| Let's start with the one who just might be my all time favorite Hulk villain, a foe from beyond the stars, called Xeron the Star Slayer! Xeron first appeared in Hulk # 136. He was the second-in-command of a space vessel owned by Captain Cybor (we'll be looking at him in a bit). Why are they here on Earth? Simple. They're tracking down a monster known as Klaatu, the Behemoth From Beyond Space! We'll get to Klaatu in a minute as well, but let's get back to Xeron. Xeron finds Klaatu on Earth, and while trying to capture him, runs into the Hulk. |
| Klaatu escapes, but Xeron doesn't let the hunt go to waste. He's going to be adding a workhorse to his crew...a greenskinned workhorse. ;-) Xeron starts blasting the Hulk with his energy harpoon, which knocks old Greenskin for a loop. Apparently Xeron is no slouch in the power department! |  |
 | Apparently Xeron's harpoon blasts also sap the strength out of his prey, as poor Hulk is finding out now. I love this page. It shows Xeron flying his skiff through the city streets, trying to harpoon the Hulk, and Hulk running away like a scared rabbit. I thought it portrayed both characters well...Xeron being the cool, efficient hunter, and Hulk being the hounded, mindless prey. Kinda funny too, if you look at that picture. A greenskinned behemoth scurrying through the city streets being chased by an alien in a golden skiff. Ok, fine, that's why I'm not a stand up comedian. ;-) |
| Yeah, I know. What about Klaatu, right? Ok, how about a nice, full page spread for ya? This is Klaatu the energy-eating giant from space. He eats energy, in any form. Pretty big, and damned powerful! What's that? Why exactly is Xeron chasing Klaatu? Well, because Captain Cybor told him to, and Xeron is the second-in-command on Cybor's ship. Huh? Oh, why is CYBOR chasing Klaatu? Sit still, we'll get to that! I gotta fill up some space here next to the pic to balance out the page. We'll cover the details when we get to Captain Cybor. ;-) Is anyone else getting the idea that maybe Roy Thomas (the writer on this issue) was inspired in creating Klaatu by the Krell thought-monster in the movie "Forbidden Planet"? Speaking of inspiration, I wonder if George Lucas got the name for the Klaatu in Star Wars from reading this issue of Hulk? Yeah, he's GOTTA be a comic fan! Don't buy that story that he got the name out of that movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still". It was a Marvel idea, I bet! ;-) |  |
 | Ok, here we are...Captain Cybor, captain of the starship Andromeda! Why is he chasing Klaatu across the universe? The oldest motive in the world...revenge! See, when Cybor was a youth, he was a harpooner just like Xeron. He tried to stalk Klaatu himself, but ended up getting his craft torn apart. Cybor's personal force field saved him, but he drifted close enough to a star so that the side of him facing it (his right side) was burned beyond repair. So, they (whoever found him) cut him in half and replaced his right side with a robotic body, making him half-man, half-machine. And he's a shrewd one, that Cybor. The Hulk can't hurt him (nor can any of the other slaves onboard) because Cybor's robotic side controls the ship's every move. If he dies, the ship and everyone on it dies. Oh, and did I mention that he and Xeron picked up the Abomination on some far-off planet, and brought him aboard? ;-) Yup. The Abomination had been teleported to some far-off godforsaken planet by the Stranger. Xeron found him and harpooned him up, and the Abomination became first mate, answering only to Xeron and Cybor. Near the end of the issue, Xeron and Cybor find Klaatu in space, and both of them harpoon him, but Cybor's skiff gets too close and smashes into Klaatu, dumping Cybor onto Klaatu's massive body. Xeron has to cut his harpoon line to save himself and his crew, and the mortally wounded Klaatu drifts into the sun, dying along with Cybor. Hulk and the Abomination plummet towards Earth, and are seen by a little girl as two shooting stars. Xeron is left to orbit the sun endlessly, until his air shields collapse and he and his crew dies. I know Cybor and Klaatu were never used again, but I think Xeron might have had another appearance somewhere. If anyone knows that for a fact, please contact me and LMK? What a cool villain! |
