Giant-Size July: Hulk Annual 7

Incredible Hulk Annual #7 (1978)
"The Evil That is Cast..."
John Byrne/Roger Stern-Byrne/Bob Layton

Doug: Welcome to another year of Giant-Size July! Karen and I spent the better part of the spring comparing inventories, trying to come up a line-up that would be fun for us to revisit in hopes of recapturing some of that summertime excitement that was the Annual and the Giant-Size books. We trust you'll find our choices worth your time, and we already anticipate your comments. Today we begin in a big way with a Hulk Annual that includes ol' Jade Jaws, the Angel and the Iceman, and a baddie from X-Men days of old -- along with a pretty stellar cast of creators. So strap in and come along for a rollicking 35-page ride!

Karen: I really enjoyed this issue when it came out, so I'm hoping it holds up. I also got a kick out of the blurb on the cover: "Marvel's green-skinned TV sensation!"

Doug: Marvel was certainly cross-marketing Hulk and Spidey back during their TV runs, weren't they? We begin at a Rocky Mountain retreat owned by one Warren Worthington III. He and Candy Southern, longtime gal-o'-his, are... getting reaquainted... when the phone rings. A big old landline phone rings. It's Bobby Drake, better know to us as the Iceman, calling from Los Angeles where he has also hooked up with a lady friend. He wants to know if the house if available, and Warren invites him up. But, who's the nasty lurking in the shadows, spying?

Karen: Gotta love the hairstyles and big gold medallion hanging from Warren's neck!

Doug: Oh you know he was blow-drying that mop and then using some Consort for Men to hold it in place... Right before the phone had rung Warren was watching Walter Cronkite on the evening news telling that Dr. Bruce Banner had recently turned himself in at Gamma Base. We cut there to find Doc Samson speaking with the CBS reporter on site. Samson is shocked when the guy asks to interview the Hulk -- and upon that statement, cue an enraged entrance by our star. The Hulk has gotten claustrophobic waiting for Samson and his team to do something and is doing his version of "getting some fresh air". Samson tried to reason with the giant, but it's young Jim Wilson who finally succeeds in calming Banner's alter ego.


Karen: The reporter goes from talking about how he's been in 'Nam' one second to saying "I never realized he was so big!" the next. And Hulk really looks huge here. He dwarfs Doc Samson, and Jim looks positively tiny next to him. Samson really takes some abuse from him but keeps cool. The whole idea of Hulk having a psychologist just makes me giggle.

Doug: Back in the mountains, Bobby lands a craft that used to belong to the Champions, but is soon quite dismayed to find that his girl is way more enthralled with Warren and his wings! Colleen tries to make a joke of it, but it's pretty obvious that Bobby is going to have a Peter Parker-like day with Terri, his immature girl. But suddenly some refugee from Jeremiah Johnson scales the wall by the pool -- our creepy spy-guy of a couple of scenes ago? Yep -- and he's come down the mountain in a most-threatening manner! He's armed with a harpoon-looking weapon that shoots rays. As Bobby ices up, he and Warren make pretty quick work of the baddie. But in the course of the fight, the guy calls Bobby by his last name, and refers to both good guys as "mutants". Well this can't be good. Warren succeeds in knocking the guy off balance and into the pool, which Bobby quickly ices over. But as the two former X-Men turn to go get their girls, and the police, the ice cracks and out comes a quickly-enlarging familiar figure -- a Sentinel!

Karen: Poor Bobby, always unlucky in love. First Lorna Dane, then Darkstar, and now this girl, who's definitely a big step down from the others. But her infatuation with Warren is as good a way as any to get him into his costume, even if it is the red and yellow version. I would have loved to have seen the blue and white again, but maybe that's just me. But Angel and Iceman make a nice team, regardless. Although back in the old X-Men days, it seemed like it was Beast and Iceman who were really good buddies.

Doug: I'd imagine Beast's Avengering made him off-limits here, but a surprise appearance would have been a nice... surprise! And by the way, it's not just any Sentinel... it's the Master Mold! Bobby attacks by attempting to draw all of the heat away from the robot -- but that leaves him vulnerable to a counter-attack, and he succumbs somewhat easily. So it's up to the Angel, who decides that the smartest thing to do would be to draw the Sentinel away from the ladies. Taking to the skies, he tries to bob and weave through the mountain range -- but in many cases the Master Mold just flies right through the rock formations! Suddenly it dawns on Warren that he's only about 100 miles from Gamma Base -- and there's someone there who can definitely help him out!

