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Incredible Hulk Annual, The (1976 series) #20

on-sale: Jun 1, 1994
Peter David | Stuart Immonen

Incredible Hulk Annual, The (1976 series) #20 cover

Story Name:

Story Time


Synopsis

Incredible Hulk Annual, The (1976 series) #20 synopsis by Jon Ryser
Rating: 3 stars
A large man saves a woman named Sandy from a group of "nasty types" in Central Park. She is not pleased. Sandy has been hanging out every night for the last couple weeks in the park hoping to get attacked. She tells the large man (she doesn't know who he is yet - he's disguised) her story. She relates how she went to Scotland with her fiance, Jack. In Scotland he was senselessly killed (by Madman) during a fight between Madman, Piecemeal, and the Hulk. Ever since losing Jack, she has no hope, feels his death is her fault, and has been seeking punishment. The large man takes her down underground to his home and reveals himself to be the Abomination. He tells Sandy and the people who live there a fairytale story of his own origins. Sandy has fallen asleep during the telling. A couple cops wake her up in Central Park. She thinks it was all a dream. She finds a note in her pocket from the Abomination inviting her to the underground for story time on any full moon. The whole experience has given her a new outlook. She can go on living.
Funko Pop! Marvel: The Fantastic Four: First Steps - The Thing
Give that special marvelite a timely gift


Characters
Good (or All)
ABOMINATION

Flashbacks
PROFESSOR
Plus: Madman (Phil Sterns).


Story #2

Psychobabble

Writer: Jerry A. Novick.Penciler: Kevin Kobasic. Inker: Phil Moy. Colorist: Sarra Mossoff. Letterer: Jon Babcock.

Synopsis

By Jon Ryser
Rating: 3 stars
Doc Samson rushes in to "talk out" a man holding hostages at the post office. The man is obviously a mutant as he changes into different people. Doc Samson keeps trying to figure out which manifestation is the real one. This mutant is a schizophrenic who has been abused. Doc Samson refuses to let the SWAT teams take out the mutant believing that he can help him. He battles the different incarnations and tries to reason with them. The mutant becomes all of the personalities at once. A gentle female personality emerges. When Samson tries to reason with her, he finds that she is just one more personality. All the personalities suddenly come together in the form of a boy. Doc Samson takes him in his arms and promises that they'll work together to make the boy whole.

Characters
Good (or All)
DOCSAMSON

Enemies
Psychobabble.


Story #3

Desert Storm

Writer: Frank Lovece.Penciler: Phil Felix. Inker: Tony Harris. Colorist: Kelly Corvese.

Synopsis

By Jon Ryser
Rating: 3 stars
Achilles and Ajax are shot down on their way to Trans-Sabal to meet with a Pantheon field agent code-named Arabian-Night. They are attacked by Mandroids. Their filed agent arrives and defeats the Mandroids. He reveals that he is the Arabian Knight. Achilles and Ajax were told that their contact had information about a massive secret buildup of Muslim troops for export to Europe. The Arabian knight shows them the troops, but instead of wanting to stop them, he would like to help them get to Bosnia-Hercegovina. Achilles and Ajax fight the Arabian Knight. He stresses that the ethnic cleansing that has been taking place in Bosnia-Hercegovina is no different than what Hitler did to the Jews in WWII. Achilles is Jewish and wont stand for the comparison. While they are fighting, Allied bombers destroy the Muslim troops. Ajax asks, Whyz it OK to stop these soljers but not thother ones? Achilles and Ajax join the Arabian Knight in helping the wounded troops. Achilles wants to remember what he promised to never forget!

Characters
Good (or All)
PANTHEON
PROFESSOR
Plus: Achilles, Ajax, Arabian Knight (Abdul Qamar).



Story #4

You're Invited!

Writer: Barry Dutter.Penciler: Scott Benefiel. Inker: Mike Christian. Colorist: Sarra Mossoff. Letterer: Unknown.

Synopsis

By Jon Ryser
Rating: 3 stars
Wedding photos from Rick Jones and Marlo Jones wedding.

Characters
Good (or All)
MARLOCHANDLER
PROFESSOR
RICKJONES




> Incredible Hulk Annual, The (1976 series) comic book info and issue index


Incredible Hulk Annual, The (1976 series) #20 cover

This comic is in the following collection:
ad
COLLECTING: INCREDIBLE HULK (1968) 407-419, ANNUAL 20; HULK: FUTURE IMPERFECT 1-2; INCREDIBLE HULK ASHCAN EDITION; MATERIAL FROM MARVEL HOLIDAY SPECIAL 3

Main/1st Story Full Credits

Stuart Immonen
Brad Vancata
Glynis Oliver
Salvador Larroca (Cover Penciler)
Brad Vancata (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits

Editor-in-chief: Tom DeFalco.



Review / Commentaries


Incredible Hulk Annual, The (1976 series) #20 Review by (August 20, 2025)
Story Time ties in events from The Incredible Hulk #408. This isn't my favorite annual. I'm into the Hulk, and there's not much Hulk in here. Some might complain about the art, some about the writing, but with no real Hulk stories; there's not much going on for me.

Additional Reviews by Peter Silvestro:

Review: First story: An odd way to start off a Hulk Annual—with a story about one of his archenemies. In fact, Hulk really doesn’t have much of a presence in this issue. And that’s okay: this tale is a very nice one, showing us a different side of Emil Blonsky as a compassionate fellow, desirous of helping the suicidal Sandy...and then he relates his own story as a fairy tale which makes him out to be the hero and Hulk the villain because he’s still a bad guy with a grievance. The one action scene is nicely put together and the switch of art styles is what makes the fairy tale what it is.

Second story: An offbeat little tale that is primarily the introduction to an offbeat antagonist. Psychobabble (a slang term for nonsensical psychological theorizing) is an appropriate name for this fellow whose mania shifts with his form as Doc Samson desperately tries to keep up his mode of therapy. And there’s more of this fellow to come (see Comments) but not a lot more as he could quickly grow tiresome. So far so good.

Third story: An unusual tale with contemporary political relevance: what should we be doing about the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia? With the standard answer: the white male Americans are ignorant and stupid. The story is a halfway decent one but the writer doesn’t trust us to think for ourselves and so tells us who is right and who is wrong. For the record, I agree with the writer’s views, just wish he didn’t have to insult people like me to present it.

Fourth story: A brief little comic tale, a cute romp with Rick, Hulk, and various other Marvelites.

Additional Comments by Peter Silvestro:

Cover pencils by Salvador Larocca and Stuart Immonen.

First story: Blonsky’s account of his origin has been dubbed Earth-TRN622. The reference to Ron Perlman living underground is a nod to his role on the TV series BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1987-1990); Blonsky mistakes him for businessman Ronald Perelman, then chairman of Revlon.

Second story: First appearance of Psychobabble, who only subsequent showing is in MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #170-171, also with Doc Samson. Manny, Moe, and Jack are the names of the mascots of Pep Boys auto supply chain in the USA.

Third story: The background to this tale is given in INCREDIBLE HULK #390-392, X-FACTOR #76, UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #15, and X-FACTOR ANNUAL #6 plus a lot of the actual news that year. Letters by Susan Crespi and Michael Higgins.

Fourth story: Multiple guest cameos, too many to list here. Check Marvel Database for the full list.






Thor

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