Bruce Banner finds himself at a local circus, where (of course), all is not what it seems. But first, this awwwwwwesome pin-up by Walt Simonson:
For those people who find the whole concept of circuses (circusi?) kind of creepy and/or sad, this opening page doesn't fill you with a lot of confidence, as the Hulk puts the beat-down on some lions:
The Hulk stumbles onto the grounds of the rollercoaster, and we see its old and falling apart; Ol' Greenskin barely touches it before it starts to fall apart and a fire starts!
As the Hulk ambles away, the young boy gets spotted and blamed for the fire by the guys who run the circus. He's brought back to his parents, where his alcoholic Dad takes it out of him. As the boy cries for mercy, the Hulk falls asleep in a field, and reverts back to Bruce Banner.
The next morning, Bruce finds the little boy sobbing all alone, and befriends him. Soon enough, he gets a job at the circus (man, Banner's resume must be fifteen pages long), and takes the boy around and giving him a well-deserved good time:
As the Hulk ambles away, the young boy gets spotted and blamed for the fire by the guys who run the circus. He's brought back to his parents, where his alcoholic Dad takes it out of him. As the boy cries for mercy, the Hulk falls asleep in a field, and reverts back to Bruce Banner.
The next morning, Bruce finds the little boy sobbing all alone, and befriends him. Soon enough, he gets a job at the circus (man, Banner's resume must be fifteen pages long), and takes the boy around and giving him a well-deserved good time:
The head of the circus, still thinking the boy is a "firebug", slaps him, causing Bruce to get...well, you can guess. And you can also guess that someone like the Hulk causes quite a stir at a small, crowded, and somewhat isolated place like the circus:
The boy manages to calm the Hulk down, and he eventually leaves, turning back to Banner. A few days pass, and the head of the circus gets the horrible idea he can cage the Hulk, and uses the kid as bait. When Bruce sees the kid get slapped around again(!), the Hulk reappears, and goes on a rampage:
(click to see larger version)
The Hulk scares the nefarious owner enough that he hands over the kid, earning a minor slap (by Hulk standards), sending him careening off into the distance. The Hulk then hands the kid back to his Dad, with the threat if he doesn't shape up...the Hulk will be back. The End!
As of this issue, a new back-up feature was installed--Moon Knight!:
As drawn by Gene Colan (a perfect choice), the Moon Knight strip looks great, if maybe a little too colorful--ironically, MK would have worked perfectly back when this magazine was in black and white as The Rampaging Hulk.
We'll be back with more Hulk! soon!
We'll be back with more Hulk! soon!
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