The Incredible Hulk #182
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Incredible Hulk #182 (December 1974) is the third published appearance of Wolverine — a brief but consequential cameo on the issue's opening page that closes out his debut story arc before his next appearance in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), cementing the three-issue sequence as the foundation of one of Marvel's most important character introductions. The issue simultaneously marks the first appearance of Hammer and Anvil, a villain duo whose origin — two chain-gang convicts whose mutual hatred is overridden only by shared imprisonment — consciously echoed the 1958 film The Defiant Ones, bringing socially charged storytelling to a Bronze Age Marvel title. It also introduces and kills Crackajack Jackson within a single issue, a narrative choice that gives the Hulk's aimless wandering an unusually poignant emotional beat. Together, these elements make #182 the overlooked but narratively essential coda to one of the Bronze Age's most celebrated three-issue runs.
In "Between Hammer and Anvil!", the Hulk, fresh from a grueling battle with Wolverine and captured by Canadian commandos, breaks free and crosses paths with the eccentric Crackajack Jackson. As the two form an unlikely bond, the Hulk joins Jackson on a journey to visit his son in prison—only to find that the son, Johnny Anvil, is now a hardened convict with a dangerous past. Meanwhile, the escaped duo of Hammer and Anvil, transformed by an alien force, return to exact revenge. Written by Len Wein and illustrated by Herb Trimpe, with colors by Glynis Wein and letters by John Costanza, this 1974 Marvel classic features a cover by Herb Trimpe that captures the tension of a fractured reunion.
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Written by Len Wein and drawn by Herb Trimpe — the same creative team responsible for #180 and #181 — the issue was edited by Roy Thomas and published cover-dated December 1974, completing an unbroken creative run on the Hulk that Trimpe had maintained since issue #106 (1968). Wolverine himself was conceived by editor-in-chief Roy Thomas and art director John Romita Sr. (who designed the costume), with Len Wein developing the character for the page; Trimpe, despite being the first artist to draw Wolverine in print, was careful in later interviews to credit Thomas and Romita as the true originators. The issue also carries a Marvel Value Stamp Series A insert (The Golem, stamp #), a standard feature of Marvel's mid-1970s line that now makes finding high-grade, stamp-intact copies a notable condition consideration for completists.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published December 1974 by Marvel Comics, cover-titled 'Between Hammer and Anvil!'; written by Len Wein, penciled and inked by Herb Trimpe, edited by Roy Thomas.
- Features a Wolverine cameo on the first page — his third chronological appearance (after #180 cameo and #181 full appearance) — as Canadian government handlers reel him back from his failed mission to neutralize the Hulk.
- Wolverine's next appearance after this issue is Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), making #182 the direct narrative bridge between his Hulk debut and his full X-Men career.
- First appearance of Hammer (Leroy 'Hammer' Jackson) and Anvil (Johnny Anvil), two escaped convicts whose shared alien-enhanced energy chain was inspired by the premise of the 1958 film The Defiant Ones — a Black man and a white racist forced into cooperation.
- First appearance and death of Crackajack Jackson in the same issue; the story reveals he is Hammer's estranged father, and he is accidentally killed by contact with Hammer and Anvil's alien-powered Synthecon chain.
- Hammer and Anvil were created by Len Wein and Herb Trimpe, the same creative team behind Wolverine's debut issues.
- The issue includes a Marvel Value Stamp Series A insert featuring The Golem — a mid-1970s Marvel insert program that affects the completeness of surviving copies.
- The issue was reprinted as a Facsimile Edition by Marvel in May 2020, re-presented with original ads, as the third volume in the Hulk #180–182 Wolverine-debut facsimile set.
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Reprints
Reprinted in L'incroyable Hulk #41 (1974), L'Uomo Ragno [Collana Super-Eroi] #194 (1977), Atlantic-serien [Fantastiske Fire] #5/1979 (1979), Atlanticserien #5/1979 (1979), Gamma la bombe qui a créé Hulk #12 (1980), La Masa #40 (1980), Essential Hulk #5 (2008), Wolverine Omnibus #1 (2009), Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men #8 (2010), Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk #10 (2016), True Believers: Wolverine vs. Hulk #1 (2017), Marvel Facsímil #1 (2019), X-Men Epic Collection #4 (2019), Incredible Hulk No. 182 Facsimile Edition #[nn] (2020), Incredible Hulk Epic Collection #7 (2022), Hulk el Hombre Increíble #59
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