Karen: How gigantic was the Master Mold? He looks like he must be 100 feet tall! It's impressive but I'm not sure how he managed his growing feat. Byrne and Layton did a great job in portraying Angel's flight and making it look exciting for once!

Doug: Warren shows up on radar, unauthorized of course. The monitor guys scramble a couple of fighter jets for intercept -- boy, do they get a surprise! As the Angel manages to land, Doc Samson comes out of the barracks quite agitated -- all of the noise is going to wake the Hulk, and then there'll be Hell to pay! However, as Samson tries to help Warren to his feet, the Master Mold arrives. Suddenly Hell has a different meaning. And the Hulk does wake up, so it's a 3-ring circus on Gamma Base now! Samson tries to fend off the Sentinel, but is quickly and easily rebuffed. The Angel is captured and secured alongside the Iceman in the Master Mold's chest cavity. And the Hulk? Well, he manages to get a couple of licks in, but is punted across the base and ends up under a broken water pipe -- and that doesn't make Greenskin happy. As the Master Mold blasts off with his cargo, both Samson and the Hulk leap after him -- but only the Hulk grabs hold.

Karen: I love Hulk's ire here. His pride has been insulted and he's not going to stand for that -in fact, he's going to leap for it! It's interesting that Samson also has some leaping ability. Not as great as Hulk's, but it's still there. Which leads me to wonder again why the Thing can't jump like that.

Doug: It leaves me to wonder why I was never a regular Hulk reader. I always like the here-and-there issues that I come across, and always thought he was a great guest-star. Liked the Defenders. So I really don't know why his solo book never caught on with me.

Doug: The Master Mold begins to fly heavenward, with the Green Goliath still in tow. Angered that the robot is attempting to shake him off, Hulk begins to tear into the casing on the robot's boot. Master Mold marvels at the brute's stamina, but worries not, as the lack of atmosphere soon diminishes the Hulk's ambition. The Master Mold is coming home -- to a marvelously technology-imbued asteroid orbiting the Earth. Once inside, Angel, Iceman, and the Hulk are put in stasis tubes -- the first two specifically designed for their quarry, the latter originally intended for the Blob. The Master Mold leaves... laughing. Not exactly the program our X-guys recall. The Hulk grows tired quickly of being imprisoned and bursts his container effortlessly. Warren's freed in the process and soon sets Bobby loose. The two mutants are agape at the Hulk's might as he begins to make short work of their chamber.

Karen: That shot of the asteroid is spectacular. Byrne excelled at presenting these grand vistas. You really feel transported. I got a chuckle from the panel where Hulk is in the tube and the "Blob" plaque is prominently displayed. It's almost as if he takes umbrage at this. Angel and Iceman's awe at the Hulk's raw power is understandable.

Doug: Have you read the issue they reference where the Hulk fights the Juggernaut? To me, that would be an interesting battle.

Karen: I don't recall ever reading that. Now I want to look it up!

Doug: Our heroes soon learn that they are indeed in orbit. While this gives Bobby and Warren pause, the Hulk has a great line -- "Hunh! Hulk has fallen further than that! Hulk can get down easy!" Warren decides to fly a reconnaissance mission and tells Bobby to keep the Hulk out of trouble... riiiggghhtttt. Bobby trails the man-monster as he rages through doors and walls. Bobby tries to convince him that stealth might be a better strategy. Nah... Warren locates the power core of the asteroid, but it's Bobby and the Hulk who locate the Master Mold -- in a super-large control room, looking at a giant monitor screen that Bobby identifies as the Sentinel's version of Cerebro!

Karen: The Hulk in this story is more self-centered than I've ever seen him. Or is it just that he's single-minded? All he cares about is smashing Master Mold, and nothing is going to get in his way. Would even Dr. Strange have been able to calm him?

Doug: But, "Cerebro" doesn't last long, as the Hulk attacks from the robot's posterior, smashing it into the giant screen. This is a very powerfully violent Hulk and he's bent on destroying his adversary. But the Master Mold is not averse to dealing it to humans, and so lets the Hulk have a pretty good taste of his power; trouble is, and you know the drill -- the madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets! But his repeated nuisance has tried the last iota of patience of the Master Mold, and so a 1,000-volt blast later, the Hulk is subdued. It's at that point that Bobby asks what the heck is going on -- why the emotion, why the surprise? This cannot be an ordinary Sentinel. And we are told that it is not -- no, this Sentinel is the embodiment of what was once Steven Lang!

