(Cover from October 1970.)
“In The Hands Of Hydra!”
Written by Roy Thomas.
Drawn by Herb Trimpe.
Inked by John Severin.
Lettering by Artie Simek.
“Many arms have Hydra! Cut off a limb and two more shall take its place!” which must come in handy if its members ever decide to take up chainsaw juggling.
Instead, the criminal organisation who can only afford one cape between them have decided to do something far more dangerous - capturing the Hulk. They want to use him as their new super-weapon, and so recruit the services of Jim Wilson by convincing him the US military, who currently have the green-skinned behemoth, intend their captive nothing but ill.
Jim Wilson is of course spectacularly stupid in this tale, helping Hydra even though they make no attempt to act like anything but villains in front of him. “Few could talk thus to the Supreme Hydra -- and survive!” The Supreme Hydra tells him during a trip to the pictures. You think that alone might be enough to warn Jim they’re not the good guys in this tale. But no, he just ploughs straight on and helps them, somehow thinking he’s aiding the Hulk by delivering them into their hands.
Despite this, I can’t deny I have a soft spot for Jim Wilson. He’s currently as thick as two short planks and guaranteed to make the wrong decision at every turn but at least his heart’s in the right place.
I also can’t deny I have a soft spot for Hydra. Of the three Marvel criminal organisations of the age, AIM, the Maggia and Hydra, Hydra are the only ones who’ve ever grabbed me. Maybe it’s the masks, maybe it’s the tendency to burst into melodramatic mottoes - like some gang of malevolent boy scouts - or maybe it’s just the fact they don’t wear beekeepers’ hats or sound like the Mafia. Needless to say their nefarious plan turns out to be a dud and, like the Mandarin before them, who also sought to use the Hulk as a super-weapon, all they succeed in doing is bringing him into their secret lair so he can smash it to pieces.
But this issue's not about the Hulk, who's really just a supporting player here. It's about new cast member Jim Wilson and, at the tale's end, Jim's hurt and possibly dying. Will we have to say goodbye to our new sometime-sidekick before we even got to know him properly?
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2 comments:
Hydra's cool.
And I remember my first exposure to the Maggia, in Marvel Double Feature reprints of Iron Man's adventures against the Maggia from the last issues of Tales of Suspense and into Iron Man's own magazine. Those were cool, with great Gene Colan art. (I admit, I'm having trouble recalling any other good Maggia stories. No wonder Whitney Frost wanted out. Not because she was particularly bothered that they were evil. But because they were BORING.)
But I gotta also admit, I love AIM. Weren't they the scientific research arm of Hydra? And they split off and became a separate organization? (This is even more cool in retrospect, because that's just what real militaristic and/or revolutionary and/or terrorist covert organizations do.) AIM was involved with the Cosmic Cube storyline that brought the Red Skull into the "modern-day" Marvel continuity (the 1960s, I mean). And AIM also created Modok, one of my favorite stupid villains. (Yeah, he's stupid, but I was always glad to see him. Remember that giant battle suit he wore around 1973-1974 or so? I forget; you'll be getting to that.) I think I may prefer AIM to Hydra.
But I admit I can't refute your beekeeper comment. I almost wish there had been a scene in an issue of "Tales of Suspense" where Jasper Sitwell was briefing Nick Fury, and Fury responded with something like, "Are you telling me that Cap was kidnapped by a secret organization of evil beekeepers who are allied with the Red Skull!" And Sitwell would say, "Yessir, Col. Fury!" while he's saluting, and fondling his "Vote for Goldwater" button.
And what about the Secret Empire?
(I've never read Hulk #132, so I'd thought I'd offer a digression on Marvel's secret societies.)
I must admit the origins of AIM are a mystery to me but I too have a fondness for Modok.
I have to admit that when I think of the Maggia, I tend to think of Spider-Man and the likes of Silvermane and Man-Mountain Marko. Spidey always seemed more the right kind of opponent for a Mafia rip-off than the likes of Iron Man or the Fantastic Four were.
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