The Incredible Hulk #236, June 1979. "Kill or Be Killed!" Written by Roger Stern, pencilled by Sal Buscema, inked by Mike Esposito, lettered by Jim Novak, colored by Bob Sharen, edited by Al Milgrom. Cover by Milgrom.

Wielding his loose left arm as a bludgeon, Machine Man charges the Hulk, who is heading towards Peter Spaulding's house to smash the doctor, whom the Hulk believes has kidnapped Trish Starr. The two continue their battle, as in the house, Peter tries to convince the Hulk's friend, Fred Sloan, that he hasn't done anything. He does convince Fred to hand over the gun he's holding, and then Fred tells Peter what's happened. Peter realizes it's all a setup by the Corporation, and tosses the gun back to Fred (it's not real, just a replica). Spaulding is about to call in some help when the Hulk and Machine Man crash through the side of the house. Peter and Fred flee, realizing the Hulk's too mad to listen to reason, and seek out Col. Kragg.

However, the Hulk sees Fred going with Peter, and thinks Peter's kidnapping Fred, too! Machine Man stops the Hulk from persuing, joining the battle anew, while the Corporation observer lets his superior, Mr. Jackson, know what's going on. Jackson decides he wants to see the fight for himself, and goes out on the balcony of the skyscraper headquarters he's esconsed in to watch via binoculars.

At the battle, Machine Man starts flying away, and the Hulk leaps after him. Since the Hulk can't fly, he's at a disadvantage, but the battle gets brought into the city anyway. Meanwhile, Peter and Fred let Kragg know what's going on, and the Colonel alerts Gamma Base.

The Hulk temporarily being out of action, Machine Man detects the transmission of the Corporate spy, and seperates the man from his radio by throwing the man into a nearby pool. MM changes his voice to find out where Jackson is. Meanwhile, the Hulk starts digging his way out from underground, and grabs some buried wires, intending to electrocute MM. Unfortunately, the damage has also broken a gas main, and when the gas hits the sparks.... KABOOOOOOM!

The ad of the issue was chosen because 1) It's another Heroes World ad, which was always cool, 2) It featured some cool Mego toys (The Rage Cage), and 3) None of the other ads this issue were that great!

Now, the Hulk Rage Cage is something I have seen; in fact, a version of it was sold as part of the more recent Toy Biz Hulk line. On the other hand, the Thing item is something I've never seen!

The paperback novels which can't be seen (because they were B&W in this ad, and crappy pictures besides) were the first two of a series of novels put out featuring the Marvel Superheroes in 1979, both of which I had in my own collection at one point, but subsequently sold. Also advertised were paperback reprintings of Spidey, Hulk, FF and Dr. Strange stories, two Marvel Treasuries, and a collection of Golden Age reprints. Needless to say, these were all items I desperately wanted at the time, but which I (sob!) didn't get... but if you've got any of these, and want to share your good fortune, take a picture of yourself with it, scan and send it to me, along with anything you want to say about it, and I'll add it to this page!