Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Kev Walker
Color Artist: Matthew Wilson
Cover Artist: Nic Klein
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
The Hulk has been through a lot in a short amount of time. He tried to get help from Dr. Strange, or even his wife Clea, but turns out she was impersonated by a skinwalker. Then Thor shows up to cause trouble because Charlie’s the latest host of Lyacana, who started bad blood with Thor. And now Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier has come knocking, but as we find out in Incredible Hulk #26, he’s here to warn Hulk.
Review:
Alright, let’s get into it. There will be SPOILERS in the review.
So, Hulk and Charlie are just going about their day in the woods of Upstate New York but Hulk has a disturbing vision: a massive gate with green gas pouring forth and three people silently screaming their heads off while a dark voice essentially says “Not enough. You’re not enough. This door will be opened. If none of you have the strength, I will find one who does.” And we cut right back to Hulk waking up while Charlie feeds a deer. Okay, I’ll go into what actually happens then give you my thoughts, because boy do I have some after reading this issue.
Now, when Hulk wakes up from the vision, and Charlie tries to get him to admit it’s cool hanging out in nature, he’s goes on what I call a “Hulk walk”. And immediately he runs into Bucky who really, really just wants to talk. But Hulk ain’t having that and thinks he’s working for Eldest. Of course, he’s not and Bucky activates a trap he set up earlier so he can talk to Hulk but then Charlie tries to jump him, and Bucky quickly recovers. Then Hulk gets free and makes a grab for him, but Bucky talked him down when he mentions that three gamma-mutates went missing in the last few weeks, including Doc Samson and his son Skaar (not Hulk’s other son who recently died and was featured in the new Imperial series by Jonathan Hickman).
Hulk lets him go, and Charlie tries to fangirl a little with Bucky, but he gets real with Charlie for a minute and gives it to her straight. Hulk and Bruce need each other, no matter how much they don’t want to admit it, and right now they need Bruce Banner. But Bucky didn’t see any trace of Bruce in Hulk’s eyes, and Hulk without Bruce is a monster with no sense or understanding of danger. So, he tells Charlie that she should leave Hulk on her own terms before things get worse.
Taking to heart what Bucky said, Charlie waits for Hulk to nod off before she tries to use Lyacana’s telepathic connection to enter the Hulkscape to find Bruce. Naturally, she hears Bruce’s voice who tries to tell her to go away, but she treads forward until she finds Bruce. Now, the comic does the smart thing of not showing us what Charlie sees, it only gives small glimpses of what Hulk has done to Bruce inside the Hulkscape. Rotting flesh with holes, tearing blood shot eyes staring up with blood trailing down his face. By the end of it, Charlie not only freaks out and leaves the Hulkscape, she ends up getting a side of her face burnt by their campfire, tears off her human skin and transforms into her lycan form and flies away leaving Hulk sad and confused.
So, the positives first since there aren’t too many and then the big negatives. First, the art was good and the action was fine when it’s there, but the big show stealer is the glimpse into the Hulkscape. The series always does a great job with depicting what the inner mind of the Hulk looks like and artistically, it’s always a delightfully macabre sight to see. It also helps that the state of Bruce in the Hulkscape is hidden and thus the horror of what Hulk did to him is sort of magnified by Charlie’s reaction.
Now, the negatives. Okay, I called it that Bucky being here is probably because Phillip Kennedy Johnson is writing Hellverines and wanted to bring him in for a hot minute. Now, the fact that PK Johnson wanted to establish that someone’s been kidnapping gamma-mutates is actually a cool idea and the opening vision gives the impression that it’s directly connected to Eldest and the Mother of Horrors storyline. And two of the captives are none other than Doc Samson and Hulk’s son Skaar. That’s great for setting up personal stakes for both Bruce and Hulk and establishing that the Mother of Horrors is nearly free, or getting there. The problem? This is coming so late into the series. Also, the extreme lack of urgency on both Hulk and Charlie’s part after hearing this.
That has been a huge problem in the series, even when Bruce was still traveling as himself. It’s the lack of urgency of transpiring events on the main characters’ part, especially Bruce and the Hulk. See, the moment he knew that Betty was brainwashed/working for Eldest, Bruce should have made several attempts to either find her or get in touch with someone who can find her, like She-Hulk, Rick Jones, Amadeus Cho, Gamma Flight, anyone really! But has he? No, not at all. And now, Samson and his own son have been taken. That’s three people Bruce and Hulk cared about who have been taken by Eldest now. Where’s the reaction, where’s the outrage from even Hulk? Nowhere to be seen.
In fact, considering that those two were last seen with the Gamma Flight crew, any of the people on that team should have shown up to talk with Hulk, not Bucky. You could even bring in Rick Jones with the Sleeper symbiote (yes, Rick Jones is currently bonded to a symbiote without him even knowing about it. Courtesy of Al Ewing in the current All-New Venom run) where he gives Hulk a reality check, then they team up to take on Eldest and rescue the others. Instead, for the past 10 or so issues, we got what we got; a bunch of stories where Hulk and Charlie just…wander the country fighting a monster of the week. Not even trying to get a handle on the situation or do anything more interesting. It all just speaks to PK Johnson’s vision for the series starting to fall apart at the seams and shows the lack of direction it’s had until now. Now, am I writing this series off? No. But this problem needs to be addressed in upcoming issues, and hopefully the events of this issue will get started on that going forward.
Final Thoughts:
The Incredible Hulk #28 has Bucky show up to inform Hulk about the disappearances of several gamma-mutates, two of whom include Doc Samson and his own son Skaar. And then he’s gone afterward. From there, the comic centers on Charlie finally discovering for herself why everyone keeps treating the Hulk like a monster and things don’t end well. This comic was pretty disappointing and while it introduces new interesting plot elements, the plot doesn’t really feel like it moved until the end. Hopefully, the developments in this issue will gets thing moving into high gear in future issues.