Incredible Hulk #72

The INCREDIBLE Hulk #72

Date: July 2004
Title: Big Things Part 2
Writer: Bruce Jones
Penciler: Mike Deodato, Jr.
Inks: Mike Deodato, Jr.
Letters: Randy Gentile

Colorist: Hermes Tadeu
Editor: Axel Alonso
Cover Artist: Mike Deodato, Jr.

Stark's butler Jeeves asks if he should alert security. Stark says he wants to keep Bruce's identity a secret so he will handle it himself. Stark runs to his room and passes a girl in the hallway, whose name he gets wrong. Stark runs into his room with the Hulk still holding the sniper and the Hulk turns around and hits Stark to the ground. Jeeves helps Stark up off the ground. Stark figures the Hulk must at least recognize him since the Hulk was pulling his punches. He tries again and gets hit back down to the ground again. The woman, Nicole, walks into the room, thinking Stark is seeing someone else and is surprised to see the Hulk standing in front of her. She talks a little while the Hulk just stares at her. In his mind, the Hulk sees the woman on the beach that Bruce has used for meditation and Stark tells Nicole to just keep talking. The Hulk turns back into Bruce while the sniper, who happens to be Lisa's brother, places a listening device onto Stark's leg.

Stark and Bruce get into Stark's car and Bruce talks about the deliberately planted diary and the sniper. He asks Stark if he was aware tht Lisa's brother was stalking him but Stark just says that he wanted him to read the diary. Bruce asks why he just didn't give it to him. Stark says that he wanted Bruce to find it and come to Stark on his own but Lisa's brother ruined it. Stark tells Bruce that he is in trouble and needs his help. Stark takes Bruce to his lab and tells Bruce that what he is about to show him must never leave the building. Stark tells Bruce that several months ago, he was approached by Charlie Haskle, an intelligence man, who said that the President would like a word with him. The goverment was worried about a terrorist sneaking in a dirty bomb and setting it off in a strategic area so that a dead zone would be created by the radiation, causing economic and diplomatic chaos. The wanted Stark to develop a radiation-proof suit that a person could wear and work in the contaminated area until it was clean. Stark said he took the assigment and that only a very few amount of people were aware of the top secret project. Stark then opens a door and shows Bruce new a new Iron Man suit.

Stark tells how they had limited amount of time and barely made the deadline. Flexibility was their biggest hurdle and had to be strong and user friendly. Stark helps Bruce put on one of the suits while he puts one on also. Stark tells Bruce not to hold back. Bruce doesn't know what Stark is talking about until Stark hits him square in the jaw. Stark asks Bruce if he actually felt the hit and then talks about the suit passing an underground nuclear test. Stark asks if Bruce is going to fight back at which point Bruce clocks him. Stark is paged by Jeeves who says that Lisa's brother, who is tied up in the wine cellar, wants a glass of rare wine. Stark says to give him whatever he wants, including any food from the kitchen. Stark finds a bottle of champagne he and Lisa toasted after the initial success with the suit and offers some to Bruce, who turns it down. Stark questions Bruce whether he thinks he was responsible for Lisa's death to protect the secret project or evn Stark Enterprises. Bruce replies that it doesn' matter what he thinks. Stark says it does because he did kill Lisa, just like he killed the project. Bruce hits Stark across the room and the two hit each other for a minute until Stark replies that eventually they are going to have to trust each other. Bruce points out that he has not turned into the Hulk. He also says that he thinks Stark is innocent and he should turn the diary and Lisa's brother in. Stark tells Bruce to wait for the whole story before he decides he's innocent.

The first suit was a success against the atomic bomb but had not been tested against gamma photons. The govement decided not to pursue that testing since they were already over budget. Stark and his assistant Jack Rutledge tested on their own time but needed an expert in gamma radiation, someone they could trust. He found Lisa Cummings at college. They used her as a front for a girlfriend when actually she was helping the project leap ahead. Stark admitted he was too absorbed in the project to see that Lisa was falling in love with him. Lisa's brother is listening to the conversation the whole time with a device in his pocket. Bruce looks over the plans and tells Stark they need to use a different approach. The suit Stark designed only helped protect the wearer from the radiation, Bruce thought they should try to eradicate the radation. Bruce explained to Stark that compound RG-27 not only shields the body from radiation but breaks down the photons, eventually nullifying the radiaoactive poisoning. But the problem is that RG-27 is most potent is gas or liquid form. If they use the same technology like the astronauts where they is a thin layer of liquid between the suit and wearer, they could create a network of minute irrigation tubes of RG-27 with a second even thinner lining of magnesium oxide that draws the gamma photons into the suit. So therefore any surrounding photons are sucked into the suit, helping clean up the radiation-exposed area. Stark thinks it's a perfect idea.

Back in the cellar at Stark's house, Nicole brings Richard some food. Since one hand is handcuffed, Lisa offers to help Richard eat. Richard insults Nicole who is about to storm off. Richard apologizes and says that his manners are gone due to how cold it is and then tells her he is not hungry. She takes the tray of food and tells him she will look for a cushion. As she walks away, Richard hides behind his back a knife that was on the tray.

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