This volume includes the last appearance of the Incredible Hulk as we had come to know him, specifically (ironically) #271, his 20th anniversary issue. We were told that, with #272, "Hulk will never be the same again!" but I didn't believe it. That was 42 years ago and the hype has held true for more than four decades. After the issue collected in this volume (#266-279), Bill Mantlo spent #280-300 chronicling the adventures of an intelligent Hulk (one with Bruce Banner's mind), then #301-313 telling stories set in a "crossroads" dimension Of a Hulk with no mind at all). After that came John Byrne and Al Milgrom and Peter David, none of whom had any interest in returning the Hulk to his longest stable status quo. The "classic" Hulk has returned a time or two by now, but, as Al Ewing noted in his introduction, "by that time the context around him has irrevocably altered--he will never again be the Hulk, only a Hulk."
Speaking al Al Ewing (who wrote the Immortal Hulk series among many others), his introduction makes me feel as if I was in college again, studying literature and discovering what famous authors' works were really about. At one point, Ewing writes, "And if this introduction differs from your interpretation, dear reader, please ignore it." Well, his intro does differ from mine... or at least what mine used to be. His observations are so insightful I can't help but incorporate them into my own interpretation. (Come to think ot it, these stories came out right around the same time I was studying literature in high school and college, but no one was teaching me about the meaning behind comic books at the time.) Incidentally, the techno-artist Bereet (from the Rampaging Hulk series) is central to this collection, and Rocket Racoon makes his debut appearance in #271. In a true case of life immitating art, the CGI Rocket Racoon (a "techno-art" creation) would later become a centerpiece of Marvel's cinematic universe.
I first began reading Hulk in 1973 with Marvel Super-Heroes #38 (reprinting Tales to Astonish #83) and Incredible Hulk #167. I knew that MSH was reprinting old issues of TTA, and I soon learned that TTA became Hulk with #102. My plan had been to continue to read MSH until it got up to Hulk #166 to fill in the gap, but two things happened to disrupt that plan. First, by the time Marvel got around to reprinting Hulk #102 in MSH #56, I had already acquired Hulk #102-166 as backissues; second, Marvel stopped publishing MSH with #105 (reprinting Hulk #157) so, had I stuck to my original plan, I would have fallen nine issues short of my goal, anyway, so it's probably just as well I didn't.
What I didn't know, however (and didn't learn until today), is that when Marvel increased its story page count from 17 to 22 pages per issue, Marvel Super-Heroes was rounded out with new pin-ups (seven by Herbe Trimpe, four by Terry Austin, and two by Greg LaRocque). The Trimpe ones are scenarios of Hulk in the old West, WWII, space, etc., and the Austin ones are humorous Not Brand Echh-like pieces (Hulk as Archie, Dennis the Menace, etc.) written by Roger Stern. The last two panels of the reprinted Hulk #157 were redrawn to bring the story to a natural conclusion, plus other pieces such as calendar pages and What If? are also included. I didn't have (or even know about) any of this stuff until today, and now I have it all. MMW Hulk v18 also includes the Hulk story from Marvel Fanfare #7.
Replies