Beware The Body Snatcher!

With the return of the nefarious Leader, things aren't looking so good for the military personnel stationed at the newly constructed Project Greenskin base, the research/containment facility charged with capturing and, if possible, permanently ridding Robert Bruce Banner of his raging identity as the incredible Hulk. Having captured both General Ross, Major Talbot, and the Hulk's loyal friend, Jim Wilson, the Leader has replaced Ross with an android bearing his likeness, along with almost half of those stationed at the base--and with the U.S. President and Vice-President arriving to inspect the installation, the Leader plans to replace them as well with android facsimiles, effectively paving the way for him to take control of the entire government!

But, what of the Hulk, who the Leader is aware is approaching the base even now? To facilitate replacing the two most powerful men in the world with android counterparts, he's had "Ross" prepare a little surprise for the man-monster--and if we're to believe the issue's cover, all Hulk is about to break loose!

But at the risk of toning down the drama which appears to have befallen Ross, his daughter, Betty, and those hapless MPs, there is no scene in this story where the Leader is ordering or otherwise forcing the Hulk to murder these people--nor must the Hulk die for "America to live" (assuming the "life of America" loosely refers to the fate of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew), since the Hulk's death wouldn't halt the Leader's plan.

The Hulk's rage, however, is all too real, having hitched a ride on a jet flying out of Tel Aviv only to find himself being delivered (courtesy of the Pentagon) to face those who have hunted and hounded him for so long. Will the Mark Twelve unit truly be able to deal with the Hulk long enough to allow the Leader to carry out his plan?

The short answer is that, since the Leader's vaunted sonic weapon presumably went through eleven previous incarnations of development, it's beginning to look like #12 won't be the end of the line for this unit, judging by the Hulk's reaction and his dogged determination to finish Ross once and for all.

Yet you wouldn't necessarily expect the Leader's plan to be lying in ruins (or in this case, bits and pieces), since he'd meant to use the Hulk's attack as a distraction to make his android swap with the President and Vice-President, and there's no question that distraction was still very much viable. (Besides, since the Hulk's arrival was a new development, we have to assume that the Leader already had a Plan A to carry out the swap.) That said, there is a question of why the Leader would expect the Secret Service detail to be distracted by the Mark 12's use against the Hulk, since their first duty would be to move into close proximity to their two charges, rush them from the scene, and guard them with their lives, as opposed to their attention being riveted on the Hulk's rampage.

Astonishingly, however, both Nixon and Agnew remain on the scene as the Leader summons his Humanoids and merges them into a monstrous form that will enable him to have his revenge. And that might well have been the case, had it not been for the psychiatrist turned super-hero known as Doc Samson, who suits up and intervenes in this life-or-death struggle--at the cost of his own existence.

While the Leader, too, has made a rash choice, by linking his mind so closely with his humanoid--as the feedback caused by Samson's unexpected appearance initiates a chain reaction that has a devastating effect on the Leader's laboratory.

As for Samson, he gets cut a break, though not one that pleases him--for while the story's title, "The End of Doc Samson!", proves to be true, the gamma rays which bombarded him from the Humanoid's attack were only fatal for the super-human identity Dr. Leonard Samson had grown to appreciate.

While the Hulk, for his part, apparently appreciates none of what's happened here, and leaps off, leaving even Nixon and Agnew at a loss for words. As for the Leader, he begins a long period of convalescence as a paraplegic due to the explosion, a condition which would last 6½ years (our time) before he's able to return to menace Ross and Co. (and definitely the Hulk) at the controls of the Murder Module.