Focus in these early books is as much on Rick Jones as it is the Hulk. Feeling understandable guilt over his role in Banner's misfortune, he tags along after the behemoth, ineffectually struggling to keep him from rampaging. (If the Hulk didn't regularly escape, after all, we wouldn't have much of a story.) Time after time, Lee & Kirby end their tale with either the Hulk and Jones riding off into the sunset, or Jones exhaustedly posed outside a concrete dungeon that is temporarily holding the Hulk. With each transformation, we're told, the Hulk grows stronger and stronger. One day, that dungeon won't hold him and . . . what then? What then?

Marvel's new Masterworks series is the second full-fledged attempt at reprinting the line's early work in hardback form. The first run, which was initiated in the late eighties, received fannish criticism for its occasional coloring glitches and spotty publishing schedule. Not having copies of the original comics anymore, I can't tell if the coloring in the new edition is true or not - at least one bit of jaundiced pigmentation occurs in a page from issue #4. But I remember some pretty funky tints appearing in the old pulp pamphlets, too, so in a way any coloring snafus are in keeping with the spirit of the original twelve-cent books.

I was too broke during the first run of Masterworks to buy more than a few titles, so I'm personally glad to see 'em returning. But, revamped color or no revamped color, I'll probably only be buying volumes I don't already own. And though it's not on the current list of impending titles, I know I'd love to see a Hulk: Volume Two, containing the stories that dumbed the monster down and really revved the series. Now that would truly be the ne plus ultra of Hulkishness.

(Note For some reason this book is not currently available at Amazon, though it can be found at one of Amazon's Z-Shops.)