Tales to Astonish #99
When the Monster Wakes!
With Betty locked up with the Hulk, the leader of the Lords of the Lightning hopes that it will prove to be a bargaining chip to force General Ross to do his bidding. However, when the Hulk revives he remembers Betty as a friend, and Betty begins trying to talk the Hulk into helping free the base. Members of the Lords of Lightning storm into the room and blast the Hulk with their lightning weapons causing him to change back into Bruce Banner, and Betty faints.
Meanwhile, Glenn Talbot manages to overpower one of the guards and take on his guise, while the rest of the Lords flee the Air Force base to enact the next part of their plan. Talbot rounds up Banner, Betty and General Ross. Banner appeals to Ross that the Hulk is the only one powerful enough to stop the Lords of the Living Lightning who are now getting ready to deploy their stockpile of missiles at their secret base. Using a duplicate of his old Gamma Ray device, Bruce bombards himself with Gamma radiation once more triggering his transformation into the Hulk.
The Hulk then leaps to the Lords of the Living Lightning base, and attacks them head on, causing their missiles to detonate within their base, destroying it totally, seemingly killing all the Lords, and leaving everyone to believe that the Hulk is dead as well.
Recurring Characters
Hulk, General Ross, Major Talbot, Lords of the Living Lightning
When Falls the Holocaust!
Reviving from an accidental bombardment of Atlantis by depth charges, the Sub-Mariner witnesses as an army of Atlanteans race after the sub to destroy it in an act of war. Namor realizes that he must try and stop them from increased acts of aggression when suddenly another vessel carrying the new experimental hurricane inducer aboard it and tries to catch a ride aboard the ship.
The US submarine meanwhile has detected on its radar the approaching Atlantean warships, and attempts evasive maneuvers to try and get away from the war fleet. However, this fleet is led by the new Atlantean warlord, Warlord Seth, leads the warriors onward to try and destroy their enemy.
The Sub-Mariner has meanwhile caught up to the ship carrying the Hurricane Inducer and smashes his way aboard the vessel. There he fights off his former minions and realizes to his horror that the device has already been activated and is about ready to go off. With no time to shut the device down, Namor is forced to smash it prompting the device to short circuit and risk explosion. Before he can escape he is stunned by one of the soldiers aboard the vessel. When they realize what Namor has done they all abandon ship while Namor pilots the Atlantean vessel off where it will explode harmlessly.
In the end, the Atlantean ship explodes, injuring nobody, the US sub escapes, and the Atlantean warriors realize their haste in their attack and return to Atlantis believing that their former ruler sacrificed his life to save them. In viewing this supposed sacrifice, Seth comes to believe that Namor "died" a true prince. The Sub-Mariner meanwhile unaware that his people think him dead swims off into the deep and believing that the only way that he can prove to his people he is not a traitor is by turning his aggression toward the surface world.
Recurring Characters
Sub-Mariner, Warlord Seth
