Top Ten Santa Covers: Part 2

Welcome to day two of our countdown of the top ten Santa covers in comics history. Yesterday we brought you numbers 6-10, so that can mean only one thing for today -- or five things as the case may be: numbers 1-5. So treat yourself to the merriest of Christma Eves with a stroll down comic book lane with good ol' Santa.




5) Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special #1

This is probably the most famous Santa story in the history of comics, which is saying something. Nothing good, mind you, but something, anyway. Lobo was originally created as a spoof of Wolverine's over-the-top, grim-n-gritty attitude, but the joke was on DC, because fans took him seriously and made him one of the most popular characters of the early 90's. This special is both the pinnacle of, and a parody of, those times.












4) Giant Superhero Holiday Grab Bag #1

Ok, we'll admit, this one is cheating a little, because Santa technically isn't on this cover, instead being subtly replaced by fill-in Ben Grimm. Still, we can buy Thing as Santa a little easier than we can buy a grinning hulk as Blitzen, so why not? Besides, this cover reminds us, like Christmas itself, of a simpler time, when superheroes could find time in their busy schedule of angst and woe to have some light-hearted holiday cheer. We'll tip back the eggnog to that idea.











3) Hulk #378

Speaking of the Hulk, here he is wailing on a mall Santa like the big jerk he is. Hulk, I mean, not Santa. The fact that Santa is giving Hulk a whooping with a crowbar, however, is one of the most perfect presents we could have asked for. Now if only St. Nick would pound that lame character right out of existence, we'd really have a jolly old time.













2) Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-man #112

Writer Peter David must have a thing for Santa, because here his is for the second spot in a row, backing this terrific cover from Rich Buckler. Of course, knowing Buckler, he must have swiped it from somewhere, but regardless, it's pretty cool. We mentioned yesterday how Santa has been dirtied up starting in the mid-80's; while some would cite the Hitman cover where Santa has a gun jammed in his mouth as the top example of this, we prefer Santa to do the whooping, thanks very much. And if you can't find your crowbar, this gun will do nicely.










1) Panic #1

One of the true classics from the beloved EC Comics is this cover from Panic #1. As it turns out, Rich Buckler isn't the only swipe specialist going, as this cover seems to be an "homage" to More Fun Comics #16, which similarly shows a kid setting a bear trap for Santa. While that early example was done in a very 30's cartooning style, however, this more sinister version is timeless thanks to that sadistic EC touch. That is one evil looking kid right there, huh? Not everyone found this issue funny, of course; the state of Massachusetts banned it because the parody of Twas the Night Before Christmas inside was deemed to "desecrate Christmas."

You go, Bill Gaines.

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Presidents in Comics: The Nixon Effect

Who is the greatest supervillain of them all? Is it Lex Luthor? The Joker? Dr. Doom? The Red Skull? Magneto? The Headmen? The Tetrarchs of Entropy? Turner D. Century? The debate has raged on for decades, but above all of these fictional villains towers an all too real arch-villain on a scale unprecedented in comics: President Richard M. Nixon.

Yes, Richard Nixon, who would, of course, go on to resign in disgrace after Watergate, became a target for comic book writers almost immediately upon his ascension to the presidency. Though the bulk of the attacks didn't get into full force until the Watergate scandal broke, even before that it was clear that the respectful kid gloves usually reserved for treatment of presidents in comics had been set aside. Part of this is due to the changing political climate in the nation, and part of it was due to a more direct source: a changing of the guard in the ranks of comics creators, especially at Marvel. Out were the older generation of creators who had grown up with the industry, right from its World War II roots, and in was a new generation of post-war creators who had grown up on both comics and distrust of the government. This new generation of writers and artists, including those with noted political stances such as Gerber and Englehart, were quick to seize on Nixon as a foil -- a decision that forever altered the way presidents were depicted in comics.

Things didn't start too badly for the president, of course. One of his earlier appearances, in 1970's Fantastic Four #103, was of the more traditional variety, with Nixon calling upon the FF to save New York from an Atlantean invasion (though even here, Stan did manage to slip in a little snipe about the direction of the Vietnam War). And this sort of thing also took place over in staid DC titles like World's Finest, where Nixon appeared in the usual presidential cameo role.

