Friday Night Fights--Incredible Hulk 1971 Style

Yes, minions, it's time for a new bout of Friday Night Fights, and keeping with the Marvel 1971 theme here this week, we've got a doozy:

And who created this barnburner of a battle for Hulk #138 (1971)?

So, long story short (some of which I'll cover after the fight), Sandman shows up, menaces Betty Ross, Bruce gets upset, fight!! Take it away, guys!!







After many (many) more panels of fussing and feuding, they end up submerged. But that can't stop these guys!




Oh, Hulk, how wrong you are...

Spacebooger thought Sandman had enough sense to stay out of the water. Sadly, he was wrong.

Now, if you want to vote for my fight this week, who am I to tell you no? after the jump, we'll have some discussion of the non-fight events of this issue.

OK, let's take a quick hit at some things from Incredible Hulk #138. First off, Herb Trimpe took the concept of a splash page very literally:

Sorry if I cribbed your act again, Siskoid!

On the very next page, Roy Thomas and Trimpe get very literary (click to embiggen for easier reading):

Yes, that is the poem The Sorrow Of Love by W.B. Yeats. An actual, honest-to-gosh bit of English literature used to narrate the Hulk's transformation into Bruce Banner. You don't see that too often in 2011 comics from the Big Two!!

Meanwhile, the Sandman has got a problem:


See, being locked in a high pressure vat turned him to glass. The Wizard managed to "cure" him, but it's wearing off.

By a necessary coincidence, Betty Ross is at the very same hospital...and she clearly needs to lay off the the Quad Beef Burritos before bedtime!



Anyhoo, Dr. Marquand's revolutionary new treatment, the "Total Blood Transfusion," involves two people (of matching types) completely swapping their blood!! And just guess who has the Sandman's blood type?

Well, when Betty starts to feel woozy because of the Sandman's no doubt icky blood, Flint Marko proves to be a delightful jackass:

Hmmm...you know, that Sand-Witch idea is much more appealing then the Red She-Hulk business...

But, the final effect of the transfusion is:

Someone cue Blondie's Heart Of Glass!!

SPOILER ALERT: She got better. Then she got turned into a bird. Then she got better. Then she married Bruce Banner, but left him after their baby miscarried. Then she became a nun. Then she stopped being a nun. Then the Abomination put HIS blood into her, which killed her. But she was only mostly dead, and her dad cryogenically preserved her. Then, 9/11 allowed Nightmare into our world, and he raped her comatose body to produce his daughter, Daydream. (I really wish I were making that last part up. Remember that one the next time you're ragging on DC for Identity Crisis...). The she was revived and turned into the Red She-Hulk.

So, being turned into glass was probably the least of Betty's many problems, is what I'm sayin.'

ELSEWHERE IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE:

Speaking of a Roy Thomas scripted strongman saving a beautiful damsel from a horrible monster:

OK, I know, it's a stretch. But still--Conan! Roy Thomas! Barry Windsor-Smith! Giant spiders! Scantily clad babes! WOO HOO!!!