Trimpe Hulk Centerspread - Super Spider-Man #226 (Marvel UK 1977)

I just picked this up via Comic Art Live (thanks Dewey). This really appealed to me for a few reasons. First of all, it's splashy Hulk art from the 1970's from one of his most significant artists. Secondly, I was always really excited when I found Marvel UK issues for sale as a kid as they weren't that common in the US in the 70's and 80's.

Most of the new art in the Marvel UK comics of the time consisted of either redrawn covers, new splash pages or occasionally centerspreads like this, which appeared right in the center of the comic. Due to low page rates, most of the new art was done by younger or up-and-coming artists. However, once in a while a more established Marvel artist would contribute something, such as this one, which appeared in Super Spider-Man #226 in 1977.

As with a lot of the other Marvel UK centerspreads, there are some goofy elements to the art that slipped through, probably due to the relatively lax editing standards. Here are a few of the WTF items in this drawing:

*If there are fighter jets attacking the Hulk, why the heck are there soldiers climbing the mountain to get to him, especially since they're right in the line of fire?
*Why is Betty Ross hanging out over there? Wouldn't her father actually want to rescue her before ordering an attack 15 feet away from her?
*Why is General Ross a passenger in one of the fighter jets? That doesn't seem to be standard military protocol.
* What's going on with the clouds on the right hand side? Is it raining 5 feet away from the Hulk for some reason? Are Storm or Thor hiding out over there?
*I assume HB on the jets stands for Hulk Busters, unless this was a tryout for a new Hanna-Barbera Hulk cartoon?

There's probably some other weirdness I haven't spotted yet.

The art is drawn almost edge to edge on the back of a 70's Marvel 11" x 17" art board. For whatever reason, they superimposed a Hulk face on the printed version, but I personally think it works better without it.