Since I've entered the Fantastic Four's Ben Grimm (a.k.a. "The Thing") twice before in the knuckle-busting battle pits of Bahlactus, I thought the third time could show him on the business end of the clobbering for a change. Who better to take care of that business than the Incredible Hulk?
Although Thing vs. Hulk fights number in the dozens, one of the very best appeared in Marvel Feature #11 (1973), the first of two preludes to the Thing's long-running Marvel Two-In-One team-up title.
In a race against time, the Thing had to destroy an Ultrex Bomb capable of destroying the planet Earth. Why? Because two rival supervillains (Kurrgo & The Leader) decided to battle each other using super-powered proxies, namely the Thing and the Hulk. Teleported to a deserted ghost town, the Thing desperately tried to reach the bomb while the reliably cantankerous Hulk unknowingly stood in his way!
After several minutes of scenery-oblierating mayhem, the Thing made a last-ditch appeal to the Jade Giant's rationality. Um, yeah...let's see how that worked out for him (click on the panels for full seismic impact)...
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Ouch.
Posted by: Brian Disco Snell | November 02, 2007 at 07:14 PM
Truer words were never said.
Posted by: Mark Engblom | November 02, 2007 at 09:22 PM
Nice work by Jim Starlin and Joe Sinnott in this story. The first time I was exposed to it was in the first Hulk Treasury Edition. It looks great in that oversized format.
Posted by: Richard | November 02, 2007 at 10:06 PM
Thanks for calling attention to the art, Richard. I had meant to mention Starlin and Sinnott in my post, but obviously spaced it out.
I really enjoyed the art, especially since I don't recall ever seeing Sinnott ink Starlin's stuff. Their styles meshed well together.
Posted by: Mark Engblom | November 02, 2007 at 10:35 PM
Just reading that is painful. Poor Ben.
I'm going to assume he got to the bomb though, since there's still a Marvel U. and all.
Posted by: Rich | November 02, 2007 at 10:43 PM
Yup....everything ended well. The Hulk eventually came around and helped Ben beat the bad guys (the bomb was just an empty shell, by the way).
Posted by: Mark Engblom | November 03, 2007 at 09:26 AM
It's moments like this that make me truly love the Hulk.
Posted by: Ford MF | November 03, 2007 at 11:59 AM
Wait, WTF. Mark Engblom STOLE MY COMMENT.
Posted by: Ford MF | November 03, 2007 at 12:01 PM
Look at that sound effect:
KWHOOM!
No one can fight the three syllables in a row sound effect!
I don't think I've seen sound effects as cool in comics lately.
Posted by: Ivan Wolfe | November 03, 2007 at 09:20 PM
Yeah, that was back when bombastic sound effects were truly an art form. In fact, I should look around for some of the Blue Ribbon winners and post them here. We're talking at least six or seven syllables.
Posted by: Mark Engblom | November 03, 2007 at 10:21 PM