Love Will Keep Us Together - Or Will It? Incredible Hulk 148

Incredible Hulk #148 (February 1972)
"But Tomorrow -- the Sun Shall Die!"
Archie Goodwin-Herb Trimpe/John Severin

Doug: A couple of weeks ago I sang the praises of John Severin's inks over Herb Trimpe on the Incredible Hulk book. I was initially going to review Hulk #140, which features the 1st appearance of Jarella. But after noticing that her second appearance contained the above mentioned art team, the decision was pretty easy. So here we are. I'll be reading and scanning from the trade paperback, The Incredible Hulk: Heart of the Atom. I've read several of the stories from the start of the book, and while certainly no Hulk aficionado, I have enjoyed myself so far.

Doug: We open in the New Mexico desert at Project: Greenskin. Assembled are General "Thunderbolt" Ross, Betty Ross, Major Glenn Talbot, and Dr. Peter Corbeau. This was a nice bit of Marvel history for me, as I'd only known Corbeau from the first Sentinels story in the All-New, All-Different X-Men. Everyone's there to discuss how Corbeau's plan for the Hulk, using his StarCore technology, is going to work. Corbeau is convinced that he can permanently free Dr. Bruce Banner from the Hulk. Of course, he has to have the Hulk to make this work. That's where the Hulk-Busters come in. Right then (because, you know, this is a comic book and we only have 20 pages to work with), Ross is alerted to a local Hulk sighting. Immediately four fighters are dispatched to bring in the Jade Giant. Quick comment -- Trimpe's love of aviation really shows in these few panels! We cut to the back 40, where the Hulk lumbers along, oblivious to all around him. We the readers, however, can see over his shoulder the approaching jets. Archie Goodwin does a nice turn when he writes, "Of machines that can out-distance their own sound, that can all but sit on your massive neck before they're heard...?" And then BRA-KOW! Seriously -- bra-kow and the Hulk goes tumbling, his ears ringing. The second pair of planes are on him immediately, strafing him with sedative-tipped missiles. Down, and out.

Doug: We cut to another world, where we see the fair queen Jarella leading a small detachment of men through a wilderness. Above, men loyal to the traitor Visis wait on winged steeds. As soon as Jarella's column emerges from cover, they are set upon. The battle rages, and most of Jarella's men are slain. The queen fights well, and still stands at the conclusion of the fracas. She thinks to herself that she needs a warrior, the man she loved from before. Bruce Banner. For those of you not aware, the Hulk had been shrunk to atomic size by the villain Psyklop, emerging on a microscopic world where he became a champion for the queen. That queen, Jarella, pledged to marry him, which really ticked off Visis, her suitor who would be dictator. As the Hulk could not speak the language of the strange world, Jarella's sorcerers concocted some magicks that not only allowed him to learn the language but also gave him the brain of Bruce Banner while still the Hulk. Got it?

Doug: Jarella makes her way to the retreat of her chief sorcerer and tells him that she would like to regain the services of Banner. Torla, the magician, says that it would take incredible sorcery, and might be so dangerous as to shake not only their world but the very cosmos! Cut to earth, where the Hulk is now bound in the presence of Dr. Corbeau. Corbeau relates that he has more than a humanistic stake in this operation -- he and Banner were college friends, so it's personal. Corbeau says that StarCore's sun-facing orbit is going to allow him to harness the energy of the sun, project it to Earth, and bathe the Hulk in enough solar energy that it will completely eradicate the gamma energy stored in his cells. Guess what? It works! The Hulk shrinks/changes to Banner, and nearby technicians report that there is no presence of gamma radiation anywhere in the area. Banner has indeed been cured! But immediately StarCore's sensors alert the scientists and military brass to a new danger -- a huge solar flare, large enough to have destroyed the Earth. Ross asks Corbeau for an explanation -- Corbeau can only hypothesize on the coincidence of what has just happened with the Hulk.

Doug: Cut again back to Jarella's world, where she is in the process of being sent in search of Banner. Her sorcerers warn that the consequences could be dire. Bravely, she goes through with it. But we see that someone spies on this process. It is Visis, who knows enough magicks of his own to be able to send his top assassin into the stream behind Jarella -- with orders to slay the queen and her champion. Back on Earth, all concerned are monitoring the sun's activity. Banner, hero that he is, tells Corbeau if he really thinks the process to remove the Hulk's presence is to blame, then reverse the process. Corbeau will hear none of it, and offers that Banner should go to Corbeau's retreat on the coast, get some separation and relax. Banner takes him up on it, and after a military flight soon finds himself listening to the surf. Just then a green aura begins to glow on the sands. Suddenly Jarella appears, human-sized, and greets Banner. Bruce is elated to see her and hops the deck's fence to embrace the girl he'd loved those months before. But Fialan the assassin has also made the passage and lurks just yards away. But his malevolent plan is interrupted by the noise of a helicopter. It lands, and Glenn Talbot emerges to ask Banner to return to the desert with him.

