Issue(s): Hulk #286, Hulk #287, Hulk #288, Hulk #289, Hulk #290
Cover Date: Aug-Dec 83
Title: "Hero" / "Loose ends!" / "Yellow fever?!" / "A.I.M. for the top!" / "Unholy alliance"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Sal Buscema - Penciler
Kim DeMulder / Chic Stone / Jim Mooney / Joe Sinnott / Carlos Garzon - Inker
Ann Nocenti - Assistant Editor
Al Milgrom / Carl Potts - Editor

Review/plot:
Hulk #286 is based on a Harlan Ellison short story, but it is uncredited as such. That oversight is corrected in next issue's letters page. Actually, there's more to it than that. From Jim Shooter's blog:

But while I was EIC, [Bill Mantlo] ripped off a Harlan Ellison story for an issue of the Hulk. That issue I signed out -- but I had never seen the episode of Outer Limits (I think) that Bill had ripped it from, so I didn't know. I remember thinking what a good story it was, and that Bill must be improving. The day the book hit the stands, Roger Stern called me and said, "Are you nuts?! This is a Harlan Ellison story!" I said, "It is?" Then my secretary told me Harlan Ellison was on the other line.

Harlan said, words to the effect, you ripped me off. I said, yes, I know, I just found out about it. That admission calmed him down. I asked him what he wanted. Should we turn this over to the lawyers and let them work something out? I assured him that there was no contention, that Marvel did it and would fess up to it.

Harlan's damages, by statute, would have been in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and he had us dead to rights. But, he said he'd settle for the same money as Bill was paid to "write" the script, an acknowledgement, plus a lifetime subscription to everything we ever published. Done. Thank you, Harlan.

I wanted to fire Bill, but he had a friend upstairs -- the financial V.P. -- who resisted. It was my call. I could have fired Bill over his objections, but I decided, stupidly, that the subsequent hostile relationship with the financial guy would be worse than policing Bill better.

The story has a Strange Tales (or I guess Outer Limits) sort of feel to it:

We're introduced to a soldier from a war torn future world.

He winds up getting thrown into the past, where he meets Bruce Banner, who tries to reason with him.

Then he and the Hulk get sent back to the future world, where we learn that a giant status of Kang instigates constant war among the uneducated warlike soldiers.

Banner manages to get through to the soldier he encounters, but the soldier is subsequently killed.

Not inherently bad, but between this and the annual it's starting to feel like Mantlo didn't know what to do with the Hulk once he gave him Banner's intelligence.

Banner's also got a super-intelligent robotic sphere that he just sort of whipped up in his spare time. I know all Marvel scientists are super-scientists that are equally expert in all fields, but i don't think we've ever seen Banner as a robotics expert before. Well, maybe i take that back.

When Banner returns from burying the dead future-soldier, he finds a research assistant from SHIELD, Dr. Katherine Waynesboro, has arrived at his new lab.

Bruce's robot sphere is jealous of her.

She's quickly (and disappointingly) moved into love interest status.

Meanwhile, Bereet's film about the Hulk is selling very well, but she's not happy because she's being regarded as a "panderer to public taste", not a serious artist.

Also meanwhile, MODOK single-handedly invades the military compound where the Abomination is being held captive.

It's pretty awesome to see him casually hover through the base, blasting his way through soldiers and artillery.

General Ross is the last soldier in his way...

...but it turns out that Ross has been contemplating letting the Abomination out to fight the Hulk. MODOK surmises this and forges an alliance with Ross.

Issue #287, which doesn't really have a main plot but just focuses on the Hulk and Kate Waynesboro getting to know each other (and of course, features MODOK being awesome) is a better issue than #286.

MODOK frees the Abomination but it turns out that he was beaten so badly by the Hulk the last time they fought that he's unwilling to do so again.

It's a sad day for the Abomination. MODOK tortures him to the point where he's more afraid of MODOK than the Hulk...

...which gets him reluctantly ready to fight again.

Also, Hulk goes to the dentist.

Unfortunately, MODOK is also dealing with an insurrection in AIM.

A group of blue suited rebels attack his compound, forcing him to retreat. (Ridiculous! MODOK can't fight off a group of dopes in beekeeper outfits!?! )

I should note that the previous times (beginning in Ms. Marvel #7, and also in Marvel Two-In-One #81-82) we saw the rival blue and yellow AIM teams, the blue-suited guys were working with MODOK and the yellow were rebelling against him. This time it's the opposite. In any event, this seems to be the end of the AIM rebellion, with MODOK kicked out and the yellow and blue agents seemingly settling their differences and working together for the rest of this arc.

Meanwhile, Abomination heads to Bruce Banner's lab and attacks the Hulk. In the course of the battle, the silly robot sphere is destroyed...

...and it's also revealed that Dr. Waynesboro is more than just a research assistant; she's a full-blown SHIELD agent.

Bruce isn't thrilled that SHIELD has assigned him a watchdog, but he kind of accepts it since he gets a little out of control while fighting the Abomination.

The Abomination isn't able to defeat the Hulk but he kidnaps Waynesboro.

General Ross shows up with Betty, presumably to show Betty that the Hulk is dead, but obviously things didn't work out that way. And Ross tips his hand (way too obviously, in typical Mantlo fashion) that he was involved in the attack.

But Hulk doesn't have time to deal with that; he heads out after Kate.

And that's where things get really good. Because the Abomination doesn't know that MODOK's been kicked out of AIM, so that's where he takes Kate.