Karen: This is a nice tie in to an X-Men tale that these two X-Men weren't even a part of. But anything having to do with the Sentinels has importance for all mutants.

Doug: Lang detailed how, in the battle against the All-New, All-Different X-Men that culminated in the events of X-Men #100, the mutants left him for dead. But, with his dying strength he was able to transfer his mind into the Master Mold. What happens next is a bit odd -- Warren arrives on the scene, and having heard this origin story flatly denies it -- he tells that when SHIELD arrived on the base and put out the fire, they took Lang's body. Lang is now in a mental ward, a mindless vegetable under SHIELD care. The Master Mold seems confused by this. At the same time, the Hulk recovers from the severe shock he'd received and begins to tear apart the Sentinel with reckless abandon. Warren even comments that he thinks he's going to be sick. So Bobby convinces the Hulk that they have to leave -- but as they find the escape pod, Master Mold appears on a monitor screen. The Sentinel tells that if he is going to die a robot and not a man, then all three of our heroes will die as well. OK... Bobby and Warren dive into the pod anyway, but the Hulk wants to go find the robot and finish him. Bobby shoots some snowballs at the Hulk, which angers him enough to kick the escape pod, launching it toward Earth. As there is now a hole in the side of the satellite, the Hulk fills his lungs, grabs onto the wall to avoid being sucked out into space, and turns back into the apparatus to go find the Master Mold.

Karen: Hulk's destruction of the Master Mold was pretty gross -and reminded me more than a little of Byrne's eventual dismantling of the Vision in West Coast Avengers. What does he have against androids and robots? Iceman's play with Hulk was awfully risky, but worked. Hulk is just hilariously out of control in this story.

Doug: Hulk was to me like the wild animals that people have trained and appear "tame". His "playing around" is certainly rough, and his potential to blow at any moment is off the charts.

Doug: The pod carrying Angel and Iceman rockets back toward Earth, but soon begins to heat up from the friction of reentry to the atmosphere. Bobby manages to keep things cool, and upon splashdown (off the coast of Miami), the boys emerge relatively unscathed. But as they get their bearings on an ice raft, they turn to see the sky lit up as the Master Mold's satellite explodes above the Earth. Fearing for the Hulk's life, our mutants are pleased to find that ol' Greenskin is alive and well -- all of his smashing had caused a floor to rupture, he fell out of the asteroid base, and was able to latch onto the escape pod and hold it on its way down. Once on the ice raft, Warren and Bobby tell him that they are glad he's all right, and ask him about getting back to his friends. The Hulk thinks of Jim and impulsively leaps away -- no good-byes necessary! And Warren then turns to Bobby and says that they should find a way to get back to the mountains to see if Bobby's girl like ice -- if Candy hasn't killed her already!

Karen: The genuine concern the two former X-Men and Champions show for the Hulk when they think he has been killed is touching, considering he nearly got them both killed. He doesn't do them any favors on the raft, either!

Doug: This story might be the epitome of a Bronze Age annual -- a mish-mash of heroes thrown together against a baddie from the past, a top-notch creative team to serve as our guides, and it's a done-in-one. What more could we have asked for?

Karen: I really enjoyed it, and I thought the art was fantastic. I know Byrne has disparaged Layton's inking of him, but I thought it worked very well. I'd still consider Terry Austin my favorite inker on Byrne, but Layton brings a lot to his work too.

The 5-in-1 Threat!

The Incredible Hulk #213 (July 1977)
"You Just Don't Quarrel With the Quintronic Man!"
Len Wein-Sal Buscema/Tom Palmer

Doug: This is a great cover, isn't it? If I had been a Hulk fan when I was 11, Ernie Chan would have made me buy this.

Doug: This one hits the ground running. The splash page features our hero with his young charge, Jim Wilson, facing a barrage of bullets. When last we saw these two, Hulk had just vanquished the Constrictor -- a super-baddie who had a hit on young Wilson! As New York's Finest continue to blast away, Hulk keeps moving forward until eventually the boys in blue have fled or had (as in the case of the last brave fool) their weapons crushed in a big green fist. But what should our wondering eyes next reveal to us? How about a huge box truck from Stark International that stops right on Hulk's doorstep, opens, and unleashes a huge robot-like construct -- the Quintronic Man!

