Issue(s): Dazzler #6, Dazzler #7
Cover Date: Aug-Sep 81
Title: "The Hulk may be hazardous to your health!" / "Fort Apache, the Hulk!"
Credits:
Tom DeFalco - Plot
Danny Fingeroth - Script
Frank Springer - Penciler
Armando Gil & Frank McLaughlin /Armando Gil & Quickdraw Studios - Inker

Review/plot:
This arc introduces Dazzler's band: a guitarist named Marx, a bassist named Hunch, and a seemingly nameless drummer who is fat...

...and there is a running gag about how he always wants to eat. Hah hah. Good god.

Osgood gets the band a gig at a Gordon University (with the catch that the college is expecting a country & western show).

The University is four hours northwest of Manhattan. Bruce Banner shows up, but declines a ticket to the show...

...because he's following up on rumors of a top secret genetic research program that might help him cure his Hulkness. But of course he Hulks out.

I've been told that the physics in these panels don't make much sense.

Dazzler fights him at first but eventually realizes that he's a misunderstood creature when she sees him freeing a dog from a lab.

Earlier Dazzler had run into an anti-mutant crowd when her powers manifest as she fights off some muggers.

The anti-mutant hysteria will later become quite important to Dazzler's story, but right now it serves to teach her a lesson about fear and misunderstanding that helps her connect with the Hulk.

She uses her light powers to soothe the Hulk...

...and gives Banner the money from her gig.

Dazzler begins to be trailed in this arc by a creepy guy who will turn out to be working for Project Pegasus.

In a sub-plot, the Enforcers are hired to kill Harry Osgood.

It's worth noting that the original Ox was killed in Daredevil #86 and this is his twin brother (introduced in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #19-20).

Fingeroth takes over the scripting, and fat jokes aside, it's an improvement over Defalco. Combined with Springer's non-super heroic style, you can actually see some potential for this book.

Fingeroth continues the awkward "Go for it!" slogan. It's an incredibly annoying attempt to establish a catch phrase that possibly was related to the original licensing deal.

Just a small strip-tease in this arc.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - introduces Dazzler's band

Chronological Placement Considerations: Pushed back in time slightly to account for the Hulk's appearance, which we have taking place after his abduction to the Savage Land as he makes his way back west so he can hook up with Rick and Betty and before he's abducted as part of the Defenders' Six Fingered Hand arc. It's a bit awkward for the Hulk to be on the East Coast at this point, but the assumption has to be that after leaving the Savage Land he winds up in New York for this arc, then has an appearance in the mid-west (Marvel Team-Up #105) and is back on the west coast for Hulk #263).

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The title to #7 refers to the film "Fort Apache:The Bronx".

It's not as apparent here, but Dazzler's band members are all based on characters from Jack Kerouac's novels, who were in turn based on the Beat Generation writers. Marx is Allen Ginsberg, and Hunch is Herbert Huncke.