Incredible Hulk #249
Jack Frost Nipping At Your Soul!
The Hulk has been returned to Earth from the Microworld of K'ai, materializing somewhere in the snow-capped Rockies. Having fallen asleep during his ordeals, the Hulk reverts back to Bruce Banner. Banner is awoken by some hunters trying to shoot some young deer, even though it is illegal. Bruce tries to stop them and is easily batted aside. This triggers a transformation back into the Hulk. The Hulk is furious that these men are hunting "Bambis" and frightens both of the hunters away by causing an avalanche. The Hulk finds himself pulled down mountain by the snow until he falls through a hole that takes him down a deep chasm.
Meanwhile, Betty Ross is flying to the cabin where her father is recovering after his mental breakdown. Accompanying her on the trip are the Hulk's other allies, Rick Jones and Fred Sloan. Once the pontoon has landed in the nearby lake, they enter the cabin to find no sign of Betty's father or Doc Samson. Once there, she tells her two companions about how her father's obsession with hunting the Hulk had brought him to this point. This upsets her because the hunt apparently continues, denying peace for the two men she loves most. Up in the mountains, Samson and General Ross are tracking the creature that the General had shot at earlier. Leonard wants to convince Ross that whatever they saw was not the Hulk. They are in for a shock anyway when they run into what appears to be a Centaur. The sight of such a creature comes to a shock to General Ross, and it manages to get away while Doc Samson goes to the aid of his patient. The Centaur man then goes crashing into their cabin, startling Betty and the others. However, thanks to the gunshot wound, the strange humanoid creature collapses on the floor of the cabin, leaving the three new arrivals to wonder what they will do next.
At that moment, the Hulk falls into the bottom of the chasm and finds a massive underground cave filled with ice sculptures. Thes sculptures are being pondered over by a man completely covered in ice. Wanting to get out of here, the Hulk demands that the man show him the way out. When the Hulk bumps into one of the statues it crumbles to rubble. This wakes the man, the super-villain once known as Jack Frost, out of his thoughts about his failed battles with Iron Man. Angered at this reminder of the outside world and because the Hulk could give away his location, Jack Frost decides to try to slay the brute. Using his control over ice, Jack Frost animates his remaining statues and sets them to attack the Hulk.
The Hulk easily smashes the ice statues and when Jack Frost continues to try and stop the Hulk, he only succeeds in upsetting the integrity of his ice cavern. With the cavern about to collapse on itself, the Hulk manages to flee back to the chasm and climb out, leaving Jack Frost to be buried alive under tons of ice and snow.
Recurring Characters
Hulk, Betty Ross, Rick Jones, General Ross, Doc Samson, Fred Sloan, Jack Frost, Centauron
Continuity Notes
This story incorrectly statses that Microverse exists within the atoms of this world. However this is not correct as revealed in Fantastic Four #282, which revealed the Microverse is actually an entirely different dimension. It is accessed by shrinking small enough to pass through the dimensional barrier between worlds.
The Hulk refers to the deer as "Bambi", something he has called deer since Defenders #31 when he befriended a deer.
Betty mentions how her father had a mental breakdown, this happened in Incredible Hulk #234.
In this story, Betty Ross states the following: That her father fought during World War II, battled against communism in the 1950s and began his personal war against the Hulk in the 1960s. All of these facts should be considered topical references that are relative to the era in which this story is published in, per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. Modern readers should interpret as following:
Mention of which conflicts that General Ross was involved in have since been generalized. As referenced in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #9. Although, per History of the Marvel Universe #1, one could assume he fought in the Sin Cong Conflict.
Per the Sliding Timescale, roughly 5 years have passed between the events of Incredible Hulk #1 and this story. As the Incredible Hulk #1 (published in 1962) falls under "Year One" of the Modern Age and this story, published in 1980, falls under "Year Five".
Jack Frost recounts some of his earlier battles with Iron Man, namely his first clash with the hero in Tales of Suspense #45 and his more recent battle against the hero in Iron Man #127.
Although Jack Frost seemingly dies here, he resurfaces again in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #20. No explanation as to how he managed to survive his apparent demise here.
