Incredible Hulk #279

[iamrman]

I’m only really posting this because it is a rare occurrence of Mark Gruenwald doing the pencils.

Wow, Le Peregrine and the Torpedo? Those are some deep cuts!

Texas Twister? Wot, no Captain Ultra?

You have to squint, but Heimdall, Balder, Hogun and Fandral are there.

Can’t forget the stereotypes!

It shouldn’t really be surprising to see Gruenwald on pencils, given how many characters appear. It is a veritable Official Marvel Handbook!

George Perez must have been mad he lost out on drawing all those heroes. Alas, he was stuck working for DC on New Teen Titans.

Comments

[sabertoothlotus]

PRetty much all of these "deep cut" characters appeared in Contest of Champions. It feels like this is MArvel looking for reasons to remind us that these characters exist.

[scorntx]

How can anyone not remember characters as memorable as Shamrock?
Or Arabian Knight?
(*checks wiki*
Oh, goodness, that's... a lot right there...)

[beyondthefringe]

I love it when big hero crowd scenes unintentionally showcase the active characters of an era. Like… this was the hero scene of 1984… Jack of Hearts, Texas Twister, and all.

And when the big events later on will always have the New Warriors, or the Ray and Black Condor, and you’re reminded that this crossover was in the 90s…

[full_metal_ox]

PRetty much all of these "deep cut" characters appeared in Contest of Champions. It feels like this is MArvel looking for reasons to remind us that these characters exist.

Trademark refreshment. That’s reason enough; what they’re looking for is in-story pretext.

[beyondthefringe]

In this case, Contest of Champions, which introduced so many of these characters, came out in mid-1982. This issue of the Hulk was end of 1982. This is definitely a case of "Oh hi, we just introduced these characters, so here they are outside of that one mini-series."

Torpedo was appearing infrequently in Rom around this time. Jack of Hearts had been around a while and was definitely a scene-filled at the time--his own mini didn't come out until 1984.

In addition to the Avengers, FF, X-Men, witness the Soviet Super-Soldiers, Marvel Boy/Quasar, Firebird (a year after her intro in the Hulk storyline which formed the Rangers), Texas Twister, Gargoyle -- this was essentially every active superhero Marvel had at the time, and is quite an artifact to represent the time. I love it.

(And yet there are still a few who didn't make it here, even though they were also present for the Contest of Champions, like the Aboriginal version of Talisman, and the Collective Man...)

[full_metal_ox]

A superhero yearbook, then; thank you for the context.

[bravest_spinja]

There's actually even more to it: A lot of the Non-American/regional heroes were created by Gruenwald and Mantlo, either for Contest or having appeared early in his Hulk run. (Contest was originally pitched as an Olympics tie-in, but the U.S. boycotted them, so Marvel ended up delaying and retooling it.) Jack of Hearts is also a Mantlo co-creation, and Mantlo was also writing Rom at the time. So it's people who personally had stake in keeping the characters in the minds of reader, either for financial or continuity-minding reasons. (Also, Gruenwald was the probably the sort of person who felt it was important to establish what the international superhero community was like.)

[beyondthefringe]

Yup. Gotta love it. Gruenwald definitely treated the Marvel Universe like a big old toybox, in the best way.

I always did enjoy Mantlo and Gruenwald's work. Sure, they both had their stinkers, but as solid storytellers go, they really put out some great material.

Gruenwald was a master of the obscure, while Mantlo could really work wonders with some pretty weak concepts (like Rom, and Micronauts, both licensed toylines without a lick of story behind 'em...)

[scorntx]

Overdoing it? Naaaaaaaaaah.
C'mon, people. It was one alien invasion. And it wasn't even an event invasion, just a bog standard invasion of the week.
Hulk's been thwarting those since he first turned green!

(After a few pages of this, the inevitable part where things go wrong will probably come as a relief.)


Also... I know it's pretty standard for Marvel to have Nelson & Murdock be apparently the only law firm around willing to do cases for superpowered folks (pro bono or not) but... seriously?
I'm sure Matt and Foggy are great lawyers, but are they really the only people around willing and / or able to do that?


Side-note: Anyone else thinking Defensor just looks a bit He-Man-y? No? A'right...
(*checks up character's history on the wiki*
... yup, was expecting that.)

[cainofdreaming]

Blitzkrieg went the same way. And with a name like that you could say it wasn't soon enough.

[shakalooloo]

Blitzkrieg looks like he made his costume rooting through Danny Rand's closet. Even his symbol looks a little like the dragon!

[bravest_spinja]

I was surprised to find out there's a handful of comics Jim Shooter pencilled. Nothing to write home about, but definitely competent and with a fundamental understanding of storytelling.