Hank still looks human in these stories. His large hands and feet, tremendous agility and strength do the visual work. The furry blue Beast belongs to another stage, and putting…

Hank still looks human in these stories. His large hands and feet, tremendous agility and strength do the visual work. The furry blue Beast belongs to another stage, and putting that appearance into this period loses the particular oddness of the original design. He is a young man who can hang in a position nobody else finds comfortable and discuss a problem as though he has a library open in his head. The physical comedy and the elaborate vocabulary belong together. Hank's intelligence doesn't require him to stop being ridiculous with Bobby. Their life away from the school in X-Men #49 gives that friendship some room. Bobby has found them work as a stunt duo, and Hank discovers the details rather later than he would have preferred. There is a familiar rhythm to it: Bobby commits them to something, Hank supplies an eloquent complaint, and both of them still have to make it through the landing. When the X-Men regroup, Hank's technical ability becomes immediately useful. The same person who was protesting a parachute jump can settle down to equipment that will help locate the next threat. He has more than one way to contribute to a mission. The Sentinel infiltration in #59 also suits him. Borrowing the Toad's appearance lets Hank exploit an enemy's assumptions about how a particular body is supposed to move and fight. His own coordination is the advantage hidden beneath the disguise. There is warmth in this version of Beast because the cleverness is so often shared. He jokes with his friends, argues with them and uses what he knows to get them out of trouble. The school has given him an audience that can answer back. The late original-team era lets Hank be a scientist, an athlete and an occasionally exasperated young man in the same afternoon. That's a good deal more lively than treating him as the person who exists to explain the machinery.