SUNDAY FUNNIES WITH KERRY CALLEN!
By KERRY CALLEN
Continuing my series reviewing 20th Century comic books that claim The Battle/Fight/Bout/Showdown of the Century on their covers…
This week’s battle — SPIDER-MAN vs. THE HULK! Presented in Special Edition: Spider-Man vs. The Hulk, 1979. It’s an advertising supplement to the Columbus Dispatch. The art was pencilled by Sal Buscema and inked by Al Milgrom. I’m going to guess it was written by Jim Shooter, but it’s just a guess.
I recognize both the character poses as being Marvel “clip art” with a book being awkwardly added to Spider-Man’s hand. I guess it’s there because this is a “Big Special Back-to-School Issue!” By “big” they mean 16 pages, and by “back-to-school” they mean the fight happens on a college campus. I suppose “special” means you get it free in your newspaper. The splash page is designed to get everyone up to speed —
WHY ARE THEY FIGHTING?
Dr. R.B. “David” Banner is in New York, headed to Empire State University “looking for salvation,” which is never explained.
Okay, hang on a moment. We all know that the Hulk is really Bruce Banner, right? He was “Bob” in the FF #25 we reviewed earlier, and now he’s “David.” For some reason, that’s what he was called on the popular Hulk TV show in the late ’70s. But if it comes up, I’m calling him Bruce, OK? Bruce!
Anyway, Paul Parker happens to be going to the college at the same time. Ha ha. Kidding. It’s Peter Parker.
Bruce sees a little girl fall into the water at the docks and freaks out. Bruce! Be cool, man! Nope, he changes to the Hulk, but he still saves the girl.
People yell at him. He jumps off as the police shoot at him. He’s misunderstood, you know.
Meanwhile, across town, we get a one page Spider-Man adventure. Oh no! He’s late for the first day of school! (I guess it is a back-to-school issue!)
Spidey stops the criminals, but a shop owner runs out to yell at him for breaking the front window. He’s under-appreciated, don’t you know.
After class, since it’s the first day of school, Peter decides it’s a great time to hit on the local talent.
Smooooth. Oh no! Peter’s spider-senses suddenly go off! He dumps the girl and throws an internal pity-party. Then, fight time!
HOW EPIC IS THE BATTLE?
Spidey tries to web the Hulk, but that never works.
The Hulk doesn’t talk in this issue, he only growls and such. Again, blame it on the TV show. There’s a two-panel bit that’s humorous, but in some ways, it’s merely ahead of its time.
The Hulk rampages. He’s very good at it.
Spidey does his best to keep all the students out of danger, when —
We get a little break from the fight to see what Spider-Man’s made of —
He’s made of determination with a goodness filling!
Oops, that last page is from 1966’s Amazing Spider-Man #33. My mistake.
WHO WINS?
The fight continues! Spidey’s holding his own (sorta), but is probably not going to win. Then something happens that changes everything!
Didn’t we go through this lifting thing already? Anyway, the Army suddenly shows up to blast the Hulk! Spidey, however, webs them so that Hulk can jump away! (Which he could have done anyhow.)
Our story wraps up with a couple more comic book clichés. ’Cause perhaps newspaper readers have never seen them?
IS IT THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY?
Naw. Hulk breaks things and Spidey gets thrown around a lot. It might win as the CLICHÉ Battle of the Century! However, it is a good introduction to the world of comics, which is its purpose.
The Battle of the Century title remains with the Superman/Spider-Man fight of ’76. For now.
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NEXT TIME AROUND: The X-Men vs. Alpha Flight vs. Loki! (More or less.)
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MORE
— What WAS the Comic Battle of the 20th Century? PART 7 — 1978’s MACHINE MAN vs. TEN-FOR. Click here.
— What WAS the Comic Battle of the 20th Century? PART 6 — 1976’s SUPERMAN vs. SPIDER-MAN. Click here.
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Want more SUNDAY FUNNIES WITH KERRY CALLEN? Come back next week!
Want a commission? Send an email to KerryCallenArt@gmail.com. You can also find other work at linktr.ee/kerrycallen.
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KERRY CALLEN spent much of his career as an artist and art director, developing product for Hallmark, but has also dabbled in comics for many years. As a freelancer, he creates work for a range of needs, spanning from Mad Magazine to children illustrations. He has two graphic novels available on Amazon worldwide, Halo and Sprocket: The Definitive Collection, as well as Dirtnap: Mystic Spit.
August 3, 2025
So, Spider-Man needlessly ditches the girl to actually start the trouble with the Hulk. Classic ‘70s. But, then we have no story.
The tv show calling the Hulk “David” was like nails on a chalkboard to me. Made it hard to watch and get into the show. How do you mess up something so simple. The average viewer doesn’t care if they call him Bob, David or Billy. It only serves to mess with the fans. So why do it?
August 3, 2025
The dimwits at CBS thought “Bruce” was to weak a name. Yet simultaneously in the mid-late 1970’s Bruce Springsteen was doing just fine with that first name and was being called the “Future of Rock”…
August 3, 2025
I’ve seen Kenneth Johnson, executive producer and developer of the Incredible Hulk tv show, explain in many interviews that he changed the name to “David” to prevent the name from being alliteritive, which hie thought was a comic book cliche.
However, I did see an interview with Johnson in recent years where he seemed amused when it was pointed out that his lead actors in the Hulk pilot had alliteritive names: Bill Bixby and Susan Sullivan.
August 3, 2025
I remember these advertising supplements. They were just adventures. By ’83 or ’84, it was Spider-Man talking to kids about social issues like being abused.
The Spidey/Hulk adventure story that ran in the Chicago Tribune, and included advertisements for Marvel swag at local stores, was later redrawn for Marvel Team Up 126.
Here are the covers:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/-YYAAOSwB8dj3IFC/s-l500.png
https://storage.googleapis.com/hipcomic/p/9f09a4006f7e17715561da12997adf72.jpg