Issue(s): Marvel Super Heroes #3 (Hulk)
Cover Date: Sep 90 / Fall 90
Title: "The power of rage"
Credits:
Hollis Bright - Script
Steve Ditko - Plot
Steve Ditko - Penciler
Marshall Rogers - Inker

Review/plot:
Considering how little Steve Ditko's art has evolved (even taking into account inks by Marshall Rogers for this story) i'd like to believe that this is a lost story that has been sitting around since 1962 and finally published in Marvel Super Heroes, instead of something that Ditko drew in 1990 with the idea that it might go into this book or Marvel Comics Presents or some other random place. It's surely not the case, but let me have it.

The story is about the army base's psychologist, a man named, er, Dr. Stort, who becomes the super-villain Distorter. He has a "distaura" that hides his identity. And he knows that Bruce Banner is the Hulk.

The Distorter is also a hypnotist, and he brainwashes the Hulk into disrupting a test missile launch.

The Hulk eventually overcomes the hypnosis and defeats the Distorter.

But the Hulk's actions while hypnotized don't endear him to General Ross.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Since the Hulk is grey, this probably takes place between Hulk #1-2 (even though the Hulk's dialogue is a little too "dumb Hulk" for the period and he drops an anachronistic "the madder Hulk gets... the stronger Hulk gets").

The Captain Marvel story from this issue is here, and the rest of the stories are here.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? Y

My Reprint: N/A

If the Hulk is gray, why does Ross call him "the jade giant"?

I guess Hulk's marketing department got ahead of him. :-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shades_of_green#Jade
There is a shade of green called "Feldgrau".
"Feldgrau" (field grey) was the color of the field uniform of the German Army from late 1907 until 1945, and the East German NVA armies. Metaphorically, feldgrau used to refer to the armies of Germany (the Imperial German Army and the Heer [army] component of the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht).

The word feldgrau means "field grey", and by World War I the color was a light grey-green, though there is no specific color, rather a color range of greys to browns, that was one of the first standardized uniforms suitable to the age of smokeless gunpowder. Formerly, the Germans wore a Prussian blue shade similar to that of the French."

'If the Hulk is gray, why does Ross call him "the jade giant"?'

More to the point, if the Hulk is grey, why does he speak in 'Hulk smash' style...?

Of course, the most likely explanation for what's going on here is that this was intended to take place later in the Hulk's history but for some reason the colorist thought the Hulk should be gray.

Arguably this story should be placed later. In INCREDIBLE HULK #2 Bruce still changes into the Hulk overnight, whereas he seems to be active during the day in the extracts.

The Hulk wore pants like this from INCREDIBLE HULK #4 to AVENGERS #2. I believe AVENGERS #3 has the first sequences where he changes unpredictably. In AVENGERS #5 Bruce returns to Ross’s command after he’s been missing some time.

If we go by the Hulk's shorts the story could be a lead-in to FANTASTIC FOUR #12. His grey appearance, spontaneous change, and use of Hulkspeak could be effects of Stort's distaura.

Otherwise, the story best fits somewhere between AVENGERS #5 and TALES TO ASTONISH #60. (Note there's no Rick Jones or Talbot). If the story is placed shortly before #60 Dr Stort could be working for the Leader, like the robot-thief and the Chameleon.

It's definitely a possibility, Luke, but i think i'll stick with this placement. We have one very obvious characteristic (he's grey) vs. a less obvious one (he's active during the daytime). Either one could be blamed on Dr. Stort, but since his main power is mind control, i think it makes more sense for him to be responsible for the Hulk going out in the daytime and talking differently than he was at the time (maybe accidentally unlocking a suppressed part of the Hulk's psyche). Beyond that, we have a pair of pants, which could be chalked up to a style choice or the fact that Bruce was wearing briefs that day.

I wish they had colored him green, or that Ross called him the Feldgrau Giant, but it's hard to ignore the fact that he's grey.

To be clear, i think your suggested placement makes a lot of sense too, and the truth is that the story is just screwed up because of the colorist. But i think it's just a matter of preference.

I have this one between#2 and 3. He was colored gray to go along with the idea that Peter Davis used that he was gray during the entire run of the original series because the personality fit his grey version. The scripter made a mistake and no one caught it.

I personally treat this story as non-canon, as I have a tough time reconciling the dumb 'Hulk smash' persona here with the smart, mean, surly version from those early Kirby stories in Hulk and Avengers. That's just my personal preference. But I can appreciate others wanting to make as many stories fit within continuity as possible.

I do think, though, that sometimes it just doesn't work (e.g. Loeb's Hulk:Grey. The MCP apparently agrees with me on that one as the flashbacks therein are not reflected in Hulk's chronology).

Not a fan of the Ditko Hulk, particularly since he has only three toes on each foot.