Issue(s): Hulk #160
Cover Date: Feb 73
Title: "Nightmare in Niagara Falls!"
Credits:
Steve Englehart - Writer
Herb Trimpe - Penciler
Sal Trapani - Inker

Review/plot:
The Hulk wants to get to Niagara Falls to find Betty, and he retains that memory when he transforms back into Bruce Banner. "If memories from the Hulk's mind stick with me, it must be urgent! Is she in trouble...?" I think Banner is kidding himself here; he's got to realize that Glenn and Betty are married but doesn't want to admit it, and wouldn't mind if the Hulk showed up to ruin their honeymoon.

Anyway, Banner takes the precaution of hiding traveler's checks in the Hulk's pants, and he buys himself some new duds in what i think is the first tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of the Hulk's preference for purple...

...and then he hires a pilot named Spad McCraken to fly him to Niagara. When they get closer to the spot, Banner consciously realizes why Betty and Glenn would have gone to Niagara Falls, and he hulks out in McCraken's plane.

From there, he gets into a fight with Tiger Shark, who has been hiding out in a cave behind the waterfalls.

Tiger Shark thinks the Hulk is working for the Sub-Mariner, which the Hulk finds highly ridiculous since he's currently mad at fish-man. And stupid magician, too.

Tiger Shark, as a near-equal to Namor, is a good challenge for the Hulk, especially when the battleground is under water.

In fact, the Hulk develops his hatred of water in this issue.

He ultimately kicks Tiger Shark's butt, though.

    

While Tiger Shark and Namor fight, Glenn Talbot makes sure that Betty doesn't learn about it, and eventually convinces her to leave the area with him.

Trimpe draws Betty with a kind of Stepford-ish smile which works well considering her recent mental troubles, although i don't think it was Trimpe's intent.

    

General Ross and his Hulkbuster forces show up in pursuit of the Hulk at the end of the issue, and the Hulk burrows through solid rock to get away from them.

More fun, straightforward stories from Englehart and Trimpe.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: In the next issue of Hulk, he's wandered into Canada. It might seem natural that he'd do that right from Niagara Falls, but he actually appears in Defenders #2-5, and even Fantastic Four #133 (which shows him reading a newspaper in a desert cave), next, because the Hulk's appearance in Defenders #7 takes place directly after Hulk #166, and there are no other breaks in the Hulk's books to fit earlier Defenders appearances. The Hulk had been in space, then returned last issue, and at the start of this issue the Hulk is jumping away from the desert and there's a cameo of the Rhino walking away from the wreckage of the spaceship that they returned in. After next issue, the Hulk is out of the country for a while until he gets back to the US with #166. So this is where Defenders #2-5 have to fit. The good news is that these stories make it very clear that the Hulk is having a hard time holding the idea in his head that he's looking for Betty, so getting distracted and wandering over to the Defenders for a while isn't too difficult to believe. In fact, in Defenders #2, Hulk says he's lost Jarella again, and maybe he's just confused her with Betty. The Hulk thinking to himself that he's mad at Namor and Dr. Strange doesn't jibe perfectly with the end of Defenders #1, either, but you know, it's the Hulk.

References:

• Glenn and Betty got married in Hulk #158.
  
• Tiger Shark was last seen in Sub-Mariner #46, and after that event he split from his partner, Llyra.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

I think that Bruce Banner's choice of purple suit is less a fashion statement and more just of the times; during the late 1960s/early 1970s, purple suits were everywhere!

This was just a fun random battle between Hulk and Tiger Shark at Niagra falls. I kinda like the Hulk against other peoples villains and I reckon this is the first time TS is fighting outside of Namor's book. He should be able to take on (and lose to) the Hulk, as he is a powerhouse, not losing to underpowered heroes like Tigra and Wolverine as he does later.