HULK #143 (1971)
by Roy Thomas & Dick Ayers
This was technically published between Astonishing Tales #5 and Astonishing Tales #6.
We begin with Bruce Banner in a familiar situation in an unusual place: he’s being hunted by the authorities, but this time he’s in New York. Unlike the VAST majority of Marvel characters, he’s not there very often.
Also unusual: someone picks up Banner and drives him off. It’s exceedingly rare to see a car chase in a Hulk comic!
As you might imagine by the fact that it’s in this retrospective, the other passenger is Doctor Doom.
And he immediately starts to work Banner.
Banner isn’t being hunted only by the police: General Ross is after the Hulk, and even HE has enough common sense not to storm into Latverian soil.
Also with Ross is Doc Samson, the Hulk’s psychiatrist who gained super-strength and green hair thanks to exposure to gamma rays.
Mercifully, the idiotic idea that his strength varies depending on the length of his hair (!!!) will be dropped from future issues.
Doom unleashes the Hulk against the Army, insisting on calling himself “the Master of Menace”.
That was Doom’s sobriquet from his Astonishing Tales serial, but thankfully it never caught on.
It’s no surprise that the Hulk can trash the Army with extreme ease, but I find it more worrying that the Army was able to bring FREAKING TANKS in the streets of New York.
However the Army has the upper hand this time, managing to blow up the Hulk!
General Ross reflects on this. He’s generally rather one-dimensional in this era, but this is a nuanced look into his thoughts.
The other officer hunting the Hulk, Major Talbot, continues to be The Worst as it’s the norm for him.
These brief scenes with the characters reflecting on what the death of the Hulk means for them are definitely the highlight of the issue.
While they ALL believe that the Hulk was killed so easily, I had the same reaction of Doom’s.
Turns out that the Hulk that smashed the Army and “died” was actually a robot!
Doom then sedates Banner before he can transform into the Hulk, and flies him to Latveria.
The story takes its time to set the mood. Doom’s plane landing in Latveria should by all accounts be a throwaway scene, but it’s given enough time to breathe.
Doom is hailed by the people once he returns, although he makes it a point to put “spontaneous outpourings” between sarcastic commas.
Unusually for Doom, he plays up the fact that Latveria is surrounded by hostile countries.
Interestingly, Doom points out that it’s been more than 5 years since he’s conquered Latveria.
The chronology of how much time passes between Doom’s conquest of Latveria and Fantastic Four #5 has never been clear.
The story is from 1971 and we learned about Latveria in 1964, with Fantastic Four Annual #2, so “more than half a decade” would track with publishing dates.
Doom’s plan is to brainwash both Banner AND the Hulk to be his ally/slave.
Note Doom recognizing Banner’s genius; despite quickly pointing out (to himself!) that Doom is smarter, he acknowledges that Banner is above him “in certain fields”.
And so we end with Doctor Doom preparing to unleash the Hulk as his ultimate weapon.
Hulk significance: 1/10
The idea that the Hulk is really dead won’t stick for long.
Doom significance: 0/10
The second part will have SOME significance, but this one can easily be skipped.
Silver Age-ness: 4/10
The idea that Doc Samson’s strenght depents on the length of his hair is one of the dumbest things in the Marvel Silver Age, and by this time nobody should really believe that the Hulk can be completely obliterated by ONE tank shot. On the Marvel scale, that’s a lot.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
Despite some silliness, this holds up rather well! The scenes showing the reaction to the Hulk’s death do a lot to elevate it, but the pacing is relatively modern as well. Even the Roy Thomas dialogues, which I normally can’t stand, are pretty subdued this time.
It was a Doombot all along
No indication one way or the other.
Take over the world & Destroy the FF!
Doom’s plans for the Hulk are specifically to conquer Europe, but that’s enough to consider this a “take over the world” plan. No mention of the Fantastic Four once again.
Crazy tech
Doom uses the same mind control device he used in Fantastic Four #85, but his Hulk robot has a more outstanding outing.
The doomy land of Doom
Latveria was previously defined to be “in the Bavarian alps”, but now it’s “in the Balkans”. It will still move around quite a bit, but it will eventually stay in the Balkans.
Number of superheroes who have fought Dr. Doom: 18
This is the first time Hulk meets Doom, but since Avengers 1.5 is set earlier he’s already included in the count.