Issue(s): Tales To Astonish #92, Tales To Astonish #93
Cover Date: Jun-Jul 67

Hulk
Title: "Turning point!" / "He who strikes the Silver Surfer"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Marie Severin - Penciler
Frank Giacoia - Inker

Sub-Mariner
Title: "It walks like a man!" / "The monarch and the monster!"
Credits:
Stan Lee / Roy Thomas - Writer
Dan Adkins - Penciler
Dan Adkins - Inker

Review/plot:
Bruce Banner is on the run from the law now that his secret is known. He is trying to find a cure, but the cure winds up actually transforming him into the Hulk. Thinking he might prefer life on another planet...

...the Hulk tries to catch a ride off the planet on the back of a flying saucer but it turns out to be the Silver Surfer.

The Hulk is not even close to being in the Surfer's league, and the Hulk gets his butt kicked even though the Surfer is just trying to help him.

The Surfer leaves, disgusted. Issue #92 is billed as a turning point for the Hulk even though nothing really happens - however from a meta point of view, the Hulk finally gets a regular artist in Marie Severin. The series is looking much better and will be consistently good for a while. The cover to issue #93 is very cool.

Meanwhile Namor finds radioactive waste in his kingdom.

Heeding Dorma's calming advice, he tries to send an envoy to the surface world to tell them to quit dumping their crap on his property...

...but the waste creates some sort of monster.

Both the humans and Namor think the creature was sent by the others. Namor thinks it's a robot.

Angry over the perceived attack, Namor summons his council of war.

Prior to that, on his way home from fighting the monster, Namor passes a giant octopus. No fight, nothing of consequence, really, but Roy Thomas must have taken note while reading it since he'll incorporate this creature into a later story.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 2

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Namor sees the dumping of radioactive waste in this issue as part a continuation of the intrusions on his kingdom begun with the Navy's actions in Avengers #40.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Marvel Super-Heroes #47, Marvel Super Heroes #48

Bill Everett's last 1960s Sub-Mariner story was before this, and he supposedly left it because of complaints from Stan and other higher-ups that his Namor didn't look muscular enough. He responded to that with a splash page showing Sub-Mariner so over-muscled that it's impossible not to laugh at it.

Oops! That splash page may have come just AFTER this story.

i can't find that splash panel. if you let me know the issue number, i'll throw up a scan.

The splash page is in TTA #91. Granted, he isn't drawn with Image-type proportions, but he does look rather blimpy and silly compared to, say, the panels shown here. Everett did come back for 3 issues following this story and then left Sub-Mariner for a few more years.

Thanks, i put the scan up in the entry for Astonish #91.

Marie Severin has real chops

I liked Marie's work on the Hulk a good bit and her brother John was even better when he did occasional work on the series.

These are the first Hulk issues where I enjoy the art.

She copied the Octopus from Hal Foster's Prince Valiant

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTI2MFgxNjAw/z/xIkAAOSwoudW3tMv/$_35.JPG

That octopus swipe really does appear to be dead-on but unless I'm mistaken that's actually Dan Adkins' swipe and not Marie Severin's.

That Hulk mugshot by Severin, shown in the first image above, is absolutely priceless!