Doug: Piloted by five techs, this "multi-million dollar piece of merchandise" prepares to engage the Hulk. And right away, we have a cutaway -- to Gamma Base, where Doc Samson is trying to help some transient get his memory back. OK, back to fightin'. This Quintronic Man is weird, in that the tech in the head orders the guys running the four limbs to do certain things. Of course it's all pictured as if it would be fluid, but I'm thinking the delay in reaction time is going to cost somebody down the road here. Hulk scoffs at this new robot, but is soon on his backside. Foolishly thinking they've KO'd him on the first kick, the Quintronic Man moves in. Bad choice. He's barely able to parry the Hulk, who despite falling backward is able to rip the asphalt from under the giant.

Doug: Cut to Banner's boarding house, where April Sommers is watching all of this transpire on the news. We see a shadowy figure outside of her OPEN DOOR (duh), but he scoots away when she investigates a noise in the hallway. She assumed it was going to be Banner, and as we saw last ish, he's been a mystery-man and she wants some answers.

Doug: Cut again to some hoods, who are about to get their seedy meeting busted up by the Jack of Hearts! Jack's on a revenge mission for his dead father (carried over from Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #23) and wipes up the place pretty easily. Hearing about the Hulk on the radio, though, makes Jack want to test himself as a real superhero -- so it's Hulk-hunting he will go!

Doug: There are numerous further indignities heaped upon the Hulk, but none like the "somna-gas" that he's blasted with -- and you guessed it -- la la land. Oh, shoot -- another cut, and back to the SHIELD tanker. Except this issue they've transferred the gamma-irradiated cylinder to the Helicarrier. General Ross is aboard to be debriefed on the thing. Trouble is, all attempts to breach it have been unsuccessful. And wouldn't you know that as everyone vacates the room, the bugger starts to quiver a bit. Hmmm... OK, back to the Hulk. He's loaded into a vault-like truck, and Jim is detained and made to ride in the front with the police.

Doug: What follows is an odd scene, with several squad cars leading the heavily-armored truck and all followed by the Quintronic Man. As the processional moves, Jim suddenly jerks the wheel from the driver and steers the truck right into a wall. And you know what? The armored roof cracks. Give. Me. A. Break. Look at the thing! If it wasn't tailor-made to hold the Hulk, and it cracks? Solid steel (or whatever) cracks?? Well, I'm going to be surprised if this one ends well.

Doug: Of course the somna-gas is allowed to escape, Hulk wakes up (question -- why didn't he switch back to Banner when he was zonked?), the Quintronic Man gets in a couple of good shots, but in the end Hulk hurls a chunk of concrete that lands in the construct's chest cavity -- and oh-so-conveniently backs up the air system, reversing the direction of the somna-gas. Robot can't function if its five pilots are all out. The end. Well, except that Jack of Hearts arrived about two seconds too late to get in on the action -- throwdown coming up in a future issue.

Doug: Tom Palmer's inks are much heavier in this issue than were Ernie Chan's in the previous book. And I think Chan's generally got a heavy brush. Certainly we see elements of Palmer overpowering Sal's pencils, and while that's not terrible it does tend to make me think more of the John Buscema/Palmer collaborations than really getting a Sal-feel for this art. After two issues of Len Wein, I see the trouble that all Hulk, and Superman, authors must face -- how do you have a fight each issue where your protagonist is nearly omnipotent? Tricks, gags, deus ex machinas -- I guess you have to have all of that. Neither the Constrictor or the Quintronic Man should have been worthy of battling the Hulk, but Wein manages to squeeze a 22-page story out of each bad guy. Of course, all of the foreshadowed plot threads help to stretch things out. So, while I'd have rather seen the Hulk take this big robot apart limb by limb, I'll settle for the dumb luck that ended this fracas. But I'm only giving this book a B- because of it.

Really? Purple Pants ALL OF THE TIME?

The Incredible Hulk #212 (June 1977)
"Crushed by the Constrictor!"
Len Wein-Sal Buscema/Ernie Chan

Doug: Back to the Bronze Age lot for a double dose of Hulk done-in-ones. Yep, tune back in one week from today when we'll actually bring you the succeeding issue. I only got three Hulks in the eBay victory, and this next week will polish those off. So, without further ado...

