Hulk! Wendigo! Sasquatch!

[mrosa]

Here's another classic gem from Bill Mantlo's run in The Incredible Hulk, which saw Bruce Banner for the first time taking control of the Hulk's body and power. It was the start of a new age for the green goliath and has influenced every custodian of the character ever since.

The Hulk has just been shot back to Earth after an adventure in space with Rocket Raccoon (yep). And of all the places he had to crash in a freezing forest in the middle of the night. Banner searches for help and finds a cabin, but:




Why, indeed? Turning into the Hulk would come handy when you're facing the Wendigo!



Fortunately for Banner, the Sasquatch, the Alpha Flight member, was on the trail of the monster. But he's no match for him and unless Banner turns into the Hulk, they're both dead. So Banner desperately wills himself into the Hulk and for the first time the transformation happens on his command:




The Sasquatch gives us a recap of the origin of the Wendigo and then both heroes join forces to beat him. Much to Sasquatch's concern, Banner is relishing having the power of the Hulk at his command:




In this final page, Banner sounds a lot like Peter David's 'Joe Fixit' Hulk. Like I said, this run was highly influential.

With the power of the Hulk, Banner tried to redeem himself for all the years of destruction he caused. And for some time he received the world's acceptance. Then Nightmare started screwing with his head and turned him into a mindless rage monster agains, and Dr. Strange exiled him into the the Crossroads.

(From The Incredible Hulk #272, 1982)

Comments

[venatosapiens]

I've always really liked The Wendigo, just as a visual. I kind of wish it would show up more often, since it's much more explicitly a horror character then so many other Hulk villains.

But then, I'm the guy who loves Sauron and think he's one of the best X-men villains. So go figure.

[benuben]

You don't mean THAT Sauron right? That would be way too awesome for this world.

[crinos]

Um, question. Why did the Wendigo bother to hang skeletons upside down inside a cabin?

He's a mindless berserk monster. Why would he hang up the skeletons?

[skemono]

After spending all that time piecing them together with wires so they'd keep their shape, of course he's going to display them!

[cainofdreaming]

Could be the person who turned into it did that before the turning. You have to be a cannibal to get the curse, after all.

[mrosa]

Don't some animals store their prey in lairs?

[wizardru]

Not always mindless and not always berserk, simply always HUNGRY.

The first Wendigo could speak in complete sentences. The third Wendigo is the one we see here, iirc. There's been a lot of wendigos in the MU.

[crinos]

Yeah, I know there are multiple Wendigo, Granted I did not know some of them are sapient, but clearly this one wasn't, unless there are pages missing that depict him saying something other than "WEN-DI-GO!"

[wizardru]

It's been established that they're not totally mindless animals. Sometimes they retain parts of their humanity or watch it fade away and they echo some of their humanity. At least, that's how the Wendigo used to work. Then at some point, one writer apparently confused the Wendigo with a werewolf and established there were packs of them, which is just kind of dumb.

The original curse is based on the mythological wendigo: a guy who eats human flesh and becomes cursed as a monster. IIRC, the first Wendigo eats a friend while trapped in a snowstorm and then loses to the Wendigo curse...later his buddy takes the curse from him and becomes just as bad. The mystical characters of the MU keep removing the curses and people keep getting them...but it wasn't until Red Hulk stupidity surfaced that we had packs of them.

[northstarfan]

Nice to see that Bruce wasn't nursing a grudge...

[mrosa]

Walter does mention their meeting, and how he was no match for the Hulk. A humble man...

[arilou_skiff]

Sqsquath has such lovely flowing hair...