harvester_from_beyond-smggani-squattingmostfullharvester_from_beyond-smggani-eurekaHARVESTER from BEYOND

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Sm'ggani) technology-user

Occupation: Scientist

Group Membership: None specified

Affiliations: The Hulk (Bruce Banner) unintentionally provided information that he believed would help save his race

Enemies: The Hulk would perceive him as an antagonistharvester_from_beyond-smggani-bearhughulk

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: (Stupid) "Bug-Thing" (see comments)

Base of Operations: At least formerly the planet M'ggani, fifth from the sun T'letio, Milky Way galaxy;
    last seen in an interstellar starship departing Earth with plans to return to the M'ggani;

First Appearance: Incredible Hulk II#230 (December, 1978)harvester_from_beyond-smggani-dematerializing-prongs

Powers/Abilities: As one of the Sm'ggani, the Harvester is a bilaterally-symmetric semi-insectoid being with eyes on stalks, three suction-cupped fingers ("prongs") plus a suction-cupped thumb, and (allegedly) three suction-cupped toes.  

    His feet, as shown, looked like solid boots, which had suction cups on the soles; based on the information in the OHotMU entry, these were boots covering his three-toed feet.

    It can extend/stretch its distal antebrachii (forelimbs) and/or carpal (wrist) regions at least a couple feet.

    He has no visible olfactory (nasal) or aural (ear) structures, although he presumably has a sense of smell and hearing. 

    The Harvester has an unspecified level of superhuman durability via his presumably chitinous exo-skeleton.
    Notably, he took many powerful punches or attacks from the Hulk and was only knocked off of his feet or perhaps briefly stunned each time.

    The Harvest has an unspecified level of superhuman strength, sufficient to allow him to bear hug and re-direct the 7', 1080 lbs. Hulk; and resist a depressurizing cabin.    
    While he did not appear to be a match for the Hulk's strength (this generally seemed to be a low-level, only mildly-angered Hulk, so perhaps he was lifting less than 100 tons, which is still a lot!), he appeared to be able to lift at least 2000 lbs., perhaps as high as 5-10 tons. harvester_from_beyond-smggani-rearoblique-handheldscanner

    The Harvester can alter the density of all or part of his body so that his tissue can pass through other solid objects or beings unharmed. 

    He can reach through a being's body wall and re-solidify within a body cavity, twisting some body organs in order to painfully incapacitate a foe. 

    While the Hulk and the Sm'ggani were speaking during their encounter, there is not evidence that either one understood the other. 

    The Hulk described the Sm'ggani's speech as "squeaky bug-noises."

    The Harvester was a scientist, apparently highly-skilled in botany, and with access to various forms of advanced technology. harvester_from_beyond-smggani-seated

    However, he was somewhat mentally addled, at least in part due to his lengthy solo space quest to save his world.

   The Harvester single mindedly pursued his quest to save his world...even when being punched around by the Hulk, he only became mildly distressed and swiftly sought and accomplished a means to halt the Hulk's attacks and obtain the needed data.  

    He possessed an interstellar spaceship, which presumably had some sort of warp drive capacity (although he could have perhaps sub-light transport and had been flying around for millennia, or tens of millennia. The ship had a transport/teleporter beam.

    He had the means to rapidly seal a hull breach, although those means were not revealed. 

    He had a hand-held scanner, larger advanced scanning equipment, restraint devices, both hand-held sedation beam, and ship-based ceiling mounted sedation beams, a hypersonic scalpel, and a protonic blade. 

harvester_from_beyond-smggani-punchedbackHeight: Unrevealed (approximately 7'4" to 7'10" (see comments))
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 300 to 500 lbs., assuming some level of comparable density to a human or perhaps greater); (variable, as he could render himself immaterial to physical assault)
Eyes: The globe is the same color as the eyestalk/skin (although the globes sometimes appeared to be white), with a more central darker portion, that may be an iris or a pupil, and a most central lighter portion, which is either a reflection on the pupil or perhaps a tapetal reflection (from something like the tapetum lucidum that causes the "eyeshine" reflection in many animals in the dark) or something else...
Hair: None

History:
(Incredible Hulk II#230 (fb) - BTS) - The Sm'ggani scientist departed his far off, war-ravaged planet in hopes of finding the secret of food production. 

    The long search addled his mind somewhat. harvester_from_beyond-smggani-dematerializing-chest

(Incredible Hulk II#230 - BTS) - As the Hulk fed on corn in a cornfield in the American Midwest, local police organized an ill-advised effort to capture the Hulk.

(Incredible Hulk II#230) - Having been monitoring the Hulk with interest due to his skin being the color of vegetation, the Sm'ggani considered that the others' efforts to capture him indicated that the Hulk "had the secret."

