The Hordes of General Fang!
by
Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
Over the American southwest, the Hulk hurtles through the twilight sky. He is quickly spotted by General Ross and his men. As they prepare to fire the Iceberg rocket, a sneaking Rick Jones darts off into the desert to warn his ally. Failing to see his flailing arms, Hulk collides right into the missile. The impact triggers a foam that encases Hulk in solid ice. The army rushes to retreive him, but the ice melts just in time for the Hulk to escape. Rick follows the Hulk back to their secret base, where he turns back into Bruce Banner. Exhausted, Bruce takes a rest.
In an Asian village of Llhasa, news of a Communist warlord named General Fang is received. He and his horde are coming to take over the village. The Lama of the village decides the only way to stop the General is to appeal to other nations for help. As the hordes march closer, word is sent out and picked up by Bruce's army radio transmitter. Quick to help, Bruce changes into the Hulk. Still retaining his intellect as Banner, the Hulk looks through his library for a book on myths and legends.
The Hulk and Rick Jones board an airplane. On their ill-conceived flight to the orient, the Hulk is quickly noticed through his disguise. Before he can cause too much damage, Hulk bursts out of the emergenct air lock with Rick holding on to him for dear life around his shoulders. They fly down to a small chain os islands. Hulk uses the momentum to bounce off of each island until they reach Formosa. On Formosa, they are quickly surrounded by soldier who think he is an enemy. After carefully dispatching the men, the Hulk takes a major leap over the coast of China and into the Himalayas.
Now at the correct location, the Hulk puts his plan into action. Both he and Rick don furry costumes to look like the Abominable Snowman. Hulk immediately spots General Fang's tanks inbound to the village and grabs a tree. The General's men flee for their lives as "the Abominable Snowman" attacks. In a nearby outpost, Fang's men send out a distress message to their general. Fang has his men setup a projector to create the false image of a dragon to distract the Hulk. Hulk hurls himself through the dragon image, but lands inside an electronically-charged prison.
With the Hulk trapped, General Fang prepares to fire missiles on the village. As one of his men starts the launch, he is unaware that Rick Jones has rewired the equipment. He pulls a lever to release the missiles, but is electrocuted by the short circuit created by Rick's rewiring. Rick frees the Hulk, who jumps into the air to catch missiles that have gone off.
Still in command, General Fang sends mounted units after the villagers. The Hulk uses the missiles he has gathered to blow the ground up,creating a huge chasm in their way. Fang calls down the paratroopers, but the Hulk uses his strength to bend a group of trees back which generate a big wind that blows them out of the sky. Now in retreat, General Fang is stopped by the Hulk plugging up a geyser which then causes it to overflow underground where it causes too much pressure on the road that Fang is driving away on. The road busts open, flinging Fang's vehicle up under the water pressure. Hulk grabs the general and carries him off to the island where he had fought the American soldiers. As the soldiers pursue Fang, Hulk and Rick Jones return home.
Characters
There is a little bit of good continuity. We saw General Ross testing his Iceberg rocket back in Hulk #5. This brings me to my theory that General Ross' attempts at capturing the Hulk have failed because he's having Bruce Banner build the equipment.
A thing that bugs me about Hulk's plan is why would the local people be any more scared of the Abominable Snowman than they would be of the Hulk showing up.
The plane sequence is silly.
Rankings: Given that we have seen almost this exact plot only with Thor at the helm in Journey into Mystery #84 and the action sequences are a bit more convoluted in this story, I'm placing it somewhere below that issue. It has a little bit of charm, but not enough to make the story interesting enough for me. So, I am placing it just under Henry Pym's first appearance at #22 on the list. It is certainly better than the Egghead story below it.
In an Asian village of Llhasa, news of a Communist warlord named General Fang is received. He and his horde are coming to take over the village. The Lama of the village decides the only way to stop the General is to appeal to other nations for help. As the hordes march closer, word is sent out and picked up by Bruce's army radio transmitter. Quick to help, Bruce changes into the Hulk. Still retaining his intellect as Banner, the Hulk looks through his library for a book on myths and legends.
