Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Adam Gorham
Color Artist: Matthew Wilson
Cover Artist: Nic Klein
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
The Incredible Hulk is nearly reaching its conclusion. After suppressing Bruce and frightening Charlie away, Hulk is finally alone. Mostly. But neither Bruce nor Eldest are done with him as they both maneuver Hulk to do one thing or another, but where Bruce wants Hulk to help, Eldest is leading him into a trap. Read Incredible Hulk #28 to see what danger awaits the angry monster.
Review:
Alright, so I haven’t reviewed the last issue because it was a pretty low stakes comic and while fine, was far from eventful. It was side adventure, but this comic turns that around gets us back on the main plot. The comic starts with Hulk dreaming in an unspecified undersea location on a sunken ship. And shockingly things feel calm for the green Goliath, until he wakes that is to find a message scribbled by Bruce in his sleep saying, “Protect Doctor Voodoos.” And from there, the plot starts.
So, the story doesn’t initially give any real reason for this sudden urgent need to protect Doctor Voodoo. It doesn’t help that he wasn’t really in this comic for long aside from two issues where he just pointed Bruce and the Hulk towards Las Vegas. But later we learn he did a little more than that. After Hulk does some epic leap frogging from one location to another trying to find some peace and quiet, from the frozen tundra back to New Orleans. There he runs back into the Ghost Detective and they team up to look into a disturbance in a run down estate that’s owned by Doctor Voodoo, they fight a monster and run into Doctor Voodoo’s brother.
He reveals that Doctor Voodoo placed a protection charm to keep Eldest from possessing the Hulk, which explains why she couldn’t take his body in their previous fight. But that charm is breaking down and growing weaker as indicated throughout the comic. Voodoo’s brother sells out Hulk to Eldest and Hulk is transported to the place that is the origin of the One Below All, the Mother of Horrors, and even Gamma itself.
There, in this savage and twisted realm, Hulk runs into Betty waiting for him in a flowing black dress. Ominous, even Hulk catches on to that. But she convinces him to let her lead him to Eldest. Obviously, nothing good can come from this, but the whole last two issues have established that Hulk doesn’t really see danger until it’s right in front of him. Right now, Hulk is walking into a trap set by Eldest and the horrors will only start from there. With only two issues remaining before the relaunch into Infernal Hulk, we can only expect things to escalate from here.
Final Thoughts:
Incredible Hulk #28 starts the first chapter of the penultimate story for the series. Now that both Bruce and Charlie are in the rearview mirror so to speak, Hulk is going it alone which makes him vulnerable to Eldest’s manipulations. The art by Adam Gorham is solid and combined with the writing, the comic makes it feel like Hulk is about to walk into a horror show.