Hillbilly Egghead & M.O.D.O.K. rock the house!
I read The Incredible Hulks: Fall of the Hulks thanks to inter-library loan; this is the deluxe hardcover collecting (most of...) the "Fall of the Hulks" crossover storyline running through Marvel Comics' Hulk family of titles in 2009-10.
Much as I mostly enjoy the Hulk titles (excluding Skaar, Son of Hulk; and what's up with Red She-Hulk being able to, like DC's Superboy-Prime, punch holes in the walls of reality, as the hit by Big Pig had it??) as written by Jeph Loeb (who wrote the arc introducing the Red Hulk, or Rulk, in 2008; Loeb didn't write any of the comics reprinted here, though), Jeff Parker (whose late, lamented Agents of Atlas was the first ongoing Marvel title in years that I truly enjoyed), Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente (who co-wrote my other favorite Marvel title of recent years, The Incredible Hercules), and as much as I enjoyed "Fall of the Hulks," despite some continuity snafus in the flashbacks (in particular, the flashback in Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1, showing the wrong wrong wruh-ONNNG team of Avengers throwing down with Egghead and his Masters of Evil [pg. 7, panel 2]), my absolute favorite comic book collected here was Ryan Dunlavey's Fall of the Hulks: M.O.D.O.K. #1, which was apparently, like Dunlavey's M.O.D.O.K.: Reign Delay #1 (also collected here), originally published online.
Both of Dunlavey's offerings are non-continuity (or, at least, non-mainline, non-Earth-616 Marvel continuity) humorous parodies of Marvel's mainstream superheroes and supervillains. Marvel has a long history of parodying its own material, with mixed results; but Dunlavey's stuff here ranks among the very best of Marvel's intentionally humorous work: funny enough for a general audience, but freakin' hilarious to a Marvel Zombie, thanks to the continuity-aware riffs.
M.O.D.O.K. (originally, "Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing") is arguably Marvel's goofiest-looking (and, at times, creepiest-looking) supervillain; he's certainly the best-loved goofy-/creepy-looking Marvel supervillain. He's essentially a giant head with teeny-tiny arms and legs, dependent upon an armored and weaponized flying chair for both movement and basic life support.
Some samples from Fall of the Hulks: M.O.D.O.K. #1: the first 6 panels from page 3:
Egghead was one of the earliest of Marvel's villains who made it past his first appearance (in Tales to Astonish Vol. 1, #38 [Dec. 1962]); while really only another iteration of the mad scientist type, Egghead was always treated as one of Marvel's second-string, or even third-string, villains, no matter how much of a nuisance he made of himself, or how close he came to conquering the world while working with his occasional partners, the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master. Seeing him as "Hillbilly Egghead" here was perhaps more amusing than it should've been. Hey, I'm a comic book nerd; sue me.
Next, page 6, panel 5: a close encounter between the Hulk's nemesis, the mutated super-genius called The Leader, and his sometime henchman (and originally a Spider-Man foe; he also worked for Egghead's Emissaries of Evil), the Rhino:
Finally, panel 7, also from page 6: Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts and once Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, consults with a cleverly disguised M.O.D.O.K. (wonder where M.O.D.O.K. managed to score the giant-sized Groucho Marx glasses..?):
Yeah, yeah, maybe you do to have wasted a few decades of your life actually giving a toss about Marvel's superheroes to fully appreciate the yuk-yuks to be found here; but if you have, then, hot zig, this stuff is funny.
Much as I mostly enjoy the Hulk titles (excluding Skaar, Son of Hulk; and what's up with Red She-Hulk being able to, like DC's Superboy-Prime, punch holes in the walls of reality, as the hit by Big Pig had it??) as written by Jeph Loeb (who wrote the arc introducing the Red Hulk, or Rulk, in 2008; Loeb didn't write any of the comics reprinted here, though), Jeff Parker (whose late, lamented Agents of Atlas was the first ongoing Marvel title in years that I truly enjoyed), Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente (who co-wrote my other favorite Marvel title of recent years, The Incredible Hercules), and as much as I enjoyed "Fall of the Hulks," despite some continuity snafus in the flashbacks (in particular, the flashback in Fall of the Hulks: Alpha #1, showing the wrong wrong wruh-ONNNG team of Avengers throwing down with Egghead and his Masters of Evil [pg. 7, panel 2]), my absolute favorite comic book collected here was Ryan Dunlavey's Fall of the Hulks: M.O.D.O.K. #1, which was apparently, like Dunlavey's M.O.D.O.K.: Reign Delay #1 (also collected here), originally published online.
Both of Dunlavey's offerings are non-continuity (or, at least, non-mainline, non-Earth-616 Marvel continuity) humorous parodies of Marvel's mainstream superheroes and supervillains. Marvel has a long history of parodying its own material, with mixed results; but Dunlavey's stuff here ranks among the very best of Marvel's intentionally humorous work: funny enough for a general audience, but freakin' hilarious to a Marvel Zombie, thanks to the continuity-aware riffs.
M.O.D.O.K. (originally, "Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing") is arguably Marvel's goofiest-looking (and, at times, creepiest-looking) supervillain; he's certainly the best-loved goofy-/creepy-looking Marvel supervillain. He's essentially a giant head with teeny-tiny arms and legs, dependent upon an armored and weaponized flying chair for both movement and basic life support.
Some samples from Fall of the Hulks: M.O.D.O.K. #1: the first 6 panels from page 3:
Egghead was one of the earliest of Marvel's villains who made it past his first appearance (in Tales to Astonish Vol. 1, #38 [Dec. 1962]); while really only another iteration of the mad scientist type, Egghead was always treated as one of Marvel's second-string, or even third-string, villains, no matter how much of a nuisance he made of himself, or how close he came to conquering the world while working with his occasional partners, the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master. Seeing him as "Hillbilly Egghead" here was perhaps more amusing than it should've been. Hey, I'm a comic book nerd; sue me.
Next, page 6, panel 5: a close encounter between the Hulk's nemesis, the mutated super-genius called The Leader, and his sometime henchman (and originally a Spider-Man foe; he also worked for Egghead's Emissaries of Evil), the Rhino:
Finally, panel 7, also from page 6: Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts and once Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, consults with a cleverly disguised M.O.D.O.K. (wonder where M.O.D.O.K. managed to score the giant-sized Groucho Marx glasses..?):
Yeah, yeah, maybe you do to have wasted a few decades of your life actually giving a toss about Marvel's superheroes to fully appreciate the yuk-yuks to be found here; but if you have, then, hot zig, this stuff is funny.