Issue(s): Hulk #232, Hulk #233, Hulk #234, Hulk #235, Hulk #236, Hulk #237
Cover Date: Feb-Jul 79
Title: "The battle below" / "...At the bottom of the bay!" / "Battleground: Berkeley!" / "The monster and the Machine" / "Kill or be killed!" / "When a city dies!"
Credits:
Roger Stern - Writer
David Michelinie - Script on #232
Sal Buscema - Penciler
Mike Esposito / Chic Stone / Jack Abel - Inker

Review/plot:
Starting with issue #232, the covers have a blurb sayings "Marvel's TV Sensation!"

Issue #232 is a big battle issue, with the Hulk fighting Animus and Moonstone...

...Cap rescuing the Falcon and going after Kligger, and Marvel Man... ummm... waking up from getting smacked by the Hulk. Moonstone flees when Marvel Man wakes up...

...Animus converts back to her Vamp persona and goes comatose when the Hulk smashes her club, Kligger chooses to be killed by Jackson rather than be captured...

... and Jackson himself flees down an escape hatch, pursued by a very angry Hulk. Jim is very excited to learn that his uncle is the Falcon. Basically it's a big fun fight issue, and i continue to enjoy the way the Hulk is depicted as a real monster, not just another super-hero.

Issue #233 picks up with the Hulk pursuing Jackson. He really is a terror, relentlessly sticking behind Jackson no matter what he tries.

Marvel Man follows the Hulk.

The Hulk rescues Fred, who had been trapped in his van in a Corporation warehouse. Then Marvel Man shows up, trying to stop the Hulk from rampaging after Jackson and let SHIELD take care of it, but the Hulk knocks him right through the wall.

The reaction from the crowd gets Marvel Man thinking about changing his name. He'll soon change to Quasar and take over security for Project Pegasus.

With Quasar having slowed the Hulk down enough to let Jackson get away, the Hulk agrees to continue his journey with Fred. Fred takes him to a students collective in a house in Berkley.

Meanwhile, the non-corrupt Senator that arrived at Gamma Base to inspect it with Kligger decides to continue with the inspection despite word of Kligger's true allegiances. And Betty and Glenn formalize their divorce.

One of the students at Berkley is Trish Starr, who the Hulk remembers from an encounter with the Defenders. Trish recounts her history, which is pretty interesting and it's kind of a shame nothing was ever really done with her. She's supposed to be a super genius like her uncle; i'd like to see her take on the Egghead mantle. Anyway, the Hulk remembers rescuing her.

While Trish and Fred are fine with the Hulk, the other Berkley hippies aren't happy that he's eating all their food and potentially dangerous.

One of them turns out to be a mole for the Corporation, and he contacts Jackson, who enacts a plot that makes the Hulk think that Machine Man has kidnapped Trish. After wrapping up some plot points from Jack Kirby's run on Machine Man (thanks to the death of Senator Stivak, i.e., Kligger, Senator Miles Brickman declares an indefinite suspension on the investigation of whether or not X-51 has rights, and remands him to the custody of Peter Spaulding. Reporter Tracy Warner is on the scene to witness the hearing and she congratulates Machine Man), the next two issues are a massive battle between the Hulk and X-51.

The Hulk eventually heads after Jackson again, with Machine Man following in his wake, helping people survive the path of destruction the Hulk leaves. Hulk eventually winds up on the Corporation's skyscraper, and tosses Jackson off the top of the building. The Machine Man rescues Trish and prevents Jackson from dying while the Hulk destroys the entire building. Machine Man then uses a mesmerizing effect to hypnotize the Hulk and then... launches him into space!

A little unfocused but still pretty good. The Hulk's single-minded hunting of Jackson is very cool, and Stern handles the aspect of the hippies no longer living up to their ideals and being intolerant of the Hulk nicely as well. And of course, lots of nice fight scenes and destruction.

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - Marvel Man changes his name to Quasar. Wraps up Jack Kirby's Machine Man plot.

