Incredible Hulk #127. Mogol! Tyrannus! The Mole Man! And Me!

Art, music, sport, pig husbandry; many are the talents a man may have in life. But anyone with any sense knows there's only one gift worth having. And that's the ability to smash down doors with your bare hands.

Happily, The Incredible Hulk #127 gives us not one but two people who can do just that, as the Hulk meets the being known as Mogol.

Mogol's no ordinary man. He's a huge subterranean sent to the surface by Tyrannus to enlist the Hulk's aid in his war with the Mole Man.

Now, you might've thought it a pitiful super-villain who needs help to defeat the Mole Man but need it Tyrannus does. After the inevitable initial scrap, the Hulk and Mogol recognise a sense of kinship and become the best of friends as they work together to prepare Tyrannus' mighty machinery for battle.

Sadly, when that battle finally comes, Mogol's hit by an inconvenient death-ray and his minor wound makes it clear at once that he's actually a robot.

At this point the Hulk reacts as anyone would. He decides he's been lied to and smashes his friend to pieces. He then goes on to destroy the Mole Man's underground city and then its Tyrannusian counterpart.

The truth is there're few Hulk stories from this era that I don't love and this has always been near the top of my list. Herb Trimpe's art's wonderfully dramatic, as perfectly suited to the strip as ever, especially in the fight scenes between the Hulk and Mogol, and writer Roy Thomas has the sense to know it'll always be gripping to see the Hulk gain a friend only to lose him.

It doesn't though reflect too well on the Hulk that he kills Mogol for no reason other than that he's a robot. Somehow I'd expect a man who spends all his time lamenting his lack of friends to be more tolerant.

Still, at least we get to see the Mole Man's kingdom get trashed, and we see the return of Tyrannus, a man who's always been one of my favourite villains - mostly because he reminds me of myself.

If only I had mastery of an underground kingdom.

How exactly does one get to gain control of such a thing? Is there an exam one can take?

And is there a chance I might pass it if I cheat hard enough?