“There is no “Banner” here.”
“The Infernal Hulk” #1 is the result of what happens when you have a writer’s terrifying vision perfectly paired with an art team who can bring every last horrifying gory detail to life. This book should easily rank among the top single issues to be released this year and proves that whether the Hulk is Incredible, Immortal or now “Infernal,” that there are some amazing stories to tell. In this first issue, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Nic Klein, Matthew Wilson and Corey Petit set the tone for what looks like is going to be the darkest chapter in the history of the Hulk. A new nightmare for the Marvel Universe has only just begun.
Now before we truly jump in here, there are a few things to note. You can jump into “The Infernal Hulk #1” and have a great time with it without any prior knowledge of the last few arcs. However, “The Infernal Hulk #1” has its roots stemming back from Al Ewing’s phenomenal “Immortal Hulk” run from a few years ago and readers should know that if they want this book’s moments to hit as hard as they do, they should read Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s “Incredible Hulk” run that just ended with issue #30 back in October. That being said, let’s jump into this one.
A Nightmare Come to Life
This is a story about what happens when a being of pure evil gets to sit at the controls of the Marvel Universe’ strongest being. Bruce Banner has been forcibly ripped out of the Hulk and replaced with an evil primordial being known as the Eldest. No longer is any semblance of Banner’s humanity in the back of the Hulk’s mind, no longer does the Hulk himself even have control over his own body. Both are trapped in the hellscape of their mind while Eldest takes Hulk’s body on the most savage and bloody joy ride we’ve ever seen from the character.
From the very first scene of this book, when evacuation horns begin to blare in the town of Red Creek, Kentucky it’s clear something is very wrong. Johnson does a great job of setting the scene when we meet the group of U.S. military soldiers guarding the town a few hours later. We get to see through their eyes how they believe a hero will come to their rescue and that this can’t possibly be the Hulk because “he’s a good guy.” The nighttime thunderstorm accompanied by the darkened faces of the soldiers unlucky enough to be in the path of this terrifying monster are brilliantly drawn by Klein with great darkened hues used by Wilson to set the tone of this book.
Incredible… Immortal… Infernal.
When this "Infernal" Hulk finally smashes down into the army and rises up from the crater made of his impact, we get one of the coolest splash panels published all year and one of the best in Hulk’s history. Klein draws a Hulk that’s so huge he barely fits on the page complete with a jagged festering scar that lines the middle of the beast’s body. Wilson’s color choices are brilliant here with a great combination of blacks, purples, and greens highlighted by a smoky orange background. With an entrance this grand, the battle after it better not disappoint and what follows is one of the most jaw dropping encounters Hulk action scenes we’ve ever gotten
We’ve seen the Hulk fight with the military before, but we have never seen him fight the military like this. The battle opens with the Hulk sonic clapping someone's skull open and sending their brains flying everywhere and only gets more violent from there. Over the course of this battle, Hulk grabs a chopper out of the sky and uses it like a giant hammer, he smashes soldiers into mush on the ground, and he grabs multiple soldiers and squeezes them until they pop with the full on gore and blood you’d expect from a horror film. This is a monster who has been fully unleashed and is intent on murdering anyone and anything in his path.
It truly cannot be stated enough how good the art of Klein, Wilson and letterer Corey Peitt, are during this fight. They capture every detail with the full gore and blood a story like this deserves.The terrified faces of the humans, the Hulk smashing his next victim and the big comic action words that get formed the organs of the murdered soldiers all expertly come to life on the page. I think I read this part over at least five times before continuing on because of how much I loved it.
After the battle ends the Hulk summons the living city of Gologolthia, created from the flesh of other monsters. It’s where he creates his seat of power in this new era in the Marvel Universe. The soldiers we met just a few short pages ago have suffered a possible worse fate than death and now exist as gamma mutated monsters in this new city of horrors. The book ends with a news broadcast about a new “Age of Monsters” being viewed by the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and… Bruce Banner.
Concluding Thoughts and Rating
What happens when the Hulk no longer has any moral shackles? Does any Avenger, X-Men or inhuman possibly stand a chance against this version of the Hulk? How will the Hulk gain control of his body again? What role will a now Hulk-free Bruce Banner play? Where did the Hulk’s teenage companion Charlene Tidwell go and what role does she have to play in these events? These questions and more will be answered by Johnson over the months ahead and I can’t wait to see where this roller coaster of a story is going to take us.
My first superhero memories are me sitting in front of the TV watching the 1990’s Incredible Hulk animated show and being fascinated with the character almost immediately. That show started an obsession that including watching the entire 1970’s Incredible Hulk TV series starring Lou Ferrigno and the late great Bill Bixby, seeing every Hulk movies more times than I can count and ultimately reading all of the great runs from the Stan Lee, to Peter David, to Paul Jenkins and Bruce Jones to Greg Pak and of course Al Ewing. The stories that have been crafted with this character on both screen and page have immersed me since I was a child and I can honestly say this is possibly the most excited I’ve been to see where a Hulk story is going to take me.
Johnson has picked up right where he left off and has begun crafting his darkest chapter yet in the saga of the Incredible Hulk. Donny Cates, while I loved some of his other books, had a run that wasn’t the follow up myself and many Hulk fans wanted after the beloved “Immortal Hulk” run by Al Ewing. Johnson brought us back to the horror filled vibe since he took over the book and it’s been a treat to read every month. I truly hope this creative team stays together for years to come because I truly don’t want to see their run come to an end anytime soon.
With the monster of the week filled vibe of their original run now having turned into a full on nightmare; Johnson is making his big, bloody stamp on one of Marvel’s core heroes and his second run with Hulk has me both terrified and excited for what’s to come for the Marvel Universe.
Grade: 9.5 out of 10