Chronological Placement Considerations: Continues directly from Captain America #230. Hulk #233 occurs more or less concurrently with Captain America #231, as both series deal with the aftermath of the Alcatraz fight. Machine Man's appearances take place in between Jack Kirby and Wolfman/Ditkos runs on Machine Man (i.e., between Machine Man #9-10). The Hulk has been launched into space at the end of this arc and will next appear in Hulk annual #8, so he shouldn't appear anywhere in between.

References:

• Trish Starr first appeared as Egghead's niece in Marvel Feature #5.
  
• She was shown to be a girlfriend of Nighthawk's in Defenders #21.
  
• She lost her arm in an explosion set by Egghead in Giant-Size Defenders #4.
  
• She showed up again running a desert commune in Defenders #41.
  
• "Be watching Marvel Two-In-One for [Quasar's] next appearance." That'll be Marvel Two-In-One #53.
  
• General Ross had his breakdown in Hulk #229. Samson finally starts to figure out that Moonstone, not the Hulk, may have been the one to trigger it.
  
• Curtiss Jackson last encountered Machine Man in Machine Man #8.
  
• Machine Man's hometown, Central City, has a big billboard calling itself the Birthplace of the Fantastic Four, since that's where the Fantastic Four originally launched their spacecraft in Fantastic Four #1.
  
• When we first meet the Machine Man, he's got his leg opened up, repairing a few circuits from an attack in Machine Man #1.
  
• Machine Man was last at Peter Spaulding's home in Machine Man #7. He and Peter return home to find the Hulk waiting for them.
  
• Machine Man says the Hulk's punches are worse than the fight with Ten-For, an advance scout for the alien Autocron Empire that Machine Man fought in Machine Man #3-6.
  
• During his fight with Machine Man, the Hulk sees some live wires and remembers when the Thing used them against the Hulk in Fantastic Four #25. The Hulk tries that trick on Machine Man, but winds up triggering a gas fire instead.
  
• With the Hulk passed out from the fire, Machine Man probes his brain, seeing how the Corporation's ploy tricked the Hulk into fighting him as well as some scenes from his past. In addition to a generic scene showing the Hulk being persecuted by the military, we see scenes from Hulk #1, Hulk #168 (Betty turned into the Harpy), and Hulk #205 (Death of Jarella).

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Bob Layton was announced as new permanent inker with #233, but that didn't happen.

These issues were reprinted in Essential Incredible Hulk Vol. 7 (ISBN: 9780785185116) in December, 2013.

It's of course fine if people want to mention in the comments where books have been reprinted, but this is just a reminder that as per The Rules section, my Reprinted In field is just about where my copy was reprinted, if applicable. The idea was if there are things i didn't mention or i describe differently, it could be because the reprint was missing pages or was rescripted or similar.

The Essential Hulk featuring these issues has Machine Man getting broken apart by Hulk. I figured Machine Man was a silly concept but his appearances here got me kind of interested.

Also is it only Stern that writes about the Corporation since they plagued Spider-Man too with the Tarantula and Will Wisp story line.

That was Roxxon, not the Corporation.

Kirby actually introduced the Corporation in his Captain America run and also used them in Machine Man. Jack of Hearts in various Bill Mantlo stories also faced the Corporation. And Roger McKenzie's Captain America run crosses over with the Stern Hulk Corporation issues; were they included in your Hulk Essentials?

Whoops, Roxxon/Brand Corporation and The Corporation are different then?

And yes Essential Captain America 6 and Essential Hulk 7 has both the Hulk and Cap side. That's what I like of those essential they usually make sure the reader is taken care of.

Damn I'm gonna miss them. I was hoping they'd fix up the 90s reading order.

Yep. They're different. The Corporation is an organized crime organization posing as legitimate big business and also worked their way in to government.

Roxxon is an actual trans-national corporation (mainly oil), and other writers have used Roxxon as well.
Englehart created the company, and it's been used many times as the villain in Iron Man. Also, more recently, Roxxon became a popular evil corporation to use in Marvel books circa 2010 to the present. They're currently being used in Jason Aaron's Thor.