Issue(s): Hulk #135
Cover Date: Jan 71
Title: "Descent into the time-storm!"
Credits:
Roy Thomas - Writer
Herb Trimpe - Penciler
Sal Buscema - Inker

Review/plot:
Kang...

...brings the Hulk...

...back in time...

...to World War I to stop the Phantom Eagle...

...from destroying a German gun. It doesn't work out for Kang in the end.

The idea, and i had about as much trouble following this as the Hulk did, is that Bruce Banner's grand-father was French and fighting against the German army, so if the Phantom Eagle can't stop the German gun, Banner's grandfather will die. Therefore, the Hulk will never be born, therefore the Avengers will never be founded.

Kang can't go back in time and do it himself because of a "timestorm".

The Phantom Eagle is a Herbe Trimpe character, so this is a contrivance to let Trimpe draw him again. Trimpe's art is a little more interesting this issue, possibly due to the fact that he got to work on his own character (although it's the Kang and time-travel scenes that look the best).

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - we learn that Bruce Banner is at least a quarter French!

Chronological Placement Considerations: Ravonna appears in this story, but it will be revealed in Avengers annual #21 that Ravonna was replaced by a doppelganger after Avengers #71.

References:

• The Phantom Eagle first appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #16.
  
• "Roy's Theory of Relativity: Ever since that infamous day back in Avengers #8, when Kang first invaded our century, his rate of time-flow has gone forward at the same rate as ours - so that, just as seven years have passed for Kang since then, it is now seven years later for us, as well! See you in the letters-pages! -- Rascally"

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Marvel Super Heroes #87

Looks like some uncredited Herb Cooper lettering in some of those panels. He had been a Marvel mainstay since the 1950s.

Love how Roy has Kang call Phantom Eagle "an all-but-unknown air ace", basically acknowledging that Phanty's Marvel Super-Heroes tryout didn't sell at all.

Yeah, on the one hand he's tweaking Herb, but on the other hand he's bringing back an otherwise unusable character, so it's a fair trade, I think.

Phantom Eagle's floppitude was first acknowledged in a 1969 Not Brand Ecch.

I remember being amazed that the Hulk is depicted as wearing BLUE pants throughout this entire story.

Recently I had the good fortune of picking up both of Garth Ennis' reimagining of the Phantom Eagle: 2008-9's WAR IS HELL: THE FIRST FLIGHT OF THE PHANTOM EAGLE (art by Howard Chaykin), and 2015's Secret Wars Warzones title, WHERE MONSTERS DWELL (art by Russ Braun), where unlike the original run, Karl Kaufmann survives the Great War and plies his trade as a sort-of pilot-for-hire and is an all-around lout. All the Ennis hallmarks are present: Dark hilarity, outrageous situations, and violence abound, the story augmented by great art on both titles. Not your father's Phantom Eagle, for sure! Since Ennis has now done PE for Marvel and Enemy Ace for DC, I'd personally like to see him take on two more comic-book WW1 aviators: "Balloon Buster" Steve Savage back at DC, and while it's possibly a longshot, also assuming Dark Horse still has the rights, let Garth loose on the original WW1 flyer/ pulp hero himself, Captain Midnight.

You can see Our Pal Sal's Hulk chops! That's why it looks good.