Incredible Hulk #275 (September 1982)

Back in August 2017, I took a look at Incredible Hulk #276 (October 1982). In it, the Not-So-Jolly Green Giant battled a group of villains known as the U-Foes, basically a bad guy version of the Fantastic Four created by a businessman named Simon Utrecht. The U-Foes would go on to battle various heroes of the Marvel Universe, like the West Coast Avengers, Captain America, Daredevil, and of course, they'd fight the Hulk a few times over the years. Funny enough, they never fought the Fantastic Four. That is so weird to me. Anyway, the hectic life of the Hulk shows that he's had to deal with his fair share of problems even before the events of issue #276. You'll see what I mean when I look at The Incredible Hulk #275!

The cover is an Al Milgrom piece. It depicts the titular Megalith holding the Hulk in its monstrous hands and trying to crush him. There isn't any background, but I get what Milgrom was going for. It forces your eyes to focus on Megalith and the Hulk. I wish we also got to see Betty Ross and Bereet (two of Hulk's supporting cast at the time) looking up in horror or something. It would help show how big the Megalith is and help sell the potential danger to the Hulk. 

"Megalith!"
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Penciler: Sal Buscema
Inker: Joe Sinnott
Letterer: Jim Novak
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editors: Al Milgrom, Ann Nocenti
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
Megalith & Jackdaw creator: Richard Konkle

The story begins with the Hulk taking some big leaps, his way of getting around quickly. Unusually for the Green Goliath, he's doing so with a big old grin on his face, and presumably a song in his heart. You see, this Hulk is being driven by the mind of his human alter-ego: Bruce Banner. And understandably, this Hulk is overjoyed. He's got the best of both worlds now. The power of the Hulk, guided by the reasoning mind of a man. 

He's headed to a lab he had in a cave located in the southwestern desert, where he labored to find a cure. He wants to tell Betty Ross and Rick Jones about this. He notices that they're gone, but the gamma ray projector is on.

Bruce then realized that Rick had transformed himself into another Hulk.

Well, he tried to. Turns out instead of creating a second Hulk...

Rick Jones really could use some padding on that spider...

He ended up giving himself a massive case of radiation poisoning. Heck of a time for realism to kick in. Rick is lying on an alien device, a techno-art creation of their alien friend Bereet. She has him lying on what's called a "life-support spider". This arachnid-themed automaton is able to keep Rick alive and stable. But that's all it can do. It cannot cure him.

It's why the alien artist and the Hulk's two most famous human friends are here at Gamma Base. Originally the headquarters of the Hulkbusters, it was a base dedicated to capture and study of the Incredible Hulk. However, at this point, it was abandoned. Naturally, Betty hopes there may be something here that can help Rick. But another problem has come up. While Betty and Bereet are presumably smart cookies, the technology at the base is beyond either of them.

Betty thinks Bruce could easily figure these gadgets and gizmos out, considering his own smarts when it comes to gamma rays. Bereet says that she was also quite impressed with Banner's knowledge, and she always had been, ever since they first met years ago. Betty angrily points out that the Krylorian never even met Bruce until recently. She only observed them and made a movie based on his adventures.

Bereet points out that film was highly acclaimed on her world, even winning seven "Drulies" (her world's equivalent of the Oscars), and the profits from it allowed her to further work on her art. It is true that Bereet observed Hulk and Rick Jones from afar, but she ended up learning a lot about the two, and it caused her to "bond" with them in a way. And considering that she is also trying to help Rick, and she genuinely wants to be a friend of Betty's...well, Betty lets it go. She's dealing with a lot after all. Unseen by them, they are being observed.

"Oh, I just love flying around abandoned buildings..."

Meet Heather O'Gara, aka Jackdaw (later known as Blackbird. Also, her real name would not be established here. It would be revealed in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe). A mysterious bird-themed mercenary, she was sent to the Gamma Base by a mysterious employer to find something. She thought the base was abandoned, but Bereet and Betty being here actually was a good thing.

Because thanks to Bereet's gadgets "eating" Gamma Base's security systems, Jackdaw had a much easier time getting in. All she has to do is accomplish her mission, stay out of the ladies' sight, and get out of there.

Good thing she was briefed on the Base by someone who knew it every well...

