Marvel's Classic Corner Boxes: Mighty Thor Vol. I, Incredible Hulk Vol. II

 

Marvel corner boxes seem to be a thing of the past, but at the PPC we're reaching back and reassembling them in all their glory. Having already run down the collection of corner boxes featuring the Fantastic Four, we now pivot to the God of Thunder, Thor, as well as the rampaging behemoth men call the Hulk, two characters who have gone head to head in previous meetings and who now face off again in a contest where they can't possibly injure one another. (We hope!)

Since a coin toss would probably have proven fatal for yours truly, depending on which side it landed, it seems fair to start our showdown with the character whose comic premiered first--but even though that would be the Hulk (by three months, but a win's a win), his six-issue first volume had no corner boxes to display. It wouldn't be until 1964, when the character was brought back in Tales To Astonish as a companion feature to Giant-Man, that the Hulk began appearing in corner boxes; the Journey Into Mystery book, however, where Thor first appears, displayed its first box of the Thunder God in 1963.

None of which I explained to our two heavy hitters, since they seemed a bit impatient to get this ball rolling. I just assigned the honor of going first to the oldest one present, which was Thor by a landslide.

Yet Thor's corner boxes in his initial appearances didn't exactly knock it out of the park for him--in fact, I'd made a comment at one time which likened Thor's image here to some kid's yearbook photo.

As we see, the grinning face shot was changed to a more serious, godlike portrayal, which would still be put to use well into the run of Thor's own title.

As for the Hulk, his boxes in TTA weren't exactly sensational, either, though things improved just before the book was discontinued. (Yet it bears mentioning he had more staying power than Giant-Man, who had enjoyed first billing in the book, so he must have been doing something right).

As detailed in a prior post, Thor's next corner box image was taken from a pose in his previous book (as was the Hulk's when his solo title was launched). Both are modified slightly at a later point to relocate the issue's price and issue number.

By that point, the Hulk's image had been updated from the Jack Kirby leaping shot to a pose rendered by his current artist, Herb Trimpe.

When Thor #172 hit the stands, the Thunder God had taken flight in his box. (Nowhere to soar in a box, pal.) As for the Hulk, artist Sal Buscema breaks an eight-year streak of the former Trimpe image to update the green goliath (seen here alongside a parody of Ann Nocenti during her issue's Assistant Editors' Month promotion).

Unlike Thor, the Hulk's Trimpe image wasn't updated when both books (along with others) briefly experienced a shift to a greater page count as well as a price increase. Thor's new image appears to be courtesy of artist John Buscema.

That image would go the distance for a staggering twelve years--which is when the book's next writer/artist, Walt Simonson, would have new character Beta Ray Bill break that streak ("shatter" is more like it). Meanwhile, the Hulk's corner box, like the Hulk himself, was going through changes as well--portraying a creature of pure rage with no trace of Bruce Banner within, and then retrograded to the character's roots.

And while the Hulk would enjoy a fashionable wardrobe as Joe Fixit, the God of Thunder, uh, sprung into action as the Frog of Thunder--and from there, outfit himself in new armor (the final two poses taken from Simonson's last few stories on the book).

Neither Thor nor the Hulk would share their corner box with their human alter ego(s)--but both came close when the human involved shared the identity of the character for a time. In the case of Banner, his mind would finally assume total control over the Hulk's body--but a series of progressive corner boxes illustrate the countdown toward his inevitable return to the Hulk's savagery.

As we've seen, both characters experienced instances where their corner box was changed to mirror a prior image of them. Yet there were also cases where each character's box change coincided with a recent cover depiction. For Thor, that occurred shortly after Simonson's run on the title had concluded and artist Ron Frenz was brought aboard (the new box image replacing a "stand-in" face shot)--while a cover by artists Dale Keown and Bob McLeod seems tailor-made for corner box material.

Finally, like Thor's first title itself, the presence of his corner box eventually fizzled out, nearly three years before the book's final issue. The last two corner boxes represented story arcs by Tom DeFalco and Ron Marz--the first involving the mortal architect named Eric Masterson assuming Thor's identity and power, and the second from the aptly named "Blood and Thunder" storyline, featuring the work of Bruce Zick. The Hulk's boxes, however, continued to the bitter end, picking up again following a string of fifteen issues featuring a box that displayed nothing more than an atom (presumably representing the change of Banner to the Hulk).

Since all of my extremities are still intact, I'm pleased to report both of our powerful characters were able to set their pride aside and have nodded approvingly* at this rundown of their classic corner boxes. Curiously enough, the subject of corner boxes has been active in the grapevine recently--an indication that their popularity persists to this day, which was surprising considering they made up a relatively small footprint of an issue's cover during the last century. Like the FF, the next volume of issues for both Thor and the Hulk would continue with the boxes, if only for a short time--while the PPC will also continue its own look back at these nostalgic curiosities in future posts.

*(Believe me, I was happy to get that.)