Incredible Hulk #181

A Canadian hero

Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas wanted a Canadian superhero, and he chose the wolverine as a fittingly Canadian animal. He handed the idea to writer Len Wein and artist John Romita Sr. Romita designed the costume and, mirroring the real animal, made the character short, at 5 feet 3 inches. Wein wrote the script.

In Wein's first conception the claws were retractable, part of the gloves, and made of adamantium. Romita thought practically: "When I make a design, I want it to be practical and functional. If a man has claws like that, how does he scratch his nose or tie his shoelaces?" The comic itself never says whether the claws are part of his body; that was not made explicit until X-Men #98 showed Wolverine unsheathing them out of costume.

Wolverine appeared first in the last panel of The Incredible Hulk #180, cover-dated October 1974. His first full appearance came in the next issue.

And now, the Wolverine

The Incredible Hulk #181 carries a November 1974 cover date and went on sale July 30, 1974, according to a house ad in Marvel's November titles. It cost 25 cents for 36 pages and was approved by the Comics Code Authority. Inside, the 18-page story "And Now...The Wolverine!" was written by Len Wein, penciled by Herb Trimpe, inked by Jack Abel, colored by Glynis Wein and lettered by Artie Simek.

The Hulk has been lured to Quebec as part of a plan to cure the Wendigo, a wild-eyed woods beast. Wolverine, a Canadian super-agent, first teams up with the Hulk against the Wendigo; once the monster falls, he turns on the Hulk and the two fight.

The cover, by Trimpe, shows the Hulk and Wolverine with the Wendigo. John Romita altered the figure of the Hulk before publication; the unaltered version later ran in the British weekly The Mighty World of Marvel #198. The letters page carries Marvel Value Stamp #54, a cut-out stamp of Shanna the She-Devil.

The people who stitched him together

Herb Trimpe, born in 1939, drew the Hulk from 1968 to 1971 and again from late 1971 to 1975, and was the first artist to draw Wolverine for publication. "The way I see it, [Romita and writer Len Wein] sewed the monster together and I shocked it to life!" he recalled. After leaving Marvel in the 1990s he earned a degree, taught art in New York, and volunteered as a chaplain at the World Trade Center site after September 11, 2001. He died in 2015.

Len Wein, born in New York City in 1948, had already co-created Swamp Thing at DC in 1971. In 1975 he and artist Dave Cockrum revived the X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men #1, which put Wolverine on a new international team alongside Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus and Thunderbird. Wein later edited Watchmen and died in 2017.

The summer Nixon fell

The issue went on sale in the last days of a presidency. On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Nixon that the president could not withhold subpoenaed White House tapes. Between July 27 and 30 the House Judiciary Committee adopted three articles of impeachment. The Incredible Hulk #181 reached newsstands on July 30.

On August 9, ten days later, Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign, and Gerald Ford was sworn in. On September 8 Ford pardoned Nixon, and the same day Evel Knievel's rocket attempt to cross Idaho's Snake River Canyon failed. Earlier that year, on April 8, Hank Aaron had hit his 715th home run to pass Babe Ruth.

Print run and census

This was not a scarce comic when it was new. The Incredible Hulk's statement of ownership, filed September 25, 1973, reported average paid sales of 187,318 copies an issue over the previous 12 months and 209,124 for the issue nearest the filing date. No print run for #181 itself turned up in the sources used for this page.

Its scarcity is in condition. CGC had graded 12,482 copies by October 31, 2019, with a median grade of 7.5. In October 2022 the census held 148 copies at 9.8, 136 of them Universal and 12 Signature Series. By April 2025 it had passed 18,000 copies, with 168 at 9.8 and a single copy at 9.9, the highest grade the issue has received.

A CVA Exceptional endorsement, which the copy on this page carries, means a 9.8 judged to have outstanding eye appeal and superior structure within its numerical grade.

What 9.8 copies have brought

The only CGC 9.9 sold in February 2011 for $150,000; as of late 2022 no sale of the issue had topped it. CGC 9.8 copies have swung widely. One sold for $59,000 in January 2019. On October 26, 2022, another reached $146,000, the first 9.8 to pass $140,000.

On February 27, 2025, a CGC 9.8 with the CVA Exceptional endorsement sold at auction for $125,000. Less than two months later, on April 21, 2025, another CGC 9.8 sold at auction for $50,969, less than half as much.

The numbers

Cover price

25 cents

Pages

36; the story runs 18

Title's average paid sales (statement of September 25, 1973)

187,318 an issue; 209,124 for the issue nearest filing

Print run of #181

No verified figure found

Census, October 31, 2019

12,482 graded; median 7.5; highest 9.9

Census, October 2022

148 at CGC 9.8 (136 Universal, 12 Signature Series)

Census, April 2025

More than 18,000 graded; 168 at 9.8; one at 9.9

Timeline

1. Sep 25, 1973

   The Incredible Hulk's statement of ownership reports average paid sales of 187,318 an issue.

2. Oct 1974

   Wolverine appears in the final panel of The Incredible Hulk #180 (cover date).

3. Jul 30, 1974

   The Incredible Hulk #181 goes on sale, cover-dated November 1974.

4. May 1975

   Giant-Size X-Men #1 recruits Wolverine to a new X-Men team.

5. Feb 2011

   The only CGC 9.9 sells for $150,000.

6. Apr 13, 2015

   Herb Trimpe dies at 75.

7. Sep 10, 2017

   Len Wein dies at 69.

8. Jan 2019

   A CGC 9.8 sells for $59,000.

9. Oct 31, 2019

   CGC has graded 12,482 copies; median grade 7.5.

10. Oct 26, 2022

    A CGC 9.8 sells for $146,000, the first 9.8 past $140,000.

11. Feb 27, 2025

    A CGC 9.8 CVA Exceptional sells at auction for $125,000.

12. Apr 21, 2025

    A CGC 9.8 sells for $50,969; the census passes 18,000 copies with 168 at 9.8.

The world in 1974

• Apr 8, 1974

  Hank Aaron hits his 715th home run, passing Babe Ruth.

• Jun 26, 1974

  A Universal Product Code is scanned at a checkout for the first time, on a pack of Wrigley's gum in Troy, Ohio.

• Jul 24, 1974

  The Supreme Court rules in United States v. Nixon that the White House tapes must be turned over.

• Jul 27, 1974

  The House Judiciary Committee begins adopting articles of impeachment against Nixon, finishing July 30.

• Aug 9, 1974

  Nixon resigns; Gerald Ford becomes the 38th president.

• Sep 8, 1974

  Ford pardons Nixon; Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon jump fails.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Incredible Hulk #181 is number 33 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (7 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Wolverine was designed to be 5 feet 3 inches tall because real wolverines are small.
• His claws were first imagined as part of his gloves.
• John Romita altered the Hulk on the cover; the unaltered art ran later in a British reprint.
• The issue went on sale ten days before President Nixon resigned.
• Herb Trimpe, who first drew Wolverine, later served as a volunteer chaplain at the World Trade Center site.
• Only one copy has ever graded 9.9.