(Cover from April 1975.)"The Day Of The Devastator!"
Written by Len Wein.
Art by Herb Trimpe.
Lettering by Artie Simek.
Colours by Glynis Wein.
To know know know you might be to love love love love you but to know know know Betty Ross is to court complete and total disaster. If you’re not blown up by a Gamma Bomb, you’ll be blown up by a bomb hidden in your body and if you’re not blown up by that, chances are you’ll be blown up by a Soviet agent.
While Betty frets over the explosive death of her husband, the entire Hulkbuster Base comes under attack from Soviet cats-paw the Devastator. He’s there to destroy all evidence connected to the death of Glenn Talbot, by flattening the place. Sadly, despite his endless boasting, he’s not destined to go down in the annals of Comic Book History, as his power has to be beamed at him by his communist paymasters and he manages to blow himself up at the tale’s climax.
With such a short-lived villain, the real meat of the tale involves the relationship between Betty and her father as they have a heart-to-heart over everything that’s happened to them over the last few years. Interesting that Thunderbolt Ross, once the most one-dimensional of creations, has become by far the strip’s most interesting, sympathetic and complex character.
Speaking of complex, Glenn Talbot’s out to prove he’s got more twists and turns than a conger eel on a log flume. No sooner have we all got over him blowing himself up than it turns out it wasn’t him at all. It was an impostor, which means the real Glenn Talbot may still be alive.
One thing you can say about Betty Ross. She might be deadly but at least life’s rarely dull for those around her.
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