The tide was turning, though, something that can be seen in comics like Incredible Hulk #139. As we saw yesterday, a few years earlier Nixon's predecessor, Lyndon Johnson, had also dealt with the Hulk in Tales to Astonish #88, seeing right to the heart of the tragic beast and giving Banner a full pardon. Not so much with Nixon; in #139, Nixon prevaricates while discussing options with General Ross and finally decides to delegate authority to his hand-picked liaison Spiro Agnew. That, as history has shown, was usually not a good idea and the predictable ensued.

Thus the long-standing principle of always having the president be an honorable, upstanding guest-star was slowly being chipped away at. Gone were the days of "If I can't trust the president of the United States, who can I trust?" and in were the days of sidelong, if still not too pointed, political commentary. In Fantastic Four #123, for example, Nixon (who even lands a guest spot on the cover) debates whether or not to turn matters over to the Fantastic Four, worrying that he "has an election coming up". And even more subtly, Jack Kirby drew a small bit of Republican ire when he supposedly modeled one of the kids in Jimmy Olsen's Newsboy Legion strip on Tricky Dick. Hell, even Richie Rich got involved, using Nixon as a lab assistant named, for no apparent reason, after the band Uriah Heep.

But then Watergate hit and all bets were off. Jabs and snide remarks weren't enough anymore; with righteous indignation, the comic world began really venting its anger on Nixon. DC, for its part, was still fairly mild, simply going with items like a caricature of Nixon on the cover of From Beyond the Unknown #17 where aliens decide that Earth must be a myth because any planet that would have Richard Nixon as its leader is "scientifically impossible!"

Marvel, though, was pulling no punches. Steve Gerber, who would go on to create the politically savvy comic icon Howard the Duck, immediately cast Nixon as the villain in the infamously titled Giant-Size Man-Thing #1. In this story, Nixon appears as the leader of a cult of entropy; wearing a hood and spouting nihilist slogans, Nixon (who is known among his disciples as Yagzan) tries to bring about the end of, well, whatever is supposed to end; that's how entropy works I guess. Luckily Man-Thing is around to save the world, even if real-life America wasn't so lucky.

But the most famous Nixon story of all time, and one of the most infamous storylines in Marvel history, has to be the Secret Empire story that ran from Captain America #169-176. In events specifically designed to parallel Watergate, Captain America uncovers a vast conspiracy by a shadowy organization called the Secret Empire. Following the paper trail, he discovers that this plot to covertly control America leads right into the White House itself and in the #175 he is shocked to find that the leader of the Secret Empire is none other than President Richard Nixon.

Confronted with evidence of his misdeeds, and faced with America's fighting legend himself, Captain America, Nixon does the only thing that he can do: he commits suicide in front of the shocked hero. The entire episode leads to Cap questioning both America and his role in the nation and results in Steve Rogers deciding to quit as Captain America because he no longer believes in the government.

Eventually, of course, he decides that he does not represent the American government, but instead the American dream, something that is stronger than any one politician, no matter how corrupt. This was a defining storyline in the history of the character, as it crafted a specific new role for Cap that he has maintained to this day, showing how the character can still be viable in a nation that no longer trusts its own government. Because of that, it remains perhaps the quintessential Captain America storyline of all time, which means that in the end, Nixon's presidency ended up getting at least one thing right.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't also briefly mention the other most famous Nixon story in comics, which was printed over a decade after the president left office: Watchmen. Everything in the story is informed by the Nixon years, as it takes place in a world where Nixon not only never stepped down, but was in fact re-elected several times, becomes a de facto president for life. Alan Moore and partner Dave Gibbons were commenting on the Reagan era as much as on Nixon, but the images of Nixon calmly discussing how much of the nation was an acceptable loss in case of a nuclear strike is still among the most indelible graphics from that most famous of comics.



Once that cat was out of the bag, of course, it was impossible to put back in. Nixon had changed the way presidents were treated in comics; instead of across-the-board respect, individual presidents were now treated as just that: individuals, to be lauded or ridiculed based on both their actions and the political leanings of the creative team depicting them.

