Hulk vs. Conan--well, sort of

 

cover art by Rich Buckler

The Incredible Hulk #200 ended with the Hulk, already shrunk down in size and inside the brain of Glenn Talbot (it makes sense in context) is shrunk further to prevent him from growing back to normal size while still inside Talbot's brain. (It really does make sense in context. Read my review.)

 Writer Len Wein and artists Sal Buscema and Joe Staton continue Hulk's microscopic odyssey in Hulk #201 (July 1976). He appears in a microscopic sword-and-sorcery world, where he's mistaken by a ragtag band of rebels to be the help they were trying to summon up to overthrow a despotic ruler.

Wein is having fun with another Marvel-owned character. A wizard briefs Hulk about the despot, who is called Kronak the Barbarian. His appearance and elements of his background mirror Conan. Essentially, he's an evil version of Robert E. Howard's character.

Like Conan, Kronak slew a king and took the throne, but he proves to be a despot. He also has possesson of a magic ruby. 

At first, Hulk isn't interested in helping. But when a little girl despairingly says that Kronak is too strong to ever be defeated, Hulk takes this as a personal affront. Seconds later, he's storming the castle.

Not surprisingly, he begins to curb-stomp the guards. But Kronak's personal wizard hits Hulk with a gas bomb, knocking him out and causing him to revert to Bruce Banner.

Kronak decides to have fun fighting the wimpy-looking Banner in the arena. This doesn't end well for him, as this causes Banner to change back into Hulk. Kronak's reaction to this in the above panels is wonderful to see.

Hulk swats Kronak aside, so the despot uses his magic ruby to call up a monster. The monster is a bit more challenging as an opponent, but when they grapple, Hulk gets angry. Which means he gets stronger. Which means the monster goes down.

Kronak's over-confident attempt to then personally punch out Hulk is yet another wonderfully realized moment. The story does a good job of quickly establishing Kronak as a bully, so it is fun and satisfying to watch him get his comeuppance.

By now, the rebels have also stormed the castle. They finish off Kronak and the guards, but then Hulk begins to shrink again, disappearing from this world to visit a yet-smaller microscopic world. 

And that will be one he's visited before.

This issue is great fun. The art is fantastic and Evil Conan is a great villain. This was published less than ten years after the Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror" first aired and is well before the Internet, so I suppose that the meme about evil versions of good characters having goatees probably wasn't out there yet. But it would have been kind of fun if Kronak had been sporting a goatee.

We'll rejoin the Hulk in three weeks. Next week, we'll head back to the Wild West for a visit with Two-Gun Kid.