Issue(s): Hulk #149, Hulk #150
Cover Date: Mar-Apr 72
Title: "The Inheritor!" / "Cry Hulk, cry Havok!"
Credits:
Archie Goodwin - Writer
Herb Trimpe - Penciler
John Severin - Inker

Review/plot:
An alien comes to earth. He is called the Inheritor because his race believes that they will inherit the Earth after man dies out.

He was also created by the High Evolutionary. I was confused by the multiple origins until the twist ending - he's a super-evolved cockroach. I thought that was neat. The Hulk is still a prisoner at the Project Greenskin base after he was knocked out while trying to prevent Jarella from being returned home last issue.

When the Inheritor attacks, the Hulk smashes him, of course.

Trimpe's art seems to be improving at a nice pace, or Severin's inks add a level of shading that provides depth and emotion not previously on display in Trimpe's work.

Meanwhile Banner struggles with his love for Betty vs. Jarella. He wonders if he really loved Jarella or if it was the Hulk who loved Jarella and he's just got lingering feelings from that. I think he's making excuses for himself.

For the next issue we switch gears entirely. Still loose at Project Greenskin after his fight with the Inheritor, the Hulk leaves and hangs out in the desert until he sees a green haired girl being chased by a motorcycle gang.

Thinking she is Jarella, the Hulk jumps to her rescue. The girl turns out to be a de-powered Lorna Dane. She's come to the desert to try and recruit Havok back into the X-Men.

I guess it makes sense for the Hulk to confuse a green-haired woman with Jarella, but Jarella had blond hair (the Hulk previously made a similar mistake in Hulk #142).

There is a flashback scene showing Havok getting into a fight with Iceman over Polaris and accidentally injuring him, which led him to quit the X-Men and move to the desert.

Talbot met Jarella last issue and knows that Banner/Hulk is infatuated with her, but he restrains himself from telling Betty. However, after the Hulk gets into a fight with Havok he passes out and turns back into Banner and when Betty finds him, he mumbles Jarella's name instead of hers.

It is nice to check in on some of the X-Men characters while their book is on hiatus. I would have preferred to see (the not yet named) Polaris with her powers back. There's a rather insane use of Havok's power, however. He uses his powers to levitate Polaris off a butte, "by using a force beam to counteract the pull of gravity."

I'm gonna chalk that up to Polaris subconsciously using her own powers. Havok says at the end of the issue that he's willing to try and learn to use his powers, and that he'll be returning with her to the X-Men.

There's also a running subplot about politicians in Washington debating the value and effectiveness of Project Greenskin.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - catching up with Havok and Lorna Dane

Chronological Placement Considerations:The Hulk starts this issue imprisoned at Project Greenskin (the latest name for the missile base), so he shouldn't have any appearances between this issue and last. Banner is back with Betty and the military at the end of this issue and so shouldn't appear elsewhere before the start of next issue.

References:

• The High Evolutionary's acceleration of the Inheritor's genetic potential occurred prior to his first appearance in Thor #134. The Inheritor was subsequently banished in space until a freak meteor collision knocked him back to Earth.
  
• A footnote says that to find out what the High Evolutionary is currently up to, see Marvel Premiere #1. He's getting ready to create a new world and co-star in Adam Warlock's series.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Marvel Super Heroes #98, Marvel Super Heroes #99

The flashback with Havok vs. Iceman didn't happen; it was invented by Goodwin(but I believed John Byrne used it in X-Men:The Hidden Years).

The flashback in this issue resolved the Bobby-Lorna-Alex love triangle. In Amazing Spider-Man #92, Bobby is shown trying to get a date with an unnamed girl. That means this flashback has to take place sometime between UX #66 and ASM #92. Byrne was building up to it in X-Men The Hidden Years by having a similar fight between Iceman & Havok take place in XMHY #1 as a prequel to this more serious fight, but the series was cancelled shortly before where the events of this flashback could occur.

Lorna uses her powers to disable some of the bikers. It's off-panel but we see the aftermath when Hulk catches up to her abandoned car. Lorna then thinks how it has exhausted her from using her powers for the rest of the issue (although I like the sub-conscious use theory for the end).

Really loved Severin's inks on Trimpe here.

Good old reliable if unspectacular Archie Goodwin. Entertaining stories if nothing else.

I guess when it comes to women, all the Hulk can see is green. Also, pretty interesting that Havok gets a pretty clear win over the Hulk. At the end of the fight, the Hulk is unconscious due to Havok who rides away with the girl.

I never liked Hulk's loss here, but it was a relatively convenient way for Goodwin to resolve the fight. I think I would have preferred it if they had both passed out and Lorna then flew Havok away with her magnetic powers.

Havok's trick for slowing Lorna's fall "by using a force beam to counteract the pull of gravity" wouldn't work at that angle. He would have to be directly underneath her for that to work as he describes it. At the angle shown, he would only be able to change the angle of her descent.