Tomorrow: We'll be looking at the biggest target this side of Nixon, Ronald Reagan, as we look at how the new rules established in the 70's paved the way for one lampoon after another in the 80's. Featuring, of course, the famous "Reagan literally turns into a giant snake" story. Be there!

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Breaking News: Disney Buys Marvel

When I woke up this morning I had no idea that a pop culture apocalypse was about to engulf two entire universes. I got up and went about my routine, checking the box scores from the late game and struggling to achieve the perfect level of toastiness on my bagel, content in the sameness of yet another day. And then, as though Superboy were punching the very walls of reality, a deluge of emails, tweets and CNN Money alerts just about split my brain in two: Disney is buying Marvel Comics.

A lot of comic fans seemed ready to do their best Gwen Stacy impersonation and dive off the nearest bridge, fearing interference from Disney in Marvel’s creative process, but as more information has become available throughout the day about the buyout this has faded a bit. While there are some legitimate concerns about how this will affect both Marvel and Disney, there are also some obvious opportunities, not just on the company side but on the creative side of things as well. As a huge fan of both Marvel and Disney, then, here’s a breakdown of the merger as I see it, with commentary and speculation broken up into three major categories: the Impact on Comics, the Impact on Movies and the Impact on Theme Parks.

Impact on Comics

The biggest question most comic readers have is, how will this affect the stories themselves? In the past, Disney was not exactly known as being hand-off in their approach to subsidiary companies, and some level of creative control (or interference, depending on your point of view) over Marvel is not an unreasonable expectation.

However, I think that’s the Disney of the past more than a reflection of their current strategy, as shown by their deal with Pixar four years ago. It’s important to note that the impetus behind the acquisition of Pixar was not to implement Disney control over Pixar but the opposite. Recognizing that Pixar had seized the mantle of creativity and innovation away from Disney, Disney decided to merge in order to bring the talent from Pixar over to re-energize Disney. They weren’t trying so sublimate or even co-opt Pixar so much as they were trying on a creative level to become Pixar. And by all accounts, the result for both companies has been very successful.

With this as an example, then, I think it’s fair to assume that like Pixar, Marvel is going to remain a separate brand with a fair amount of artistic license to do their own thing. That’s not to say, however, that Disney won’t have some influence on what Marvel decides to do. The first concern would have to be the fact that most creators aren’t Marvel employees but rather are freelancers doing contract work for Marvel. In the past, Disney has not always had the best record as an employer, and it’s possible that some creators will shy away from working for Marvel because of this. It’s also possible that creators simply will not want to work for Disney for creative reasons; under Marvel editor-ion-chief Joe Quesada, creators have had a level of freedom that was previously rare in mainstream comics, leading to more mature content. It’s possible that some of these creators will now prefer to work for independent publishers like Dark Horse and Image, or publish under the Vertigo banner at DC, rather than mess around with Disney at all. And issues over creator rights – whether creators should retain rights to characters and ideas they create while doing work-for-hire, an issue that has been contentious in comic circles for decades – may become even more important with Disney now potentially holding the rights to new properties.

Because of these issues, it’s certainly possible that while Disney may not exert any direct influence over the product being created, the mere fact of Disney owning the company could lead to some turnover in the creative teams on the comics themselves. This may not entirely be a negative, either; with Disney and Pixar animators being some of the top cartoonists in the world, it’s possible that some of these artists may begin moving over to Marvel as well, which would be nothing but positive.

Putting creative issues aside for the moment, though, one of the biggest opportunities for Marvel in this deal is the potential for Disney’s unparalleled distribution and promotion systems to introduce Marvel comics to new, worldwide audiences. Not the characters, mind you, but the comics themselves. If Disney’s marketing machine gets behind Marvel, you could see a resurgence of comics on newsstands and comics could begin to be both available and heavily hyped in other venues like Disney stores, theme parks and other retail venues worldwide. This could potentially be a major game changer for the publishing side of Marvel.

However, it does have some pitfalls, as this is where Disney’s creative control really becomes an issue. Because of the more violent and graphic nature of some of Marvel’s biggest comics, Disney may have some problems promoting these books side-by-side with, for instance, their line of Princess picture books. Figuring out how to maintain Marvel as a separate creative entity while still capitalizing on Disney’s marketing power is going to be a tricky thing.

