Hulk feels bad about all the damage he’s done throughout the years, and now that he’s got Banner Brain, he can do something about it. So he goes around helping people.
The main villains are the U-Foes.
It’s their second appearance against Hulk and they come close to beating him.
Great fights!
And brutal hand-breaking!
They subdue him and decide to kill him on live TV.
They fail. But it’s a good excuse for reaction shots from guys like Doc Samson, The Avengers, and Daredevil.
The TV trick backfires–enabling the world to see Hulk as sympathetic, which leads to him receiving amnesty for all his past destruction.
Lots of cameos here.
While he’s on the White House lawn with every hero known to man, aliens attack. Seriously. I mean, they couldn’t have had worse timing if they’d meant to. So, everybody fights and the aliens are defeated. Easily.
It turns out that there weren’t any aliens after all. And despite the fact that every superhero on Earth (just about) was present and accounted for, nobody figured that out. Rather, it was The Leader using alien tech as part of a master plan, the first step of which was getting amnesty for Hulk for all his past destructiveness. (That story will get resolved in future issues.)
Oh, and he also gets the key to the city.
Mayor Koch appears in this book. President Reagan’s signature is seen on the amnesty declaration, but he never actually makes an appearance. You know these Hollywood actors—too expensive.
Even Willie Lumpkin appears–delivering mail from writer Bill Mantlo’s daughter!
The art of these issues is Sal Buscema, except for #279, which has pencils by Mark Gruenwald. Betcha didn’t know he could draw!