The AVENGERS THREE And A HALF - A LITTLE-KNOWN HULK TALE...

HULK copyright MARVEL COMICS.  Art possibly by JOSE GARCIA PIZARRO.
Update: More likely to be by EDUARDO FEITO according to new information

Most British comic readers of a certain age will already be well aware of the following information, but it's really aimed at our American cousins, who may not be familiar with the background to this 1960s HULK tale from the ODHAMS PRESS publication entitled SMASH!

Back between 1966 to '69, Odhams at one stage had five weekly comic periodicals collectively known as POWER COMICS, which included WHAM!, SMASH!, POW!, FANTASTIC, and TERRIFIC.  (There was a brief period when all five titles were published concurrently, but at this early stage only Wham! and Smash! were available.)  All reprinted MARVEL stories, but in the case of the first three, the strips were resized for the larger British format, effectively turning two U.S. pages into one U.K. page.

In Smash! #38 (cover-dated October 22nd 1966), for some curious, unexplained reason, a completely new, original Hulk tale made its debut, which has never (as far as I'm aware) been reprinted anywhere since.  (See comments section for further info.)  Even more curious is that the strip was originally drawn in the U.S. format, requiring it to be resized (by lesser hands, alas) in the same way as other American Marvel stories.

Whence did the tale come?  Was it a British originated strip (using a foreign artist by the look of it) which had mistakenly been drawn in U.S. dimensions, or was it an American Marvel try-out for a foreign artist which had been rejected, then inadvertently sent to U.K. shores amongst a package of other Marvel tales?

Unfortunately, we may never know - but I thought U.S. readers would appreciate seeing a little-known Hulk adventure which takes place between AVENGERS #s 3 & 4.  And, as an extra bonus, the strip is sourced directly from the actual Odhams bound file-copies volume which contained this particular comics curiosity.  Enjoy! 

Click on images to enlarge, then click again for optimum size.

Here's the cover to the actual issue.  Apologies for the shadow down the left side, but the comic is in a bound
Odhams volume which only opens so far.  I daren't risk opening it wider for fear of breaking the book's spine

THIS SURE TAKES SOME LICKIN'...

It was back in the late '60s, in Room 7 of my primary school one day, that I espied the magnifying glass.  It was in the hands of one of my classmates who was using it for the purpose for which it was designed.  (No surprise there, really - what else is a magnifying glass for?)  I was fascinated - it was such a small magnifying glass, and I immediately wanted one for myself.  "Where did you get it?" I enquired of him.  "I got it as part of a free stamp collecting kit I sent away for" was his response.  That was the magic word for me - "free".  I had seen the ad for such stamp kits in the comics I bought, but had never paid them too much attention before.  I decided there and then that I would send away for such a kit the first chance I got.  Nothing would deter me, my mind was made up.  I wanted a mini-magnifying glass of my very own and, by thunder, I'd have one.

Close to 30 odd years later, when I eventually got around to sending for it (quite a few years ago now), it could well have been from the very same stamp dealer as my long-ago classmate had acquired his - D. J. Hanson Ltd., Eastrington, Goole, East Yorks, England, DN14 7QG, who advertised extensively in British comics of the time (and is still going strong today).  Update: He passed away in 2015.

The much-coveted magnifying glass wasn't exactly the same as the one I remembered, but it was good enough for me.  I felt the satisfaction that comes from finally fulfilling some long-held purpose or ambition that should have been accomplished years before.  In fact, I wish I could sit in that classroom now, at my old desk, and employ my magnifying glass in the way I would've done back when I was a kid.  No, not to read tiny print in one of my school books, but to capture an errant sunbeam and direct it towards a patch of skin on someone's bare thigh (short trousers in my day, remember) and wait to see them jump.

Sadistic little bleeder, eh?

I do sort of collect stamps actually, but on an extremely limited scale: Christmas stamps, TV, movie, and comic characters, etc.  I couldn't fill a whole album, but I've got enough to keep me occupied for an hour or so, on cold, rainy nights when the wind is howling outside my window, bearing aloft familiar childhood voices and visions from so very long ago.

  

Typical stamp ad from the 1960s