Incredible Hulk: Pardoned

Reprints Incredible Hulk #269-285
Written by Bill Mantlo.
Drawn by Sal Buscema, Mark Gruenwald.
Inked by Sal Buscema, Joe Sinnott, Greg Laroque, Andy Mushynsky, Chic Stone.

Due to an overdose of gamma radiation in outer space (where Hulk battled his old foe the Abomination), Bruce Banner has gained control over his Hulk identity! He is now capable of changing into the Hulk at will and he retains all of Banner's intelligence. But it takes a little time for Banner to get used to this.
In his first battle, this new "Banner-Hulk" is captured by the U-Foes, an evil version of the Fantastic Four. Hulk eventually defeats the U-Foes in a battle that is transmitted live on worldwide television.

When the world learns that the Hulk is no longer a "rage monster", Hulk becomes a full-fledged superhero. He is given a Presidential Pardon for all his past rampages. None of this sits well with Hulk's toughest critic, General Thadeus "Thunderbolt" Ross. He doesn't trust Hulk and tells the President, "The Hulk was, is, and always will be a menace to public safety!".  Ross is forced to change his tune when the Hulk helps protect the White House from a flying saucer invasion. This is followed by a ticker tape parade through New York City in the Hulk's honor.

Hulk saves Sasquatch from Wendigo.

This new, intelligent Hulk must do battle with adversaries old and new.  But thankfully, there are also plenty of guest stars on hand to help out.
Sasquatch teams up with Hulk against Wendigo!
She-Hulk (AKA Bruce Banner's cousin Jennifer Walters) joins forces with Hulk to stop Arsenal!
Hulk teams up with the Avengers to fight one of his arch foes, the gamma-spawned genius known as the Leader, who sends them on a dangerous trip through various time periods.


Banner's longtime girlfriend Betty Ross is also featured here. She has been working with Bruce on a cure that will free Bruce from the Hulk persona once and for all. Betty isn't happy when it appears that  Banner now enjoys being the "intelligent" Hulk. Will this spell the end of their relationship?

Hulk's best friend and sidekick Rick Jones gets into trouble when he intentionally zaps himself with gamma radiation in an attempt to become another Hulk in order to help Banner. Only Banner himself can save Rick from gamma poisoning.

Bereet's "Energy Eaters" help Banner break free!

Banner gets a new traveling companion in Bereet, a filmmaker from the planet Krylor. She's been making very popular movies about the Hulk and observing him from afar for years and now she visits Earth to meet him. Bereet is shocked to meet an "intelligent" Hulk, but believes she (and her alien technology) may be able to help Banner adjust to his new life as a celebrity hero. 

Review:
One of my favorite eras of Hulk stories.  It was an exciting change of pace for the Hulk and it was fun to read these some of these issues when they were published in the early 80s.      

Story:
Bill Mantlo deserves a lot of credit for changing the direction of The Incredible Hulk. The "Savage Hulk" may have given us one of the all-time greatest catch phrases ("Hulk will smash!"), but by 1982 it had run its course. There's one story here that consists of nothing but heroes giving speeches that welcome Hulk into the superhero "community". No fight scenes take place, but it's never boring.  Hulk's supporting cast is also well handled here. Betty Ross and Rick Jones both question their roles in Banner/Hulk's life. Mantlo even brings back Hulk's old friend Jim Wilson for a one-panel cameo!

What about the villains? The Abomination, Leader (and his horde of Humanoids) and Wendigo, all part of Ol' Greenskin's classic rouges gallery, return to battle Hulk in this tpb. And we also see the second appearance of the U-Foes, who were created by Mantlo and Buscema. They were one of my favorite villain teams of the 80s. I wonder why the U-Foes never battled the Fantastic Four!

Hulk & other heroes defend Washington,DC from flying saucers!

Art:
As I said back in my first post here, Sal Buscema was one of the most prolific artists of the Bronze Age, so it's about time that some of his Hulk issues get the collection they deserve. His Hulk art is as good as I remember, and it looks even better today on the glossy paper used in this tpb. Several different inkers worked on this. They all do a decent job, but Joe Sinnott's inks are the best. In an interview published earlier this week, Buscema said, "Joe Sinnott is a master. He made me look good all the time. I was always very appreciative of that". The Buscema/Sinnott art here is living testament to that statement.   Mark Gruenwald pencils one issue (nicely inked by Greg Laroque) that's collected here too.   Gruenwald's art looks a bit slicker than Buscema's but it doesn't feel out of place.

How does it look?:
It looks good, the images above are scanned from the book and so is this page featuring Hulk and the Avengers:

Hulk & the Avengers fight the Humanoids in space.

The Mantlo/Buscema years represent a classic era of the Hulk. A tpb collection of their work on the title was long overdue. The Incredible Hulk: Pardoned is highly recommended.  

