Issue(s): Hulk Magazine #23
Cover Date: Oct 80
Title: "...A very personal Hell / Clothes call"
Credits:
Jim Shooter / Roger Stern - Writer
John Buscema / Brent Anderson - Penciler
Alfredo P. Alcala / John Tartaglione - Inker
Ralph Macchio - Associate Editor
Roger Stern - Consulting Editor
Lynn Graeme - Editor

Review/plot:
I haven't made the Hulk magazine (as "Rampaging Hulk" or just "Hulk!") a priority for my collection, in part because i have a bias against the larger format books (since they don't fit in my regular longboxes!) and in part because i know the stories are for the most part inconsequential. I would totally have bought Essential Rampaging Hulk vol. 1 if they included the secondary stories for Ulysseus Bloodstone and others, but even ignoring the fact that the first 9 issues are literally not in continuity, i'm pretty sure the stories are basically standalone plots that have no impact on anything. I do have issue #11 and it was certainly the case for that one. I think especially once the television show was out, the point of the magazine was to provide basic, mostly non-super-hero, stories in the format of the show.

But this issue, which has Bruce Banner almost getting raped by gay men at the YMCA, gets a lot of attention, so i felt like i ought to include it in my collection. Most likely you've read all about it on a million other places on the internet and i don't even need to cover it. But it's notorious enough that i figured i ought to cover it myself. And, having now read the full story, there is actually a lot of additional insanity to look at.

We'll start with the intro essay by editor Lynn Graeme, which starts off talking about how much she likes the 1951 film The Thing, saying "The reason for its impact is that, aside from the vegetable menace, every other detail is quiet and ordinary and commonsensical", and then pivots to discussing the Hulk story:

A VERY PERSONAL HELL, Jim Shooter's Hulk story in this issue, uses this same kind of realistic detail to create versimilitude. The emphasis is on relationships both between Banner and the Hulk and those with whom they come into contact. By the end of the story you are convinced that there really might be a creature as The Hulk - or that at least it isn't utterly impossible!

Assuming the menace of the alien in The Thing should be compared to the menace of the Hulk's anger (and not to, for example, the gay rapists, who are actually really incidental to the story), Graeme's comparison couldn't be further off base. Jim Shooter's story is anything but "quiet and ordinary and commonsensical" when it comes to everything except the Hulk. Quite the opposite. This story features insanely over the top depictions of a grim and gritty world of poverty, (gay) rape, drug use, domestic abuse, prostitution, depression, and suicide.

I guess we'll just start at the beginning. Bruce Banner has sneaked into the Library of the Empire University Hospital and Medical Research Center in Manhattan, hoping to find info that could lead to a cure for his Hulk-ism. But the library is restricted to medical students only, and he's chased out.

On his way out, he crashes into a Mrs. Steinfeld, who is impressed with the fact that he doesn't knock her over.

Notice that Mrs. Steinfeld is in the Empire University Hospital and Medical Research Center, and the other people in the building know her. You might conclude from this, as i did, that she is a med student herself, or someone on staff there or something. And since we can tell that she's interested in Bruce, that perhaps she'll later check out the books that Bruce wanted to see, and lend them to him. But it'll turn out that (as far as i can tell) she has nothing to do with the hospital at all, and Bruce's need for the books is forgotten in the end.

When Bruce escapes his pursuers, he goes back to the YMCA where he's staying. And now we get to our gay rapists. Notice the ridiculously effeminate white guy, and the black guy in pink shirt and matching headband calling Bruce a "baby-face dude". Iam a life-long fan of John Buscema, but his art here seems to descend into caricature of both homosexuals and black people, with offensively exaggerated characteristics. But the real problem is in the writing.

Alone in his room, Bruce thinks thoughts that might otherwise have been the beginning of a 1970s porn movie.

So here we go.