Doug: Back at Project: Greenskin, Banner is updated on the sun's status. It seems that the sun has been affected not only by the process they'd used on Banner, but also by "the appearance of some object that ripped the very fabric of our time and space... something that broke from another dimension." Yup - Jarella. And the sun's cure for it's current condition is to burn itself out! Banner speaks up and says that any thoughts of sending her back will surely send her to her death at Visis' hands. Corbeau says to relax, that he's working on an alternative. However, if the solar system burns out, Jarella's world will along with our earth. Very soon a SHIELD craft lands, piloted by none other than Dum Dum Dugan, who has brought Col. Nick Fury himself to the desert. And Fury's brought with him a present -- a Life Model Decoy of Jarella, perfect in every sense. The team gets to work immediately on making the dimensional transfer of the LMD in Jarella's place, which is a mystery to me. Was it just that any transfer was made, or is it Jarella's presence here that is the problem. Seems to me (and what the heck do I know about it?) that if they sent the LMD but she stayed here the problem would not necessarily be ended. Ah, Marvel science. Gotta love it! Anyway, Banner reports that his part of the operation is successful, so they should be good to go. Jarella suddenly appears, to speak in private with her potential betrothed. But again standing just off-stage is Fialan (how's that security at Project: Greenskin, hmmm?). He gets off a shot, and then hovers menacingly above our couple.

Doug: Bruce breaks from Jarella and runs away. Fialan scoffs, as the coward has now left Jarella to him and his mission. As he levels his blaster at her, the building begins to shake. A rumbling emanates from the closed door behind which Banner had locked himself. And suddenly, bursting forth is the incredible Hulk! Fialan levitates higher, out of reach of the behemoth. Hulk turns to see Jarella, and they come together. Just then Fialan blasts a large bank of machinery, causing a huge explosion. Jarella is killed in the chaos, and a distraught Hulk emerges from the smoke right in front of Fialan, whose ability to escape has been destroyed as well. Hulk grabs him, and in one of the very few times I can ever recall metes out his own brand of justice. The following panel is interesting, as Hulk cups his face in his huge hand and says, "Hulk did it... but... It does not bring Jarella back!" But it's Jarella who approaches to console the Hulk -- Corbeau and Ross had planned to employ the LMD once they knew Jarella's assassin was on site. But now Hulk is faced with a new dilemma -- the military still need to save our sun. Hulk stands against them, but he's shot from behind with the heavy tranquilizers. Now down, Corbeau tells Jarella it is time. She consents, and soon is back in her subatomic world. The sun almost immediately begins to quiet its activity and all is right with the world. That is, except for the broken heart of the Hulk.

Doug: I've found these tales of Jarella captivating. It's interesting to read them as stand-alones. Although they tie together, the many adventures that came between these stories make me wonder which is better -- to read this as a running narrative, or as treats dispersed to the reader along the way? Jarella's first appearance was in Hulk #140, the follow-up is in today's issue (#148), and then we saw her again in #156. Then we don't find her until #202, around four years later! So I'd love for any of our readers who came to these stories off the rack to discuss their impact on you. Did you feel that this was a plotline that should have been explored on a more frequent basis? Or did you think perhaps that, knowing Jarella's ultimate fate as we do, the story should have been compressed and told over the course of maybe just a year's worth of issues? While Goodwin's script forced me to suspend my disbelief a time or two, I thought the art was fabulous. Herb Trimpe is a penciler who has a unique style and I'm not always his biggest fan. But under the influence of John Severin, the art here is a winner. This was overall a nice 20-minute diversion.

Guests Review - DC's Manhunter Saga, Part Two

Doug: Today we feature the conclusion of Mike W's and Edo Bosnar's review of the Manhunter saga.

