FRED SLOAN

Real Name: Fredrick K. Sloan

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Writer, hippie

Affiliations: Dave Anderson, Betty Ross Talbot Banner, Christine, Doc Samson, General Kragg, Hulk (Bruce Banner), Machine Man, Mike Douglas, Kropotkin the Great, Maria, Ray Moran, Peter Spaulding, Rick Jones, Siren, Trish Starr, Woodgod

Enemies: The Corporation, Leoninus

Known Relatives: Bob (uncle)

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:
(Giant-Size Incredible Hulk#1 (fb) - BTS) - Fred's uncle Bob was a firefighter, who described his job to his nephew as hours of long tedious prep work punctuated by moments of sheer adrenalin.

(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) - Trish was staying with a bunch of hippie friends, but they found the Hulk's presence disconcerting, whispering about the danger he presented and arguing with Fred until Hulk lost his temper, smashed a table, and stormed out the room. Fred admonished his friends for having changed and not being willing to help the Hulk. Though some of them seemed penitent, one of them, Danny, informed about the Hulk's presence to a police officer, O'Connor. Secretly a Corporation agent, O'Connor passed the information on to Curtiss Jackson, who decided to pit two Corporation foes against one another - Hulk and Machine Man! A few hours later a group of Corporation agents in gas masks busted into the house and gassed everyone in the room with a paralyzing gas. Their leader, disguised as Machine Man, then kidnapped Trish Starr, taunting the Hulk by challenging him to a fight if he wanted to save Trish. He left the address to a house (the real Machine Man's address) before departed. Rage allowed the Hulk to overcome the paralysis sooner than Fred, and he lifted Fred onto 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.

(Giant-Size Incredible Hulk#1) - Fred Sloan interviewed numerous people, who had encountered the Hulk, for his book, including stage magician Kropotkin the Great, former Los Diablos Missile Base head of security Captain Dave Anderson, former salesman Ray Moran and waitress Maria.

   Planning on interviewing the Hulk himself he traveled to one of the Hulk's favorite spots in the San Mingo Mountains and informed his editor Christine about his plan. Sloan found the Hulk at a Schist Corporation building site, which the Hulk attacked because he didn't want them to cut down any more trees. Sloan drove toward the Hulk to stop him only to get his van destroyed. Saved by the airbag Sloan got out of the van to calm down the Hulk, who recognized him. Fred convinced Hulk to leave before people inadvertently got injured when the police started shooting at the Hulk. Christine later picked up Fred from a hospital. He was sorry he couldn't get an interview with the Hulk. Christine showed him the cover marketing came up with for the book and Fred didn't like it or the title Hulk Encounter: A Survivor's Story. Christine promised much could happen between now and the deadline.

(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!

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 Hulk met Trish Starr in Giant-Size Defenders#4 (April, 1975), the issue her uncle Egghead tried to kill her in and that she lost her arm in.
-Gammatotem

Giant-Size Incredible Hulk addition by Markus Raymond. Big Thanks to Loki for the images.

Profile by Stunner..

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with:

• SLOAN, ARCHIE, Head of bets-r-off race promotions, killed by Jackpot when tried to back out of fixing a race @ Howard the Duck I#1/2
• SLOAN, JASON, Lawyer, former partner of Kerwin J. Broderick+Larry Cranston @ Daredevil I#90
• SLOAN, Dr. MORRIS, ESU, graduate professor who inadvertently revived Swarm @ Spectacular Spider-Man II#32
• SLOAN, REBECCA, Precognitive, sister of Firebolt @ Power Man & Iron Fist I#108

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
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Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

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