My guess is that the solution will be increased branding. Marvel has had limited success with branding different lines of comics as separate entities; the Ultimate universe has been fairly successful for a decade, and the Marvel Adventures line of books aimed at younger audiences has been fairly well received, but other brands like MAX and Marvel Knights aren’t necessarily seen as separate lines so much as Parental Advisory labels. DC, on the other hand, has had more success, with Vertigo almost considered a separate company at this point. And Disney themselves have been able to keep their more mature Touchstone and Miramax studio imprints separate from their more family friendly Disney and Pixar releases.

So I think Disney and Marvel will want to take a page from the DC playbook and aggressively brand different lines of comics. The Marvel Adventures line of all-ages books could be expanded significantly, though perhaps with a new brand name that would also allow them to incorporate kid-friendly comics based on Disney properties. Meanwhile, the mainstream Marvel Universe should, in my opinion, become the Vertigo of Marvel. Most of the content in the major Marvel books has become mature to the point of nearly needing a MAX label on it (Dark Reign: Hawkeye comes to mind) and having such a brand probably wouldn’t adversely affect current readership, as most people who are turned off by this more mature approach to these iconic characters have already quit reading the titles anyway. In sum, then, what I am proposing is basically an all-ages reboot of the Marvel Universe that Disney can aggressively promote, with the current Marvel Universe in effect becoming the Ultimate Universe.

The other issue that this idea brings up is just what Disney is planning to do with the publishing licenses for its own characters. Currently, Boom! Studios is publishing books based on Pixar characters as well as the Muppets, while Gemstone puts out comics based on the regular Disney characters. Other publishers like Papercutz also have licenses such as the Disney Fairies title that editor-in-chief Jim Salicrup mentioned in my interview with him yesterday. It seems unlikely that Disney will continue to farm out their comics when they have Marvel as an in-house publisher, especially considering Marvel has a significantly larger market share in the comic industry than any of their competitors. I don’t know how this will shake out legally, but it seems likely that Disney will eventually turn over the licenses to Marvel which should mean a much larger line of Disney comics published by Marvel. It’s possible that if this happens, the branding I mentioned above will be unnecessary and Disney will focus on selling these Disney comics through their various marketing arms, but I think that would be leaving a lot of potential growth for Marvel on the table and thus I think it’s unlikely.

Impact on Movies

Like the issue with Disney’s publishing licenses, the impact of this deal on the movie side of things is complicated by the fact that Marvel has signed away the rights to many of their largest properties to other movie companies such as Fox. This means that while film franchises such as Spider-man and X-Men may be mega-hits, they won’t be hits for Disney. In addition, the distribution rights for those films Marvel does still control are tied up with other studios as well, part of the infrastructure Marvel set up when they created their own film company.

However, from what I’ve been reading, neither of these facts are major issues on the Disney side of things. On the contrary, it appears that Disney’s interests here aren’t so much with major franchises such as Fantastic Four but more with lesser known, second tier properties. Iron Man proved that even a character that is almost completely unknown outside of comic circles can still become a massive blockbuster if it is done well by people who understand and respect the source material. Because of this, Disney is hoping to recapture this kind of success by leveraging other lesser known characters into major franchises as well.

This is very good news for comic fans for a couple of reasons. One of the major concerns many fans have with this deal in terms of the film rights is how the similar set-up between Warner Brothers Studios and DC Comics has effectively squelched DC’s ability to get movies made with their characters. Because they can’t shop their properties around (Warner Brothers has control because they are both owned by Time/Warner), DC basically is stuck with whatever decisions Warner makes, and that usually has meant obvious hits like Justice League of America and Wonder Woman get shitcanned instead of produced.

From the sounds of it, though, Disney and Marvel have quite the opposite in mind. Because Marvel has their own studios, they themselves are in control of what they make and now Disney is coming in and basically saying that they want Marvel to make even more movies, not less. And since Marvel is going to benefit from Disney’s enormous financial backing, they now will have the financial wherewithal to not only make more movies, but make them with budgets large enough to ensure they are up to snuff.

