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Ever since I started reading comics, the canonical way of referring to obsessive fanboys was to raise the question "Who's stronger, Thor or The Hulk?" It turns out that that formulation goes back further than I thought, and became meta *very* early.
I've been reading a bunch of old Jack Kirby stuff lately, including early Thor material. Journey Into Mystery #112 (Jan 1965) opens with Thor noticing two groups of kids, with placards in the shape of Thor's head and The Hulk's head, arguing over which one is stronger. Thor lands, and tells them a story of how he fought The Hulk at length on one occasion.
Naturally, after a lengthy battle royale, it ends by *conclusively*... avoiding any clear answer. Thor has learned a bit of humility, in that, at the very least, this was a foe who he didn't decisively beat. Hulk, on the other hand, swears "Someday we'll meet again... and Thor will be smashed FOREVER!" As ever, Narrator Stan Lee gets the last word in a caption: "And in truth, they SHALL meet again! Perhaps not THIS month... perhaps not next... but meet they shall! And, when that epic confrontation takes place, we shall bring you every pulse-pounding incident... as you have come to expect in this, the Marvel Age of Comics!!" Note the careful lack of promise to ever actually *resolve* the issue of who is stronger :-)
I've been reading a bunch of old Jack Kirby stuff lately, including early Thor material. Journey Into Mystery #112 (Jan 1965) opens with Thor noticing two groups of kids, with placards in the shape of Thor's head and The Hulk's head, arguing over which one is stronger. Thor lands, and tells them a story of how he fought The Hulk at length on one occasion.
Naturally, after a lengthy battle royale, it ends by *conclusively*... avoiding any clear answer. Thor has learned a bit of humility, in that, at the very least, this was a foe who he didn't decisively beat. Hulk, on the other hand, swears "Someday we'll meet again... and Thor will be smashed FOREVER!" As ever, Narrator Stan Lee gets the last word in a caption: "And in truth, they SHALL meet again! Perhaps not THIS month... perhaps not next... but meet they shall! And, when that epic confrontation takes place, we shall bring you every pulse-pounding incident... as you have come to expect in this, the Marvel Age of Comics!!" Note the careful lack of promise to ever actually *resolve* the issue of who is stronger :-)