Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Adam Gorham
Color Artist: Matthew Wilson
Cover Artist: Nic Klein
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
The Hulk is trapped in the realm where Gamma and monsters come from. Or so “Betty” says. While he’s there, Hulk and companion take a tour of the primordial realm as he learns more about the Mother of Horrors and what transpired so many centuries ago. Read Incredible Hulk #29 to see the origin of the Mother of Horrors.
Review:
All right, so we’re nearing the end of the series before it relaunches into the upcoming “The Infernal Hulk” series in the next couple of months. Here we finally get the origins of the Mother of Horrors that Eldest and her monstrous siblings have been talking about this whole run. What we get is clearly a cliff notes version, but how it’s depicted makes sense.
Ok, the comic picks up where we left off last issue where Hulk has been pulled into the otherworldly realm called Requiem’s Plain. And there he met Betty, Bruce’s wife, but she was waiting for Hulk and essentially takes him on a tour of the savage and primordial plane. We get some cool monstrous background shots courtesy of Adam Gorham. Of course, something’s off with Betty as she seems to know way more about the place and its inhabitants than she really should.
“Betty” persuades Hulk to make contact with one of the buried titans in the realm, and he is given a look into the primeval origins of the Earth and the Mother of Horrors. Won’t spoil too much, but Phillip Kennedy Johnson takes a gamble with her origins and how she’s tied to the One Above All and especially the One Below All, who was introduced in Al Ewing’s Immortal Hulk series. Johnson did pepper in this bitter cosmic feud between these entities in the lore pages throughout the series, so this issue just built upon all that. But after that history lesson, we get to an active story again as Hulk finds Doctor Voodoo and more. We get reveals (one reveal you’ll see coming miles away), some action, and setup for the next and final issue of this run.
I have to give it to Adam Gorham on the art, and Matthew Wilson’s colors really do help. Gorham does a great job with Hulk, depicting the primordial Earth and the ancient history that transpires with the Mother of Horrors, and the action that follows. For those wondering, the comic uses the hidden design approach for visualizing the Mother of Horrors, where we only get glimpses of her form and her powers, leaving her an obscured monster. As a result, readers’ imaginations can take over and think what she could look like, for now. And it was a nice choice to have Hulk narrate her origin in a way that’s befitting of Hulk’s vocabulary and direct personality. By the end, the comic sets everything for the big finale of this run as Hulk comes face to face with Eldest in a form all Hulk fans are very familiar with.
Now, what keeps this issue from being any higher is the big reminder of the untapped story potential this run has on the gamma side of things. By that, I mean how Bruce and Hulk have been made into such reactionary and passive characters to Betty showing up and later learning about other Gamma Mutates going missing and did nothing the whole time. The minute they saw Betty “working” for Eldest, Bruce should’ve called in help like She-Hulk or Rick, or even Gamma Flight to help find her on their end and see what’s really going on. And the whole plot line of Gamma Mutates being kidnapped by Eldest’ brethren should’ve been a much bigger deal to them, yes even to Hulk, compared to how Johnson depicts it. It all just feels a little rushed, like Johnson overlooked how significant these events would be to both characters and that they would at least attempt to do something about it.
Final Thoughts:
Incredible Hulk #29 reveals the origins of the Mother of Horrors and how she factors into the greater cosmology of the Marvel Comics universe. Whether or not this addition to the Marvel cosmology will really stick depends on the readers, but her story is told well thanks to Adam Gorham’s art and the writing in Hulk’s narration. The action and reveals near the end do a solid job of setting up the big clash for Hulk and Eldest in the next issue.