THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #119

"The Gentleman's Name is... Hulk!"

• Writer: Gerry Conway
• Artist: John Romita
• Inker: John Romita
• Print Date: Apr., 1973

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

When your Aunt May is a guest of Doctor Octopus, and is residing in a large manor secured with an electric fence and armed guards, it's difficult to stop by for a visit. Our issue opens with Spider-Man sneaking over the fence and arriving unseen at the house. An urgent telegram for Aunt May has arrived, and Peter is there to deliver it personally. While he changes clothes in the back yard, he hears one of thugs passing the word to Doctor Octopus that a telegram hasn't arrived yet. After that comment, Peter decides to keep the telegram to himself until he can get a chance to read it and see why Doctor Octopus would be so interested in it. Still, Peter stops by to visit his aunt under the watchful eye of Mr. Rafferty and the rest of Doctor Octopus' thugs.

An hour later, as Spider-Man heads out, he ponders what Doctor Octopus' game is. Of course, reading ahead, we know that telegram is sent to inform Aunt May she's inherited an entire island complete with its own nuclear reactor, but I really don't want to rehash one of the lamer stories of the era here.

When Peter finally arrives home, he opens the telegram. The text reads: URGENT I CONTACT YOU AT ONCE STOP PLEASE COME IN PERSON STOP THIS MATTER TOO DELICATE FOR DISCUSSION HERE OR ON PHONE STOP.

It's from a Jean Pierre Rimbaud in Montreal. Something about the telegram sets Peter thinking, and he heads out for a relaxing walk. Just outside the apartment however, he finds his roommate Harry Osborn saying goodbye to his father Norman. As Peter approaches, Harry falls into a stupor and collapses in Peter's arms. Norman leaps out of his car and yells at Peter to unhand his son as he loads Harry back into the limo. once they've left, Peter fears that Norman may be regaining his memory of alter-ego: the Green Goblin. And with that will come knowledge of Peter Parker's alternate identity as Spider-Man! Now, Peter has two reasons to get out of town and go to Montreal, but he hasn't yet the means..

That is until Peter sees a news report about the Hulk being sighted in Canada. As a photographer for the Daily Bugle, he thinks he might be able to get a business trip to Montreal for the purposes of photographing the Hulk. Soon, several blocks crosstown, Peter stops in to see Jameson who's in a terrible mood. Jameson won't hear a single word of what Peter has to say until Peter promises he can deliver pictures of the Hulk smashing Spider-Man in Canada.

Peter makes a mad-dash for the airport and hops on the flight at the last minute. Destination: Montreal!

Peter questions his decision to pry into Aunt May's life while he looks for the office of a certain attorney. Once he arrives, his secretary Miss Delon informs Peter that Mssr. Rimbaud was called out of town on business. She promises to check his files however and asks if Peter can return later for dinner.

Outside, the air is a biting 16 degrees, but Peter isn't letting the cold stop him from joining a crowd surrounding a local hotel. He watches as Brigadier General "Thunderbolt" Ross enters the hotel, and Peter's press pass gives him access to the press conference going on inside. General Ross advises the Canadian press that the Hulk is the most dangerous creature alive on the face of the earth. He can't be contained or controlled. General Ross' advice to the Canadian military is to crush and destroy the Hulk using whatever means possible. His tirade is interrupted by an announcement that the Hulk has been located 10 miles north of Montreal at a power station. He adjourns the press conference to oversee the capture or destruction of the Hulk.

Peter press credentials aren't enough to get him a ride with the rest of the news correspondents. In a desperate move, he leaps onto a passing troop transport earning the respect of the journalists being transported inside. The convoy's trip north takes almost an hour (I thought it was only 10 miles), and as Peter's ride crosses the bridge, his spider-sense goes off like an alarm! He tries to warn the driver, but it's too late! Their truck has been picked up an tossed aside by the Hulk. The journalists all survived being knocked off the road, but it's unlikely they do as well against the rampaging behemoth heading for them. Peter quickly changes into his costume, and heads out to do whatever he can to distract the Hulk.

Spider-Man catches the Hulk off-balance, and his opening shot has the fortune to knock the Hulk down the hillside. The Hulk gets up with a murderous glare, but at that point, the military has returned. The army doesn't stand a chance as the their bullets and bazooka shells simply bounce off the Hulk. They risk being crushed by the Hulk under a granite boulder until Spider-Man intervenes.

The Hulk gives up battling Spider-Man and the Canadian army and leaps away heading towards the Maskattawan Dam. General Ross and the military heads out to pursue the creature, and Spider-Man follows shortly behind by web-slinging through the forest. Spider-Man arrives at the damn just in time to witness the Hulk attacking the dam. If the Hulk manages to shatter this dam, an entire town would be washed away. Spider-Man avoids the Hulk's clumsy attempts to swat him with an I-beam, and heads into the control tower where he spins the pressure wheel to lower the water level in the reservoir. He succeed in easing the pressure, but the Hulk isn't finished with the dam. The Hulk crushes a crater in the dam collapsing that area of the dam and the control tower (still containing our hero) above it. Both the Hulk and Spider-Man plunge into the river beneath the collapsing rubble...

To be continued!