    After the Hulk had easily overwhelmed the locals' efforts, the Sm'ggani approached in his ship and used a beam that reduced the Hulk to sub-atomic components and then transported him into the ship.

    As the Hulk rematerialized, the Sm'ggani analyzed his form, surprised that his structure was similar to his would-be captors but figuring that he must nonetheless possess "the secret." 

    Oblivious to the fact that the Hulk saw him as an abductor, the Sm'ggani was surprised when the Hulk punched him off his feet. harvester_from_beyond-smggani-foot

    Relatively unharmed, the Sm'ggani noted his captive's remarkable strength and then extended one of his arms and decorporalized his "prongs" (digits to pass into the Hulk's body, twisting a few of his internal organs.

    Surprised that his captive remained conscious, the Sm'ggani used his sedative ray to facilitate further examination.

    As the Hulk was surprised when his fist passed harmlessly through the alien, the Sm'ggani considered that his kind must not be able to alter their bodily substance.

    Further appreciating that the Hulk's strength appeared to increase in proportion to his rage, the Sm'ggani increased the intensity of his sedation beam until the Hulk finally collapsed.

    After placing the Hulk in manacles on a wall and keeping the sedation beam on him, the Sm'ggani scanned him further and was surprised to find that the Hulk was little different in terms of anatomy then the humans, except for his skin pigmentation and the noticeably high internal radiation level (and his size).harvester_from_beyond-smggani-mostlyfullstanding

(Incredible Hulk II#230 - BTS) - After the Sm'ggani went to process the data, hoping it might hold the salvation of his homeworld, the sedation caused the Hulk to revert back to Banner, who slipped out of the restraints.

(Incredible Hulk II#230) - Returning to find Banner, the Sm'ggani was surprised to find his subject had changed size and color and -- as prior analysis had provided minimal information -- he resolved that he needed to perform dissection.

    As the Sm'ggani restrained Banner with a hand, he noted his regret in sacrificing such an interesting specimen but considered that his race's welfare must come first.

    As he drew his hypersonic scalpel, however, the frightened Banner turned back into the Hulk, punched the Sm'ggani back and then hurled the table on which he had been placed into the Sm'ggani's face.harvester_from_beyond-smggani-protonic_blade-standoverhulk

    Weathering two crushing strikes from the Hulk, the Sm'ggani rose to his feet, pondering the significance to his subject's return to his green color and greater mass, but then received another punch from the Hulk, knocking him on his back. 

    As the Hulk charged him again, threatening to end his "squeaky bug-noises" forever, the Sm'ggani kicked him away and then, when the Hulk charged him anew, caught him in a bear hug and used his momentum to hurl him against the teleporter's force field.

    Although the resulting explosion was more powerful than the Sm'ggani had calculated, it stunned the Hulk as he had hoped, while the Hulk's body had shielded him from its force.

    Via his protonic blade, the Sm'ggani harvested chemical deposits stored under the Hulk's keratin nodules (soil underneath his finger nails; see comments). 

    The Hulk recovered soon afterward, smashed the Sm'ggani back, and then punched a hole in the side of his ship and leapt out, landing on the ground below. 

    Bracing himself against the hole due to the sudden depressurizing cabin, the Sm'ggani considered that he must patch this at once, as he did not want to lose his precious samples.harvester_from_beyond-smggani-hullbreach

(Incredible Hulk II#230 - BTS) - The Sm'ggani re-sealed his ship.

(Incredible Hulk II#230) - From the soil acquired from under the Huk's nails, the Sm'ggani recovered an ideal nurturing substance for plant life.

    As his ship departed Earth, he gleefully resolved to synthesize the soil's chemical substance and save his starving world...if he could only remember where amongst the stars that world was...

Comments: Created by Elliot S. Maggin, Jim Mooney, and Bob Layton.

    I was sure I had done a profile on this character back in the early days of the Appendix, but he must have had a limited profile on some other website at the time, so I never put him on my "to do" list.

    The profile is obviously very image-heavy, but the Harvester is a unique-looking character, and each image shows something of his abilities, appearance, etc.

    What's in a name?

    This character was never given any other name in his initial appearance. 

    The story was called the "Harvester from Beyond," which is what was used for the name in this profile. 

    The Hulk calls him "Bug-Thing" (or "stupid bug-thing") repeatedly, while editorial text refers to him as "something else," "master" of his ship, "alien," "slightly mad interstellar visitor," "alien from a far off, war-ravaged planet," and "bug-like alien." 

