Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Danny Earls
Color Artist: Matthew Wilson
Cover Artist: Nic Klein
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Charlie is in the clutches of the monstrous Frozen Charlotte, but the Hulk is here to save her. After getting some assistance from a ghostly detective, the Hulk finally located the lair of the killer and is ready to confront this ancient monstress. Read Incredible Hulk #11 to see the big battle between the Hulk and Frozen Charlotte.
Review:
To be honest, at first I was actually excited for this issue, like really excited since the beginning of this story arc. When we first got a glimpse of what Frozen Charlotte was capable of, I was genuinely excited to see how this all plays out, to see the inevitable throwdown between the Incredible Hulk and Frozen Charlotte. And now…I couldn’t be more disappointed. There will be SPOILERS in this review.
So, the comic picks up where it left off with Hulk battling Frozen Charlotte deep in her lair like it was something from the Dark Souls video games as this gothic sanctuary of hers becomes a battleground between the two monsters. We get some banter, some harsh language and jabs between the two, and of course a whole lot of smashing as they bust through more and more of Frozen Charlotte’s lair during the fight. But sadly, despite this setup, there’s not much to this fight which ends up feeling hollow by the end.
I’ll get the few positives out of the way then delve right into the negatives. First, Daniel Earls does a neat job with Frozen Charlotte’s lair, which I’ve said earlier is this gothic underground tomb that oddly enough is very spacious. It has more than enough room where Frozen Charlotte, like a classic video game boss, transforms and enters her second phase as she grows macabre angelic wings and that blue halo-like crown you see her wearing on the comic book’s cover. But that’s where the good ends. Here’s the bad.
Firstly, the fight itself was pretty boring until the second half. It’s really just Hulk and Frozen Charlotte punching each other through the majority of the book, and only when she enters her second phase does she finally use an interesting power that actually looks neat, where she breathes some kind of bluish-white holy fire at the Hulk. But even then, it doesn’t last long before the Hulk kills her in a couple pages after this transformation. It doesn’t help that Daniel Earls’ art can’t really depict the brutal and gory aspects of the battle damage these two do to each other.
However, the biggest issue has to be the unbelievable expository info-dump that Phillip Kennedy Johnson delivers for Frozen Charlotte. While they’re fighting, he has Frozen Charlotte straight up tell Hulk her backstory and how she’s really a Nephilim, how she’s Lucifer’s lover or something, and a bunch of other stuff. Here’s the thing, this is all at essentially the last minute. Plus, we have no context for ANY of this at all. Heck, I forgot that Lucifer even exists in Marvel Comics since Marvel’s pushed him out of the spotlight for two decades to make Mephisto their resident Devil.
On top of that, he literally just shows up at the end after Hulk kills her to tell him that she won’t trouble him or Earth anymore and not to go looking for him. We even get another monster info-page at the end about Frozen Charlotte, and it’s pointless. This all adds up to the fact that this series has slowed itself down considerably and hasn’t progressed the main plot concerning The Eldest and the Mother of Horrors. To be honest, after Hulk’s been taking these guys down so effortlessly, it feels like Phillip Kennedy Johnson is trying way too hard to hype up both threats when every other threat hasn’t been much trouble for the Hulk.
Final Thoughts:
Incredible Hulk #11 concludes the story with Frozen Charlotte as Hulk finally faces the monstrous villainess so he can rescue Charlie. The fight is okay but nothing about it is exciting until it gets near the end, where Frozen Charlotte kind of enters her second phase like a boss battle in a video game. It also doesn’t help that the comic basically drops her whole backstory on us and the Hulk in the middle of the fight, at what is essentially the last minute in this story arc. We have little context for any of it, so some people will understandably be scratching their heads when they read it.