It's Smackdown Saturday with Sal Buscema !

Before doing anything else we continue SAL BUSCEMA MONTH with the final instalment about the Hulk and the assembled Avengers facing off against the leader to stop him from world domination which is part of the so called HULK : PARDONED storyline which you can find either in the trade paperbacks of the same name ( longtime readers might remember that I already did a Joe Sinnott post in 2015 predicting the future of Marvel Comic trades with the Epic Collections ) if they are not out of print or hunting down the single issues which shouldn't be too expensive.

The story so far : after being repeatedly bombarded by various levels of gamma radiation over a short period of time Bruce Banner was seemingly unable to transform into the Hulk when he and Walter Langkowski a.k.a. canadian super hero team Alpha Flight's resident big bruiser Sasquatch were attacked by a new version of flesh eating snow monster Wendigo .

Veteran HULK readers may remember that Hulk faced off against another Wendigo in the famous issue that featured the debut of the most famous X - Men of all time who is the best at what he does even if what he does is not very nice : the canadian timex watch with a temper Wolverine .

Well, triggering the change into his green alter ego for the first time willingly Bruce Banner not only managed to defeat the Wendigo - with a little help by Sasquatch - he also retained his intellect as the Hulk. He then faced off against the U - Foes ( about which you can read more in the first part of this walk down memory lane ) who had kidnapped him and wanted to execute him on live tv and after being granted a pardon by the president of the United States - despite the warning of old war horse General Thunderbolt Ross - the Hulk crashed at Avengers mansion ( only figuratively because with a character like the Hulk it could also be literally ) while trying to find the leader where he and She Hulk were attacked by the robot Arsenal. Ever since his recent defeat at the hands of the leader Bruce had been doubting if the new intelligent version of the Hulk was as powerful as the old raged up version but after managing to totally demolish Arsenal he and the Avengers are pumped up for their rematch with the leader ( which is as far as we got in the second part ).

And the following two issues - THE INCREDIBLE HULK number 283 and number 284 - include two of my favourite Avengers tropes : Avengers In Space and Avengers Lost In Time which may have something to do with the reason why I love the HULK : PARDONED period of this publication.

not mein lieder

avenger stuff

avenger links

avenger videos

remembering sal buscema

lil abner 1940 with buster keaton

lil abner 1959 best quality

the refrigerator

full movie

wendigo and sal buscema begins on hulk

avenger banner

avenger quote of the day

It's Friday Fight Night : Hulk versus Arsenal !

It has taken me longer than expected but we are finally continuing SAL BUSCEMA MONTH and we are still in the period of the intelligent Hulk where Joe Sinnott was doing the inks on THE INCREDIBLE HULK book.

In our last post we ended with issue 277 after the now intelligent Hulk trunched the U - Foes ( again ) who were co - created by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema in issue 254 for whom they obviously have a fondness since they used them so often. In fact we will meet them again in a future post as they have a tendency to pop up when you least expect them.

Since I can't post all of Sal Buscema's issues of THE INCREDIBLE HULK we skip the following issues in which the Hulk gets pardoned and they erect a statue in his honour made out of Adamantium and go straight to issues 281 and 282 for Today's pulse pounding action. In issue 281 the secret is out that the leader is at it again and Bruce Banner faces off against him alone. This was of course orchestrated by the leader to evaluate how big of a threat the intelligent Hulk would be to his plans of world conquest.

After being defeated by the leader's rubber creatures Bruce slums about Avengers mansion where he is seriously questioning if intelligence may not lower the Hulk's effectiveness and reconnecting with his favourite cousin Jennifer Walters a. k. a. She - Hulk but they don't have long for a heartfelt family reunion as they are attacked by Arsenal ( not the Titan from DC Comics who before that went under the codename Speedy ).

As mentioned above the last encounter between the robot unit Arsenal and the Avengers happened in AVENGERS ANNUAL 9 - which was also written by Bill Mantlo - and wonderfully drawn by Don Newton who is one of these mindblowing artists who sadly has not done nearly enough work. That may be a contributing factor to why he is so underrated, overlooked or even straight out forgotten nowadays and which in turn prompted me to write two posts about his tenure on the Batman books .

Coming back to the Hulk, he does his best to fight Arsenal but he is no match for the rampaging robot. At least until he knocks out She Hulk which ticks off Bruce Banner - who is now in control of the Hulk - who then teaches Arsenal that you don't mess with family without retribution.

With renewed self esteem and a hankering to pop the leader's giant head like a big, green pimple Hulk, She Hulk and the rest of the Avengers are off to face Mister Big Head - in space - and we will wrap this story up in our next Sal Buscema spotlight which will hopefully go online Tomorrow.

Nuff said.

leader stuff

leader links

leader videos

sal buscema interview

yup this was based on an actual comicbook

bulletproof monk

rambo zwei

sylvester stallone

biography

rambo rip off

l vira

sal buscema and roger stern on hulk

bud spencer y terence hill

his name is trinity

leader banner banner get it

leader quote of the day

pulling out the full arsenal