Incredible Issues: The Incredible Hulk #2 Review
The Hulk's second appearance intensifies the monstrosity of its title character, lessening the strength of its story by comparison
—by Nathan on January 28, 2025—
I assume there was some confusion on the part of readers when they first picked up the second issue of The Incredible Hulk.
It probably wasn't because of the Toad Men, though they do look kinda funny with their orange faces and bulging eyes. It also probably wasn't because of the supporting cast members on the monitors, General "Thunderbolt" Ross and his daughter Betty–readers of the first *Incredible Hulk issue would have been familiar with them. The presence of the series' titular monster himself most likely didn't cause consternation…but a detail may have jumped out.
The Hulk was now green.
A printing error with the first issue had led to the creature's skin being inconsistent, colored in various gray and green tones across the issue. According to Stan Lee, out of all the variants, the green coloring appealed to him the most, which is why the character has remained that way 60+ years later. Yeah, some writers eventually decided the gray version of the Hulk was an aspect of Bruce Banner's psyche and all that, but the truth is much simpler: turns out, in this case, it was easier being green!
But just because the Hulk underwent a color change (never explained narratively in this issue, btw), that doesn't mean his personality gained a new dimension. Not here. If anything, our green meanie is even meaner than before…which is problematic when it seems like he's the guy who should be stopping the invading Toad Men!
"The Terror of the Toad Men"
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Jack Kirby
Inker: Steve Ditko
Colorist: Stan Goldberg
Letterer: Artie Simek
Issue: The Incredible Hulk #2
Issue Publication Date: July 1962
I noted in my review of the first issue that the Hulk is not your standard comic book hero. He doesn't take any oaths to protect a city in the name of his murdered parents or uncle. He doesn't decide to use his abilities for the improvement of humanity. He's an engine of destruction, tearing through towns and bowling over soldiers. He's not even at his "Hulk just want to be left alone!" stage. He's just a force of devastation, with as little intention as a hurricane. In the issue's opening sequence, he smashes through a town wordlessly. No anger, no hate. Just pure force.
That changes later in the issue.
Let's get the summary outta the way: a group of toad-looking bipedal aliens, in an effort to learn the extent of Earth's scientific might, kidnap the smartest dude they can find, Dr. Bruce Banner. Yes, that Dr. Bruce Banner. Turning into the Hulk, Banner breaks free and, high above the world, he momentarily contemplates annihilating humanity. The ship he's on is shot down by the military, the Hulk turns back into Banner, we get some pages of angry military people and some more smashing when the Hulk returns at night…and then Banner, at the issue's end, saves the world from the Toad Men by harnessing their technology against them. Ain't that swell?
Let's backtrack a moment to something I wrote in the last paragraph: "[The Hulk] momentarily contemplates annihilating humanity." And in case you think I'm exaggerating, his exact words are "I can wipe out all mankind!" This comes mere panels after my favorite moment in the whole issue, where the Hulk uses a gun to blast some Toad Men away. The Hulk. Uses a gun. And then considers raining apocalyptic hellfire down on Earth for the express purpose of removing humanity from existence.
Yeah, this isn't "Hulk just want to be left alone!" Hulk.
This aspect is worth focusing on (especially in comparison to what the rest of the issue offers, which I'll discuss later), as it cements Lee and Kirby's thesis for the character: he's a monster. He's a different side of Bruce Banner, intended here to be something far separate and far more savage than the mild-mannered scientist. Banner and Rick Jones create a cage for the monster in an underground cavern for the Hulk to spend in each night, pounding away at his prison so he cannot break free to cause havoc. I noted the opening sequence where an eerily silent Hulk walks through a town, just crushing whatever gets in his way. This isn't a monster you're supposed to sympathize with the same way you'd sympathize with the Thing, the Man-Thing, or the Swamp Thing (maybe if he'd called himself "The Hulk-Thing"?). You feel Banner's fear, certainly, but this is not a situation where a man becomes a monster while retaining his intelligence or human heart. He's a beast, through and through.
You might even call him a villain.
