The BEST of the Early Marvel Titles
While the Fantastic Four, Thor and the Avengers were all destined to become classics, none of them were really great right from the first issue. Such is not the case with The Incredible Hulk. While at first glance it may seem like the Hulk was a loner do-over of the Thing, there was something much more ominous about the Hulk - while The Thing was a reluctant hero, it was hard to call The Hulk a hero at all.
Aside from the science, which is quaintly Silver Age (and probably laughable to anyone who's had even a junior high science education), and the dated politics it actually holds up pretty good today. And even the corny comic book science isn't as bad as some of the other Marvel titles; and the Red-scare politics, kind of fit the overall 60s military/science backdrop of the book (unlike say Journey Into Mystery where Thor vs. the Communist Chinese was a laughable affair).
To be sure, Stan Lee was clearly inspired by the Universal monster series - especially the Frankenstein films (there's even an antagonist named 'Igor'), and the Wolf Man (this original version of the Hulk transformed at nightfall and back to human at daybreak).
I can't wait for the second issue to arrive!
