Comic Title: Incredible Hulk:Beauty and the Behemoth TPB
Publisher: Marvel
Cover Date: 1998
On Sale Date: August 26, 1998 Direct Market Date August 26, 1998
Source: ComicList, New Comic Book Releases List for Wednesday, August 26, 1998

Direct Market Date August 26, 1998
Source: Usenet, Late Comics Report for the week of August 28, 1998

Shipping Date July 22, 1998
Source: Comics Buyers Guide, #1288

Direct Market Date June 17, 1998
Source: Marvel Vision, #30

Direct Market Date June 17, 1998
Source: Previews, Vol. 8 #4 (#112)

Shipping Date June 17, 1998
Source: Comics Buyers Guide, #1283

Cover Price: $16.99
Page Count: 176

See Also: The Guide to Graphic Novels and Collected Editions

Title: "The Coming of the Hulk"
Pages: 24

Feature(s):
Hulk

Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Paul Reinman

Reprinted From:
Incredible Hulk #1 (1962)

Feature Character(s)

• Hulk (Bruce Banner; a scientist and inventor of the Gamma Bomb; first appearance; next appearance in Incredible Hulk #2)

Supporting Character(s)

• Rick Jones (first appearance; an orphan teenager; next appearance in Incredible Hulk #2)
• Thunderbolt Ross (first appearance; an army general; next appearance in Incredible Hulk #2)
• Betty Ross (first appearance; the daughter of General Ross; next appearance in Incredible Hulk #2)

Villain(s)

• Igor (a Russian spy; no further appearances)
• The Gargoyle (a Russian scientist; dies in this story; no further appearances)
• The Gargoyle's associates (no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Various military police officers (no further appearances)

Comments:
Part 2:"The Hulk Strikes"
Part 3:"The Search for the Hulk"
Part 4:"Enter... the Gargoyle"
Part 5:"The Hulk Triumphant"

The Hulk is depicted with gray skin in this story.

Bruce Banner's transformation into the Hulk and back again are triggered by the setting and rising of the sun beginning in this story.

Synopsis:
Scientist Dr. Bruce Banner has developed a new gamma bomb which he intends to test for the military. During the countdown, Banner sees a teenager drive onto the test range. He orders his assistant Igor to stop the countdown, then he goes outside to get the teen to safety. Igor is really a communist agent, so he does not stop the countdown. Banner gets the boy, Rick Jones, to safety, but he is exposed to gamma radiation when the bomb detonates.

Bruce survives the blast and is taken to a military hospital for observation. Rick Jones, who feels indebted to Bruce, watches over the scientist. When night falls, Bruce Banner transforms. He grows to enormous size with powerful brute strength. His mind also becomes simple with an angry disposition. He smashes out of the hospital and begins a rampage, quickly earning the moniker, the Hulk.

Rick Jones, the only one to witness the transformation, follows the Hulk to Bruce Banner's house where Igor is looking for the secret gamma bomb formula. The Hulk stops Igor. When the sun rises, the Hulk changes back into Bruce Banner. The military police arrive. They arrest Igor and begin searching for the Hulk. They are not aware of Banner's transformations.

While imprisoned, Igor is able to transmit a message to his communist comrades. A scientist known as the Gargoyle is dispatched to capture the Hulk. That night when Bruce changes into the Hulk again, he and Rick are captured by the Gargoyle and taken back to his country.

During the trip, the Hulk turns back into Banner. Bruce recognizes that the Gargoyle has a condition which makes him look grotesque, but he can be cured with radiation. Bruce cures the Gargoyle, who then turns against his communist partners. Bruce and Rick return home, while the Gargoyle detonates a bomb which kills himself and his allies.