Incredible Hulk Epic Collection: Devolution

The Mantlo/Buscema team reigned over Hulk for an astounding six-year run!

Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema continue their indestructible Incredible Hulk run by asking the question: What if Bruce Banner’s gamma-powered other self wasn’t an unhinged engine of destruction? It’s “mind over monster” for Marvel’s green goliath as Banner’s intellect dominates his mean, green form, leading him on a journey of self-discovery that ends on the doorstep of the White House! Guest-starring just about everyone in the Marvel Universe, it’s a Hulk saga for the ages! Plus: a pair of Hulk-sized Annuals, Banner fuses with the cosmic power of Captain Universe, and Hulk battles the Avengers–plus Frank Miller’s first Marvel story!

COLLECTING: Incredible Hulk (1968) #263-279, Incredible Hulk Annual (1968) #10-11, Incredible Hulk vs. Quasimodo (1983) #1

Written by Bill Mantlo With Jo Duffy
Penciled by Sal Buscema With Rick Leonardi, Rich Buckler, Frank Miller & Mark Gruenwald

Also renowned as an editor on both long-running and short-lived series, Jo Duffy has written runs of Power Man and Iron Fist, Marvel Team-Up, Wolverine and others. In addition, she regularly penned Marvel’s adaptations of Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian and Akira. Duffy wrote the New Mutants tie-in miniseries Fallen Angels and cowrote several Speedball stories from Steve Ditko’s plots. Her later work includes DC’s Catwoman and Image’s Glory.

Bill Mantlo began his Marvel career on Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, in which he introduced White Tiger, one of the industry’s earliest Hispanic super heroes. Eventually writing stories for almost every Marvel title, he did some of his most fondly remembered work on Incredible Hulk and Spectacular Spider-Man. He also created Rocket Raccoon, launched Cloak & Dagger in a pair of miniseries and guided Alpha Flight through some of its most harrowing ordeals. Mantlo excelled at integrating licensed properties into the Marvel Universe, as demonstrated by Micronauts and Rom, both of which he wrote from start to finish. At DC, he wrote the Invasion miniseries for one of the company’s biggest crossover events.

After a start as inker to his older brother John, Sal Buscema penciled Captain America, Defenders, Incredible Hulk and more. Famed for his ability to meet tight deadlines, he spread his talents across multiple genres. His 1970s work ranged from Ms. Marvel and Nova to Sub-Mariner and Spider-Woman’s first appearance in Marvel Spotlight. He was the uninterrupted artist on Spectacular Spider-Man for more than a hundred issues and penciled the web-slinger’s adventures in Marvel Team-Up, in which he and writer Bill Mantlo introduced Captain Jean DeWolff. After handling more team-ups in the Thing’s Marvel Two-in-One, he reunited with brother John on Steve Englehart’s Fantastic Four. He later provided inks for Tom DeFalco’s Spider-Girl titles and Thunderstrike miniseries.

His place in Marvel history assured when he helped introduce Deathlok in the pages of Astonishing Tales, Rich Buckler also penciled several storylines in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man — along with runs on Jungle Action’s Black Panther, Fantastic Four, Thor and other monthly titles, as well as Roy Thomas’s miniseries Saga of the Sub-Mariner and Saga of the Original Human Torch. Buckler’s 1970s DC work includes Lois Lane, Secret Society of Super-Villains and World’s Finest, as well as the groundbreaking Superman vs. Shazam. During the 1980s, he and Thomas collaborated on All-Star Squadron. He worked in the barbarian and horror genres for both Marvel and DC, illustrated Archie’s Mighty Crusaders, and contributed to black-and-white magazines for both Marvel and Warren Publishing. He was editor of the short-lived Solson Publications and wrote two books on comic-book art.