| Ok, what would you say if I told you that Bruce Banner's beloved Betsy Ross would one day turn into a gamma-powered, winged monster that fires blasts of energy out of her hands and that she'd kick the Hulk's ass? Well, it happened! Yup. In Hulk # 167, we find out that Betsy Ross has pretty much had a nervous breakdown because she found out that her husband Glenn Talbot is dead (he really isn't but no one knows that at the time). She ends up blaming her father, Thunderbolt Ross, and Bruce Banner as well. She's taken to a hospital and Modok (a really cool supervillain we'll be seeing later on) finds out about Betsy's mental state. He uses his mental powers to make her transfer her hate towards the Hulk, and later mentally summons her to one of his A.I.M. bases (Modok is the leader of A.I.M. - Advanced Idea Mechanics...a now-forgotten group of ex-H.Y.D.R.A. scientists who created cool weapons of of incredible power like the Cosmic Cube, and villains like the Super Adaptoid. More on them later) . The story really heats up in Hulk # 168, because that's where Modok transforms Betsy Ross using gamma radiation, turning her into another of my favorite Hulk villains of all time, and a foe who appeared only in 2 issues: the Harpy! |  |
 | Harpy has several powers, unlike other gamma irradiated characters. Hulk and Abomination got super strength, the Leader got super intelligence, but Harpy got it all! She sprouted wings so she can fly, she can fire "hellbolts" from her hands, and she obviously has some type of super strength since we see her battling Hulk and lifting him up with her claws. |
| Here's an interesting pic! Man, it looks like Hulk's gonna have some hemorrhoid problems later on! Look at where that bottom claw is inserting itself! OUCH! ;-) |  |
 | Eventually, Harpy blasts the Hulk into unconsciousness. Apparently her hellbolts pack a whallop! She then grabs Hulk and flies off, but the two of them are suddenly caught in a freak tornado, which deposits them in a city in the clouds. This happens in issue # 169, and that issue introduces yet another cool and relatively forgotten Hulk for...the Bi-Beast! Oh, shut your mouth! It ain't what you're thinkin'! ;-) I love how Marvel would introduce several cool new characters in one storyline covering several issues. Here's a scan of the cover (pretty cool cover huh?). |
| Who is the Bi-Beast? Well, he's the last survivor of a race of winged bird people who built this immense city in the clouds. He was "created" by them in a lab in their final days (makes you wonder why they didn't give him wings, huh?). At some point a human crashed his airplane there, and the bird people turned him into Red Raven, another great forgotten superhero! Red Raven turned on them and destroyed their warrior class, leaving them helpless. The Bi-Beast was endowed with the retained knowledge of culture and warfare of the few surviving bird people, but they neglected to give him any scientific training. So the machines keeping the city afloat 8 miles above the earth are falling apart. The lack of air up there (and a beating by the Bi-Beast) turns the Hulk back into Bruce Banner. Bi-Beast forces Banner to work on the machines and restore them. So why did the Bi-Beast abduct the Harpy? She reminded him of his lost winged friends and decided she'd be fun company! :-) While Banner secretly uses the machines to try to drain the gamma radiation out of Harpy's body, Modok attacks the city with his A.I.M. lackeys, and they brutally gun down the Bi-Beast. But the Bi-Beast has the last laugh! He flips a switch that will blow the city to bits in moments. As everyone tries escaping, Harpy turns back into Betsy Ross, and she and Bruce Banner fall towards Earth as the city explodes. I don't know what happens after that, I haven't gotten the issue after that yet. ;-) But needless to say, Modok survives and somehow Bruce and Betsy survive, and even Bi-Beast survives for a comeback years later. Still...two great and forgotten characters in one issue. Who's complaining? ;-) And check out that cool panel layout! |  |