And in my mind's eye I could see more than Kirby unleashed--I could also easily envision a two-part story expanded to four issues, this time with none other than inker Joe Sinnott joining forces with Kirby:
- The end of Part 1 would have the Torch on the losing end of a battle with the Hulk after making an attempt to put a stop to his rampage following his arrival in New York, while the rest of the FF deal with the emergency of Reed falling victim to a dangerous virus;
- Part 2 sees the Thing begin his struggle against the Hulk, with Johnny hospitalized and Sue sidelined while trying to save him--the last page having the Thing finally taken down, with the Hulk shouting his defiance to the city and vowing to destroy the Avengers next;
- In Part 3, the Thing re-engages the Hulk, near exhaustion but rallying to give the Hulk a continued fight that even the green goliath in his rage can't bring himself to believe, with the Torch racing to his side to briefly join forces before the Hulk at last deals with them--the issue ending as the Hulk at last confronts the Avengers;
- And finally, in Part 4, the Avengers make a fierce but futile effort to prevent the Hulk from taking Rick Jones captive-while elsewhere, an antidote to the dangerous chemicals which he came into contact with allows Reed to recover enough to join his partners in the city and make plans to tackle the Hulk, regardless of how the Avengers feel about it.
And as long as we're indulging in a make-believe scenario: After reader reaction to this revised tale has buried the Marvel offices under an avalanche of mail filled with praise for both story and art, and sales of Fantastic Four have defied all expectations, Kirby sits down with Stan Lee and publisher Martin Goodman and renegotiates both his pay and the rights to his material--perfect timing, as it turned out, with everyone signing on the dotted line a little over a year before Goodman would sell his Magazine Management Company (Marvel's parent company) to what would become Cadence Industries. The deal leaves Kirby sitting pretty in a new ten-year contract, Marvel's only condition of the deal and adding up to a win-win for the artist.
Such was not to be, of course--except for possibly the mail filled with praise part, though even with a two-page letters section it wasn't even a deluge, much less burying, since roughly 60% of the mail printed dealt with other, unrelated subjects. But we won't let that stop us from diving into this ambitious tale which would pit the incredible Hulk against not only members of the Fantastic Four, but the Avengers, as well. But come on, it's the billing on the marquee that captures the reader's attention on this one.
Continued »»»