In addition, there is a positive parallel that can be drawn from the DC comparison as well. For years, DC has been more likely to keep struggling series going because they can rely on the larger Time/Warner infrastructure to absorb the losses; this allows them to keep publishing critically acclaimed stuff like Jonah Hex, in part to help set up potential film tie-ins (and in part because they recoup more in the trade market as well). If Disney does push Marvel to make more films featuring lesser known characters, it’s likely that those characters would not only get their own series in order to help promotion but also that the series, once started, would be more likely to stick around even if sales on the comic itself aren’t good. The result could be an expansion of Marvel’s line in general with a new emphasis on some of the less popular characters that currently get bumped from the schedule to make room for more proven sellers like another Wolverine or Avengers title.

Beyond feature films, of course, there are some other areas where the merger of Marvel and Disney is going to impact things. One bit that has been widely circulated is that Marvel met with Pixar head honcho John Lasseter to discuss how Pixar’s experience with Disney has gone and this discussion turned to the possibility of making some films. I don’t think it’s likely that Pixar will be making any movies based on Marvel characters (despite the fact that they have already done so in The Incredibles), but there is a strong possibility we will be getting a slew of new direct-to-video animated movies instead.

Of course, this could be bad, but on the other hand Marvel is already occasionally putting out direct-to-video cartoons anyway; this will simply ensure that they are of high quality. And if you like those cartoons, there’s a good chance you’ll be a getting a lot more of them in the future. There are some negatives, of course. The main question is what audience these movies would be produced for. There is a large, built-in audience for Disney videos, and not just people who were fans of the original Lion King and want to read the newest sequel. Some families buy Disney videos across the board regardless of the specific content because of the power of the Disney brand. Bringing Marvel into this might open up a huge new stream of revenue as well as a potentially vast new reader base, but it also would necessitate tailoring the movies to that audience rather than to the current comic book readership.

This is the essence of the fear most comic fans have: that they are going to be phased out in favor of a different (and much larger) new readership. I don’t think that’s going to happen entirely, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were true to a degree and the most likely place for this to occur isn’t in the comics themselves but in the direct-to-video market. If that were to take off enough to start influencing the comics, then there might be an issue, but if so it would be several years down the road.

Impact on Theme Parks

Of course, many people’s immediate reaction upon seeing this news was “what’s going to happen with Universal Studios?” As part of their Islands of Adventure theme park, Universal has a Marvel Island, including Spider-man and Hulk rides among others.

Now, chances are that, like the film and licensing deals, Marvel has some sort of long term contract with Universal that allows them to use these characters. Unlike those relationships, however, I suspect that the marriage between Marvel and Universal is going to come to a swift end when (and if) this acquisition from Marvel goes through. It’s true that Disney will probably want to get the characters over to their park as soon as possible, but I think the main impetus is going to come from the Universal side. After all, why would Universal want to be giving free publicity to its main rival?

Because of this, my guess is that the two sides are going to quickly come to some sort of mutual arrangement in the form of a buyout or something and that Marvel Island will soon be a relic of the past. Now, it’s possible that Universal will hold on to Marvel Island to try and stick it to Disney – I wouldn’t put it past either side in the theme park war – but my gut tells me that one way or another, Marvel’s relationship with Universal will come to an end as soon as this deal is finalized.

So, where are those Marvel characters going to end up? My guess is at the theme park that used to be Disney/MGM Studios. MGM and Disney recently ended their relationship, meaning the park and attractions have been and are being altered to remove the MGM aspect of things. With superhero movies being such major business these days, it makes perfect sense for Marvel Entertainment to step into this gap and provide some of the content for the park. A re-imagined Disney/Marvel Studios would allow them to hype their brand while also bringing in Marvel characters to wander the park and new Marvel themed rides, all within the larger existing structure of the popular Disney Studios theme park.

