The Evil That Is Cast...

THE INCREDIBLE HULK ANNUAL — Issue no. 7, June 1978

Book: The Incredible Hulk Annual

Issue No.: 7

Published: Sometime in June 1978 (details below)

Title: “The Evil That Is Cast...”

Cover Price: 60¢

I’ve been using the exhaustive Fandom.com Marvel wiki as my guide for Marvel Time Warp. For example, as I am currently reading through the books Marvel published in the nineteenth week of 1978 (AKA the second week of May 1978), I am referencing this wiki page. And according to this page, the 1978 Incredible Hulk Annual (AKA Hulk Annual issue no. 7) was released on May 9, 1978. But I think that’s inaccurate. Because annuals are only published once a year, there isn’t any obvious reference to the month of publication listed on the book’s cover or indicia.

However, another thing that can give you a hint as to when a Marvel book (at least a late-’70s Marvel book) was published is the “Bullpen Bulletins” page. This is basically a hype page that appears in most Marvel books (from this era) for a given month to let readers know about the other books on sale that month. Before I dug too far into this Hulk annual, I skimmed through it and noticed the “Bulletins” page was different than the one in the issue of Master of Kung Fu I’d just read. So I skimmed a few more books and discovered that, based on the “Bullpen Bulletins” page, this annual actually came out sometime in June of 1978, not May.

So why am I writing about Incredible Hulk Annual issue no. 7 now, with the May 1978 books, if it’s really a June 1978 book? From what I can determine, this is the first of more than one hundred 1970s Marvel books that I’ve read that the Fandom.com wiki has mis-categorized. So the wiki is more than 99 percent accurate. And it was only dumb luck that I caught it in this case — sadly, a lot of digital reprints and fan-made scans leave out the “Bullpen Bulletins” pages (and the ads, indicia, and fan-mail pages, which are also useful for historical context), so I could have just as easily missed this one. So the Fandom.com wiki will determine my reading order for Marvel’s books of 1978, even on the rare occasion I determine the wiki listing for a particular book is likely erroneous.

All right! Now that I’ve explained all of that exciting detective work, I’ll write a little about the actual comic book.

Unlike the last Marvel annual I covered, this Incredible Hulk annual is not a reprint — it’s an original story. And, continuity-wise, it takes place after Incredible Hulk no. 226. Which I haven’t read yet (see above). But still, it’s a new story and basically “current” for when it was originally published.

As you might recall, in Incredible Hulk no. 225, the Hulk was no more — Hulk’s alter ego Bruce Banner had been “cured,” and he no longer became the Green Goliath when angered. But Banner was mortally injured in that book, so super strong super-scientist Doc Samson turned Banner into Hulk again to save Banner’s life. So it’s a little funny that at the start of this story a CBS news reporter is interviewing Samson at Gamma Base about Samson’s attempts to cure Banner. I’m like, dude, you just un-cured him! In fairness, there’s a life lesson in here — it seems like a lot of the work involved in being an adult is re-solving the same problems again and again.

Meanwhile, former (at this point in Marvel history) X-Man Iceman (AKA Bobby Drake) is visiting former X-Man Angel (AKA Warren Worthington) at Angel’s summer home in the New Mexico rockies, and the two are attacked by Master Mold. Master Mold is one of the the giant, mutant-hunting robots known as Sentinels. And Iceman and Angel, like all X-Men, are mutants.

The pencils in this book are courtesy of the great John Byrne, who was also working on his legendary run of Uncanny X-Men books during this period. He shows us just how gigantic Master Mold is with a nice mid-issue splash page of the robot towering above Iceman and Angel. I’m not sure exactly how tall Master Mold is, but based on Byrne’s drawings, I’m guessing maybe a hundred feet.

Master Mold quickly captures Iceman. Angel, knowing he is seriously outmatched by the giant robot, flies to Gamma Base, hoping to enlist the Hulk’s aid in defeating the Sentinel.

As you might guess, considering Hulk’s name is on the cover of this book, Angel does indeed make it to Gamma Base, and Hulk does indeed team up with Angel and Iceman. From there the giant robot drags the three heroes to his secret base that is built into an asteroid in outer space (revealed in a second epic Byrne mid-issue splash page — and I thought the secret base in Master of Kung Fu no. 67 was cool), and the good guys have to figure out how to both defeat Master Mold and escape back to earth. Spoiler: the solution to these problems involves Hulk smashing stuff.

The Incredible Hulk is one of my favorite 1978 Marvel books so far, and this double-length annual issue is another example of why. Fun guest heroes, giant robots, secret lairs built into asteroids — it’s just awesome. Oh, and bonus, there’s a Star Wars reference. While Angel and Iceman are looking for ways to return to earth, Iceman finds an escape pod and says it will be a fun way to travel home, “just like Star Wars!”

Next time — I’ll close out the week with the amazing Spider-Man!