Marvel's Greatest Comics Vol 1 29

The Thing and Alicia are exiting a symphony auditorium at the end of their date when they notice soldiers marching on the streets. Someone panics as they see through the Thing's disguise and calls him a monster. The soldiers attack Ben -- mistaking him for the Hulk. After they subdue Ben, they realize the error an apologies for the unprovoked attack. Alicia calms Ben down and he returns to the Baxter Building. There he complains about being mistaken for the Hulk to his teammates. The Fantastic Four are soon visited by General "Thunderbolt" Ross, who has come to ask for the Fantastic Four's assistance in destroying the Hulk.

Part 2:

Ross then shows them footage of the Hulk as well as the recent destruction of various military test weapons that are being designed by Dr. Bruce Banner. Ross tells them that the military believes that the Hulk is responsible for the destruction of these devices. After coming up with various theories on how to take down the Hulk, the Fantastic Four bring Ross to their newest model of the Fantasti-Car that was designed by Johnny and they all fly to New Mexico to Gamma Base. When they arrive they find that the military's prototype anti-gravity missile has been wrecked. Ross introduces Reed Richards to Bruce Banner, his young assistant Rick Jones, and another scientist named Karl Kort. When Ross tells them that the Fantastic Four will be going after the Hulk, Banner tells his employer that he believes that someone is framing the Hulk for these acts of sabotage. Kort then excuses himself from the meeting and on his way out he bumps into the other members of the Fantastic Four who have been waiting impatiently outside. Kort is frightened by the Thing and flees the hallway, dropping his wallet as he goes, and it is picked up by the Torch.

Part 3:

Having become fed up with waiting, the Thing comes bursting into the office with the other members of the Fantastic Four, angering Ross, especially when the Thing picks up an entire bookshelf of phone books and rips them in half. Reed calms down General Ross and Banner goes on to explain that he believes that someone, whom he and Rick have dubbed the "Wrecker", is really responsible for the acts of sabotage. The Human Torch then introduces himself to Rick, showing off his flame powers before handing over Karl Kort's wallet asking Jones to return it to him. Banner and Jones then leave and go to their secret cave hideout. There Bruce shows Rick a scale model of his next invention a device that could erect a force field around a city in order to protect it from a nuclear attack. Bruce vows to stop the Wrecker as the Hulk before he can destroy his invention. Meanwhile, Rick goes to return the wallet to Karl Kort and seeing a card sticking out of it, he is shocked to find that it is a membership card to a communist organization.^{[Continuity 1]} Kort, having sneaked up behind the boy gets the drop on Rick and takes him prisoner at gunpoint.

Part 4:

Bruce Banner & Benjamin Grimm (Earth-616) from Fantastic Four Vol 1 12 0001 — The Hulk vs. the Thing!

Later the Fantastic Four are testing out a new one man, rail-driven rocket car using the Thing as a test subject. As the Thing rockets down the rails they notice that the rails had been crushed. Ben's rocket car is quickly derailed, but he is saved from a nasty fall by his teammates. When Bruce arrives on the scene and tells them that the Wrecker kidnapped Rick Jones, the Fantastic Four dismiss this, convinced that the Hulk is responsible for the sabotage and Rick's disappearances. Bruce leaves, not revealing to them that a note was left for the Hulk from the Wrecker ordering him to send the Fantastic Four away in order to save Rick's life. Knowing that there is no way he can make the Fantastic Four leave, Banner goes back to his secret lab and uses his Gamma Ray Projector to turn into the Hulk so he can capture the Wrecker himself.^{[Continuity 2]}

The Wrecker meanwhile takes Rick through a series of underground passages to an abandoned frontier town. Also searching the various tunnels are the Hulk and the Fantastic Four. When the Hulk crosses paths with the FF, a fight soon breaks out between him and the Thing.^{[Continuity 3]} Unable to fight in such close quarters, the Hulk forces his way to the surface, where the fight rages on into the old ghost town. The Hulk manages to incapacitate Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch, but as he struggles with the Thing again, a beam is fired through the ground below and strikes the Hulk from behind. Seeing this, the Invisible Girl points it out to the Thing, who digs through the Earth to find its source. Below, he finds a robot, confirming the existence of the Wrecker. Ben easily demolishes the robot and then breaks through a metal door. On the other side, he finds Kort holding Rick prisoner. Before Kort can blast Ben with an atomic-powered weapon, Sue invisibly sneaks around Kort and knocks the gun out of his hand. The Thing then apprehends Kort and frees Rick. They return to the surface to reveal the truth to Reed and Johnny and while they are comparing notes, the Hulk recovers as well and bounds away to his secret lab to change back into Bruce Banner. Bruce is waiting at the military base when they arrive, and he thanks, Reed Richards for his help. The FF is then celebrated by the military before they head back home for New York.

