Issue(s): Incredible Hulk & the Human Torch: From the Marvel Vault #1
Cover Date: Aug 11
Title: "Moon over mayhem!"
Credits:
Karl Kesel - Script
Jack C. Harris - Plot
Steve Ditko - Penciler
Karl Kesel - Inker
Lauren Sankovitch - Associate Editor
Tom DeFalco & Tom Brevoort - Editor

Review/plot:
This seems to have been an inventory story for Marvel Team-Up that was never published until the "From the Marvel Vault" project wherein Marvel published a number of unfinished stories that they had sitting around. Karl Kesel describes how in 1986 he had been invited to ink a Steve Ditko Black Lightning story intended for the Outsiders book for DC, but he had too much on his schedule and wasn't able to do it. And so the opportunity to finish this Ditko story was a second chance at a lost opportunity to "work with a Legend". He says that this story was serendipitously also drawn "around the same time". If this story really was penciled circa 1986, that explains why Marvel never ran with it at the time. The Hulk, who appears in this story in his classic Hulk Smash! persona, stopped being that way in Hulk #272 (Jun 82) and didn't revert back to that for a long, long time. Also, Marvel Team-Up was cancelled with issue #150, which had a Feb 85 cover date. So it may be that "around the same time" should be interpreted loosely. Steve Ditko was doing some scattered work for Marvel circa 1980-1981, and that's likely when this was penciled as well.

The most interesting thing about Karl Kesel's intro page is his comparison between Ditko and original writer Jack Harris' methods and the expectations for comics circa 2011 when Karl Kesel inked and re-scripted it:

Working on the story itself was always fun, and at times challenging. Ditko usually drew seven or more panels on each of these pages, so by today's standards this would be a 40+ page story. This probably has something to do with Jack C. Harris' storyline - which is very dense - and Ditko's natural sense of pacing, which often leans towards more panels and smaller moments. The original dialogue was fine for mid-80s, but needed to be stripped down and simplified for tdoay's audience. I also decided to have Johnny Storm narrate the story - mostly because I like Johnny and really miss him now that he's gone. [The Human Torch was "dead" at the time Kesel wrote this.]

Inking Ditko... have to admit I was nervous[...] but I finally hit a stride I was happy with. It's hard to explain, but Ditko and my natural drawing styles are both somewhat... mannered, and because of that I connected with his work in ways I hadn't expected to. I also got a much deeper appreciation and understanding of why he's a Legend. His storytelling is crystal clear and impeccable. Everything - everything - the story needs is there in his art. He doesn't skimp, he doesn't take shortcuts. And his characters are so fun, so visually interesting, so... Ditko!

I'd love to see the original script by Jack Harris. Comics in the 80s and earlier were certainly overly verbose, but we'll see that what Kesel ends with is pretty wordy too. One thing i do miss about comics from this era is the supposed "denseness" of the story, or to put it another way one thing i don't like about more modern comics is the decompression. The plot in this issue really isn't dense: Mr. Fantastic sends the Human Torch to a research center to pick something up, and it turns out that the Wizard is building a death-ray there, and the Hulk manages to stumble into the plot as well because Bruce Banner was hoping something at the center would help him find a cure. That's not a complex plot. But there's room for an intro and power demonstration scene at the beginning...

...a character moment...

...and similar moments for the Hulk...

... as well as a little subplot about a husband and wife scientist team (the husband is really protecting the wife from the Wizard).

And then of course the entire plot with the Human Torch and the Hulk dealing with the Wizard's plot. So basically it feels like a complete story, all in one issue.

The dense pages allow for little moments like this, to follow up on the one about Johnny from above.

There's at least one minor art mistake - don't know if it was Ditko's or Kesel's - where the wife scientist's shoes suddenly change.

I mean, you want to be wearing sensible shoes when confronting the Hulk, but that's a quick change.

There are also a lot of those inlaid panels like you see in the top row of the second scan above. Not sure if that was something Ditko would have done. Here's another one. I've cropped this one loosely on purpose so you can see how the panels below are arranged as well. I could be wrong but it seems like a modern thing; looking at some of Ditko's other Marvel work circa 1980-81, i don't see that. His layouts normally are pretty square and traditional.

The above panel also shows a common thing where modern writers doing continuity inserts can't help slip in modern references. In 2011 YouTube would have been about 6 years old, so even with the sliding timescale that's a tight fit. Surely we aren't supposed to think that this was taking place in present day continuity?

Anyway, i generally like Karl Kesel's writing, and his script here has some funny bits...

...and we get a fun fight.

The plot requires the Human Torch to goad the Hulk into destroying the Wizard's device, so when it's over the Hulk isn't exactly feeling friendly.

Now, before i get too nostalgic, there's a lot about comics from this era that aren't great. Even with Kesel updating things, the dialogue here is overdone and there still is a lot of it. And the plot is very very basic (but, i mean, it was for Marvel Team-Up). And Ditko's art, in 198x, was definitely looking dated. The layouting and storytelling are nice and clear, but the faces and poses could be a lot better. The main thing i wanted to emphasize is how the denser storytelling - 7+ panels per page, no splash page (aside from a conceptual opening splash) - allows for a complete story to be told here. What you do with that story is another thing entirely.

One last thing: another potential complication in the Skrull Cow situation, although this one can of course be ignored.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP place this between Hulk #254-255 and Fantastic Four #227-228, squarely in the 1980-1981 era.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? Y

My Reprint: N/A