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.