Often overlooked is Steve Ditko's contribution to early stories featuring The Incredible Hulk. Ditko drew the sixth and final issue of the Hulk's first series featuring the menace of the alien Metal Master.
And during that short but important time when the Hulk was being co-starred in a host of magazines to keep his profile high, Ditko took on old Jadejaws in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man.
But most significantly, when the Hulk was given a new series in the pages of Tales to Astonish, it was Ditko who was tapped as the penciller. He was inked by George Roussos, Dick Ayers and Vince Colletta on the series. This was at that point in time when it was not yet public knowledge that Bruce Banner was also the Hulk.
Ditko stayed with the series through the first eight installments of Tales to Astonish. As expected, Jack Kirby supplied the covers for the Ditko issues. Kirby also stepped in and took over the series when Ditko left. Ditko was the first artist to draw the Hulk's arch nemesis The Leader.
Below are the covers.
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One of my favourite Ditko tales was "The Humanoid Hordes Strike" from Tales to Astonish #64 featuring the Leader. Like all the early Marvel tales I read this in the UK weeklies.
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