The story of the High Evolutionary picks up a year later in the pages of Tales to Astonish when the Hulk is waylaid by two of the Evolutionary's human smugglers who get for him the needed animal subjects for his experiments. Despite being off Earth on "Wundagore II" the Evolutionary still orders these two to capture the Hulk who he hopes will help him stave off a revolt by the New Men.
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That story by Stan Lee with art by Marie Severin and Herb Trimpe begins in Tales to Astonish #94 (which sports a cover for the Sub-Mariner story that month).
In the next installment in issue #95 the Hulk is transported to Wundagore II aboard a space ship piloted by Sir Raam, one of the New Men who has remained loyal to the Evolutionary. But they encounter space radiation and Sir Raam is killed though the Hulk survives to land on the distant planet.
In the finale in Tales to Astonish #96 (again spotlight Namor on the cover) the New Men attack and the Hulk and the High Evolutionary stave off that attack long enough for the still human Evolutionary to subject himself to his own experiment, one which elevates his own genetic code to that of a human from the distant future, a human with nigh god-like powers. The New Men are transformed back into mere animals and the Hulk is whisked away back to Earth as if nothing had happened. The High Evolutionary himself heads to higher planes of understanding.
It really felt in this story as the High Evolutionary was written out of the Marvel Universe. It would have been quite the pity if this had been the case. He would return, but that's a tale for later.
More next week when we enter the Beehive.
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Fantastic art, Rip. Marie Severin isn't given enough credit for her pictorial contributions to the Marvel universe, in my opinion. I'm sure I've got these tales in a Marvel Masterworks volume - I must dig it out and give them another read. Do you happen to recall if she ever inked Herb Trimpe's pencils on the Hulk?
ReplyDeleteI don't think she ever did ink him, though of course he broke in by inking her pencils (less inking that breakdowns eventually). While he was working on the Hulk after she left it, she was all in on Sub-Mariner for a while and later on covers. Her brother of course famously inked Trimpe for many issues.
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Marie Severin really made the effort to assimilate Kirby's models and always added something unique without violating the characters. The rampaging New Men in this sequence have a feral weirdness that is quite powerful. Just prior to this story. she was the first artist after Kirby to draw the Silver Surfer. and again she seemed to understand and, with some respect, expand upon the Kirby vision. The Surfer that appeared in his own comic shortly thereafter.penciled by Buscema, was beautifully drawn, but seemed to lose the spirit of the less human original.
ReplyDeleteGood point about Marie. She's a talent who is not given the proper credit for all she did during Marvel's important second act. Despite such luminaries as John Buscema and Sal Buscema, it is her Sub-Mariner which came between them I first think of during the era.
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Marie inked Trimpe on at least one Hulk issue. #190. Nice job.
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