Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
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Hulk #249
Issue(s): Hulk #249
Cover Date: Jul 80
Title: "Jack Frost nipping at your soul!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Steve Ditko - Penciler
Steve Ditko - Inker
Review/plot:
Guest artist Steve Ditko. He's been back at Marvel on the fringes, doing a Micronauts annual and drawing Machine Man. Ditko's art hasn't really changed that much.
He's best drawing the slightly bizarre, and for the most part this issue is straightforward, so it's not a great fit.
The Hulk encounters Blizzard, who is back to calling himself Jack Frost.
After several defeats at the hands of Iron Man, he's decided to cut himself off from humanity and live in an ice cave. But the Hulk stumbles in and Frost's attempts to get rid of him just make things worse.
Eventually the Hulk leaves and Frost seemingly dies in a cave-in.
Meanwhile, Betty, Fred, and Rick show up at General Ross' cabin. Ross and Samson are still out hunting, but a giant Centaurio bursts into the cabin, wounded.
This should have been a quiet whimsical little story but Mantlo turns it into a stupid Misunderstanding Fight.
Quality Rating: C-
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: This issue starts with the Hulk asleep and having bad dreams about his trip through the micro-verse.
References: N/A
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
This is one of the few times Ditko went back to a character he drew in the 1960s(though admittedly he didn't draw the Hulk for long back then), something he typically refused to do otherwise. According to a Fred Hembeck page, Ditko actually turned down a stint on Captain America and X-Men Annual #4.
You wonder if the original intention was a new character rather than Blizzard/Jack Frost
I actually wonder if it was supposed to be an even older character - the Jack Frost from World War II who had been part of the Liberty Legion but had not yet appeared in the modern age. The story even comes off as a direct "homage" (being kind) to the first appearance of his teammate Red Raven in the modern age.
I'm thinking at some point it may have been decided that it would be a waste to bring back and immediately dispose of a character with some historical value in the Marvel U (unlike Red Raven when he first appeared, as the Liberty Legion hadn't yet been introduced). Therefore they decided to just retrofit the Blizzard into that role... and then when they DID bring back the "real" Jack Frost about a decade later, they essentially threw him away again anyway.
The last time Mantlo used Blizzard in Marvel Team-Up #56, there's some odd stuff about Electro accidentally fusing Blizzard's suit to him so that now he has ice powers. Daredevil's radar sense in thats tory indicates that Blizzard's heartbeat is different, too. So perhaps Mantlo was ignoring Blizzard's interim appearances in Iron Man #123-7 and going ahead with a plan he already had for the character.