As they fly away, the Hulk watches from the distance as they depart, but the Hulk has a feeling that they will meet again someday.

Appearing in "The Mad Menace of the Macabre Mole Man"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Fantastic Four #31

Featured Characters:

Fantastic Four

Supporting Characters:

Franklin Storm (First appearance)

Antagonists:

Mole Man (See chronology)

Other Characters:

Avengers
Hulk (Bruce Banner) (Mentioned)
Walter Cronkite (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
Aunt Petunia (Mentioned)

Races and Species:

Locations:

Earth
- North America
  - United States of America
    - New York State
      - New York City
        Manhattan
        23rd Street
        
        Midtown
        42nd Street and Madison Avenue
        Baxter Building
        
        Yancy Street (Mentioned)
- Subterranea
- China (Mentioned)

Items:

Vehicles:

Fantasti-Car MK II
Pogo Plane MK I
Modified Hover Cycle

Synopsis for "The Mad Menace of the Macabre Mole Man"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Fantastic Four #31

The Baxter Building is rocked by an earthquake, sending the Fantastic Four to cover. After the confusion, Sue finds a newspaper and is upset to see a story about an escaped convict. When Reed tries to press her for answers, she refuses to explain, which troubles Reed. Later, the Fantastic Four, sans Sue, are called out to investigate the disappearance of a city block that vanished into the ground during the earthquake. Little do they know that this block was lowered into the Earth by their old foe, the Mole Man. Tracking the Invisible Girl, the Mole Man locates her on his scanning devices and begins to sink the city block she is on.

Meanwhile, the male members of the team return home to find a note left behind by Sue when suddenly, they are hit by another earthquake. After the quake, Reed learns that Sue went down to police headquarters. After hearing a radio report that a block on 23rd Street disappeared as well, they realize that is where police headquarters is located. At that moment below the Earth, the Mole Man locates Sue Storm among the people he abducted and has his Moloids subdue her. With the Invisible Girl as his prisoner, the Mole Man plans to keep his foes away. Having deduced the Mole Man's involvement, the other members of the Fantastic Four fly to 23rd Street in the Pogo Plane. They find the Avengers about to descend into the pit but convince them to let the FF handle it. When they enter the crater, they find a number of traps waiting for them below that wreck their ship, but they manage to get down to below the surface. They find the Mole Man, but he has Sue at gunpoint and informs them that he will keep her hostage, to prevent their involvement. With the Fantastic Four unable to do anything, the Mole Man activates a device that returns them to the surface.

As Sue is locked away, Reed designs a highly sensitive detection device to find the Mole Man's lair. When they locate it, the Torch burns a hole directly down to it and they descend. Warned of their arrival, the Mole Man unleashes his army of Moloids to confront his foes. The trio save Sue and flee the area, but as they leave, the Mole Man sets his lair to self-destruct and Sue is struck by a piece of shrapnel.

On the surface, they rush Sue to the hospital where the prognosis is dire, because the surgeon that could perform the much-needed surgery has escaped from prison. Reed, Ben and Johnny are in for the shock of their lives when they are suddenly visited by the man that Reed saw in the paper: Franklin Storm, Sue and Johnny's father, a man that Johnny was led to believe was dead. Franklin performs the surgery to save his daughter's life. With the surgery completed, the authorities arrive to arrest Dr. Storm, but they allow him a moment to see his daughter before returning him to custody.

Solicit Synopsis

The fabulous F.F.'s most mind-shattering meeting with the Incredible Hulk! Plus—the return of the macabre Mole Man!

Notes

Links and References

References

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[Continuity 1]

[Continuity 2]

[Continuity 3]