My rating:

4 Sals!

Avengers: The Serpent Crown

Reprints Avengers #141-144 and #147-149.

Written by Steve Englehart.

Penciled by George Perez.

Inked by Vince Colletta, Mike Esposito, Sam Granger.

The Avengers are confronting the forces of evil in the present and the past, and on two different versions of Earth!

The Beast, formerly of the X-men, has joined the Avengers on a trial basis. His old friend Patsy Walker shows up and asks to tag along with the Avengers on their next mission.

Brand Corporation and Roxxon Oil are collaborating on some sort of  corporate corruption, so the Avengers investigate them. It turns out Roxxon's boss Hugh Jones is under the control of the mysterious, mystical Serpent Crown. Brand/Roxxon hires the Squadron Supreme (a team of superheroes from Counter Earth) to defeat the Avengers. Complicating the matters, Patsy's ex-husband Buzz Baxter is working for Brand Corporation on this project! In the middle of this, the Avengers and the Squadron are teleported to Counter Earth.

The Serpent Crown has taken over Counter Earth! Even the President of the United States Nelson Rockefeller is under the Crown's command.  Vision and Scarlet Witch manage to steal the Crown, but Rockefeller sends the Squadron Supreme to track it down, and an epic battle ensues between the two Super-Teams!

At the same time, the Avengers arch-foe Kang The Conqueror has trapped Hawkeye in the 1870s, during the "Wild West" era.  Thor and Moondragon go back in time to save Hawkeye, but they will also have to save the world of that time from Kang. The Avengers team up with Marvel's wild west heroes Two-Gun Kid, Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid and Night Rider!

And just when things are looking up for the Avengers, they're attacked by Orka, the human Killer Whale!

Plus, the debut of a new Marvel superheroine, the Hellacious Hellcat!

Vision & Scarlet Witch Tangle with Hyperion,Lady Lark & Golden Archer

Review:

This tpb features one of the first Bronze Age Avengers stories I ever read (#147). So I'll admit that I'm fighting nostalgia in order to give an objective review here. In case anyone doesn't know, the Squadron Supreme were created as stand-ins for the Justice League of DC comics. For instance, Hyperion = Superman, Lady Lark = Black Canary, Golden Archer = Green Arrow, etc. For a complete list of Squadders & their JLA counterparts, click here. When the Justice League visited Earth 2 and teamed with the Justice Society, we often got covers like this:

Cover of Justice League of America #38, from comics.org

In the Serpent Crown story, George Perez and Sam Grainger paid homage with this splash page:

It's also worth noting that Patsy Walker first appeared in a Miss America Magazine #2, way back in 1944, which makes her one of the oldest characters in the Marvel Universe. She appeared in Marvel's humor titles (very similar to Archie Comics tales) like Patsy Walker and Patsy And Hedy that were published from the 1940s well into the 60s. Marvel later retconned these stories out their continuity, saying that Patsy's adventures in the stories were fictionalized accounts written by her mother. 

Story:
Steve Englehart nicely juggles the multiple storylines. This tpb featurs non-stop action and great characterizations. There is a WHOLE LOT going on in this tpb, but it never feels convoluted.
Englehart had previously written the Beast and Patsy Walker in Amazing Adventures, he does a nice job wrapping up their stories here. I also really enjoyed the Vision in this story, I don't think he was ever more of a bada$$ than he is here. If you're not a fan of the Vision, this tpb will make you one.  

Englehart also added some depth to the Squadron Supreme characters. Hyperion makes an aside about his "arch-foe Burbank" and mentions his home city Cosmopolis (a stand-in for Superman's Metropolis). And we get some nice interaction between Golden Archer and Lady Lark.  
Avengers: The Serpent Crown shows why Englehart is rightly remembered as one of the premier scribes of the Bronze Age.

Art:
I have mixed feelings about the art. George Perez is an all-time great and one of my favorite artists, and this tpb features some of his earliest work. But the inking of Vince Colletta, Mike Esposito and Sam Grainger doesn't always compliment Perez's pencils. Still, the art isn't bad and sometimes the Perez art we know and love shows through the ink jobs.

How Does it look?:
It looks fantastic. Check the scanned pages above, and look at this splash page:

Extras:
In the back of the tpb, you'll find the entries for Patsy Walker and Two-Gun Kid from The Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe.
It also contains summaries of Avenges #145 & 146. These were fill-in stories published in the middle of the Serpent Crown storyline. They don't relate to the rest of the book, but they don't detract from it either.

Avengers: The Serpent Crown is a great tpb that features Steve Englehart at his Bronze Age best. The aforementioned inking prevents me from giving it the highest rating, but it's still recommended. I should mention this tpb has just been reissued to coincide with the release of the Avengers movie, pick it up at your local comic shop!

My rating:
.5 Sals!