10 Comic Books That Made A HUGE Impact In The Real World

10. The Hulk And AIDS Awareness - In The Shadow Of AIDS

The Incredible Hulk #420 was written by Peter David and illustrated by Gary Frank and Cam Smith. It featured the death of Jim Wilson after contracting HIV/AIDS. Parts of the story were an analogy to that of Ryan White who had parents and teachers lobbying against his attendance in Howard County, Indiana prior to his death in April 1990. The comic was also meant to show that AIDS was not exclusively a disease for homosexuals.

Created by Roy Thomas and Herb Trimpe for The Incredible Hulk #131, Jim Wilson was an angry young man who befriended the Hulk when they were both hiding out in an abandoned building in Harlem. Jim traveled, eventually meeting fellow Hulk sidekick Rick Jones. In Incredible Hulk #388, he revealed to Jones that he had AIDS when Rick came to play a benefit concert.

Jim was injured by a mob who were protesting an HIV-infected boy being allowed to attend school. “Professor” Hulk saved Wilson and took him to the secret headquarters of the Pantheon. Jim begged the Hulk to give him a blood transfusion but Bruce feared creating another gamma monster. He pretended to give Wilson his blood but his friend saw through the ruse. Jim died soon after and Bruce donated enough money to Jim’s hospice for it to run for another few decades.