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Cover: Herb Trimpe

The Incredible Hulk #137

Name: The Incredible Hulk #137
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Mar 1971 · Marvel · 0.15 USD

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“The Stars Mine Enemy!”

About this Issue

The concluding chapter of a self-contained two-part space opera, The Incredible Hulk #137 is notable for transplanting a classic literary archetype — the all-consuming obsession of Melville's Captain Ahab — into early Bronze Age Marvel, with the cyborg Captain Cybor standing in for Ahab and the cosmic energy creature Klaatu filling the role of the white whale. It marks the first full appearance of Captain Cybor and delivers the payoff of the Abomination's subplot as first mate of the starship Andromeda, a role that ends with both Hulk and Abomination locked in combat as they plummet back through Earth's atmosphere. The story's mythology proved durable: Klaatu, the Andromeda, and Xeron the Starslayer returned more than a decade later in the 1985 Crossroads Saga, demonstrating how well the Thomas/Conway/Trimpe creative team had built out their sci-fi corner of the Hulk's world.

In "The Stars Mine Enemy!", the Hulk is stranded aboard a mysterious spaceship, forced to serve alongside alien crewmates—among them his archenemy, the Abomination, now serving as first mate. When the ship's half-human, half-robot captain, Cybor, reveals the mission to hunt down the monstrous Klaatu, tensions flare, culminating in a brutal showdown between Hulk and Abomination as they plummet back toward Earth. Written by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, with dynamic art by Herb Trimpe and inks by Mike Esposito, this cosmic chapter of the Hulk’s saga features a cover by Trimpe that captures the epic clash in motion.

writer Roy Thomas · writer Gerry Conway · artist Herb Trimpe · inker Mike Esposito · letterer Artie Simek · colorist Marie Severin · cover Herb Trimpe

ComicBooks.com Value

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Raw (Fine) $15

CGC 9.8 · 2 in census $2,785

CGC 9.6 · 13 in census $349*

CGC 9.4 · 24 in census $188

CGC 9.2 · 28 in census $119

CGC 9.0 · 18 in census $96

CGC 8.5 · 19 in census $96

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CGC 8.0 · 18 in census $90

CGC 7.5 · 12 in census $70

CGC 7.0 · 8 in census $45

CGC 6.5 · 11 in census $45

CGC 6.0 · 9 in census $45*

CGC 5.5 · 2 in census $45

CGC 5.0 · 3 in census $45*

CGC 4.5 · 1 in census $42*

CGC 4.0 · 1 in census $40*

CGC 3.5 none in existence

CGC 3.0 · 1 in census $26*

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History

The issue carries a cover date of March 1971 and an on-sale date of December 8, 1970, placing it at the start of Marvel's Bronze Age. The credited writer is Roy Thomas, but the Grand Comics Database and Marvel Database both confirm the plot originated with Gerry Conway — a collaboration whose exact division of labor was clarified only in the letters column of issue #140. Pencils are by Herb Trimpe, who was in the middle of a lengthy uninterrupted run on the title, with inks by Mike Esposito and lettering by Artie Simek; Stan Lee served as editor-in-chief. The cover itself carried art contributions from Trimpe, Marie Severin, and Morrie Kuramoto.

Trivia · 8 facts

Cover date: March 1971; on-sale date: December 8, 1970; published by Marvel Comics.
Story title: 'The Stars, Mine Enemy!' — the concluding half of a two-part arc begun in Incredible Hulk #136.
Written by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway (Conway's plot credit confirmed in Incredible Hulk #140's letters page); penciled by Herb Trimpe; inked by Mike Esposito; lettered by Artie Simek; edited by Stan Lee.
First appearance of Captain Cybor, the half-human, half-machine commander of the starship Andromeda, who apparently perishes with Klaatu near the Sun at the story's end.
The two-part story is a deliberate sci-fi reworking of Herman Melville's Moby Dick: Cybor mirrors Ahab, Klaatu mirrors the white whale, and Xeron the Starslayer functions as the ship's obsessive harpooner.
Klaatu's name was borrowed from the central alien character of the 1951 science-fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still.
The Abomination (Emil Blonsky) appears as first mate of the Andromeda; the issue ends with him and the Hulk battling through Earth's atmosphere in free fall — both apparently destroyed, though both return in subsequent issues.
The story was reprinted in The Mighty World of Marvel (Marvel UK) #103–104 (September 1974), Marvel Treasury Edition #20 (1979), Essential Hulk Vol. 3 (2005), and the Incredible Hulk Epic Collection Vol. 4 (2019); Klaatu and the Andromeda crew returned in Incredible Hulk #306–307 (1985) during the 'Crossroads Saga.'