Eventually Herb Trimpe simply was the Hulk artist, the guy most associated with a character visually created by Jack "King" Kirby and drawn by such powerhouses as Steve Ditko, Gil Kane, John Buscema, Marie Severin, and Bill Everett. The Incredible Hulk was a comic that looked none other on the stands and when Trimpe inked himself it was at its most pure. But that proved unreliable and a host of inkers such as John Severin and especially Sal Buscema (another blooming talent) helped shape the final product. With Trimpe firmly rooted in the artist chair, Roy Thomas proved to be just as steady as a writer and these two cranked out quite a few Hulk gems in their time.
One peculiarity in "In The Hands Of Hydra", the fourth Hulk Epic collection is the inclusion of Marvel Super-Heroes #16 which showcased for one memorable issue the origin of WWI flying ace The Phantom Eagle. Apparently Herb Trimpe was an aviation buff and this was a pet project, one which makes a mark in the Hulk run when Greenskin is hurtled through time by Kang the Conqueror to meet the World War I hero. It's a neat way to pay homage to one of Marvel's most significant talents from those days when the company was learning how to fly without "King" Kirby's ever ready layouts and designs and especially the omnipresent "Kirby Dot".
The one word that comes to mind when I think of Trimpe's art from this era is "warmth". There's an accessibility to Trimpe's art, which somewhat eludes even a master stylist like Jim Steranko. Maybe it's that you can always see Steranko thinking on the page, planning just where to position this and that while with Trimpe it all seems to flow out of him more naturally. Now I'm not saying one is better or whatnot, my adoration for Steranko's work is well documented. Even the brilliant Neal Adams for all the sense of reality he injects into his work lacks this singular charm. Trimpe was distinctive which is all the more pity that Marvel felt the need to make him adhere to the then new "Image" style before sending Trimpe on his way entirely. What Herb Trimpe did then perhaps shows us why, as he ended up a chaplain ministering to folks suffering after the 9-11 attacks, giving of his heart to heal them as he'd done for so many decades to entertain us all.
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