The Infernal Hulk vs. Fantastic Four #1
Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Art by Cian Tormey
Colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letters by VC’s Cory Petit
Cover Art by Nick Klein
In the face of insurmountable odds, sometimes the only thing you have to keep you going is a singular spark of hope. As the Marvel Universe continues to take loss after loss, the First Family may have found something to give them that spark but as we have come to learn in Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s twisted nightmare of a Hulk story, the darkness might just be too deep for any light to escape. Let’s get into it. Spoiler Warning Now in Effect for The Infernal Hulk vs. The Fantastic Four #1.
Insurmountable Odds
Sorry to all members of the Clique for that somber intro, but this issue continues the downward spiral that the forces of good seemingly cannot escape. The Marvel Universe is not doing too well in its war against Eldest, otherwise known as the Infernal Hulk, and this latest one-shot pits the Fantastic Four against the beast and its forces on their home turf of the Baxter Building. As you can probably guess from how I’ve been handling this review so far, the battle doesn’t go the way the Fantastic Four want it to.
Our issue begins as the Infernal Hulk’s mutant army rages across Manhattan. They are tearing through any resistance, and Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and the Thing are doing all they can on the streets to hold back the tide of terror. For those who may need to get up to speed, the pink abominations are the result of the Infernal Hulk’s perversion of some mutant powers to essentially grow a massive army under the streets of New York. Yeah. Not good. While the battle rages outside, Reed Richards gives us some necessary exposition about a miracle he may have finally stumbled upon.
Reed is recording a message for Tony Stark, Amadeus Cho, Vision, and Peter Parker in case things should go wrong and something happens to him and the First Family. He wants them to know he has created a machine, known as the Immaculate Engine, that uses the power of the previously discovered Sanguine Tree (a tree created from the blood of the One Above All). If his design works as intended, the machine would be able to erase the corruption that the Infernal Hulk has unleashed upon their world and possibly destroy the Eldest. This engine could be the Marvel Universe’s salvation… if only the Eldest didn’t realize what Reed was up to.
Well, as you can expect, things quickly go from bad to worse as the fight heads inside, as well as under, the Baxter Building. Like in every good horror movie, the power goes out, and the Fantastic Four is forced to relocate the Sanguine Tree before Eldest and its forces can get their hands on it. As they descend deeper and deeper into the base and foundation of their home, they quickly realize that something is not right. There shouldn’t be anything down so you can imagine their surprise when they discover massive roots harboring mutated beings of the Eldest’s. The Infernal Hulk unfortunately finds them, and when it does… the battle begins as the Fantastic Four fight as hard as they can to stop this monster from causing any more harm. They are not successful.
This entire section came off to me as if the Fantastic Four were descending into hell, and even if Johnson and the creative team didn’t explicitly make that clear, it certainly came off that way. What takes this allegory a little deeper, and something else that I found interesting, is that life, well… a mutated form of it at the very least, is coming from “hell” (the underground). We typically associate Hell with death, and rightfully so, but it makes sense in a sick sort of way that if anything was given life from the fires of Hell, it might just look like the mutated beings of the army of the Infernal Hulk.
One by one, despite taking the fight to the Infernal Hulk as hard as they can, the First Family falls. I don’t want to go too deep into spoilers for this part, as I think this massive brawl between The Thing, the Human Torch, and the Invisible Woman is best experienced as you read this issue, but man, one of the things I can say is that Johnson and the art team of Cian Tormey and Romulo Fajardo Jr. do not hold back at all. Of course, there are times when the Fantastic Four have lost in the past and suffered their share of defeats, but the way each of these three is brought down is truly horrific. I wouldn’t wish the Thing’s fate or the Human Torch’s fate on anyone, and what happens to Invisible Woman might be just as bad. The Infernal Hulk has no empathy, no mercy… not even a flicker of good exists with that monster, and with each passing issue that darkness just seems to get deeper and deeper.
One thing I can say about this battle between the Infernal Hulk and the Fantastic Four is that the art is absolutely kick-ass. Cian Tormey’s pencils and Romulo Fajardo Jr.'s colors create a symphony of violence that lives up to the expectations that readers have for this series, and when the members of the Fantastic Four begin to go down, you feel every punch, every hit, every final blow. We’ll get to Reed in a minute, but wow, did the other three members of the First Family receive fates that none of them deserved. The sheer brutality of how Human Torch is brought down is going to stay with me for a while, as will the Thing’s last stand and what happens to Invisible Woman. Johnson’s narrative is great, but it would not hit nearly as hard without the brutal and emotional art.
A Brutal Ending… but does hope still prevail?
Reed Richards attempts to escape with not just the Sanguine Tree but the hopes of the Marvel Universe and I regret to say that the light of hope got a little dimmer. Reed is severely injured by the Infernal Hulk and does all he can to escape the catacombs of evil under the Baxter Building. He makes it close to the top of the building before hes flung out of a window and suffers a horrible fate. With his powers going haywire, Reed essentially splats on the ground and his stretching powers leave him a mess who can’t do much else but watch as the Infernal Hulk gains possession of the Sanguine Tree. With the Fantastic Four down and yet another line of defense broken for the Marvel Heroes, hope has left the building, the light has gone out… but… wait… who is that?
We get a HUGE cliffhanger moment featuring the original Nick Fury, who we learned last issue was the person Captain Marvel was searching for, and longtime fans of Johnson's run on the Incredible Hulk will not be disappointed in the slightest. Fury has a plan to begin to strike back at the Infernal Hulk, and he needs a very particular hero to help with this plan. All it takes is two pages for me to get even more excited about what's to come over the next few months in the pages of these Infernal Hulk one-shots and the Hulk War that's on the horizon.
While not AS violent and gory as the one-shot from last month featuring Wolverine, this issue featuring the Fantastic Four was just as brutal in different ways. Reed Richards had to watch as his entire family was destroyed in front of his eyes. He had to watch as the only weapon that even had a CHANCE to defeat the Infernal Hulk was ripped away from him. He had to hope that his friends got his message and that someone out there could finish the Immaculate Engine so the Marvel Universe doesn’t fall into an Age of Monsters. Phillip Kennedy Johnson has pulled no punches over the course of this run and at every turn, it seems the nightmare of the Infernal Hulk just keeps on getting worse. Kudos to Johnson for developing one of the best villains Marvel has had in years; a villain that actually makes it seem like the heroes can lose.
Time is running out for the heroes of the Marvel Universe. Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four prove no match for the terror that is the Infernal Hulk as they become the latest in an endless line of victims. Phillip Kennedy Johnson and the art team have successfully crafted another brutal chapter in this saga of death and violence, but… they provide a cliffhanger that proves that all hope might not be lost. Read. This. Series.
RATING: 9 out of 10
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