Incredible Hulk #138. The Sandman and Glass Betty

(Cover from April 1971.)

"...Sincerely Yours, The Sandman!"

Written by Roy Thomas.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Sam Grainger.

Lettering by Sam Rosen.

Marilyn Monroe didn't know she was born. She might have spent half of Billy Wilder's Some Like it Hot complaining she always got the fuzzy end of the lollipop but she should have tried walking in Betty Ross's shoes for five minutes because yet again life throws nothing but trouble at the girl.

It all kicks off when the Hulk returns to Earth with a splash, and the Sandman returns with a gun. In fact he should arguably be called Glassman as he's turning back into that substance, having been temporarily cured by the Wizard of the affliction he suffered in issue #114.

By one of those coincidences that could only happen in a comic book, he goes to the hospital where Jim Wilson and Betty Ross are being treated for their various ailments, and demands the nearest doctor gives him a total blood swap with Betty. And so it is the Sandman finds himself cured and Betty Ross finds herself turned into an immobile glass statue.

It is, it has to be said, a tale that makes no sense at all. Bearing in mind the Wizard's previous success, why does Sandy go to the hospital rather than back to his old team mate? How does the Hulk speak underwater? And how exactly do you give a blood swap to a man who's made of sand and as such seems to have neither blood vessels nor blood?

Still, you can forgive it because it's such a wonderfully unpleasant tale. The Sandman's in full-on bad guy mode, threatening to kill everyone he encounters and laughing gleefully at the thought of Betty dying - though he's still too eloquent for the liking of some of us - and poor old Betty cops it once again. Her boyfriend's a brainless monster, her wedding's wrecked by the Rhino, she's hospitalised by a nervous breakdown, and now, just as she seems to be getting over it, she's turned into the world's biggest paperweight.

Still, at least the Sandman gets his comeuppance.

For now.

Incredible Hulk #114. The Sandman and the Mandarin

(Cover from April 1969.)

"At Last I Will Have My Revenge!"

Written by Stan Lee.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Dan Adkins.

Lettered by Artie Simek.

If the definition of "intelligence" is the ability to learn from past mistakes, the Mandarin's clearly named after the literally brainless fruit of that name and not the traditional Chinese bureaucrat.

Having failed miserably last time out, the Gobi Gob decides that what he needs in order to defeat the Hulk is to team up with the Sandman. Having recruited his new ally, he then instigates a plan that in no way shape or form requires the presence of the Sandman. Needless to say, it all goes horribly wrong and it turns out neither villain has a Plan B, suggesting the Mandarin isn't quite the tactical genius he claims to be. For that matter, just what the Mandarin's Plan A was is anyone's guess as he makes exactly the same mistake as he did last time. Basically, he kidnaps the Hulk then takes him to his secret lair, enabling the Hulk to smash it to pieces.

But, of course, the Mandarin's stupidity aside, what this issue's most memorable for is one scene, where the Sandman's flung by his partner in perfidy into what seems to be a gigantic deep-fat fryer. Why the Mandarin has such a thing in his dread HQ's never explained. Maybe he likes his Mars Bars like his super-heroes; well-battered. Regardless, poor old Sandy emerges from it having been transformed into glass, meaning, in the space of one panel, he's gone from being a foe no one can harm to one who can be killed by anyone with a lump hammer. It's a wonderfully macabre and nightmarish fate for our villain and you have to congratulate either Herb Trimpe or Stan Lee (depending on which came up with it) for its shock value.

Argh! Thunderbolt Ross is at it again. Having finally got it into his thick head last issue that the Hulk isn't a bad guy, this issue he's droning on about, "That traitorous Bruce Banner!" Traitorous how? Why? When?

Still, at least his idiocy's equalled by Glenn Talbot who doesn't seem able to predict for one second that confronting Bruce Banner with a bunch of soldiers and threatening to shoot him might not be the best way to prevent him from turning into the Hulk.

Incredible Hulk #113. The one with the Sandman

(Cover from March 1969.)

"Where Fall The Shifting Sands?"

Written by Stan Lee.

Drawn by Herb Trimpe.

Inked by Dan Adkins.

Lettered by Sam Rosen.

If you should never build a house on sand, it seems you should never build a life of crime on it either as the Sandman finds yet another hero to try and be the arch-enemy of. First it was Spider-Man then it was the Fantastic Four, now he's up against the Hulk. Will he have any more success against the mightiest foe he's ever faced than he did against those others? I think we can guess the answer.

The Sandman wants to steal a space-warp ship so he can release Blastaar from the Negative Zone and have another fight with the Fantastic Four. He decides it'd be a good idea to enlist the Hulk to do the dirty work for him. The Hulk decides it'd be a good idea to punch the Sandman in the face. At the end of the tale, despite his best attempts having failed to do anything more than irritate the Hulk, the Sandman's already planning his next encounter with Jade Jaws and boasting about how it's only a matter of time before he kills him. Er, yeah, right. You'll be doing that how exactly?

Actually, the characterisation of the Sandman's my main complaint about this issue. Not only that he's too stupid to know he's wasting his time looking for a rematch with the Hulk but that he just sounds too classy. Maybe it's just me but I expect the Sandman to talk like a low-level crook who just happened to get super-powers. Instead, he's flinging words like "enmesh" around with abandon.

That aside, it's an inspired move to bring him into the strip. Not because he's able to pose any real threat to the Hulk. He's not. But neither is the Hulk's brute force able to hurt him. It means we can be treated to page after page of the pair flinging everything they've got at each other as the villain constantly changes shape and approach. On top of that, those who've read other Hulk stories from this era know this first encounter's only the start of a string of events that'll reverberate through the strip and its plot lines for years to come. Because of that, in many ways the Sandman can be seen as the pivotal villain in this era of the Hulk's history.

He's not the only one pivoting because Thunderbolt Ross, who's been demonstrating the intelligence of a carrot lately, finally develops a brain and comes to realise the Hulk isn't a bad guy. It's a welcome development in the General's character and one that starts to move him away from a the one-dimensional ranter he once was into a character you can actually start to respect, understand and even feel fond of. On the downside, he does seem somewhat confused. While everyone else knows he's guarding a, "space-warp ship," he seems to be under the impression he's guarding a missile.

Finally. Can it be? Has the Hulk been cuckolding Spider-Man? On page 11, he declares he can't attack the missile base that's the Sandman's target, because Betty Brant's there.

Betty Brant?

Whatever will Betty Ross say when she finds out?