    Regardless, it is extremely cumbersome to have a profile on a character with no name...so Harvester from Beyond works until he gets a real name. We have not received one in 45 years (as of 2023), although his race at least received a name and further information in the OHotMU Deluxe Edition's Appendix to Alien races: Sm'ggani profile.
    So..."Harvester from Beyond" it is, for now...

    If I had the chance to identify him, I would call him Zylim.

    It is never clearly shown, and not all images are inconsistent, but to me, the Harvester seemed to be perhaps 4-10" taller than the Hulk. As the Hulk was 7' tall at that time, the 7'2" average given for the Sm'ggani in the OHotMU seems a bit low, although perhaps the Harvester was taller than the average Sm'ggani.
    But again, there did not seem to be any images that clearly compared their normal standing heights...

    The Harvester was a pretty tough customer, taking multiple punches or otherwise devastating strikes from the Hulk in short order, and only exclaiming "oh, dear" as he continually sought a means to stun the Hulk so he could study him further.

    The Harvester refers to the Hulk's fingernails as "calcium nodules." I'm not positive, but I don't think there is calcium in fingernails. They're made up of keratin, the same protein in hair, and proteins are made up of amino acids, which generally contain hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. I think the Harvester misspoke and meant to say "keratin nodules."

    It would be nice to see a story where the Harvester, having recovered his planet's fertility, summoned the Hulk there, showed what he had helped accomplish, and thanked him. It's not a dramatic story, but it would be a nice 8-page piece.
    Less heart-warming would be to find that the by the time the Harvester returned to his homeworld, he was too late, and his people were extinct. Perhap he would go on to try to help other starving races from there...or perhaps he would pursue a darker path.
    I'd personally like to a see a positive sequel to this story at some point. 

    I thought this one-issue-appearance character would be a quick one to bang out for the alien races mini-event...my mistake...it took me four days to get it done!

    In case it's not apparent, the Sm'ggani name is an homage to writer Elliot S. Maggin and and an anagram of his middle initial and last name. The race was first identified in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe II (Deluxe Edition) #15.

Where was the Hulk when the Harvester picked him up?
...(or, here's what happens when you the the OHotMU team involved)harvester_from_beyond-smggani-americanheartlandmap

harvester_from_beyond-smggani-americancornmap

The story starts out in a cornfield in “the Great American Heartland,” and the issue before the Hulk was active at Gamma Base in New Mexico, so clearly the American Midwest. Iowa seems likely, but I don’t think we have anything more specific than the American Midwest, do we? Obviously the Hulk can cover miles in leaps, and traveling a few states between issues is not a problem. 
--Snood

Fwiw, when Hulk's on the spaceship the action cuts back to Gamma Base "several miles below" without mentioning "and hundreds of miles east/west/south/whatever" So possibly closer to New Mexico than Iowa. Kansas?
--Loki

    I had just re-read the issue, and I skipped that page because I knew it had nothing to do with the alien. D'oh. Based on Ross' condition and the reaction from Doc Samson, I doubt it is more than a day or three between issues.
     Kansas or anywhere near New Mexico are not top producers of corn, but I know there are crazy huge fields of corn in Pennsylvania, which is neither on the top corn-producer’s list nor anywhere near  New Mexico (it's east of Ohio, in case you don't know).
--Snood

    Mike Fichera kindly provided the maps and noted:
    So unlikely: Oklahoma, Alabama, but could be any of these Heartland states. 

    I can confirm that Gamma Base (or "That Air Force Base" as it is also referred to in Incredible Hulk II#230) must have been in New Mexico at this time. Based on that and Mike F's corn map, I think it is totally believable that the cornfield in question is probably in that little fertile crescent in NE New Mexico, NW Texas, West West Oklahoma, or SE Colorado. 
--Clay Farmer

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Harvester from Beyond should be distinguished from:

ship

harvester_from_beyond-smggani-ship-flightharvester_from_beyond-smggani-ship-departure.
    The Harvester possesses an interstellar spaceship, which presumably had some sort of warp drive capacity, although he could have perhaps sub-light transport and had been flying around for millennia, or tens of millennia.

.
     The ship had a transport/teleport beam, monitors to view things on a planet's surface from at least a sub-orbital distance, a laboratory for studying flora and fauna samples, a sedation ray, and the means to rapidly repair large hull breaches.

.
--Incredible Hulk II#230

"hypersonic" scalpel

harvester_from_beyond-smggani-hypersonicscalpel-headholdharvester_from_beyond-smggani-punchedfromdissectiontable.harvester_from_beyond-smggani-hypersonic-scalpel
     Powered by "hypersonic" energy, this was the standard device used for dissection by the Harvester.

     While the device could presumably easily slice through human flesh, it shattered when used against the Hulk's super-durable skin.