If this does happen, the ripples will also be felt overseas at the other Disney theme parks. For example, there is a Disney Studios theme park right next to Disneyland Paris, and giving this park a new Marvel twist would make sense as superheroes are now one of the main bits of American culture being sent out to international film audiences. It also opens the doorway for Disney’s merchandising arm to get a foothold in new marketplaces in terms of selling and promoting Marvel characters. Disney theme parks are among the most effective tools Disney has to publicize their characters to foreign audiences who may not be familiar with The Little Mermaid but who are very familiar with Disney World and Disneyland; adding Marvel to the theme park mix will introduce a huge new demographic to the idea of Marvel characters, which in turn means more fans, more viewers, more readers and, of course, more money for everyone.

Conclusion

From my point of view as both a Disney and Marvel fan, I think this deal makes sense for both sides. While there are some legitimate concerns about how the merger will affect the creative side of Marvel and some tricky legal questions about how to regain control of certain properties, overall I think the upside significantly outweighs the downside. Having access to Marvel characters helps renew the Disney brand and, like their deal with Pixar, could invigorate the company as new ideas and new creative talent joins the company. Likewise, having the huge marketing and financial might of Disney behind them could allow Marvel to expand their publishing and film concerns while exposing their product to a nearly infinitely larger audience than is currently reading their books. It may not result in the same Marvel we currently have, but it could result in a bigger and ultimately better Marvel and, who knows, maybe even help revive the failing comic industry as a whole.

And just the possibility of that happening is enough for me to give this deal a big thumbs up.

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Tales From the Vault: INCREDIBLE HULK #108

This week we dip into the Vault to take a look at a classic Silver Age Marvel: Incredible Hulk #108. Yes, even though this has the Hulk in it, I'm going to read it anyway. You can thank me for this sacrifice later.


Details: This is the October, 1968 issue of Hulk, with credits going to Smilin’ Stan Lee and Happy Herb Trimpe. As you can guess from the nickname, this is pre-NYT expose Herb Trimpe. The credits also state that Herb “longs for his phantom eagle”. Yeah, that happened to my uncle after the war when he had his eagle amputated.


Synopsis: The story starts right in the middle of some cliffhanger, continued from #107. Hulk is sinking in a pit of quicksand while The Mandarin, of all people, is standing over him declaiming like a champ. A blurb at the bottom says "It's not that we don't remember what happened last ish, but we hate to waste time explaining at a time like this! So let's hit the quicksand, querulous one... we'll backtrack as we barrel along --"

Except they never actually do this, so instead the reader has to just make up their own backstory to explain what the heck is going on. Me, I figured it had something to do with a society that hates and fears what they cannot understand. Whatever the explanation, though, Hulk ends up sinking into the quicksand, completely helpless ("Hulk's strength -- is useless!"). Finally he feels the pit wall and smashes his way out. Mandarin immediately drops a giant glass jar on top of him as though he were peaches for the winter and fills it with nerve gas, which knocks the Hulk out. As he passes out, Hulk says, "Gas! The only thing -- I can't -- fight back against...!"

Well, the only thing other than the quicksand from six panels ago, sure. Anyway, Mandarin brings out a horde of really badly colored orange looking Chinese soldiers and they grab the Hulk and implant a control device in his neck. Mandarin then unveils his plan: using the control device, he will force Hulk to attack different nations of the Earth, who will all assume that the Hulk is working for their enemies. This will cause them to launch a nuclear strike on each other, destroying all civilization, and Mandarin will rule over the rubble.

Man, that is the stupidest plan I have ever heard of. Forget the fact that there's no logical reason any nation would assume an attack from the Hulk is a sign of foreign aggression. Let's focus on the fact that Mandarin is planning to destroy the entire planet. This guy has clearly lost sight of why he became a fanatical conqueror in the first place. This is as bad as the alternate Kang from Avengers #267 and look where that got him. Heads up, dude: any second a Council of Cross-Time Mandarins could show up and blast you with the combined power of 900 rings. I can't be the only one praying for this to happen, right?

Also, the whole Yellow Peril background of Mandarin is really blatant in this issue. Besides the garish orange skin, he is sporting long, sharpened fingernails and says stuff like "Ah so!" I am not making this up. It's kind of embarrassing. So are his ridiculous green pajamas with pink pointy mask, pink boots and a giant M logo on the chest. In fact, come to think of it, this character just flat out sucks.

