The Incredible Hulk #1

Part One – The Coming of the Hulk

As scientist Dr. Bruce Banner prepares to test a new weapon for the U.S. military, the gamma bomb, he is pressured into preemptively launching the bomb by visiting scientist Igor Drenkov and General "Thunderbolt" Ross. Having commenced the countdown Bruce notices a civilian in the test area (Rick Jones) and rushes out to save him. Unfortunately Bruce Banner is caught in the explosion of the bomb and is bombarded by gamma radiation while Rick is safely shielded in the bunker. Awaking later in a military hospital as the sun sets Bruce Banner begins to transform into a grey-skinned goliath called the Hulk and escapes the military base fleeing into the desert.

Part Two – The Hulk Strikes

Now hunted by the military, the Hulk instinctively seeks out Banner’s home to recover Banner’s notes on the gamma bomb. He interrupts Igor Drenkov ransacking his lab. The Hulk defeats Drenkov and recovers Banner’s report on the gamma ray bomb but seeing a picture of Bruce Banner demands the picture be taken away. As the sun rises, the Hulk changes back into Dr. Bruce Banner just as the military police arrive.

Part Three – The Search for the Hulk

The military police discover Rick and Bruce and take the spy Igor Drenkov into custody. The police tracked the Hulk to Banner’s home but can find no trace of the monster. The officer in charge takes Banner’s report on the gamma ray bomb and Betty, Bruce and Rick are left to talk and recover from the night’s extraordinary events. After Betty leaves, Bruce begins to realize that when night falls again he may revert to the monstrous Hulk.

Part Four – Enter the Gargoyle

From his prison cell, Igor Drenkov is able to transmit a secret message back to Russia to inform them of the appearance of a powerful creature called the Hulk. The message is received by the most feared man in all of Asia, The Gargoyle. The Gargoyle deciding that he must either slay or capture the Hulk travels to the U.S.A. via an experimental man-carrying rocket and begins to seek out the Hulk. When night falls, Dr. Banner again transforms into the Hulk and as the Hulk begins to seek out Betty Ross. When he finds Betty, she faints from the sight of him. The Hulk and Rick are then surprised by the Gargoyle.

Part Five – The Hulk Triumphant

The Gargoyle quickly uses a gun firing mind-control pellets to bend the Hulk and Rick to his will. General Ross finds his daughter unconscious on the ground and seeing his daughter traumatized vows to find and destroy the monster known as the Hulk. The Gargoyle meanwhile slips back behind the iron curtain with the Hulk and Rick but as they arrive at The Gargoyle's base the Hulk has transformed back into Dr. Banner. The Gargoyle frustrated by the loss of the Hulk recognizes Dr. Bruce Banner as one of America’s foremost atomic scientists and realizes that he and the Hulk must be the same person. Bruce discovering that the Gargoyle hates his mutated form offers to cure him of his hideous form and when transformed back into a man The Gargoyle rebels against his former commanders and helps Banner and Rick escape before destroying his base.