Chapter 4. Rebellion

The chapter opens with a nice action sequence in which Manhunter dispatches Nostrand with the old “light a match to the trail of leaking gasoline to blow up the car” trick. Manhunter then finishes telling St. Clair about his past. He recounts a meeting, more like an audience, he and Nitobe have with Mykros in the Council Chamber. It turns out that the other members of the Council are all in cryogenic stasis, with Mykros acting as their representative and spokesman. He explains that this is because one of their number, the geneticist Dr. Oka (for whom Nitobe served as bodyguard) had died, and besides enhancing Manhunter and creating the clones, he was also supposed to devise a way to make them immortal. With immorality off the table, they opted for going into the deep freeze to keep the Council alive as long as possible. It’s during this bit of monologuing that Manhunter sees that Mykros is rather mad and that the Council’s apparent concern for humankind is basically just a ploy to take over the world. So when Manhunter goes on his first mission to eliminate the Interpol official, he warns him about the assassination, only to be told by that same official – none other than Mr. Nostrand – that he’s in fact already working for the Council – it was a test and he failed. The room is full of clones sent to kill him, but he takes them all down and gets away. He then goes to Nairobi, contacting the son of an old acquaintance named Kolu Mbeya, who is an arms manufacturer and dealer. Mbeya outfits him with a number of specially designed weapons and added features to his battle suit. After Manhunter finishes telling his story to St. Clair, they go to Nostrand’s hotel room, where they find a plane ticket to Istanbul and priest’s vestments, and they assume that he was heading there for a secret meeting of Council operatives. St. Clair is about to contact Interpol, when Manhunter discovers that Nostrand had already put them both on the international wanted list.

M.S. Wilson: Another interesting chapter. We see the rest of Manhuter's origin and the present storyline moves ahead as well. I like way the Council tested Kirk's obedience by sending him to kill someone who was one of their own...although I have to wonder what would have happened if Kirk HAD obeyed orders; was Nostrand considered expendable by the Council? He seemed to be in on the ruse, but I can't imagine him willingly sacrificing himself just to test Kirk's loyalty. Mbeya is interesting too. It's convenient for Kirk to have someone who can supply him with weapons, but Mbeya has a reason to exist other than plot convenience--he supplies weapons to various rebel groups in Africa. I guess that could be read as plot convenience too, but at least it's plausible. Speaking of convenience, Nostrand's hotel key being thrown clear of his exploding car is a little hard to swallow. But I like the fact that Nostrand had Interpol issue warrants for Manhunter and Christine. It keeps them from going to the authorities and it hampers their movements. Nice to see the bad guys acting logically for once.

EB: Yeah, that bit with the hotel key was just a little too far-fetched – one of the few places where I was thrown out of the story a bit and found myself thinking, “yeah, right.” Anyway, I think it’s pretty obvious at this point that the Council is quite ruthless in the pursuit of its aims, so if Manhunter had killed Nostrand as ordered, I imagine Mykros would have received the news with steepled fingers, muttering “excellent” a la Montgomery Burns, and not giving Nostrand another thought.  I really liked the addition of Mbeya to the cast. As you indicated, he’s not just a two-dimensional deus ex machina; instead, he has a reason for being that’s not connected to the story: he has his own history, life, and motivations.

M.S. Wilson: Yeah, when I was originally reading the story, I thought Batman (um, Batman?) was going to recognize Mbeya's name and say something like "Oh yes, Mbeya, I know him...we're old friends." I'm glad they didn't do that. It's also cool that Mbeya ended up joining them...after being set up by the Council, it's a logical move on his part.

Chapter 5. Cathedral Perilous

A family of American tourists approaches the Romulus Cathedral in Istanbul. The wife is getting bored with all of the inspections of religious buildings, the father thinks it will be interesting because it’s not a mosque, and the little boy is more focused on playing with his toy gun – the scenes of this family interspersed into the story are entertaining and fit into the story well. Meanwhile, Manhunter and St. Clair sneak in and knock out a pair of apparent monks and then don their robes. Anyway, Manhunter and St. Clair join up with a bunch of other ‘monks’ to infiltrate a meeting of Council followers. The proceedings are interrupted by the arrival of Mykros and a few Kirk clones in something called the ‘Gateway,’ which is apparently a teleportation device. Mykros informs them of Nostrand’s death, at which point the guy presiding over the meeting asks to be promoted to Nostrand’s position. This leads to an argument about the inner workings of the Council, and why no one was selected to replace the deceased Dr. Oka. Mykros then reveals that Oka was in fact killed because he began to question the Council’s motives. However, at this point, a device on Mykros’ ring indicates that they’re being recorded and he sounds the alarm. Manhunter decides to reveal himself to create a distraction so St. Clair can get away. Manhunter manages to disable the Gateway, and then another nicely rendered fight scene ensues, as Manhunter takes on the clone assassins. The latter actually manage to subdue him, and one gets ready to shoot him in the head when the little boy (the only one to actually see all of the fighting going on) drops his toy gun from a mezzanine, hitting the clone in the head and giving Manhunter an opportunity to take him down. As Mykros stalks away from the scene with the ambitious Council acolyte who wants a promotion, it’s revealed that the latter is St. Clair’s father.