You'd expect Bruce to Hulk out at this point, but for some reason he just feels surreally calm. I don't know what to make of that. I have to admit: i know this is a deplorably offensive scene that i should be treating with sensitivity, but at the same time i can't help seeing very obvious "Bruce Banner is gay" opportunities in here. His lack of panic over getting accosted is one. The fact that crushing balls is the metaphor he reaches for is another.

"Oh, Pith!", says Dewey baby, as his partner informs him that Banner may have been foolin' him.

When Bruce escapes the rapists, he goes out and auditions for Accept's Balls To The Wall video.

I mean, this is a really weird scene. What is the Hulk doing to that wall? And why did Bruce not turn into the Hulk until now, and then suddenly Hulk out and start humping a wall?

Then the Hulk, who doesn't remember the incident but is subconsciously angry about it, starts talking about smashing men's junk.

Ok, let's put the junk smashing and wall humping aside. I know someone will come along and say, "Well, why is the gay rape scene offensive? Can't there be gay rapists?". Sure. Let's not get into statistics on male on male rape or anything like that; let's postulate for the sake of argument that there are gay rapists numerous enough that one is likely to encounter them at the Y. The issue is a question of representation. This story was published before there were any hints that Northstar was gay and before Arnie Roth was introduced. And even when we get to those characters, it is all just hints; even those characters weren't allowed to be outwardly gay (Marvel's wiki says that had Shooter declared that there were to be no gay heroes in the Marvel Universe; a quote that i've never seen sourced but it fits the reality of the comics and the fact that the CCA wouldn't allow overt references to homosexuality). But here (in a non-Code book) we have our first outwardly gay characters, and they represent the worst misplaced fears of homophobes, the gay men that force straight men into having sex.

Jim Shooter says that this was based on an actual incident.

The attack at the "Y" was likewise based on an actual incident. A friend of mine at the age of 15 -- maybe 16, not sure -- had been attacked in exactly the same way at the McBurney "Y," and escaped, as Banner did. That scene was a small bit, not by a longshot the focus of the story.

I was a charter subscriber to New Woman Magazine, which had run a series of articles about rape, and in particular one about "Post Rape Syndrome." Many rape victims are in shock during the actual attack, almost numb and disbelieving. Their reactions -- anger, horror, humiliation, the whole emotional gamut, often do not set in until afterward. I thought, what if, for once, Banner did not turn into the Hulk when it was convenient, but only afterwards, when the reactions set in, when it wasn't convenient.

The bad guys, to me, were just that -- bad guys. Marvel was an equal opportunity employer. Anyone could be a bad guy. It never occurred to me that a couple of bad guys could be interpreted as a sweeping indictment of gay people.

Sure, maybe that happened (although i bet no one said "Oh, pith!"). But when these two stereotypical rapists are your only gay characters to ever appear in a comic, of course they are interpreted as being a sweeping indictment of gay people.

Let me quote a long letter published in issue #25, which i think is useful for illustrating the degree of homosexual representation that existed at Marvel at the time.

Two hours ago, I read THE HULK #23. I still feel revulsion.

Page ten was perhaps the worst travesty I have seen in some time, with the possible exception of Roderick Kinglsey in the pages of SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN. While I will reluctantly stipulate that some distaste for homosexuality on Banner's part could be justified, the utter revulsion and contempt on Bruce's part seemed both out of character and totally abhorrent.

We are discussing a man who, for the last 20 years, turns green and gains over 800 lbs when his adrenalin starts flowing. He has been in space countless times... in short, experienced the wonders of the firmament - and he is revolted because some faggot tried to make him in the Y?

I take it personally, Jim. I grudgingly accept neutrality on homosexuality from comics (with the praiseworthy exception of HOWARD THE DUCK, which only raised my expectations), but I refuse to idly sit back while my senses are being assaulted with the virulent anti-gay stance Marvel has chosen to adopt.

I had a grin-and-bear-it expression for DEFENDERS #6, where a diatribe on what Greenwich Village has housed carefully omitted gays with "and, oh yes, now it is the home of... Doctor Strange," or some similarly evasive caption, according to my memory.

