Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Danny Earls
Color Artist: Matthew Wilson
Cover Artist: Nic Klein
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
The Hulk is being hunted! After their awakening, the ancient monster simply called Eldest sent out a call to all the monsters across the Earth to seek out the “fractured son”, aka the Hulk. One of these monsters is none other than Betty Banner, the Red Harpy and Bruce’s wife. But after fighting against and with a new Ghost Rider from WWII, Bruce and Charlie have entered New Orleans, but even there a monster waits for them. Read The Incredible Hulk #9 to see what new horror awaits the world’s strongest.
Review:
Okay, after the last few action-heavy story arc in the last few issues, it seems like things are taking a different approach for this story arc. Unfortunately, we won’t have Nic Klein’s art for this story arc as the same that happened with the Man-Thing story. And the artist drawing the book is certainly not the same level, but it’s still good for the type of story this is setting up to be. There will be SPOILERS in this review, but not too many.
The comic starts things calm as it delves into New Orleans, Louisiana and the people are having a good time, but the story focuses on a random young couple trying to find their way home. But this couple comes across a mysterious old woman, who ends up murdering the young woman and taking her boyfriend to places unknown. It’s not long before the comic shifts back to Bruce and Charlie walking through a New Orleans cemetery where Bruce catches sight of Betty in the distant and goes to find her while holding off a Hulk transformation. He gives Charlie some money and sends her on her way to go and have fun while he figures things out. But through a series of wild coincidences, Charlie would end up running into the same old woman from earlier – Frozen Charlotte.
Now, the strengths of this comic are the writing’s dialogue, the pacing, the tone, and the mystery of the new villainess Frozen Charlotte. The stand outs for this issue are the tone and pacing as Phillip Kennedy Johnson writes this book as if it were the beginning of a detective horror mystery story as we get the bloody introduction of Frozen Charlotte, a quick glimpse of her powers, and there’s always this slight tension whenever she shows up. And while I’m not that big of a fan of Danny Earls’ art, they do a good job with complimenting the creepy horror of Frozen Charlotte.
The low points of this comic have to be the art when it comes to the Hulk portion, which is very short, and the conversation between Bruce and Betty. See, ever since the end of the Swamp Siren story arc, that featured Man-Thing, it was shown that Betty was aligned with the Eldest and offered a deal for Bruce. Here’s the thing, Bruce and Betty’s relationship has been in upheaval since the events of Al Ewing’s Immortal Hulk, and they didn’t end on the best terms. Granted, the last few issues of the series showed that Betty still loved and Bruce and vice versa, but they didn’t get a chance to patch things up. And they still had no contact with each other since the events of Immortal Hulk #50, and that was back in 2021. Then she just shows up and we barely get anything from Bruce about…any of this in the following issues. He never mentions her, Charlie doesn’t bring it up, nothing.
Now that she shows back up, we are at least getting a reaction from Bruce and Hulk, but it’s so short-lived and Betty’s dialogue just screams brainwashing. Overall, Johnson isn’t capitalizing on the massive emotional and psychological drama he can get out of these two interacting with each other after so long, and it’s sad to see. Also, Danny Earls’ art for Betty’s hair is just weird. It’s clear he was trying to make her look eerie and somewhat mystical, but it just looks silly. But, I’ll end things on a positive note. Despite my criticisms, the issue does a serviceable job of making me interested in Frozen Charlotte as the new monster. The comic basically sets up her hunting pattern if you will, builds up mystery and dread, and I’m actually intrigued to see her slicing power in action against the Hulk.
Final Thoughts:
The Incredible Hulk #9 begins a new story arc for Bruce and Charlie as they come into contact with a new monster from New Orleans. While the Bruce and Hulk portions of the comic are more expository and short, the slowly built up mystery and menace with Frozen Charlotte was still good. The tone and pacing of the comic make it feel like the beginning of a crime noir type of story but with the Hulk.