A New Age of Monsters Begins!
"Hear me terrors of the Earth. All who hide from the sun within shadow and dream. Who dwell in cave and river and well and tomb. All who men name monster. Any allegiance you once owed is ended. I command you by the will of the once-and-future ruler of Earth, the almighty Mother of Horrors. Seek out the Fractured Son... The one men name Hulk."
— The Eldest
The Incredible Hulk is an ongoing series by Marvel Comics launched in 2023. It is written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with artwork by Nic Klein.
The Green Door Is Shut! After the events of Hulk (2021), Bruce Banner once more finds himself a homeless drifter, wandering the American South. His relationship with his destructive alter ego finds itself at a new low, a consequence of Bruce's own abusive actions towards the Hulk. Now Hulk's rage is directed towards Bruce, and the monster is constantly rattling the bars of his cage within Bruce's mind. No longer called forth by Bruce Banner's anger, now Hulk manifests whenever Bruce feels happiest, whenever Bruce allows himself to feel at peace. Bruce has good reason to be afraid, for Hulk is determined to lock Bruce away and take control of their body for good.
But across the world in Iraq, an ancient tomb housing a great evil has been opened. The Eldest has been awoken and every monster on Earth has heard it's command: to seek out the one who will free the Mother of Horrors and usher in a New Age of Monsters. To seek out the Incredible Hulk...
The Incredible Hulk is a horror comic once more.
In addition to the usual Hulk tropes, this work includes examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: One of the new Hulk's first humanizing moments is when he actually cracks a smile and chuckles when Charlie does a mocking imitation of him.
- Admiring the Abomination: Charlie towards Hulk. She admires his strength and wishes she could be as powerful as he is.
- Adventure Towns: Hearkening back to older Hulk comics, the series involves Bruce wandering across the country and getting into various adventures as he stops from town to town.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: As bad as the Hulk is, the Eldest and her minions are FAR worse.
- Ambiguous Situation: Charlie angrily kicks her father unconscious after he crashes his car chasing her. On hearing the news of his death, Bruce consoles her that his injuries from the car crash may have been fatal already or may have turned a nonfatal beating into a fatal one; they can't know for sure. As readers, however, we know he was killed by a minion of Eldest, so neither got a chance to be lethal before that.
- Anti-Hero: The new Hulk personality makes even some of the most dickish Hulks like Devil and Joe Fixit look downright cuddly in comparison. He's rude, is utterly brutal towards those who bother him, has no real goals beyond minding his own business, and treats Bruce like a prisoner. Despite all of this, he's still got a tiny bit of a Hidden Heart of Gold somewhere under the monstrous form, as he won't kill innocents and leaps to their defense despite himself when they're endangered.
- Arc Welding: Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters depicts a young man in the prehistoric Fertile Crescent becoming the first Hulk when he is betrayed by his chieftain and sacrificed to a mysterious comet exuding gamma radiation. Johnson's run picks up that thread and ties it into Bruce's story; said tribal man was apparently an enemy of the Eldest and their siblings in ancient times who sealed them away in his own tomb. In the present day, an archeological team discovers that tomb and accidentally unleash the monsters contained within, and they are targeting Bruce on the basis of him being the successor to their old foe.
- Asshole Victim: Charlene's dad seems to be a textbook case of Abusive Parents. No one is likely going to feel sorry for his death at the hands of the Eldest and her minions.
- Barbarian Long Hair: While Bruce Banner let his hair grow as he became a drifter. It also serves to perfectly fit with the new Hulk who is now more meaner and brutal.
- Broad Strokes: While Johnson is picking up where Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley's run left off (and acknowledges the broad strokes as his catalyst), he also more or less ignores everything else Cates did. The run is instead played as more of a direct follow-up to Immortal Hulk.
