From 1977, The Incredible Hulk #216, "Countdown to Catastrophe!" Written and edited by Len Wein, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Ernie Chan. This issue, the Hulk takes a variety of lumps from an old favorite pretty new here, the Bi-Beast! He-or they, since the Bi-Beast's two faces refer to each other as "skull-brother"--had taken over the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, and was planning to nuke Earth with it; beaten S.H.I.E.L.D. had no choice but to bring in the Hulk for help!
The Hulk gets beat down by the Bi-Beast himself, several of S.H.I.E.L.D. experimental weapons, and a "battle-vest" Tony Stark left with S.H.I.E.L.D. for testing that is inexplicably Bi-Beast sized: they were taller then, but got shrunk down a bit in a later appearance in Thor #316. Hulk's also a little distracted by running into General "Thunderbolt" Ross, and having the opportunity to get even with the guy that's been hassling him for over a decade now. Still, the Hulk's persuaded to save the planet, since his friends Betty Ross and Jim Wilson do live there.
With the Helicarrier dropping out of the sky, Ross gives the order to restart the turbines; but the sudden jolt throws the battling Hulk and Bi-Beast off. As they fall out of sight, Ross sheds a tear over betraying his long-time foe, which I have to call crocodile tears. Or crying that he didn't get to murder the Hulk to his face.
Definitely, definitely the last one.
ReplyDeleteHow great do those inks by Ernie Chan look? I don't know if he inked a lot, but damn he just makes Sal's art look different, but different in a really, really good way.
By my count, Chan penciled approximately fourteen thousand issues of Conan, Savage Sword of Conan, etc. I always thought it was weird how other inks looked on his work!
ReplyDeleteThe Helicarrier DOESN'T crash?
ReplyDeleteWell, that's rather disappointing.
I knew he drew, especially title like Arak, those weird non-superhero titles, but wow, that many? Damn.
ReplyDelete