This is Past Was Close Behind, a feature that spotlights moments, exchanges, etc. from older comics that take on a brand new light when read in concert with later comic books or events. Basically, stuff that looks hilarious in hindsight.

Today, we look at the surprisingly early debut of...Hulk Hogan?

Hulk Hogan, of course, is a famous wrestler who was particularly popular during the 1980s, when "Hulkamania" reigned surpreme...

The wrestler's name is a take-off on the popular Marvel hero, the Incredible Hulk...

However, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee really liked the name "Hulk" and used it more than once before they came up with the Incredible Hulk (I'll do a bit in the near future where I will spotlight all of their pre-Hulk Hulks).

One of these pre-Hulk Hulks was amazingly enough, named Hulk HOGAN!

Yep, in a Two-Gun Kid story in 1960's Gunsmoke Western #63, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Dick Ayers did a story about a man who believed that he could force Two-Gun Kid into fighting without his guns, because the giant of a man, Hulk Hogan, did not carry a gun, so his plan was to use Two-Gun Kid's honor against him by getting him to fight the much larger man using just his bare hands...

Of course, Hogan was not prepared for the fact that the Kid was not too shabby at fighting bare hands, if he had to!

The story takes a bit of an odd twist, though, when Hogan begins to use a weapon (a table) and the Kid figures that this means that HE can use his guns. Not to shoot the guy, but to do a trick shot that traps Hogan...

It seems to me that the story would have had a little more force if the Kid had actually found a way to win the fight without using his guns at all, right? However, I guess Kirby felt that you couldn't have a Two-Gun Kid story where the kid doesn't use his two guns.

If anyone else has a suggestion for some hilarious in hindsight stuff, let me know by dropping me a line at brianc@cbr.com!