M.S. Wilson: We learn a bit more about the Council in this chapter. The revelation about Christine's father being one of the bad guys seems a bit too coincidental, but I guess unexpected connections are a staple of comics (and pulp fiction in general). On the other hand, the "matter transmitter" thing makes it feel less pulpy and more like a regular comic book. I actually got a little tired of the "hick tourists" running joke (which seems like it might be a comment on how Americans act when on vacation...or am I reaching?) and the kid wandering off and playing cowboy. I guess I shouldn't complain too much...if it wasn't for the kid, Manhunter would've been blown away.

EB: Like I said in the summary, I found the tourists a nice twist – it’s a different way to move the story along. In fact, if I were to pick single chapter to call my favorite, or just as a sample of how cool this story is, I think this would be it. I also like the fact that, as good as Manhunter is at what he does best (and what he does best isn’t … holy crap! Déjà vu!), he can be bested occasionally, and sometimes needs a little help to get out of a jam, even if that help is just a kid and his toy gun. Also, the one panel showing the toy gun getting tossed back up to the little boy is a nice touch.

M.S. Wilson: Yeah, Manhunter returning the kid's gun was kinda nice (although the first time I read it, my first thought was that he'd thrown the bad guy's gun up to the kid...not very responsible of him!) You're right about Manhunter not being shown as unbeatable...it's more realistic. And that idea is repeated in the next chapter when Nitobe bests him one-on-one.

EB: Oh, man. If he’d given that kid a real gun, the story would have taken a really dark turn…

Chapter 6. To Duel the Master

Manhunter awaits a plane that is landing near Matsue, Japan. Mykros disembarks, feeling rather surly because the destroyed matter transmitter means he has to travel the hard way. Manhunter begins stalking him, but is then confronted by his mentor, Asano Nitobe. The scene then switches to the Orient Express two days earlier, with Agent St. Clair in a private compartment. Her father enters, and soon reveals that he is involved with the Council. He threatens to shoot her if she doesn’t give him the recording from the meeting in Istanbul, but she calls his bluff. He departs from the train in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he is gunned down soon afterward. Back in Japan, two days later, Manhunter and Nitobe are still going at it. Manhunter is unable to convince Nitobe that the Council had Dr. Oka killed, because Nitobe has been brainwashed in such a way that he can’t believe anything Manhunter says. Eventually, Nitobe gets the best of Manhunter and is about to deliver the killing blow, when he’s hailed by St. Clair speaking from a loudspeaker in a chopper above. She plays the recording of Mykros detailing how Oka was killed, and this turns Asano, who swears to help Manhunter and St. Clair take down the Council.

M.S. Wilson: This chapter has the big confrontation between Manhunter and his former mentor, Asano Nitobe. The whole "student-confronts-the-master" thing is almost a cliché, since it's been done so many times, but to be fair, this story predates Star Wars, Wolverine, and a lot of the other uses of this trope. The fight is well done--Simonson doesn't shy away from showing how brutal it is. I'm not sure about how it ended, but I guess it makes sense for Christine's words to convince Nitobe, since it was only Kirk he was brainwashed to disbelieve. Speaking of Wolverine, the mask Nitobe wears looks a lot like the one worn by Ogun in the Wolverine miniseries. I wonder if Frank Miller had this story in mind, or if it's just a traditional Japanese design? The confrontation between Christine and her father was handled well, and him being gunned down immediately after fits what we know about the Council--they don't tolerate failure.

EB: The fight between Manhunter and Nitobe is indeed rendered quite nicely. And yes, it’s a storytelling cliché, but usually it’s the pupil who ends up winning (provided that he/she is the story’s protagonist). In this case, though, Nitobe eventually prevails, which realistically should be the case, since he was sort of hyped up as almost the living embodiment of ninjutsu. And I also liked the interlude showing Christine dealing with her father. It’s very, well cinematic (I just keep coming back to that word when thinking about this story).

M.S. Wilson: Yeah, Simonson's panel layouts are really different from what most artists were doing back then. I'm more of a "writing" guy than an "art" guy, but I can appreciate the artistry on display here.

Chapter 7. Götterdämmerung

The prologue takes place in Gotham City. The police have found the body of a private detective and martial arts instructor, Dan Kingdom, an ex-Green Beret. Batman appears at the scene, noting that Kingdom was following a lead on some jeopardy involving the new prime minister of the African nation of ‘Congola’ (ah, yes, gotta love comic-book political geography), for whom a reception is being held that very evening at Wayne Manor. And later, at the reception, the prime minister is assassinated by a sniper right under Bruce Wayne’s nose. Wayne changes into Batman and rushes after the killer and almost catches him outside. However, a mysterious masked figure calling himself the Enforcer gets in the way. He manages to stun Batman with a very distinctive punch and he and the sniper get away, although the sniper dropped his rifle in the confusion. Batman takes it to a former arms dealer, who tells him it’s a specially made weapon that was most like put together by a certain Kolu Mbeya of Nairobi.

