The Incredible Hulk #231
Incredible Hulk #231 is the debut issue of Fred Sloan, a pacifist writer who became the Hulk's most prominent new civilian companion of the late Bronze Age — part of Roger Stern's deliberate effort to build a richer supporting cast around the jade giant. The issue simultaneously functions as the opening chapter of an extended Corporation storyline that would spill across multiple titles, most immediately into Captain America #230, making it a genuine inter-title crossover node at a time when such coordination was still relatively unusual in Marvel's line. It also advances Karla Sofen's (Moonstone's) arc as an embedded double agent inside Gamma Base, deepening the moral complexity of the book's villains. Taken together, those elements make the issue a structurally important prelude within Stern and Sal Buscema's well-regarded late-1970s run.
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Roger Stern had been the primary writer on the title since the mid-to-late 1970s, and #231 sits squarely within his run — catalogued by his own bibliography as issues #218–243 — with Sal Buscema as penciller, Mike Esposito as inker, Bob Sharen on colors, and Annette Kawecki lettering. Jim Shooter served as Editor-in-Chief, while the editing credit on the issue belongs to Jo Duffy. The issue was released on October 17, 1978, with a January 1979 cover date, consistent with Marvel's standard dating offset of the era. Stern and collaborator Peter Gillis had consciously discussed steering the book away from what they described as a 'cuddly Hulk' and toward a character who read as a genuine, dangerous monster — a philosophy that shapes the tone of the Corporation arc begun here.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Fred Sloan (full name: Frederick K. Sloan), a long-haired pacifist writer who bonds with the Hulk after being thrown out of a California bar — he would go on to appear in approximately 19–20 subsequent issues and remained associated with the character into the 1980s.
- Story titled 'Prelude!' — the title signals its function as the setup chapter for the Corporation crossover arc that continues directly into Captain America #230 and then Incredible Hulk #232–233.
- Written by Roger Stern, pencilled by Sal Buscema, inked by Mike Esposito, colored by Bob Sharen, lettered by Annette Kawecki; Jim Shooter served as Editor-in-Chief.
- Cover by Herb Trimpe, a nod to the artist who had been the book's regular penciller for seven years before Buscema took over with issue #194.
- Karla Sofen (Moonstone) appears as an embedded Corporation operative at Gamma Base; within the issue she realizes that Senator Stivak is also a Corporation member when he uses internal code phrases — a plot beat that pays off across the following issues.
- Senator Eugene Kligger Stivak manipulates both Jim Wilson and Doc Samson's administration of Gamma Base; Jim Wilson is kidnapped aboard Stivak's jet at issue's end, setting up the crossover resolution.
- The letters column 'Greenskin's Grab Bag' in this issue features a letter from a reader identified as Kurt Busiek — the future Marvel writer and Astro City creator.
- The issue has been reprinted in Essential Hulk Vol. 7 (2013), Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk Vol. 14 (2020), the Incredible Hulk Epic Collection Vol. 9 — Kill or Be Killed (2024), and was published in heavily edited form in the UK's Hulk Comic #7–8 (April 1979) and in Dutch in De verbijsterende Hulk (Juniorpress, 1979) #6.
