The League of Ridiculous Villains, Part Four

The League of Ridiculous Villains, Part Four

Our not-exactly lovable loser from the Silver Age of Marvel Comics this time is The Voice of Doom, who pitted himself against Ant-Man back in Tales to Astonish # 42, April 1963. After a non-descript radio announcer was exposed to ionized atoms from a nearby laboratory, he gained the power to make anyone who heard his voice believe what he said and obey his commands. Seeking a way to make money off this good fortune, the guy decides to take on Ant-Man, based on this monumentally-flawed logic…“If I can defeat Ant-Man, I can defeat anyone.”

Say what now? Sure, there weren’t a ton of super-heroes around the Marvel Universe back in ’63, but in a world where Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four are for the most part already well-known, the best this guy could do was Ant-Man? They divide boxing matches up by weight class for a reason, and it isn’t because the little guys beat up the big guys. This googan figures after Ant-Man, the others will be a cakewalk? Maybe the ionized atoms made him delusional, too. To top off his ridiculousness, the guy was defeated by Ant-Man-induced laryngitis for crying out loud!

As an aside, “the Voice of Doom” was a nickname listeners had for Lorne Greene, who was the principal newsreader for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation National News in the 1930’s and ‘40’s. (Someone at Marvel was obviously hip to that little tidbit at some point, because when it came time to assign the Voice a real name, it was chosen to be Jason Lorne Cragg.)

Part Four’s DC villain is the Bug-Eyed Bandit, who was first brave enough to call himself that in public in The Atom #26, Aug-Sept 1966. If the villain name alone isn’t enough to earn him a spot on the League, the guy’s secret identity was Bertram Larvan. Larvan…Larva, get it? And check out that costume! Yeesh! Amazingly, this guy was one of the Atom’s main villains during the Silver Age. The story may be apocryphal, but word is that Marv Wolfman killed off the Bug-Eyed Bandit in the landmark Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi-series because he did not want to work for a company that would print stories involving such asinine characters.

The Voice of Doom and the Bug-Eyed Bandit are both proof that while shrinking heroes are visually interesting and no doubt provide artists and writers lots of fun in concocting their various travails, by and large these little guys are only able to handle losers from the absolute bottom of the super villain barrel.

Random Review #4. The Incredible Hulk #131, September 1970

Random Review #4: The Incredible Hulk #131, September 1970

“A Titan Stalks the Tenements!”

Roy Thomas, writer
Herb Trimpe, artist
John Severin, inker

The splash page of The Incredible Hulk #131 depicts the Hulk in the wooded outskirts of a large city. He is searching for Bruce Banner, from whom he had been physically separated in the previous issue.

At that same time, at an unnamed military base on the outer fringes of that same unnamed urban area, Bruce Banner confers with Betty Ross and her father, General Thunderbolt Ross. The General assures Banner that he is safe there, but Betty fears the Hulk can menace them anywhere. General Ross reiterates his desire to destroy the Hulk, and Betty objects, citing Bruce’s theory that the Hulk’s destruction may kill him as well. Bruce bravely says that facing death would be worth it to rid the world of the Hulk.

“Just now” on Harper Street in Los Angeles, a 15-year-old African American boy grabs a woman’s purse and runs away. He takes shelter in a fire-gutted tenement, weeping over being called a thief. Even though he reconsidered and dropped the purse where the woman could find it, the young orphan is sure that sooner or later his lack of money and food will force him to go through with a crime.

From out of nowhere the Hulk appears. The two outsiders strike up an unlikely friendship. The boy, Jim Wilson, observes that they have a lot in common, and, even with his gamma ray addled brain, the Hulk realizes that the world hates them both because they are different. Jim shares his last food, a candy bar, with the Hulk and agrees to help the Hulk find Banner.

That night, Jim slips onto the military base and eavesdrops at the window as Bruce, Betty and the General discuss their plans. Banner is afraid that a full-out military assault will endanger countless civilians, and proposes that they attempt to trick the Hulk into re-merging with him. Jim is impressed by Banner’s courage, then is captured by base security and brought before the General. Jim reveals the Hulk’s whereabouts and Banner reassures the boy that they will make every effort to capture the Hulk without harming him.

Suddenly, a condition red alert sweeps across the base. The radar blip that triggered the alarm is not the Hulk. Rather, it is Iron Man. He offers his assistance and a plan is quickly set in motion. The gammatron device which first separated Bruce and the Hulk is brought in, and Jim reluctantly agrees to lure the Hulk out of hiding.

Jim returns to the tenement and coaxes the Hulk to leave with him. The trap is sprung, but Iron Man cannot fire the gammatron before Jim gets clear. Hulk realizes he has been duped and grabs the boy. Iron Man zooms to Jim’s aid, freeing him as he smashes into the Hulk. Concerned for Jim’s safety, Iron Man is snatched up by the Hulk but manages to escape thanks to his repulsor rays.

In a desperate bid to keep Hulk from leaping away, Iron Man allows himself to be hit. Even though downed, Iron Man is still in the line of fire, preventing use of the gammatron. He blasts loose the top two floors of an abandoned building, dropping them onto the Hulk.

Iron Man fears that the Hulk has been killed, but the Hulk erupts from beneath the tons of rubble unharmed. Finally, Iron Man is clear and Ross’ men fire the gammatron. The Hulk is knocked to his knees and Banner charges in so that he and the Hulk can be blasted at the same time. The Gammatron works, merging the two figures, and Banner is absorbed into the Hulk. Unconscious, the Hulk is restrained. Although reassured by General Ross that he did the right thing, young Jim Wilson has his doubts.

I still recall the day I first read this comic back in 1970. It was the first time I’d ever seen Iron Man go up against the Hulk one-on-one. I didn’t realize it at the time, of course, but the issue is also something of a landmark, introducing Jim Wilson who would serve as the Hulk’s sidekick and ally for years to come. The 1994 issue chronicling Jim’s death from AIDS was one of the most poignant I’ve ever read.

The Herb Trimpe art in this issue was very well done. The gammatron was impressively designed and the fight scene packed a lot of action into a mere four pages. John Severin’s inks compliment Trimpe’s pencils in a way that certain others did not. For readers who grew up collecting Hulk in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s, Trimpe will always be the definitive Hulk artist. Roy Thomas once again displayed that he possessed an inherent understanding of the Hulk’s character and took the bold move of introducing a new teen sidekick to replace Rick Jones, who was off having adventures of his own in the Captain Marvel series by then.

Bottom Line: This comic is one of my favorites, not only for personal reasons but also because of its compelling storytelling and exciting artwork.