The scene then switches to Nairobi and Mbeya’s shop, where Manhunter is trying to take the weapon-smith to join the assault on the Council’s Sanctuary. While they’re talking, he’s looking through a sniper scope and spots a bat-like silhouette on the rooftops above – and so does the actual sniper from before. He’s got Batman in his sights, but then Manhunter appears beside him. He drops his rifle in terror and starts running toward Batman, shouting that the ‘Council’ ordered the hit on the African prime minister’s and promising to tell him everything if he just keeps Manhunter away. Just as he reaches Batman, Manhunter shoots him dead. This rubs Batman the wrong way, but Manhunter pulls a blade from the dead man’s sleeve, noting that he had intended to kill Batman. Batman replies that he’s had similar attempts made on him before and resolved the situation without fatalities.

As they make their way back to Mbeya’s shop, Batman wants to know more about the Council, so Manhunter and the others fill him in. He wants to participate in their assault on the Council, but Manhunter declines the offer, noting that Batman’s code about not killing means he just won’t be an asset on this mission (imagine that – Batman being told he’s not one of the cool kids). So they part ways.

Manhunter, St. Clair, Nitobe and Mbeya take off in a plane, and eventually land in the middle of nowhere in a desert in Australia. As they disembark, gunshots ring out, and Mbeya is hit and apparently killed. The others move to for a counterattack, but then Batman appears with two unconscious gunmen. Manhunter is impressed that Batman’s detecting abilities, and they agree to join forces after all. Nitobe leads them to hidden ventilation shaft and they make their way into the Council’s underground base. Eventually they run into resistance, with the mysterious Enforcer showing up as well. He starts pummeling Manhunter, but Batman intervenes and tells him to keep going toward the Council Chamber while the rest of the group deals with the henchmen. It’s eventually revealed that the Enforcer is none other than Dan Kingdom, while the body found in Gotham was that of a clone. In the Council Chamber, Manhunter confronts Mykros, who’s wearing something he calls a psionic helmet that gives him mental control over all power and communication systems in the complex. He uses it to create a bolt of radiation from the reactor that nearly fries Manhunter completely. Elsewhere, our heroes are joined by Mbeya, who was not killed – rather Manhunter used some kind of nerve pinch to knock him out cold when he saw that he was injured. He takes down a bunch of the henchmen with machine gun fire. In the Council Chamber, Manhunter, almost dead, doggedly struggles with Mykros and manages to remove the psionic helmet, donning it himself. He then sets the Council’s entire complex to self-destruct, which explodes just as the Batman and the others manage to get away in the plane.

M.S. Wilson: The last chapter wraps things up nicely. The first six parts of the story were fairly violent, but we get a look at the non-lethal approach once Batman joins the team. The “kill/no kill” debate reminds me of Spider-Man and Punisher (and like Spider-Man, Batman seems to condemn Manhunter’s methods without taking any active steps to stop him). The whole thing with Dan Kingdom/Enforcer seems a little superfluous, but I guess Batman needed someone to fight (non-lethally, of course) at the end; plus Kingdom's “death” was the MacGuffin that got Batman involved in the first place. You mentioned the fictional country of “Congola”...I noticed that too, and it kind of bothers me. One of the things I liked about the first six chapters was how they used real locations--Kathmandu, Zurich, Istanbul, Marrakech, Nairobi; it made it more realistic. But throwing a fake country into the last chapter takes me out of the story a bit. It makes it read more like a conventional comic and less like a pulpy spy-thriller. I have nothing against conventional comics (and the tropes therein), but the shift in tone is a bit jarring for me. The same goes for the “psionic amplifier” thing; I guess old pulp stories had mind-amplifier devices, but it just seemed a bit out of place to me. As for using Batman, I think it worked. Batman was inspired by the old pulp stories, so he definitely fits into that style.

