Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk (1981)

[vanhornluke]

Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk (1981)
By ?

APPEARANCES:
Kingpin, Sandman, Spider-Man, Billy (Peter’s cousin), Billy’s parents, airport passengers, Hulk, Aaron, Sam, oilfield workers, Dallas pedestrians, newsstand salesman, Sanger Harris customers and employees, Aunt May

SYNOPSIS:
The Kingpin hires the Sandman to secretly destroy several oil pipes near Dallas, causing the price of oil to increase and thereby making a fortune for the Kingpin since he’s already bought up a bunch of oil company stock. The scheme starts to work, but by coincidence Bruce Banner had recently wandered into town and taken a job at an oilfield. When he notices the Sandman skulking around the oilfield, Banner follows him. The Sandman hears him and attacks, thereby triggering Banner’s transformation into the Hulk. The Sandman runs away before anyone else sees him, so the Hulk is blamed for sabotaging the oil pipes. Meanwhile, Peter Parker has flown to Dallas to visit his cousin Billy (who appears to be about 9 or 10 years old) and Billy’s parents. While at the Sanger Harris store, his spider sense starts buzzing. He follows his instincts and they lead him to a man buying a suit, whom he doesn’t recognize as the Sandman. He puts a tracer on the Sandman’s purchase and decides to follow him later when he’s not with Billy. That night he follows the signal and sees the Sandman in action attacking the oilfield again. Before he can do anything to stop him, Banner runs out of the crowd of workers and throws a punch into the Sandman’s midsection. The surprise at sinking into his sandy body causes him to transform back into the Hulk. He and Spidey team up to stop the Sandman and succeed when they trick him into punching into a cement truck and getting himself trapped in a solidifying pile of cement sludge. Cops start to appear, so the Hulk walks away before they can cause problems. The next day Peter flies home to New York and gives Aunt May a nice purse he bought for her at Sanger Harris. The Kingpin gets the news and is furious at Spidey for thwarting his plans again, vowing to one day “destroy him.”

NOTE:
Spidey thinks to himself at the beginning of the story that he “proctored my last summer school session,” so presumably this should go somewhere in mid to late summer. As usual, I would appreciate specific placement suggestions, especially because several of these newspaper insert comics have been referenced by the handbooks as 616, so they deserve a placement at MCP.

It is never stated how closely related Billy is to Peter, so they might be second or third cousins.


Chronologies:

AARON
SMIHSH

BILLY
SMIHSH

HULK/DR. ROBERT BRUCE BANNER
See above note

KINGPIN/WILSON FISK
See above note

PARKER, MAY REILLY
See above note

SAM
SMIHSH

SANDMAN II/WILLIAM BAKER/"SYLVESTER MANN"/"FLINT MARKO"
See above note

SPIDER-MAN/PETER BENJAMIN PARKER
See above note

[Michael]

The complicating factor is that we need to find a time when both the Kingpin and Sandman are evil. The Kingpin retires from crime in Amazing Spider-Man 197 at Vanessa's behest, and doesn't return to crime until Daredevil 172. Meanwhile, Sandman gets merged with Hydro-Man in Amazing Spider-Man 217-218, and when they split in Marvel Two-In-One 86, the Sandman decides to retire. I'm not sure if it's possible to squeeze in a story between Daredevil 172 and Amazing Spider-Man 217, so this should probably go before Amazing Spider-Man 197. (Actually before Amazing Spider-Man 195, since Peter is tricked into thinking May is dead that issue and doesn't find out she's alive until Amazing Spider-Man 200.)

[vanhornluke]

Would putting it before ASM 195 still work with the summer school thing?

[Michael]

I assume that Peter was proctoring it in his role as a TA, right? Peter starts his job as a TA in Spectacular Spider-Man 32,which we currently have placed before ASM 194. So that works. There's just one catch. Peter's working at the Daily Globe at this point. Are there any references to the Daily Bugle?

[vanhornluke]

Nope, the Bugle is never mentioned

[ShadZ]

It is never stated how closely related Billy is to Peter, so they might be second or third cousins.

They'd have to be. It's well established that Peter's father Richard had only one sibling (Ben), and Ben is childless. It's (a little less solidly) established that Peter's mother Mary was an only child. (it wouldn't surprise me if that is retconned someday, but not to explain Billy!) So Peter doesn't have any first cousins.

On the other hand, almost nothing is known about Peter's grandparents. Only one has been named (Mary's father William Fitzpatrick). There is plenty of room for any of the grandparents to have siblings, and for those great-aunts and -uncles to have grandchildren to be Peter's second cousins.

Also, Aunt May (Reilly) Parker has several siblings and cousins, who could have children. They wouldn't technically be Peter's relatives (since May is his aunt by marriage). but he may think of them as his relatives, especially if he saw then while growing up. However, Billy probably isn't a Reilly -- if he was, Peter would have taken May with him to Texas, don't you think?

ShadZ

[ShadZ]

The cover of this comic may be seen here: https://www.comics.org/issue/35926/cover/4/