Doug: We open with Jim Wilson on the streets of New York City. While pondering a huge wanted poster of the Hulk, a thug emerges from the shadows. As the attack commences, Wilson at first thinks it's a mugging. But we soon find out that there's a hit on Wilson's life, and this tough with the blackjack is the assassin. But Jim's no slouch and evades the initial onslaught. Clinging to an oh-so-conveniently-passing-by box truck, Jim makes his way far away. The thug, fearful now what will happen to him since he's failed, begins to run. However, a long silver cord snaps out and begins to reel our hood in -- by his neck. As he begs for mercy, the "boss" steps into view -- it's a super-baddie (or so the snake-themed longjohns would lead us to believe) calling himself the Constrictor. And he wants Jim Wilson real bad.

Doug: Scene shift then to a boarding house where we spy on Bruce Banner, frustrated because he's bored but looking nonetheless fetching in purple twill pants. Next to him sits a magician's top hat; I can only wonder. Suddenly in walks his landlady, April Sommers. Now I was never a Hulk reader, so I'm totally tabula rasa on this development in Banner's love life. Oops -- apparently she's not a love interest. The scene plays like something right out of the Hulk TV show, with Banner only just now -- after months of living in the apartment -- revealing his last name. Even then, he refuses to tell her anything more about his past. I had to laugh at this mag written over a generation before the Internet -- Banner gives his real name, and April doesn't even react. You just know nowadays she'd run back to her own apartment and Google the fool!

Doug: We next check in on one Betty Ross Talbot, on the lam from Gamma Base. Apparently last issue she'd run away to "find herself". She's evidently on the West coast somewhere, as we're told she's several thousand miles away from NYC. Betty basically reinvents herself in this several-panel vignette -- and runs up quite a hefty credit card bill! All the while she laments the influence, and indeed pressure, of the men in her life -- most notable her father, General "Thunderbolt" Ross. And hey, is it just me or are Sal's women evoking the voluptuous figures usually associated with his brother John?

Doug: Cut back to Jim Wilson, who's landed at a pay phone (this is so cool! Man, I miss these days!). Jim tries to 411 Bruce Banner, but no dice. So he asks for "Bruce Roberts", reaching for any alias Banner might have used. Luck is on his side, and he's patched through. Of course Banner is home, and they make arrangements to meet. But as they agree on a site, there's a commotion, and Jim's end of the line goes dead. Banner rushes out of the boarding house -- and you just know that pulse is starting to race...

Doug: Scene shift again, to the sea, where a SHIELD tanker has hauled a gamma-irradiated cylinder from the ocean floor. The scientist on board, a hipster named Sidney E. Levine, radios Col. Nick Fury who tells him to contact Gamma Base. More on that later, I'll assume.

Doug: Back to Jim Wilson, we're dropped in actually a few seconds before his conversation with Banner ended. We find out that the noise was one of the Constrictor's coils smashing the phone booth. Jim is stunned, and a second lash nearly cuts him. But as the phone booth has basically dissolved, Wilson makes tracks. But he's not match for our villain, who catches up to Jim outside of an abandoned building. As Jim emerges he's snared and dragged to a waiting car. At about that same time, Banner is on the scene. Stepping out of a cab, Banner sees the busted up phone booth and then the getaway car. Banner calls out, but the car bears down on him. And you know what's coming next -- Hulk time!

Doug: The Constrictor gets out of the car (using his snake-like speed) just as it hits the Hulk. This Constrictor fellow must be a bit dim, as he says he's "heard of" the Hulk -- must live on Planet X or something. Anyway, as Hulk is about to end this four pages early he hears noise coming from inside the smashed vehicle. Stooping low to peer inside, he sees Jim. Hulk tears the roof off the car and frees Jim -- Jim in turn fills the Hulk in on this little contract thing. The book ends with a few pages of smash 'em up action as the Hulk makes relatively short work of the Constrictor. There's a little luck involved, as the assassin meets his end by whipping his coils into an electrical box on a lamp post -- bad feedback, for sure. But all's well that ends well, and a monster and his "little buddy" are reunited, to walk off together into the sunset.

Doug: Again, as a very casual reader of the Hulk, I got what I would have expected from this story. The villain could have been whupped by Daredevil, so I wasn't kept in any real suspense as to the outcome. Sal's pencils were wonderfully reliable as usual and Ernie Chan was a welcome sight -- not overpowering Sal, but enhancing him along the way. Len Wein seemed to have everyone's voice down pretty well. So aside from the almost-constant scene changing, this was a fun little use of 20 minutes. And as I said above, the anchors to the late 1970's can't be beat!