EB: I just let the comic-book geography roll off my back; yeah, it would have been better if a real country had been used, but since the story involved the assassination of a prime minister, Goodwin decided to go the fictional route to avoid any confusion with actual political events. And as far as I know, the old pulp stories had quite a bit of fake geography; in fact, I think the comic book writers just assumed the practice from the pulp writers. Same with the wonky technology like the psionic amplifier – I think the Doc Savage stories in particular blazed the trail for that kind of stuff. All that said, I can see why you could have been taken out of the story by these aspects, because most of this does read like a spy thriller more or less grounded in the real world. I guess it just didn’t trouble me as much, especially since pretty much from the start the whole Council aspect, with its amazing technology, indicates that the story will have the fantastic elements more typical of standard superhero comics. Overall, it’s pretty obvious that I just love this story, and repeated readings have not diminished my fondness for it (quite the opposite in fact). I like that it’s a complete saga that had a planned conclusion from the very beginning, and the ending, although tragic, is very fitting and, ultimately, satisfying. And I can’t think of any artist who would have done a better job with this than Simonson. He really went all out, and everything comes together perfectly: the figure work, the backgrounds and the overall flow and pacing. Coming back to that word cinematic, it often seems like the panels are storyboards for what would be a mind-blowingly awesome action movie.

M.S. Wilson: Yeah, I'm a sucker for that pulp atmosphere (though a lot of the actual "classic" pulp stories leave something to be desired). I was never a big Doc Savage fan...the idea sounds good, but the few stories I've read just didn't do anything for me. I agree that the ending feels right. In the intro to my edition, Goodwin said that if the concept had been open-ended (i.e. if Manhunter had lived), the story probably wouldn't have achieved the impact or reputation that it did. I think he's right... Manhunter's heroic sacrifice rounds off the story perfectly, and it's true to his character as well.

EB: Needless to say, I agree with Goodwin that it worked out better like this. (Just as an aside, on the topic of the original pulp stories, there’s a lot of good stuff there, and – given the sheer volume – a lot of bad stuff as well. I tend to agree with you about the Doc Savage stories: I’ve read a few of the novels and found them just o.k. On the other hand, all of the Shadow novels I’ve read – admittedly not many – are actually pretty good.)

* Just as a footnote, when the Special Edition reprint of this story was published in 1999 (the edition I have), a story called “The Final Chapter” was printed as well. This is an epilogue which Goodwin and Simonson had plotted out, and then Simonson drew it, but Goodwin unfortunately died before he could complete the final script. So Simonson just finished the art and it was printed as a “silent” story, with no dialogue or narration (just sound effects). It’s really well done, and doesn’t take anything away from the original saga.

 

Guests Review - DC's Manhunter Saga, Part One

Doug: We have a wonderful treat for our readers this week. One of the Bronze Age series long-discussed around here and held in quite high regard by many of our readers is the Manhunter sage by Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson. Today we'll begin a comprehensive retrospective of the series with a partner review between Mike W. and Edo Bosnar. Both of these fellows are veterans in the guest writer chair, each having reviewed a few comics for our pleasure. I'm sure you'll all enjoy their thoughts and interplay on this subject.

We'll begin today with the first three installments, and conclude right away tomorrow -- who wants to wait? Thanks, guys, for sharing!

Manhunter by Goodwin & Simonson

The Manhunter saga as written/drawn by Goodwin and Simonson originally appeared in six back-up installments in Detective Comics, starting in late 1973 (in Detective #437), and running through most of 1974, with the conclusion, the seventh chapter, done in a full-length Batman story in Detective #443. Another interesting aspect of this story is that it’s one long continuous saga, very unusual for back-up features at the time.

Chapter 1. The Himalayan Incident

The story opens in Katmandu, as Interpol agent Christine St. Clair questions an old man named Haj (who apparently knows everything that goes on in the city) about a mysterious man known as the Manhunter. He confirms that such a man was indeed there, and recounts a tale –which we see in flashbacks – of Manhunter also searching for someone by asking all of the most deadly hardened criminals in Katmandu, and leaving a trail of dead or severely beaten bodies as he goes along. St. Clair shows Haj a photograph of a man named Paul Kirk, asking him if that’s who has been talking about. Haj avoids a direct answer, instead saying that this Kirk fellow may be someone who made his way to a remote and well-protected monastery, where Manhunter then showed up to find the man he was seeking, a Nepalese political agitator in hiding there. He makes short-work of anybody who tries to stop him, and also seems unkillable, at one point even walking around with arrows sticking out of his body. The man in hiding, Dharmata, thinks Manhunter wants to kill him, but he instead ends up saving him from a bunch of “monks” who are actually disguised assassins. One of two shocking reveals at the end of the story is that all of these assassins look just like Manhunter. The other is that ‘Haj’ himself is just Manhunter in disguise.

