In Meta-Messages, I explore the context behind (using reader danjack's term) "meta-messages." A meta-message is where a comic book creator comments on/references the work of another comic book/comic book creator (or sometimes even themselves) in their comic. Each time around, I'll give you the context behind one such "meta-message."

Today, we look at a retcon I've covered before for Abandoned an' Forsaked, but I realized that it's totally a Meta-Message, as well, so let's take a look at it from that perspective.

In Amazing Spider-Man #381 (by David Michelinie, Mark Bagley, Randy Emberlin and Al Milgrom), the story opened with the Incredible Hulk going through customs at a New York City airport where he runs into Doc Samson, who is in town for a gamma radiation experiment...

Note that Michelinie clearly was TRYING to work within the continuity of Peter David's Incredible Hulk series, with the editor's note and everything.

Anyhow, to the great shock of all comic book fans everywhere, the gamma radiation experiment does not go well, and Samson is infected with a sort of gamma anger virus that increases his strength but drives him insane with rage. Spider-Man and the Hulk try to take Samson down, but things take a turn for the worse at the end of the issue when the virus moves from Samson to...the Hulk!

The next issue is just Spider-Man and Samson getting their collective ass kicked by the Hulk. In the end, Spider-Man uses one of those classic "look into yourself. Is this what you want to do?" type of deals and it breaks the Hulk free of the virus' control.

Normal enough two-parter, right? Perhaps not the most "on point" characterizations for Hulk and Samson, but fair enough.

Well, someone who was NOT a fan of this story was Peter David.

He later recalled on his website that his problem with the story was, "Because the entire story in ASM turned on the notion that the Hulk was flying around to various places on commercial airlines and using commerical airports. This at the time when he was running the Pantheon, had access to their worldwide organization including a variety of air vehicles, and was wanted by SHIELD for criminal actions. The notion that he'd whip out a passport and hop a TWA flight at all, much less unmolested by government agencies, was ridiculous. I hated it. It made no sense. So I made it go away."

It took him VERY little time to do so, as the second part of the Amazing Spider-Man story came out in August and David had the whole thing revealed to be a dream that Doc Samson had in November's Incredible Hulk #413 (by David, Gary Frank and Cam Smith)...

Notice that it is specifically a BIZARRE dream, so that little dig kicks it into meta-messages territory.

I imagine that Doc Samson didn't dream the parts of the Amazing Spider-Man issues involving Peter and Mary Jane having sex on their kitchen floor while Aunt May became suspicious of her "back from the dead" brother and sister-in-law, right?

Or the part where May hired a private investigator?

Or the part where Mary Jane's career was in trouble due her cigarette smoking?

I guess Samson just dreamed the Hulk stuff and everything else happened normally!

Okay, that's it for this Meta-Messages. If anyone else has a suggestion for a good Meta-Messages, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!