Issue(s): Marvel Feature #11
Cover Date: Sep 73
Title: "Cry: Monster!"
Credits:
Len Wein - Writer
Jim Starlin - Penciler
Joe Sinnott - Inker

Review/plot:
This is one of Jim Starlin's earliest issues. Inked by Joe Sinnott, it is quite beautiful. It has a classic Silver Age feel to it but still looks more modern than a lot of the artwork being done in the early 70s. This also seems to be one of Len Wein's first issues as well.

It always amazes me what weird little stories will get dug up again and referenced. This story uses Kurrgo, who was the Master of Planet X from Fantastic Four #7.

Reed Richards shrunk the rest of his race, but Kurrgo got left behind. He finally found his shrunken civilization, but despite their size they had developed advanced weaponry and were able to fight him off. Now he's in a contest with the Leader to determine which one of them gets to kidnap the Hulk and use him for their own purposes.

Kurrgo thinks he can use the Hulk to re-conquer his people, and the Leader wants to somehow use the Hulk's strength to cure his paralysis. To settle their differences, they've agreed to each choose a champion and whoever wins gets both "monsters" and the loser has to share his scientific secrets with the winner.

The Thing and the Hulk have a nicely drawn fight and then team-up and fight the two evil masterminds.

In the end they are left stranded in the desert. The Hulk can just jump away, but the Thing is stuck there.

It's a simple plot ("fight!") but, hey, it's a Hulk/Thing fight and it's got nice art.

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - loosely ties in with Starlin's Thanos War epic, only due to where the Thing winds up.

Chronological Placement Considerations: The Marvel Chronology Project places this between Hulk #166-167 and between Fantastic Four #139-140. The Leader is still paralyzed. This issue leaves the Thing stranded in the desert, leading directly to Marvel Feature #12. The Thing actually appears in Captain Marvel #26 prior to this issue, but since for me that's bundled up in a trade paperback, i have things slightly out of order, with that entry immediately following this one.

References:

• Reed Richards betrayed the denizens of Planet X in Fantastic Four #7
  
• A footnote says the Hulk and the Thing last tangled in Fantastic Four #112. I guess it's not counting Hulk #152, since that was just a group battle against the Hulk that the Thing participated in.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Hulk vs. Thing One Shot

The original printing didn't say "end"; it showed Iron Man appearing in the next issue.

You gotta love a classic Hulk vs Thing fight. FF #25 & 26, FF #112, Giant Size Super Stars #1, and this one are were great rockem sockem battles between these 2 adversaries.

A few exchanges of words in this issue made me bust out laughing.
Thing (punching the Hulk across the room): "Face it Hulk, it's for your own good."
Hulk: "What? You beat up Hulk for Hulk's own good? Hulk may not be very smart, but not even Hulk believes that!"
They proceed to knock each other into a mining car as it rolls down a track.
Thing (wrestling with Hulk in the mining car): "Now take it easy, cuddles. This'll only hurt a minute."

This is something of a prototype Marvel Two-In-One story.

"Stupid pile of orange rocks - Hulk will smash!"

Ok, so the Hulk, despite having encountered the Thing numerous times, thinks he's simply a random pile of orange rocks standing in the street and, for no particular reason, decides to smash those rocks. Are there any other combinations of materials and colours that might turn him destructive? "Stupid mauve floor tiles..."