Dr. Bruce Banner apparently cured, meaning he no longer turns into his rampaging Hulk alter-ego when he gets angry, so he’s not as big a character as he used to be.

There’s a side story at Gamma Base (apparently a military research station of some sort) involving Doctor Samson, who (from what I’ve picked up) is like the smart version of the Hulk. He’s super strong, but the only part of him that’s green is his hair, and he still has his smarts, unlike Bruce Banner in his Hulk form. Well, at least during this period — as you might have seen in the Marvel movies, the Hulk character goes through smart periods on occasion.

There’s a bad guy at Gamma Base teased on page fifteen. Based on my limited Hulk rogues gallery knowledge, my guess is that bad guy is the big-brained, green skinned Leader.

Then there’s another side story in Manhattan, with April Sommers, Jim Wilson, and a guy in a cape named Kropotkin, and I... have no idea who these folks are. An editor’s note mentions that April’s apartment door was broken by the Hulk two issues ago, but that’s all I have to go on so far.

The book ends on yet another splash page, revealing that my initial guess about the big bad for this story was correct. Banner makes it to Gamma Base with the help of a pilot friend, and the two find that the Leader has captured Doc Samson and Hulk’s frenemy General Ross and is somehow controlling the minds of the rest of the occupants of the base. A nice little cliffhanger, and I love the title tease for next issue — “Follow the Leader!”

All of these years, I had been thinking that the standard comic book story in the late 1970s was 22 pages, plus ten pages of ads and other non-story material. But this is the second 1978 Marvel book in a row that I’ve taken the time to do a page count for, and like Man From Atlantis no. 4, this issue of Hulk is seventeen pages (seventeen story pages plus one fan mail page, to be precise).

That led me to this helpful explainer from CBR. The short version — the 22-page Marvel comic story was indeed standard from 1980 until at least the mid-1990s, but as of 1978, seventeen pages was the norm.

Next time — Action in the old west with Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and the Rawhide Kid.