M.S. Wilson: When I first read this, I wasn't sure what to expect. I'd heard good things (and with guys like Goodwin and Simonson working on it, how could it miss?), but I was surprised at the tone established in this first chapter. It's quite realistic, but it's got a real noirish feel to it, almost pulpy. I like the misdirection--St. Clair unknowingly talking to Manhunter all along and Manhunter saving Dharmata instead of killing him. There's also the mystery angle of why the assassins all look like Manhunter. I was kind of surprised that Manhunter kills his opponents without any (apparent) remorse. I think this story predates the Punisher, but I suspect both were influenced by the Mack Bolan/Executioner books. This is a good first chapter and definitely made me want to keep reading.

EB: I don’t know about the Mack Bolan/Executioner connection, but it’s pretty obvious that Goodwin was influenced by the pulp heroes and also the espionage thrillers of the 1950s and 1960s. And I definitely agree that the story sucks you in right away. In these eight short pages, a very complex tale is set up, as there is the mystery of Manhunter and his past and the fact that, although a hunter himself, he is in turn being hunted (by Interpol and a bunch of assassins who apparently look just like him). At the same time, this is a satisfying, action-packed adventure. Simonson’s art is so perfect here, and the whole thing just looks so cinematic.

M.S. Wilson:  Yeah, Simonson's panel layouts are cool; they could easily work as storyboards for a movie. You're right about the way the story grabs you. I usually don't go for backups because it's hard to get a sense of plot or characters in only a few pages, but here I've already got a good idea of what kind of guy Manhunter is, and a plot that's interesting enough to keep me reading. I suppose the level of violence could be considered another connection to the pulps, as they were quite violent at times; the Shadow used to gun people down left and right.

Chapter 2. The Manhunter File

Agent St. Clair is now at her Interpol office in Zurich. She is going over a file with her boss, Damon Nostrand, trying to convince him to keep the Manhunter investigation active. Again in flashbacks, we learn that Manhunter made his way out of Nepal, at one point arranging passage from India on an old-style fishing boat. However, that was a set-up, as the crew threw a tiger into the hold where he was hiding – and he of course manages to kill it. St. Clair then tells her boss that a certain Paul Kirk showed up in a bank in Zurich to withdraw funds from an account, at which point the bank clerk informs him that Kirk was killed in 1946. However, a fingerprint check shows that it is indeed him. He is then accosted by some thugs who were waiting for him to access the account – and, naturally, Kirk makes short-work of them. St. Clair then points out a number of bizarre incidents throughout the world linked to Manhunter; usually they involve him doing things like foiling the assassination of a wealthy oil baron somewhere in the Middle East or the abduction of a Brazilian genetics researcher. And every time, the perpetrator or perpetrators are dead-ringers for Paul Kirk. St. Clair seems to have convinced Nostrand that the matter is worth an ongoing assignment, and allows her to travel to Marrakech to follow a lead. However, once she leaves his office, he takes her file on Manhunter/Kirk and throws it in his fireplace…

M.S. Wilson: The pace doesn't slow down here, as we get a look at events leading up to the present. They show quite a few flashbacks, but a lot of questions remain unanswered. I still don't know why these clones are attacking people (or if the "main" Manhunter might be a clone as well) and I don't know how Manhunter got from his last known appearance (in 1946) to now without any apparent signs of aging. I like the scenes in the Swiss bank (maybe a nod to The Bourne Identity... was that book out before 1973?), but you'd think Swiss banks would have better security...those thugs were just hanging around waiting for Paul Kirk. I also liked the revelation at the end that Nostrand is part of the conspiracy... it was somewhat predictable, but that's probably just me being jaded by years of spy tropes; I'm sure at the time, it was something of a shock.

EB: According to my trusty, certainly infallible sources (i.e., Wikipedia), the Bourne Identity was published in 1980, so Ludlum totally stole his ideas from Goodwin & Simonson!! Seriously though, I agree that the action keeps coming, even with all of the flashbacks – in fact, even the flashbacks are full of action. The fact that at this point in the story there’s still a lot of stuff left unexplained doesn’t take anything away, I think. There seems to be a perfect balance between action and exposition, and I like how little bits of story are dropped, just to keep you intrigued and wanting to find out more.

M.S. Wilson: Yeah, the pacing is good. I wonder how long Goodwin and Simonson envisioned this going on? According to Archie Goodwin's introduction in my 1984 edition, the series was interrupted when he left DC and went to Warren. DC let him and Simonson finish up the series, but I can't help wondering where it might have gone if it had run for a year or more.

EB: Hey, that’s right – I have that same intro by Goodwin in my book, so I just went back and skimmed through it after seeing your comments. I’d totally forgotten that it was meant to be open-ended initially. If the series had gone on, I think it would still have become a fan favorite and classic given the talent of the creative team.