--Incredible Hulk II#230

Note: Hypersonic typically refers to moving at five times the speed of sound, which would be 3805 mph (6120 kph). I'm not quite sure how that translates to a blade, but ultrasonic more commonly refers to vibrating at frequencies above the human ear's audibility limit of about 20,000 hertz.

     Maybe hypersonic is specifically vibrating at 100,000 hertz?

protonic blade

harvester_from_beyond-smggani-protonic_blade-closeupharvester_from_beyond-smggani-protonic_blade-faceoverhulkharvester_from_beyond-smggani-protonic_blade     When objects or beings proved to be too durable for the hypersonic blade, the Harvester used his protonic blade, which was either more durable, sharper, and/or could cut through more durable objects or beings.

     The Harvester was prepared to use the protonic blade to cut into the Hulk, but ultimately he only used it to obtain soil samples from beneath the Hulk's fingernails. 

--Incredible Hulk II#230

Note: Protonic would seem to apply that it is either powered by or perhaps could cut between sub-atomic particles, like protons.

     Could it have cut through the Hulk's flesh? Hopefully the Hulk never has to find out!

     See the Cosmic Manicure here.

handheld sedation beam

harvester_from_beyond-smggani-sedationbeam-handheldharvester_from_beyond-smggani-sedationbeam-handheld-drophulk     When the Hulk was not incapacitated by previous assaults, the Harvester used a handheld sedation beam. Although it several seconds, the Hulk was eventually rendered unconscious.

--Incredible Hulk II#230

Note: The Hulk was only mildly annoyed at this point...if he were really mad, I doubt the beam would have been as effective.

ship's sedation beam, restraints, and advanced scanners

harvester_from_beyond-smggani-sedationbeam-ship    After placing the Hulk in manacles on a wall and keeping the sedation beam on him, the Sm'ggani scanned him further and was surprised to find that the Hulk was little different in terms of anatomy then the humans, except for his skin pigmentation and the noticeably high internal radiation level (and his size).
.

     After the Sm'ggani went to process the data, hoping it might hold the salvation of his homeworld, the sedation caused the Hulk to revert back to Banner, who slipped out of the restraints.
/

--Incredible Hulk II#230

teleport beam

harvester_from_beyond-smggani-ship-transportbeamharvester_from_beyond-smggani-ship-dematerializehulkharvester_from_beyond-smggani-ship-dematerializehulk .
    The Sm'ggani approached the Hulk in his ship and used a beam that reduced the Hulk to sub-atomic components and then rematerialized him aboard his ship
/

--Incredible Hulk II#230


images: (without ads)
Incredible Hulk II#230, pg. 7, panel 2 (ship approaching Hulk);
            panel 3 (ship releasing transport/teleport beam);
            panel 4 (Hulk dematerializing in transport beam);
            panel 5 (Hulk rematerializing in ship);
        pg. 8, panel 1 (encountering and trying to scan Hulk);
            panel 2 (punched back by Hulk);
            panel 3 (seated);
        pg. 9, panel 1 (stretching limb, decorporealizing and inserting prongs through Hulk's back);
            panel 3 (hand-held sedation ray used on Hulk);
            panel 4 (rendering chest immaterial to avoid Hulk's attack);Cosmic Manicure
            panel 5 (Hulk succumbing to sedation ray);
        pg. 10, panel 1 (Hulk restrained on wall, restrained, scanned);
        pg. 12, panel 6 (pinning Banner down by the chest and drawing hypersonic scalpel);
        pg. 13, panel 1 (holding Banner by the head and preparing to dissect him);
            panel 4 (Hulk punching would-be dissector);
        pg. 14, panel 2 (squatting, but otherwise most-full image; main);
        pg. 15, panel 1 (kicking Hulk back; foot/sole);
            panel 3 (bear hug Hulk);
        pg. 16, panel 2 (drawing protonic blade);
            panel 4 (standing over Hulk with protonic blade);
            panel 5 (face, lateral/oblique with protonic blade);
            panel 6 (protonic blade, most full);
            panel 7 (cosmic manicure!);
        pg. 18, panel 6 (bracing self against hull breech);
        pg. 19, panel 4 (discovery);
            panel 5 (ship departing Earth);

Appearances:
Incredible Hulk II#230 (December, 1978) - Elliot S. Maggin (writer), Jim Mooney (penciler), Bob Layton (inker), Roger Stern (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe II (Deluxe Edition) #15 (March, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer/producer), Peter Sanderson (writer/researcher), Josef Rubinstein (inker), Howard Mackie (assistant editor), Marc Siry, David Wohl, Marc McLaurin (editorial assistants), Gregory Wright (assistant editor)

First posted: 03/01/2023
Last updated: 03/01/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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