During her visit, Jackdaw looks around for what she was intended to get. While there, she spots a certain large robot.

"Whoa, that is the biggest LEGO set ever!"

Meet the titular Megalith, ladies and gentlemen. That thing is totally not going to cause problems for anyone, nope.

It's here that Bruce returns to Gamma Base. After all, much like Betty and Bereet, he figured it'd be the best place to take Rick considering his current condition. And much like all of us, Betty and Bereet are surprised to see the Hulk talking like Banner. Keep in mind, at this point, it's likely that the Hulk speaking like Banner was rather new. Sure, Hulk early on didn't talk with the broken English that he is associated with (most notably his time as the Gray Hulk, later Joe Fixit), but Hulk under Banner's control? It was a surprise at the time.

Hulk adjusts a gamma ray projector and prepares to use it to reverse Rick's gamma poisoning (reverse the polarity and all that), when he hears a rumbling.

Hulk goes to check it out, and finds the titular Megalith staring down at him. 

"Did you bring the pizza I ordered?"

The robot is being controlled by Jackdaw. She wasn't supposed to do this, but she found this robot ripe for the taking. Hulk engages the robot, which naturally makes her freak out. She ends up accidentally knocking him into a wall. This gets her feeling pretty confident. After all, if she could whup the Hulk with this big old robot, why not just give her employer the robot instead? Or even keep it for herself and/or sell it to someone else?

Her line of thoughts gets interrupted by the Hulk getting up. She isn't afraid of him anymore. After all, she knocked him down by accident. But if she attacked him on purpose?

She tries to stomp on the Hulk, but being the Hulk, it doesn't work. He instead knocks the Megalith down. Banner realizes that the old Hulk would have easily and quickly torn through the robot with his rage making him stronger. Bruce is slower to anger, more rational and has a tendency to think a lot. This makes Hulk weaker, as the angrier Hulk gets, the stronger he gets. But let's keep this in mind. A weaker Hulk...is still dangerous as even at his base power-level, he's still one of the strongest beings on Earth. He easily thrashes the Megalith, Jackdaw feeling pain from the control system allowing to feel what the robot does. I get the feeling Banner didn't design that.

Luckily, Megalith's destruction terminated the connection, allowing Jackdaw to flee, no one ever aware she was even there. 

Bruce wonders where that robot came from, but he can examine it later. Right now, the priority is helping Rick Jones. Elsewhere, a man sits in another industrial complex, once was the property of Utrecht Industries. This man was once known as Michael Steele, but now he is known...as Ironclad. He made his way here to wait for his comrades in the U-Foes: Simon Utrecht/Vector, Ann Darnell/Vapor, and Jimmy Darnell/X-Ray. Fortunately for the metallic man, the others have arrived.

"I don't pay you to sit on your metal butt! Get back to work, Steele!"

They have one goal in mind now: to take down the Hulk. Once and for all!

I enjoyed this comic. One detail I thought was clever during the battle with Megalith was that the Hulk was slowed down by Bruce Banner's mind. Which makes a lot of sense. Keep in mind, the classic green, or "Savage" Hulk, gets stronger the angrier he gets. Banner is not exactly known for being the most emotional of men. So it does makes sense he'd have trouble getting strong enough to easily smash the Megalith. Of course, Hulk isn't exactly a 90-pound-weakling in his base level, so he ultimately won the day. 

If I do have a bit of criticism of this story, it's a couple things. I would have liked to have learned a bit more about Jackdaw/Blackbird. We do get a bit of character for her in the comic, the idea that she can let her greed get to her head. Shame we won't see more of her for a couple decades, as she has a neat design. Also, this one is more about Mantlo's run on Hulk in general: his portrayal of Betty Ross. I can't quite explain it, but I can't help but feel he gives her a bit of a "damsel-in-distress" vibe to her. She just seems to worry and lament about Bruce all the time.  

John Buscema and Joe Sinnott are quite an underrated team when it comes to art. They have a good sense of storytelling and their work are very expressive. 

If you want to read this comic for yourself, I recommend you track down the 2012 trade paperback The Incredible Hulk: Pardoned. It also was collected in the 2026 trade paperback The Incredible Hulk Epic Collection Vol. 11: Devolution. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! If you like what I write and want to give this blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-Fi! See you next time!