- Continuity Nod:
- At the very start, when the archeologists open up Tammuz's tomb, they discover his oddly well-preserved corpse inside but note that it's inexplicably missing the head. The flashbacks in the final issue of Immortal Hulk showed the Sterns Brothers — Samuel and Robert — that Bruce and Leader are descended from in possession of a skull very similar to Tammuz's that was gifted to them by a paleontologist who found it in the Middle East. In that story, Samuel claimed the skull had to be a fake because it was so well-preserved and didn't show any signs of age…
- Also to Immortal Hulk; a rather big theme of that run was making clear that the Hulks' supernatural nature makes them better at handling magic and spiritualism than Bruce is. Issue four of this run plays this for horror and dark humor when the similarly mystical Man-Thing reminds us of this fact by killing Bruce to force his transformation into Hulk, because Hulk is easier for Sallis' spirit to commune with via the Nexus of All Realities.
- Playing off the Jeff Parker run of Thunderbolts, in which he evolved into a more powerful creature and regained some idea of his human mind, and the Curse of the Man-Thing series, Man-Thing is shown to now be a more intelligent, actively heroic being who has Ted Sallis' mind back in control and directing it's actions.
- Deal with the Devil: Betty appears in Red Harpy form to offer Bruce one from Eldest. If he surrenders Hulk’s body to Eldest, then Eldest will create new bodies for both Bruce and Betty which are untainted by gamma.
- Do Not Do This Cool Thing: Invoked, as the Ghost Rider Sal is fiercely against his grandson picking up a gun, even as he mows down the forces of Jinni Dagaal with his hellfire rifle whilst riding on his bike, because he fights to protect not just for the sake of it and how supposedly awesome it is.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The relations between Bruce and the new Hulk are very much coached in the terms of an abusive, codependent relationship, with Hulk tormenting Bruce verbally and physically but also being extremely possessive of him and isolating him from his friends and family.
- Eldritch Abomination: Plenty of them here, all connected via an entity called the Mother of Horrors and commanded by her chief agent known as the Eldest. Seems the Mother and the One Below All are enemies, and the Green Door kept the Mother and her children subdued. Once Hulk closed the Green Door, it allowed for the Eldest to awaken. Issue 3's backmatter indicates that the Mother of Horrors is specifically some kind of horrific Cosmic Flaw that tried to take over Earth during the primordial time of creation and rebelled against the One Above All, leading to the latter having to use the One Below All to seal her away.
- Everyone Has Standards: Despite hating her dad — with good reason — Charlie is horrified when she learns he died after she last saw him and is filled with dread over the possibility that her actions killed him (they didn't). As horrible as he was and as desperate as Charlie is to be strong enough to fight back against him, she didn't want to kill him.
- Exposition Dump: The cave paintings detailing a (severely biased) history of how the Mother of Horrors is related to the One Above All are ignored by the Hulk but imparted to the reader in several paragraphs of text at the end of the third issue.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Sally Barstow was accused of being a witch who laid with the devil by her mistress after she revealed that she was pregnant with her master’s child. Her mistress simply wanted Sally killed for accusing her husband of infidelity - but Sally actually WAS a witch who used her magic to sexually coerce her master albeit innocent of sleeping with the devil.
- Genre Throwback: Whereas Ewing's run prior was this to Marvel's Atomic Age sci-fi horror comics, Johnson's run instead calls back to and homages Marvel's later Gothic Horror comics of the 70s and 80s like Man-Thing, The Tomb of Dracula, and Werewolf by Night.
- Ghostly Goals: "Uncle Sal", the Ghost Rider of the 1920s, continues to linger in Texas, defending his family from anything that may threaten him.
- Ghost Town: Red Creek became one of these after the coal mines dried up, though it's zombie residents have managed to find their way back all the same...
- Giant Enemy Crab: The main threat of the Riddle of the Man-Thing arc is an enormous crustacean who lures its victims by transforming its stalks into black-eyed mock-ups of their dead loved ones.
- God Is Good: The One Above All, as per usual. The Mother of Horrors and her spawn perceive Him as a tyrant… mostly because He stopped them from taking over prehistoric Earth and using ancient humanity as slaves and food.
- Gothic Horror: The book's tone (and in contrast to the Cosmic Horror of Immortal Hulk).
- Greater-Scope Villain: The Mother of Horrors, the Monster Progenitor who created the Eldest and their siblings. They act against the Hulk on their Mother's behalf as part of her millennia-old rebellion against the One Above All, but the Mother herself plays no direct role in the plot.
