"Master Lock Presents: The Incredible Hulk" was a one shot promotional comic published by Marvel as an advertising venture for the Master Lock company in 2003. It was written by Robin Laws, penciled by M.D. Bright, and inked by Rick Perrotta. Although not famous writers or artists in the comics field, Laws and Bright at least had long resumes.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, my local bookstore is closing. On my last trip there, with a 75% sale, I heedlessly grabbed handfuls of some items, including some comic books (mostly a bookstore, they only had a few comics). When I got home, I looked through them, and found that the Incredible Hulk comic was not just any Incredible Hulk comic, but a commercial comic to advertise Master Lock. Since I always found promotional or PSA comics funny, I was looking for a motherlode of cheese, 20 pages of Hostess Fruit Pie ads. But nope, although I won't say it was great, and it was a bit forced at times, this was disappointingly normal.
Ross Guildenstern is a math nerd that tried to get into gambling and failed, and owes a debt to the Kingpin, and is carrying a package across the country to New Mexico, to deliver it to crime lord named "Johnny England": guarded by a "Master Lock Sphero", which every character who sees it refers to it as. Along the way, feeling lonely and a little paranoid as he is being tailed, he picks up a hitchhiker named "Mark" who turns out to be Bruce Banner, The Incredible Hulk. Which turns out to be lucky, because Elektra is tracking him, and that leads to a Hulk/Elektra fright (and to be honest, I don't know who Elektra is working for). After several more close scrapes, they meet Johnny England, (who is apparently Czech and just likes talking like a cockney), and the item in the box, protected by the "Master Lock Sphero" is a mind-control helmet. But in a final surprise, Daredevil and Captain America are there in disguise, and we have a battle between The Incredible Hulk, Daredevil and Captain America and Johnny England's gang. At the end, Ross has retired from a life of crime, and with Captain America's help, is giving security lectures. Featuring Master Lock products.
Also, interspersed with this are advertisements for Master Lock products, featuring the featured heroes, and also Iron Man, with some of the same ads repeated more than once. The featured products were somewhat gimmicky, featuring transparencies and bright colors. (Or, as we are reminded when looking at pictures of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk): "There's more than one crime fighter with a way cool suit of armor" and "Who says tough crime fighters can't come in different colors?" The advertising line of this comic and its ads-in-ads is clear: building brand awareness among young people who probably don't have much emotional attachment to their choice of lock. Also, within the story, it is Kingpin who is one of the biggest advocates of The Master Lock. Which perhaps we shouldn't think about too much: "this sadistic crime lord uses the Master Lock Sphero to transport mind control devices across the country...so you can use it with your locker", I guess.
The comic was actually pretty understated and had a plot that made sense. There was even some parallelism developed between Ross and the Hulk: both nerds whose experiments got them in trouble. But it also had some good action scenes. The art was good, depicting iconic characters in bright and direct ways. Obviously, there was only so much mileage I could get out of a limited story used to sell locks, but...it was pretty good for what it was.
As an added note, although I paid about a quarter for this, it apparently is actually worth something, selling from between $10 and $40 on ebay and amazon.