FRED SLOAN

Real Name: Fredrick K. Sloan

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Writer, hippie

Affiliations: Betty Ross Talbot Banner, Doc Samson, General Kragg, Hulk, Machine Man, Mike Douglas, Peter Spaulding, Rick Jones, Siren, Trish Starr, Woodgod

Enemies: The Corporation, Leoninus

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Formerly the city of the Changelings

First Appearance: Incredible Hulk II#231 (January, 1979)

Powers/Abilities: No super human abilities. Fred was a writer and a pacifist.

History: (Incredible Hulk II#231) - Fred Sloan tried to get a drink in a bar, but for unknown reasons, he was literally thrown out. An old man stepped out of the bar after Fred, intending to hit him again. The Hulk, who had arrived on the scene, threw the old man through the window after mistakenly thinking the old man was a soldier. Fred hugged the Hulk and offers him a place to sleep. The next morning, he made the Hulk breakfast. When he heard police sirens in the distance, he figured that cops must be coming for Hulk, and tried to sneak Hulk past the police. Hulk freaked out and destroyed a police vehicle, after which a shaken Fred Sloan drove off with Hulk in his van.

(Captain America I#230) - Hulk had turned back into Banner, and the "cops" caught up with Fred and tranquilized both Fred and Hulk and captured them.

(Incredible Hulk II#233) - Hulk rescued Fred, who in turn brought Hulk to the house of a friend (Trish Starr).

(Incredible Hulk II#234) - Fred brought Hulk to stay with a bunch of his hippie friends, who whispered about Hulk until Hulk got really mad. Fred admonished his friends for having changed and not being willing to help the Hulk. Meanwhile, the man responsible for the earlier kidnapping of Hulk and Fred busted in, gassed everyone in the room with a paralyzing gas, and went on to kidnap Trish Starr. The man was dressed to look like the Machine Man, and was actually an agent of the Corporation and wanted to set the Hulk and Machine Man up. He left the address to a house and told the Hulk that if he wanted to see her again to go there. Hulk took Fred on his back and went to rescue her.

(Incredible Hulk II#235) - Fred helped Hulk locate the house, and then arrived there. When Machine Man and his friend Peter arrived, Fred pointed a gun he found in the house at Peter and demanded answers.

(Incredible Hulk II#236) - Peter took the gun away from Fred, and the two exchanged stories and discovered that they were being set up by the Corporation. But before they could enlist the Hulk's help, he broke out into a fight with the Machine Man. Instead the two of them went to General Kraag, who in turn contacted Gamma Base for help.

(Incredible Hulk II#237) - Fred watched as Peter and the General talked to Clay Quartermain. He arrived back at the house just as Machine Man sent a hypnotized Hulk away where he won't hurt anybody.

(Incredible Hulk II#240) - Fred was asked by the government to write a book about the Hulk, but had a very difficult time and couldn't contact people who knew the Hulk (like Rick Jones and Betty Ross) for interviews.

(Incredible Hulk II#243) - Fred interviewed Betty Ross. He was then informed that he would appear on a talk show.

(Incredible Hulk II#245) - Fred was on the Mike Douglas show along with Rick Jones.

(Incredible Hulk II#247) - Fred arrived at a site where the Hulk had been shrunken and the equipment to bring him back had been destroyed. He thought to himself that he had an ending for his book.

(Incredible Hulk II#248) - Fred thought to himself that he didn't believe the Hulk was really gone.

(Incredible Hulk II#249) - Fred went to the Rocky Mountains intending to interview General Ross, but when he got to the cabin, it had been abandoned, and he was surprised by a centaur, who was bleeding heavily and collapsed.

(Incredible Hulk II#251) - Fred was present as Doc Samson showed up and fought with Woodgod.

(Incredible Hulk II#252) - Fred, along with Betty, Rick, and General Ross, was captured by Woodgod and brought to the village where Woodgod's people lived. Woodgod thought that these humans had injured the fallen centaur, who was named Centuaron. Fred helped care for Centauron, knowing that if he survived, then Fred would be free to go. When Hulk showed up, Fred tried to get him to leave because he was threatening to make things worse.

(Incredible Hulk II#253) - Leoninus and his new changelings declared that Fred and the others must be killed for their crime of killing Centauron, even though in truth, it was Leoninus who poisoned him. Leoninus took Betty captive, and Fred and Rick prepared to defend her. After Hulk and Samson, along with Woodgod's changelings defeated Leoninus' changelings, Fred decided to stay with the Changelings while he finished his book, partly due to his romance with one of the Changelings named Siren.

(Incredible Hulk II#256) - Alongside Woodgod and the Changelings, Fred Sloan read of the shutdown of funding to Gamma Base, and marked it as a whole new chapter for his book, and the end of an era.

(Avengers I#230 (fb) - BTS) - Fred Sloan came to town to help Trish Starr through the trial involving Hank Pym.

(Avengers I#230) - Fred was present when Trish and Pym cast Egghead's ashes out to sea.

(The Hulk III#8) - Fred Sloan released his book, "Hulk Encounter: A Survivor's Story." When asked about the recent deaths the Hulk had been accused of causing, Fred affirmed that he believed the Hulk to be innocent and that there must have been a reasonable explanation.

Comments: Created by Roger Stern and Sal Buscema

Man, he sure took a while to finish that book!

Big thanks to The Incredible Hulk: Engine of Destruction for the image.

Luis Dantas adds that when Fred Sloan introduced the Hulk to Trish Starr in#233 he found out that the two had already met. The MCP suggests that it probably happened in some Defenders story between#21 and#41.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with:

Appearances:
Incredible Hulk II#231 (January, 1979) - Roger Stern (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Jo Duffy (editor)
Captain America I#230 (February, 1979) - Roger McKenzie & Roger Stern (writers), Sal Buscema (pencils), Don Perlin (inks), Roger Stern (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#233-237 (March-July, 1979) - Roger Stern (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Chic Stone (#233), Jack Abel (#234, 237), Mike Esposito (#235-236) (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#240 (October, 1979) - Roger Stern (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#243 (January, 1980) - Roger Stern, Roy Thomas & Steven Grant (writers), Sal Buscema (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#245 (March, 1980) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#247-248 (May-June, 1980) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#249 (July, 1980) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Steve Ditko (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#251-253 (September-November, 1980) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#256 (February, 1981) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Avengers I#230 (April, 1983) - Roger Stern (writer), Al Milgrom (penciler), Joe Sinnott (inker), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Hulk III#8 (November, 1999) - Erik Larsen (writer), Ron Garney (pencils), Sal Buscema (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

Last updated: 12/25/03

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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