The Hulk and Rick Jones board an airplane. On their ill-conceived flight to the orient, the Hulk is quickly noticed through his disguise. Before he can cause too much damage, Hulk bursts out of the emergenct air lock with Rick holding on to him for dear life around his shoulders. They fly down to a small chain os islands. Hulk uses the momentum to bounce off of each island until they reach Formosa. On Formosa, they are quickly surrounded by soldier who think he is an enemy. After carefully dispatching the men, the Hulk takes a major leap over the coast of China and into the Himalayas.
Now at the correct location, the Hulk puts his plan into action. Both he and Rick don furry costumes to look like the Abominable Snowman. Hulk immediately spots General Fang's tanks inbound to the village and grabs a tree. The General's men flee for their lives as "the Abominable Snowman" attacks. In a nearby outpost, Fang's men send out a distress message to their general. Fang has his men setup a projector to create the false image of a dragon to distract the Hulk. Hulk hurls himself through the dragon image, but lands inside an electronically-charged prison.
With the Hulk trapped, General Fang prepares to fire missiles on the village. As one of his men starts the launch, he is unaware that Rick Jones has rewired the equipment. He pulls a lever to release the missiles, but is electrocuted by the short circuit created by Rick's rewiring. Rick frees the Hulk, who jumps into the air to catch missiles that have gone off.
Still in command, General Fang sends mounted units after the villagers. The Hulk uses the missiles he has gathered to blow the ground up,creating a huge chasm in their way. Fang calls down the paratroopers, but the Hulk uses his strength to bend a group of trees back which generate a big wind that blows them out of the sky. Now in retreat, General Fang is stopped by the Hulk plugging up a geyser which then causes it to overflow underground where it causes too much pressure on the road that Fang is driving away on. The road busts open, flinging Fang's vehicle up under the water pressure. Hulk grabs the general and carries him off to the island where he had fought the American soldiers. As the soldiers pursue Fang, Hulk and Rick Jones return home.
Characters
- Hulk is still retaining Bruce Banner's intellect, but is displaying a more gruff personality
- Bruce Banner is still suffering from exhaustion after all of the Hulk's activity. Still fearing the day he should go berserk.
- Rick Jones is helpful yet again in freeing the Hulk from captivity and showing he's not afraid of doing some damage himself.
- General Ross doesn't do much. He finally captures the Hulk, but only for a few minutes in ice.
- General Fang is pretty much your stereotypical Commie villain again. Pretty interchangeable with the Executioner from the Thor story in JIM 84
There is a little bit of good continuity. We saw General Ross testing his Iceberg rocket back in Hulk #5. This brings me to my theory that General Ross' attempts at capturing the Hulk have failed because he's having Bruce Banner build the equipment.
A thing that bugs me about Hulk's plan is why would the local people be any more scared of the Abominable Snowman than they would be of the Hulk showing up.
The plane sequence is silly.
Rankings: Given that we have seen almost this exact plot only with Thor at the helm in Journey into Mystery #84 and the action sequences are a bit more convoluted in this story, I'm placing it somewhere below that issue. It has a little bit of charm, but not enough to make the story interesting enough for me. So, I am placing it just under Henry Pym's first appearance at #22 on the list. It is certainly better than the Egghead story below it.
- Amazing Fantasy (Spider-Man) #15
- Fantastic Four #1
- Fantastic Four #4
- Incredible Hulk #1
- Fantastic Four #5
- Amazing Adult Fantasy (X-Men) #14
- Fantastic Four #6
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #85
- Fantastic Four #9
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #83
- Fantastic Four #2
- Fantastic Four #8
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #86
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #87
- Incredible Hulk #5a
- Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #36
- Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #35
- Incredible Hulk #4a
- Strange Tales (Human Torch) #103
- Journey into Mystery (Thor) #84
- Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #27
- Incredible Hulk #5b
- Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #38
- Strange Tales (Human Torch) #102
- Fantastic Four #3
- Incredible Hulk #2
- Fantastic Four #7
- Incredible Hulk #4b
- Tales to Astonish #37
- Incredible Hulk #3
- Strange Tales (Human Torch) #101
Next Time: Loki returns to get revenge on Thor.
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