Issue(s): Hulk #335
Cover Date: Sep 87
Title: "The evil that men do!"
Credits:
Peter David - Writer
John Ridgway - Penciler
John Ridgway - Inker
Bobbie Chase - Assistant Editor
Bob Harras - Editor

Review/plot:
Todd McFarlane is taking a break, replaced by British comic artist John Ridgway for this issue. The story is horror themed, with a teenage girl blinded and pursued through a small town by a Mr. Hyde inspired slasher creature.

The blinded girl is rescued by the Hulk.

The creature turns out to be an unwitting psychic projection of the local teenage weirdo and slasher film aficionado. The slasher manifests while the boy is sleeping. After the first night, the slasher returns to try to join forces with the Hulk...

...but the Hulk instead decides he doesn't like him...

...and he becomes the horror monster in the story, pursuing the creature while the weirdo boy is unable to wake up.

It's a cool story that continues to show us the monstrous side of the Hulk and makes explicit the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde themes in Hulk, especially now that we've returned to his early days, and Ridgeway's style lends the story a classic Gothic feel that wouldn't have happened with McFarlane. The interesting question is whether the Hulk decides to kill the slasher creature simply because, as stated, he doesn't like it, or because he does have some heroic tendencies, or because Bruce Banner, who is seen during the daylight hours trying to get info on the creature that is tormenting the town, is somehow influencing him.

Quality Rating: B+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A