The Incredible Hulk #3

 "If I make one false move now, it'll be curtains for this cat!"

After a so-so second issue, this one is pretty damn good. It introduces the Ringmaster and his circus (not yet the Circus of Crime) who are pretty solid minor villains who we'll see a fair amount of over the years. Yet the key strength of the issue is the thoughtful way it looks at the title's status quo and makes some changes for the better.

We begin with Rick Jones supervising as the Hulk languishes in the stone undersea prison that he and Bruce built for him- with Dr Banner turning into the Hulk as night falls. Yet, with a rather underhanded ruse, General Thunderbolt Ross tricks Rick into helping send the Hulk into outer space. This little ruse is soon rather conveniently undone, but the point is clear: Stan and Jack had realised that the whole night/day thing just wasn't going to work. Hence the Hulk receiving an extra dose of space radiation... and Rick discovers, to his surprise, that the Hulk can now exist in the daytime. And he has to obey Rick, for good measure. 

Not only that: the Hulk is beginning to look more like the iconic image we know, with those purple trousers with holes in the knees. His speech is getting less articulate. And, by the end of the issue, it's unclear when, or if, the Hulk will change back to Bruce Banner.

If I have a criticism it's the retelling of the origin story- we really don't have to do this every other issue! But it's both amusing to reflect that, er, Bruce just shoving Rick into a crevice in the ground apparently gives him total protection from the gamma rays(!) and interesting to see that the Hulk, in this flashback, is shown as grey. The change of colour is actually diegetic. Unecessary retelling of the origin aside, though, this is pretty damn good.