Incredible Hulk #260
Cover Date: June 1981
Sale Date: March 17th, 1981
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Artist: Sal Buscema
Inker: Sal Trapani, Frank Giacoia, Bruce Patterson, Marie Severin, and Walt Simonson
Letterer: Jim Novak
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Al Milgrom
“Sunset of a Samurai!”
Guest Stars/Supporting Cast: Sanshiro Sugata, Rick Jones
Villain: Col. Glenn Talbot
Synopsis: Open to director Sanshiro Sugata, dressed in ancient Samurai robes, walking to the set of the latest Todo monster movie, while being pestered by impatient and greedy studio reps. Sugata considers the location of the film a desecration, as the set has been built around a sacred Buddha mound in order to capture the image of the volcano, Mount Kuroishi, in the background. Despite his protests, filming begins. Meanwhile, the Hulk has been “caught” in the net of a local fisherman, scaring the poor man out of his wits. He leaps away, and ends up on the side of the volcano, hoping for some peace and queit. Back on the movie set, the impatient brothers are fed up with Sugata’s calm, artistic pacing and take control of the robot monster. Suddenly, the top of Mt. Kuroishi explodes and Sugata takes this as the gods taking matters into their own hands. In reality, it is Col. Talbot in the War Wagon attacking the Hulk. Tides shift in favor for both combatants, but eventually the Hulk’s rage results in a lava cone exploding and coating the War Wagon, sending it plummeting to the ground. The after-effects of the battle has put Sugata in danger, but the Hulk, who has been infatuated with a tiny Buddha statue, arrives to save the aged director from the oncoming lava flow.
Commentary: Glenn Talbot is dead, long live Talbot! Guess having two military Hulk antagonists wasn’t in the cards, given that Ross was making an eventual comeback. Or maybe Mantlo didn’t care for the character altogether? Who knows, he’d been floundering for years, and nobody seemed to know what to do with him. Personally, I thought Talbot had more potential to carry on Ross’ legacy, and it could have been more personal – seeing as how his competition for Betty’s love was Banner himself. Again, we see a shift in the art with the help of multiple inkers, although a recent Facebook thread started by Erik Larsen may have revealed the mystery to which pages (Talbot’s death scene) could have been inked by the great Walt Simonson.