But, back to the story. Hulk wakes up, and Mandarin sends him off to wreck a train station, which is so very 1870 of him. Meanwhile, apropos of nothing, Nick Fury is meeting with his Soviet counterpart, a guy named Colonel Yuri Brevlov who looks exactly like a communist version of Adam Strange, or, in other words, exactly like Adam Strange.

While the two talk, they get word of Hulk's rampage, which we now see for several pages. Hulk smashes stuff and the world leaders do, in fact, start blaming each other, like a bunch of morons. I think I should mention at this point that I can't stand the Hulk and I pretty much despise his entire series.

Fury and Adam Strange get a message from Tony Stark: "Code 6!" Fury explains that Code 6 stands for the Mandarin. Uh... okay, why not. The two of them immediately change course in the rocket ship they are tooling around in and fly straight to Mandarin's castle. He's so busy gloating about the success of his terrible plan that he doesn't see them coming until their hovercraft smashes right though his viewscreen. Nice early warning system you have there, dude.

Adam Strange immediately busts the control device with a karate kick, and Hulk responds (wherever he is) by realizing he was being controlled by Mandarin. He rushes back to Mandarin's headquarters, where Fury and Strange are fighting. At one point Mandarin uses his rings to create a tiny, tiny thunderstorm over Fury, one that is literally about eleven feet tall in total. Oh wait, that's supposed to be stun gas according to Stan's dialog. Looks to me like he had no idea what Trimpe was drawing and was pretty much just guessing randomly.

Anyway, Mandarin is about to defeat Fury when Hulk smashes in, saves Fury by taking a bullet for him (or, well... it bounces off, of course. And it's not a bullet, it's some goofy ring beam). Hulk then goes ape and starts randomly punching walls like the master strategist he is. While Fury and Strange flee, Hulk actually lifts the entire castle off its foundation and smashes it in one giant piledriver move. Wow, that seems unlikely. I mean, what’s next, the entire Rocky Mountain range? Ha Ha H… wait.

And then the issue ends in the next panel -- no mention of Fury or Mandarin or what happened to anybody or whether the world leaders backed down from their war footing or anything -- with Hulk turning to walk into a sudden sunset (no joke, he actually walks off into the sunset) while saying "Somewhere there must be a place for Hulk! But until I find it, I'll keep fighting -- until I die!" Or, until you find it. Personally I vote death, preferably in #109, but that's unlikely since the next issue teaser says "The Coming of Ka-Zar!" The mere thought of that story makes me incredibly tired and bored.

THE END!


Extras: A couple of lettercolumn notes of interest. A guy writes in to say that Hulk needs a worthy mate, so he suggests that they irradiate Betty Ross with gamma beams and turn her into a female Hulk. Sounds like an okay idea, right? Maybe they could call her She-Hulk or something, I dunno. However, Stan (or whoever was answering letters as Stan at that time) pretty much gives the guy a vicious verbal kick to the nuts:

"With all the THINKING you must do to come up with a cockamamey idea like this one, who has time for reading? Hoo boy, we can see it now! "Thunderbolt" Ross's own baby girl running amuck in Macy's, pursued by the full forces of the 34th Street branch of the National Guard! Or, Fantastic dialogues on the order or Tarzan meets Jane, like: "Me Hulk; you Shulk?"

Jeez, what crawled into Stan's coffee and died? I like how the idea of a female Hulk immediately gets him ranting about women shopping.

Meanwhile, another guy writes in to say that too many of Hulk's villains are just bad versions of Hulk: big, superstrong fighter guys. Which, yeah, they are, aren't they. Anyway, this reader wants them to try to come up with some more varied villains to fight, and has this brilliant suggestion:

"For example, one life-form the Hulk may encounter could be just a cloud of intelligence, or have him do battle with an army of midgets."

You know what -- have him do both at once, and maybe we'll finally have a Hulk comic worth reading.


My Grades: C for being boring and nonsensical; F for having the Hulk in it; A- for awesome sexist and racist stereotypes and for having a full page advertisement for Avengers Special #2. That ad is better than this entire comic.

[Note: Incredible Hulk #108 does have one use; I traded it to Tom Brevoort along with some other stuff in return for Journey Into Mystery #90. So, thank you, Mr. Brevoort!]

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