Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions, 3-issue limited series (Marvel Comics, June,
July & August 1982). Written by Mark Gruenwald, art by John Romita Jr. and Bob Layton

Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions! Long before the more famous Secret Wars, in 1982, Marvel released a mini series that pitted hero against hero!

Similarly, they were whisked away by omnipotent aliens to combat one another. The story was created by Mark Gruenwald, Bill Mantlo, and Steven Grant. It was illustrated by John Romita Jr. and inked by Pablo Marcos.

Forever a fan of the B-list heroes, I loved seeing characters like Sunfire, Dr. Druid, Hellstorm, Machine Man, Doc Samson, Quasar, and Brother Voodoo.

[Click the images for superhero-sized versions.]

Contest of Champions interior pages

Seeing the various groupings of heroes pitted against one another was fantastic.

This was a fun story that I feel is often overlooked. Any other fans of this series, or for that matter, some of the lesser known heroes that I mentioned?

Strange Adventures #156 (DC Comics, September 1963). Art by Murphy Anderson and Sid Greene

Strange Adventures #156 was written by Gardner Fox and John Broome, with art by Murphy Anderson and Sid Greene. The title story, “The Man with the Head of Saturn,” is pretty wild. The book came out in September of 1963, but I think I grabbed it from a back issue bin at a comic store or comic convention in the early 90s.

No doubt the cover grabbed my attention: “This is too darn weird to pass up! I must have it. How does a guy’s head become Saturn?”

Strange Adventures #156, including the Atomic Knights. Art by Murphy Anderson and Sid Greene

The backup story, “Threat of the Witch Woman,” features The Atomic Knights, who starred in several issues of Strange Adventures. They were a post-apocalyptic group of armored knights, serving justice following the Hydrogen War of… 1986! They also had a brief connection with Jack Kirby’s incredible comic book, Kamandi, loosely connecting with Kirby’s concept of the Great Disaster.

One of my favorite comic book stories is Hulk Annual #13, released in 1984. I read it several times as a young teenager, and now again for this post. The story was written by Bill Mantlo and gorgeously illustrated by Alan Kupperberg, featuring awe-inspiring splash pages.

Hulk Annual #13 (Marvel Comics, August 14, 1984). Written by
Bill Mantlo, with art by Alan Kupperberg. Cover by Chris Warner

The events of this story take place after Incredible Hulk #300, in which a savage Hulk, with no Bruce Banner persona within him at all, becomes a raging beast that no other heroes can control. The Avengers, Powerman & Iron Fist, Spider-Man, Human Torch — none of them can stop Hulk from destroying NYC.

Enter Dr. Strange with a solution: With a spell, he banishes Hulk to another dimension — actually a nexus between worlds called The Crossroads, from whence Hulk can enter new worlds where he can seek and explore, and perhaps one day know peace and happiness.

So, in this Annual, Hulk enters an alien world from The Crossroads, a place where he is not the most dominant creature. The world turns out to be poisoned by the radiation of a pair of suns — nothing is edible without causing great pain and sickness.

The only surviving creatures are those that bond with the symbionts, a weird species of fanged vertebrae that latch themselves onto the upper back of their host species, forming a survival bond, a symbiotic relationship. Hulk nearly dies of poison and starvation until he is joined by one such creature, and although at first he tries to destroy the symbiont, they eventually become friends, roaming the alien world, sharing a telepathic connection.

 

In time, Hulk is no longer so savage, as he and “Sym” explore and seek the wonders of the world, for Hulk is like no other host before. But then the king of the symbionts summons his species, a calling that is heeded by all, and when they arrive, the king notices that one of his kind has bonded with an alien host (Hulk), and he forbids it from continuing.

Hulk and Sym bound away to escape, and all seems well, that perhaps Hulk finally has contentment and friendship, but the story has a sad and tragic ending, though not without sacrifice and a sense of hope.

This is a great story, and I was delighted to read it again four decades later only to find that I enjoyed it just as much, if not more than when I was a teen.

To close, here’s a few comic portraits I enjoy.

Silver Surfer, by John Byrne and Joe Rubinstein

Silver Surfer, penciled by John Byrne (1982) and decades later (2018), re-inked by Joe Rubinstein in an effort to more accurately capture Byrne’s original pencils. The original was inked by Tom Palmer for Silver Surfer Vol. 2, #1, but I really like what Rubinstein did here.

Silver Surfer by Jack Kirby

The Silver Surfer by Jack “King” Kirby (1917-1994).

Art by Barry Windsor-Smith for the Robert E. Howard portfolio

Bran Mak Morn from the Robert E. Howard portfolio, by Barry Windsor-Smith.

Thalis welcomes Conan in The Savage Sword of Conan #20 (Marvel
Comics, May 3, 1977). Art by John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala

And finally, this is how I feel when being seated at a restaurant…

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Jeffrey P. Talanian’s last article for Black Gate was a look at The Tales and Poems of Clark Ashton Smith. He is the creator and publisher of the Hyperborea sword-and-sorcery and weird science-fantasy RPG from North Wind Adventures. He was the co-author, with E. Gary Gygax, of the Castle Zagyg releases, including several Yggsburgh city supplements, Castle Zagyg: The East Mark Gazetteer, and Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works. Read Gabe Gybing’s interview with Jeffrey here, and follow his latest projects on Facebook and at www.hyperborea.tv.