I referred to the Hulk as a "hero" (of sorts) in my previous post, and later incarnations of the character steer him towards heroics, but these first issues depict a much darker character. The Hulk wants control, he can't stand Banner, he doesn't want to be caged. He wants freedom, to smash and destroy as he pleases. He may not be as big a threat as the Toad Men, at least not physically, but even the Toad Men just want to subjugate Earth, not eliminate its inhabitants. The Hulk is only prevented from continuing to contemplate eliminating humanity through the interference of the U.S. military–would he have followed through on his threat given the chance? Unlike his silent assault on the nameless town, the Hulk gives thought to whether he should "be the hunter instead of the hunted," and you get the sense that it doesn't matter if he's never used alien weaponry before–he's going to try.
This brutal, conniving Hulk serves as a contrast to Banner, who is portrayed as very much a helpless victim in all this…and a hero in his own right. With Rick Jones, he actively plans to keep the Hulk at bay. He cares for Betty Ross after the Hulk kidnaps her. He utilizes a special "gamma ray gun" to repel the alien invaders, while the Hulk ignores Rick's pleas for the Jade Giant to face the Toad Men. Considered spineless and a milksop by General Ross ("I'll never understand what you see in a weakling like him, Betty," Ross tells his smitten daughter early in the issue), he nevertheless shows considerable backbone. Heck, Rick, too, comes off nobly, not only standing up to the Hulk on two occasions but protecting Bruce from soldiers seeking to arrest him.
Interesting as the title's central character comes across, this issue's story doesn't hold up nearly as well. The Toad Men's reason for kidnapping Banner–learning of Earth's scientific secrets–feels negibile when they reveal their awesome magnetic might, claiming the capability to empty the oceans and root people to the ground and following through on a threat to pull the moon closer to the Earth. Why send a scouting party to learn how much of a threat Earth is to your invading force when you can magnetize people to the ground and destabilize the moon's orbit? Yes, the plot point leads to involving Banner, and then the Hulk, in the conflict, but it feels illogical. Odder still is the Toad Men's disappearance for several pages while the Hulk battles members of the military. The issue itself notes that "Toad Men and Earth invasions are momentarily forgotten," a caption reminding the reader of the larger plot which the characters have set aside. An imbalance is created between featuring a very real threat for our heroes to thwart and to developing the Hulk as an additional menace.
I do believe featuring the Hulk as an unlikely hero who eventually repels the invasion would have been the wrong development, so kudos to Lee and Kirby for avoiding that conclusion. They keep him as a monster who smashes cars, slaps Rick around, demolishes barracks…and sneaks up on Betty?? Guess the green guy can be quiet when he wants to be. He's a monster, a selfish brute, and pushing him into a position where he would need to save humanity (the very people he just threatened to annihilate) would have felt forced. Bruce Banner is the real hero, and I think the issue handling him that way works sufficiently. The awkward balancing of plot and characterization does mean Banner saves the Earth at the last second on the last page, creating a truncated ending. It feels rushed, making up for the time lost from the "Hulk fights the army" sequence.
Kirby crafts a different Hulk than the brute we were introduced to in the inaugural issue, and I mean more than a different shade of skin. His eyes are wider, he looks a bit bulkier. His hair and the shape of his head lend the appearance of a classic Frankenstein, with just the neck bolts missing. The Hulk from the first issue still largely fit Banner's clothes, whereas here his shirts hang off the behemoth in tatters. The confusion in the creature's eyes in several scenes is replaced with hatred and rage, seeing everything and everyone as against him. Late in the issue, he looms over Betty, roaring in her face: "Look what men have done to me!" There is nothing but rage whenever he appears.
Lee and Kirby continue the work from the first issue in crafting a compelling central character. The Hulk is unique in these issues, so different from your typical comic book protagonist. Forget talking about people being green with envy, this man-monster is emerald with rage! Lee does well to contrast the grim gargoyle with his timid alter ego, the issue's true hero, a poor man cursed to a fate he never asked for. Unfortunately, despite its strong character work, the issue can't quite assemble an equally powerful plot. The Toad Men's invasion plan makes little sense, and their disappearance from a portion of the issue prevents Lee and Kirby from capitalizing on how threatening they actually are. But I guess it doesn't quite matter how menacing your massive magnets are when you're playing second fiddle to the green guy, especially when he's more bloodthirsty than your whole blamed invading force!