It was with interest that I saw speculation on a letter page that Olddan and the Asp from the old "Living Mummy" series in SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS were lovers, but when MS. MARVEL #12 came out I could not reconcile in my mind the menage a trois existing between them and the female Elemental.

Joy quickened my pace when I read Gerber's origin of the Soofi in HOWARD THE DUCK #21, and I immediately bought ten copies to disperse to friends.

Then Gerber wrote his version of the Origin of Captain America, and reading between the lines (Greenwich Village/Bohemians/art/etc.), I inferred from the text that Cap could possibly be (whisper) "latent".

Then we were suddenly back in limbo, except for a couple of cracks about fairies in HTD mag #3. Even the Soofit's reappearance in #4 totally ignored gays.

But then I read SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #43-up, and watched that mincing, obnoxious, walking stereotype of a Kingsley sashey his way into the life of Our Hero, dedicated to protecting the American way of life from the Kingsleys who use him and turn of [sic] him; & I wanted to regurgitate that homemade apple pie Mom had baked.

I tried telling myself it was a coincidence of some sort, and was prepared to write off the entire incident, when I read HULK #23.

I took the self-righteous blatherings of one David Robert Bruce Banner personally, Mr. Shooter. I feel - as does Alan Wright, as expressed in The Comics Journal #68 - that you owe everyone concerned an apology. Not just we gays who were vilified in these passages, but the straight people who had to endure one more misrepresentation of the gay community with which they co-exist.

And I might be so bold: be innovative, Mr. Shooter. Help break down the last prejudice. Start working on the Comics Code, to amend it to allow homosexuality, if it doesn't now. Feature gay supporting characters and heroines. For example, suppose Johnny Storm's basic problems with the opposite sex could be explained thusly. Think of the fun that you could have with the plotlines...

Marvel has made great strides with heroines and with black characters. Ms. Marvel, Power Man, the Cat, Nightshade, Valkyrie, Clea, the Falcon, Misty Knight, Phoenix... the list is virtually endless. WHY INFLICT US WITH THE ILK OF KINGLSEY AND HULK #23????

Think about it, Jim - as I re-evaluate my commitment to a media form which appears to be in opposition to my sexual orientation.

Shooter's response is very similar to what i've already quoted above (which was from his much more recent website): just because the bad guys were gay doesn't mean Marvel is saying all gay guys are bad. He also points out what i do think is a muddled point on the letter writer's part, that Banner certainly had every right to feel revulsion about being raped and that his revulsion doesn't have to be at all related to his feelings about homosexuality. But i can also see why the writer gets it muddled, since this is the only representation we've seen of homosexuality in a Marvel comic (and since Banner's reaction is very weird and different than his usual reaction when faced with danger). Shooter also says, cheaply i think, that since the Spectacular Spider-Man issues don't actually say that Kingsley was gay, the fact that the writer presumes it is a "classic case of prejudice on your part".

There are a couple more letters along these lines, including one from the National Gay Task Force, with similar responses from Shooter. The issue was compounded by a concurrent interview with John Byrne where he complained about how Bob Layton's inks on Hulk annual #7 made his men look "queer" (the quote is at the Hulk annual entry); people writing in to this issue also complain about that and see it as part of a pattern.

Well, that's the YMCA rape portion. As Jim Shooter says, it's not the focus of the story, so let's move on. Even if you're only interested in that, it's worth seeing what else is going on in the other "quiet and ordinary" parts of the story.

Still angry, the Hulk wanders into someone's basement apartment, and finds an aged hippie, her mind addled by acid.

She nearly gives the Hulk some tabs, which could have turned this into a different sort of story altogether.

Then her wild-eyed, foul-mouthed, abusive boyfriend shows up.

Everyone is too messed up to notice that their guest is the Hulk, but the Hulk drives "Truth" away and then settles down with "Clear". Note that Clear is also a welfare cheat and is also ready to "make love" with the guy that she's just met, if only she wasn't so tired.

