The Incredible Hulk is a monster book. That was evident in issue #1, as monsters have risen with the Green Door open, but Hulk always been a monster prime for monster stories. Bruce Banner is no longer on good terms with the Hulk, and now he’s a target for a mysterious group of monsters. Monsters can be depicted as scary and gross in a traditional horror comic, but a dark sense of dread enters the story in the second issue.
Incredible Hulk #2 has deep roots in the dark underbelly of America. It opens on an old mine, and the church is abandoned and falling apart. Life is absent except for a pink palm on a tombstone and pink mists stretching into the mine shaft. Later in the issue, the same source of this evil appears to be part of some church, further cementing the American horror. Hulk is facing something that doesn’t just have muscles, but a belief system and an audience.
If you’re wondering what scares Bruce, it might be what we see in these opening scenes as the story cuts to Bruce waking from a nightmare. Bruce isn’t too concerned about his own safety, so he’s not in much danger, save for fear of hurting others, and that’s exponentially heightened when he realizes a girl named Charlie is traveling with him.
An incredibly creepy opening.
Credit: Marvel
The two encounter different kinds of threats, ensuring Bruce can’t just dump her off. Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson keeps these two tethered naturally while they run into a zombie and a threat of a different sort. An incredible dream sequence during their tenure together utilizing a different style by Nic Klein is quite something. Painterly and unnerving, this part of the story leans into scary symbolic imagery and a Hulk sighting.
Their travels lead them to a major conflict with the threat introduced at the start of the issue. In a surprise twist, Johnson and Klein put Bruce in a situation we’ve seen countless times in Hulk stories, but it goes a different route. It’ll be interesting to see if the damage Bruce takes stays with him, but the cliffhanger also sets up a major throwdown for the action fans.
If you are an action fan, don’t expect much in this issue, as it lays the groundwork for creepy and atmospheric threats. That’s the weakest aspect of the issue and while the brooding nature of the villains and the general vibe of the issue are good, the story meanders a bit too much.
Incredible Hulk #2 mixes horror, Americana, and internal conflict into a melting pot of eerie beauty.
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