- Here We Go Again!: Hulk's weary of getting saddled with yet another sidekick and initially tries to ditch Charlie the first chance he gets only to, true to form, save her from death at the last minute.
- Hulk Speak: Downplayed. Hulk's speech has now evolved to using pronouns. He still doesn't speak often, but it's in more of a Terse Talker way than the usual Hulk Speak.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: The general attitude the forces of the Mother of Horrors have towards mankind. Jinni Dagaal refers to them as locusts who have defiled nature's great gardens, and spends his last moments of life spitefully voicing his belief that his benefactor will annihilate the human race in his stead.
- Indian Burial Ground: Red Creek serves as one of these for an evil god.
- Ironic Nursery Tune: The zombie followers of "Brother Deep" sing one of these to express their loyalties.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Hulk's trying to do this to Banner in retaliation for the events of the Donny Cates run. He's trying to permanently seize control of their body and toss Banner in the figurative trunk for good (much as Banner tried with the Starship Hulk concept).
- Legacy Character: A (Zombie) Ghost Rider from the very early 20th Century appears as an antagonist and eventual ally in the third major story arc.
- Let's You and Him Fight: The Eldest's nature and powers allow her to bind other monsters to her will and send them after Hulk, even good monsters that have no beef with him like Man-Thing or Ghost Rider. The incantation she uses to do this even specifically states that while it's in effect, any prior allegiances the monsters held are null and void until Hulk is dead. Some monsters are strong-willed enough to resist it, but many don't care to.
- Long-Dead Badass: The rest of Tammuz is finally seen in the opening pages, and it's as inert and dead as his skull is, if better preserved in a mummified state.
- Lovecraft Lite: Brother Deep is a fallen Cthulhu-esque godlike being who was crippled by the One Below All, rendering him as little more than a rotting kaiju with telepathic abilities and the power to generate coal. Hulk isn't impressed with what he sees, and when he refuses to leave him alone, the Jade Giant defeats the monster in minutes.
- Luring in Prey: The Swamp Witch is an anglerfish-like monster that was hibernating in the Nexus of All-Realities until the Eldest awoke her. She kills her prey by creating shapeshifting meat puppets altered to look like peoples' deceased loved ones, which lure people into the swamp waters where she can kill and consume them.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Banner and Hulk closing the Green Door back in the Ewing run is partially what sets off the events in Iraq in the prologue; the Eldest and her siblings were defeated by a prior Hulk centuries ago and sealed away, and the closing of the Green Door makes them bold enough to make a second attempt at conquering the world.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Bruce is immediately and rightly suspicious when Betty tells him the Eldest is offering to cure their gamma mutations, since Betty had previously come to terms with her mutation as Red Harpy and had no desire to be cured, indicating that there's something more going on.
- Papa Wolf: The WW1 Ghost Rider in Texas continues to act as something of a family patriarch despite being long dead, fiercely and violently defending his family, particularly the children, from anyone who dares to bother them.
- Pet the Dog: As horrific and brutal as this new Hulk personality is towards Bruce himself, his hate doesn't seem to extend to other people. He spares the lives of a team of federal agents who try to capture him and simply warns them to stay away when he could've easily slaughtered them, and later goes out of his way to save Charlie's life and protect her from monsters.
- Power Misidentification: Bruce quickly deduces that Charlie's real reason for following Hulk around is that she hopes exposure to him will lead to her becoming a gamma mutate through excess gamma. He then bluntly tells her that she is not going to become a Hulk just standing near one, because that is not how his powers work; if she were hit with a gamma bomb like him or given a blood transfusion or something like that, maybe, but just standing around him isn't going to do anything.
- Rage Against the Heavens: The Mother of Horrors is a Cosmic Flaw born during the creation of Earth that tried to conquer nascent humanity with her progeny, forcing the One Above All to intervene and use the power of the Below-Place to seal her away. Ever since, the Mother and her children and servants regard the One Above All and all things holy as their enemies.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Green eyes, in this case. For Banner, as well as the One Above All whose eyes also glow green as he's about to unleash his more destructive aspect.