Now that he's calmed down (with a woman?) the Hulk turns back into Bruce Banner and wonders off. His first thought is of suicide.

Then he decides he'll lay low for a few weeks before going back for the books, and decides he'll stay away from the Y. "Got to find a safer place... and for that I need money!" So he tries to get a job.

But the only option he has is hawking for prostitutes.

Finally he bumps into Mrs. Steinfeld, first name Alice, and she hooks him up with a job with her friend, Luigi, at his Italian restaurant.

We then follow Alice and see that she's got a domineering mother and an antagonistic sister, both of whom like to play on the fact that she's dealing with depression.

Alice also contemplates suicide.

Bruce calls her to thank her for the job and she invites him out for a date.

You can see above that Alice is an executive vice president. No mention of why she was at the hospital. I suppose hospitals have EVPs, but it feels like an unconnected thread to me.

Bruce and Alice start getting close, but Bruce is keeping his identity secret, and he starts to feel guilty about it. Alice nonetheless convinces him to stay.

Meanwhile, True shows up to beat on Clear.

Later, while Bruce is at work, Alice comes home to find her mom and sister snooping around her house.

When Bruce finds out about it, it makes him so angry he has to leave before he turns into the Hulk in front of her.

Oh now you're angry!

Hulk goes on another rampage, and then winds up back at Clear's place. And True finds out and sets her place on fire.

The Hulk has a hell of a time dealing with the fire. He barely manages to get Clear out, but he gets buried in the rubble himself. When he finally gets out, he turns back into Bruce and staggers back to Alice's place. But by this point she's killed herself.

At least Alice figured out who Bruce was.

Bruce leaves the money with True, who intends to use it to start a new life away from the city (if she can avoid spending in on drugs; a panel earlier had her begging the doctor to give her some pain killers).

And that's our story! The best i'll say is that Jim Shooter was trying waaaay to hard to depict the "realistic" horrors of the modern city, and instead goes totally over the top. Banner won't just get mugged or pushed around, he'll get raped, and they're not just rapists, they're flamboyantly gay rapists. Not just a drug addict with an abusive boyfriend but a promiscuous welfare cheat totally addled drug addict with a murderous psycho of a boyfriend.

And it's worth realizing that the Hulk that Shooter is aiming for is TV Hulk, so Banner can find the prospect of being raped by some local thugs more terrifying than staring down the Abomination, and he can have trouble getting out of a burning building. His inability to turn into the Hulk in the shower scene is a clunky narrative device, nothing more. None of that makes this a good story - this is a terrible story! - but i can kind of see how it all went wrong, to a degree.

The story nonetheless deserves its reputation as an offensively bad depiction of homosexuality. I think you can only plausibly use the "some doesn't mean all" defense when you've already got a fairly depicted stable of whatever group you're talking about. Today, Marvel has a better representation of non-straight characters, and i still don't think this story would fly, but in 1980, when it was depictions like this or silence, it seems particularly egregious. One thing that interested me was the strong and immediate reaction. It's not like Marvel wasn't getting feedback about this from a percentage of their audience; homosexuality clearly wasn't invisible at the time. But the heartfelt appeal from that letter writer to start adding some sexual orientation diversity to the Marvel universe went unheeded.

This issue also has a more lighthearted, but still not very good, second Hulk story by Roger Stern and Brent Anderson (and there's also a Dominic Fortune story that i'm not covering). Bruce Banner wakes up outside of the village of Bradbury, Iowa and finds that the travelers' checks that he carries around have been damaged.

Bruce gets chased around town for a bit but is eventually invited in to the home of a married woman in skimpy clothing.

Her husband comes home before anything happens, and he quickly realizes that he's dealing with the Hulk.

So that's how Bruce gets a shirt.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - the notorious YMCA rape issue

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP place this between Hulk #253-254. The stories are context free. I won't ask how the Hulk got from New York to Iowa for the second story so quickly if you won't.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A