Chapter 3. The Resurrection of Paul Kirk

In Marrakech, St. Clair follows a trail of bodies (of Paul Kirk doppelgangers) until she comes across a gravely wounded and weakened Manhunter in an alley. He seems to be on the edge of death and can’t even stand up, but he tells St. Clair he just needs “time to heal.” While waiting for more would-be assassins to show up (and they do show up intermittently throughout this chapter), he tells her his story. He confirms that he is indeed the original Paul Kirk, that he was a big-game hunter in the 1930s, and that he actually became a costumed crime-fighter called the Manhunter (the original Simon & Kirby character that appeared in Adventure Comics in the 1940s; some of the stories were reprinted as back-ups in Kirby’s New Gods in the early 1970s). He then tells her he put his skills at the government’s disposal during the war and engaged in clandestine activities that left him a little dead inside. So when he tried to go back to game-hunting after the war, the thrill was gone; in this dispirited state, he got charged by a bull elephant one day and thought he died. But then, 25 years later, after what he thought were some really weird dreams, he woke up. A certain Dr. Mykros greeted him, telling him that he had been cryogenically frozen all that time in a place called the Sanctuary, with memory tapes being fed into his subconscious (keeping him apprised of world events). Mykros informed him that once they mastered the technology, they performed genetic surgery on him, basically transforming him into a physically perfect human being with a super-healing factor (sound familiar?). The “they” by the way, is an organization that calls itself the Council. Mykros said it consists of the world’s ten “top minds” who came together when the first atomic bomb was dropped. They were alarmed that humanity would destroy itself, so they put their knowledge and skills to work to prevent this. Furthermore, they cloned Kirk, making countless duplicates of him to serve as the Council’s ‘enforcement branch’ headed by Kirk himself. Kirk and the clones were then trained by man named Asano Nitobe, the last living master of ninjutsu who was reportedly killed in the Nagasaki bombing, but who was actually rescued by the Council before the blast. Manhunter/Kirk recounts that near the end of this training, Nitobe told him that his first assignment would be to “eliminate” an Interpol officer, something that made him uneasy. At this point, St. Clair’s boss Nostrand shows up and, much to her surprise, tries to shoot them. Manhunter stops him by throwing a knife into his arm, but Nostrand gets away…

M.S. Wilson: The story now gets a bit more complicated (and more like a regular comic book story). I also noticed the "healing factor" stuff; Wolverine made his debut in 1974, didn't he? I'm wondering if his healing ability was inspired by this story...or was "healing factor" a thing in comics before this? I can't think of any references to it offhand. Manhunter's time in deep freeze reminds me of the Winter Soldier. It's nice to see Christine St. Clair blowing away clones as Manhunter heals...she's obviously good at what she does (but what she does isn't very...oh, never mind). I'm not sure why the Council assumed Kirk would go along with their plans willingly...he was a crimefighter in the 40s, after all. I'm glad Nostrand was revealed as a double agent so quickly...it could have gotten tedious if they'd dragged it out. I'm not sure about this "Council"...I guess Goodwin meant them to be exactly what they said, but years later I think there was a revelation that Paul Kirk (and Dan Richards for that matter) were actually working for the robotic Manhunter cult featured in the Millennium miniseries.

EB: There certainly is a lot of story packed into these 8 pages, isn’t there? It was a little more text heavy than other chapters, but I never found it tiresome – in fact, I just eat this up every time I read it. You raise an interesting point about the enhanced healing factor: was Manhunter indeed the first to have it? Off the top of my head, I can't think of any previous heroes/characters who might have had it, either. As for the Council, I'm guessing they thought Kirk would go along with them because they saw themselves as humanity's saviors (and I guess they figured some guy who was so into righting wrongs that he put on an outlandish costume to fight crime would probably jump at the chance to work with them). As the story progresses, we see that Mykros, and the rest of the Council apparently, have succumbed to their own hubris and are actually quite Machiavellian and diabolical, although all the while they seem convinced of their own righteousness. I don't know about any of that Millennium stuff you referenced, but I find it a tad annoying that someone later decided to insert some retcons – to me, this is such a perfect, complete story and should have been left to stand as it is.

M.S. Wilson: I guess the whole "group of superior people thinks they can run the world better than anyone else but end up as power mad dictators" thing is a bit of a trope too. But back then it hadn't been done to death (yet). I think the retcon about the two Manhunters being recruited by the robot Manhunter cult was first established in Secret Origins #22, but it's been a while since I've read it. I think there was a later reference in the Kate Spencer Manhunter comic about the American government being responsible for the origins of both Manhunters, but I assume that means that the robot Manhunter cult had agents inside the government.


Doug: Tune in tomorrow for the conclusion, friends -- same Manhunter time, same Manhunter channel!