- Resurrective Immortality: Still a part of Bruce's power set despite the Green Door being closed (to the dismay of Brother Deep's followers, who figured that would mean they could actually kill him), but here it's played even more frighteningly, as the new Hulk personality is more than capable of taking charge whenever and purposefully does the "transforms when dying" thing to make Bruce experience the pain of getting killed out of sadism. Later, Man-Thing exploits it by killing Bruce because it's easier for him to communicate with Hulk.
- Revisiting the Roots: Similar to the Al Ewing run, the comic takes Hulk back to his early days as a horror comic in which Bruce Banner wanders from town to town while grappling with his affliction.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Bruce tries to reassure Charlie that her beating up her dad wasn't what killed him. He's right, but not for the reasons he thinks; he presumes that Charlie's dad was killed by the car accident he was in, when in truth, the guy was murdered by Grendel.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Hulk keeps trying to walk away from bad situations so he can focus on making Bruce miserable, but the Eldest, Charlie, and other miscellaneous busybodies keep dragging him into supernatural slugfests he'd rather avoid.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Eldest and other children of the Mother of Horrors were sealed away in the tomb of Tammuz in Iraq. Their accidental release triggers the plot of this run.
- Shoot the Dog: Man-Thing needs to communicate with Bruce and the Hulk about fighting back against the Eldest's plans and the havoc she's causing in the Nexus of All Realities. Unfortunately, Man-Thing isn't capable of speaking in human language and it's easier for him to speak spiritually with the mystical-in-nature Hulk. So Bruce has to transform. Which means he's gotta die.
- Smoking Is Cool: Before he goes back into undead furlough, Sal tries to bum a cigarette off of Charlie to no success.
- Southern Gothic: In keeping with the gothic overtones of the run, Bruce is traveling through the American South and the comic is hitting on many hallmarks of this subgenre, such as an atmosphere of decay and dread, rotting institutions, and themes of the past coming back to haunt people.
- Status Quo Is God: Played with and subverted in a deconstructive manner. Banner and Hulk are back on the run from the Feds again and back to being hostile with each other, but the relations between them have degraded to a horrifying extreme far beyond anything seen previously and the authorities are only pursuing Bruce on the Avengers' behalf because they're rightfully worried about him.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Charlie fills a similar role to McGee in 'Immortal Hulk' as a female tagalong that wants to stick around the Hulk due to fascination and envy but doesn't much care for Banner.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Subverted. Relations between Banner and his alter ego are worse than they've ever been, to such an extent that they're not working together anymore period. The Hulk personality that has seized control of the Banner System treats Bruce like a prisoner.
- Time Skip: Johnson's run opens some time after the conclusion of the Donny Cates era. In-universe, it's been a year since the conclusion of Immortal Hulk.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: An experienced superhero and scientist who's traveled up and down the bizarre and fantastical, Banner isn't too shocked at the sight of the Red Creek zombies, and he likely would've left them alone if they hadn't tried to sacrifice him and release Brother Deep onto the world.
- Villain Forgot to Level Grind: A number of the monsters called forth by the Eldest are used to preying on normal humans and the odd mystic. Very few have ever reckoned with a beast like the Hulk who is swift to exert the full force of his might the second they truly show themselves.
- Villain Protagonist: The Hulk is this to some extent this time around, being one of the most aggressive, violent, cruel, and abrasive incarnations of the Jade Giant yet. He doesn't want to save the world; he just wants to punish Banner.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Invoked by the new Hulk personality, which tends to come out whenever Bruce is getting a moment of peace or happiness as part of his desire to punish Bruce.
- You Are Who You Eat: The Eldest and her siblings gain new human disguises through a magical process that involves eating the person they want to impersonate to take their skin. The one named Grendel does this to Charlie's dad in the first issue.
- You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Horrifically inverted. This time around, Hulk comes out not when Bruce is angry, but when he's happy.
- "Is he man or monster or...is he both?" The question posed by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby on the cover of 1962's The Incredible Hulk #1 sums up the genius of the Hulk. Any little kid can understand the concept, but the best Hulk stories offer the reader more meaningful questions, almost any kind of story or message you'd want. Hulk is a power fantasy, a rage metaphor, a super-hero adventure, a deep dive on abuse, a classic horror movie...anything you need. But beneath all that, with all respect to Lee and Kirby: Hulk is a MONSTER.
