Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #346Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #346
Title: “Whys and Wherefores”
Court Reporter: Peter David
Court Artists
Layouts: Todd McFarlane
Penciller: Erik Larsen
Inker: Jim Sanders III
Color Commentary: Petra Scotese
Chairman: Bob Harras
Clay Quartermain stands in full uniform and takes the oath to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The chairman says that this is a Senate hearing ad that he can sit if he wants, but Clay says that he prefers to stand. The chairman says that he understands that Clay has a statement to read. Clay says that he regrets more than anyone what happened to Middletown. He says that it is a tragedy that he has hoped to forestall when he set out to uncover the truth about the government manufacturing gamma bombs. He says that in good conscience that he couldn’t let the American public be unaware of this hideous weapon. He says that it was unfortunate that it took the destruction of Middletown to do it. Clay is told that he made a pretty speech, but that it overlooks the fact he acted as a fugitive because he demolished an entire government installation named Alpha Base. Clay corrects him, “Gamma Base, sir.” Clay says that he had no choice. He says that he was given orders that would have resulted in the execution of Bruce Banner. The chairman says that they are shocking charges. He asks Clay who gave him the orders. Clay’s counselor tells the chairman that despite his status as a SHIELD agent that Clay is still bound by the non-disclosure agreement that he signed on joining. He says that they are matters of national security.
Clay thinks back to when Hulk was a prisoner at Gamma Base. Hulk asked Clay if he was going to pull the trigger on Banner himself. Clay told him that the last thing he wanted to do was kill Banner. Hulk said that what Clay wants is to kill him, but that killing Banner is the easy way to do it. Hulk told Clay to go ahead and do whatever he wants no matter who gets hurt. Hulk asked Clay if he knew the difference between the two of them. Clay said he gave up. Hulk said, “nothin’”. Clay thinks back on how Hulk was right about the plan to kill Banner. Clay had called Fury, but didn’t want to tell him about his orders to kill Banner. He wasn’t sure if he knew and approved or if he was going to be putting him in the middle. Fury could tell that something was bothering Clay, but that he didn’t have time to pussyfoot around waiting for him to tell him. Fury told Clay to solve the problem as he saw fit and that it would do him good. Clay tells the chairman that no Nick Fury didn’t know.
Rick and Betty wait outside the hearing. Rick says that it seems like Clay has been in there for years. He asks her how she is feeling. Betty says that she is nauseous. Rick says that he is too, but that at least she has the excuse of being pregnant. Betty confesses to Rick that she is thinking of not having the baby. She stands and hugs Rick.
The chairman says that Clay did all these things because of the late Dr. Banner. He asks Clay what Banner ever did for him. Clay says that Banner saved him from himself. He says that if it wasn’t for Banner that he would have wound up a “deskbound hotshot” thinking in terms of “acceptable losses” instead of the people that were dying. Clay says that as spies they tend to be cloistered from the real world, but that his friendship with Bruce and Betty made him remember who he was fighting for. He says that it made him remember that to the average Joe that the world is a scary place spinning out of control. He says that he saw what one gamma bomb did years ago to mangle the life of Bruce Banner and wondered if it was really necessary to have more weapons capable of creating more Hulks. Clay says that he had to say that enough was enough. He says that he accepts the consequences of what he did and that if he had it do to over again that he would. The chairman asks Clay if he is planning on entering politics since he sounded as if he were making a campaign speech.
Outside a kid is selling “Clay for President” t-shirts.
At the site, formerly known as Middletown,
the squads have been picking through the remains of the town for
a week. One of them says that they are three miles from ground
zero and that the destruction is massive. Suddenly something
starts to move.
Father McCall
climbs out of the rubble. One of the team says that he
doesn’t know if that means there is a God because he
survived or that there isn’t one because he would be better
off dead.
At the Daily Bugle, Jameson and Peter Parker are watching the news. The television says that with the Senate hearings concluded for the day that there is an overwhelming public support for Clay Quartermain. It goes on to say that not only have the charges been dropped against him, but that people are starting grass roots campaigns for Clay for President. Peter tells Jameson that Ollie North just vanished and that Clay will too. He asks who would really vote for him. Suddenly, Peter’s wife, Mary Jane, is on the screen. She says that she would vote for him and that she thinks he is a fox. She says that he isn’t as cute as her husband, but that he is a fox. Pete whistles as Jameson sneers at him.
The Senate hearings continue. The chairman extends to Betty his condolences and asks when she first met Dr. Banner. Betty says that she was 19 at the time and that when he came to New Mexico to test the gamma bomb that it was the first time that she had ever met a man that didn’t have a rank on his collar. She says that the gamma bomb signaled the beginning of their relationship and the end. She says that maybe she lost him in the first gamma bomb explosion when it released the Hulk. They ask her if that is why she left him. Betty says that she did several times, but that she always came back. They ask her why. She says that without Bruce she would have grown to be a good military wife in a marriage arranged by her father. She says that she was in love with Bruce and that the times where she was most miserable were the times she would pretend that she would leave him forever. She says that she has come to realize that she just couldn’t do it. She says that she is still fuzzy on how they were reunited the final time. The chairman asks how the Hulk viewed their reunion. Betty says that they had come to an agreement of sorts. She says that it may not have last, but that now they will never know. Betty says that they should have never been there when the bomb exploded. She says that they should have just contacted SHIELD and let them handle it, but that they had to be idiot heroes and try to save the day themselves. She says that the Leader cheated. She says that he had the bomb set to explode at 10, but that he set it off two hours early. Betty says that no one plays fair anymore. She says that the dome held the radiation in for hours as SHIELD tried to break in. Betty says that the whole dome just suddenly vanished. Betty rushed up to the man who had been banging on the dome to get out. She says that they promised to get him out and that it was just more lies. Betty starts to cry when she talks about the man opening his eyes. The chairman asks if she needs a minute to compose herself. Betty says that she has had years of practicing composing herself.
Alan Quartermain and his family continue watching the news about the hearings. They hear that workers are still finding more and more dead. They’re told that Red Cross workers and scientists are combing the area that has been nicknamed “Gammatown”. The news says that there is reports that there may actually be a handful of survivors. They ask if there may be any more Hulks coming in the future. General Hamilton, in charge of the salvaging, says that there are a handful of survivors, but that they aren’t releasing their names yet. He says that the notion of a new Hulk is absurd. He says that the poor people will be dead within days from radiation poisoning and that they are hardly lucky to have survived.
Clay watches with Betty and Rick. He says that it might be better that Bruce did die. He says that the knowledge of what his creation did might be more than he could handle. Rick says that it wouldn’t be harder than handling the Hulk. Rick says that they are calling Middletown Gammatown now, and that soon people will be referring to this as Gammagate. There is a knock on the door. Fury stands at the door and asks Clay if he would care to step outside. Fury tells Clay that the chairman has told him off the record that they will probably remand Clay to SHIELD to take whatever actions they care to take. Clay asks what that means. Fury says that it will mean a full investigation into their own in the Gamma Base mess. Clay asks about him. Fury grabs Clay by the ear and says that he will be where he can keep an eye on him. Fury tells Clay to tell him everything that happened.
Rick stands next to his lawyer Matt Murdock. Rick has his hand raised as he begins his testimony. He starts by saying that he was born a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The chairman says that he is not amused. Rick says that he knows that he is supposed to be intimidated by them, but that he just isn’t. He says that a normal day for him is getting attacked by robots or aliens. He says that he watches his best friend turn gray at night or hangs out in the Negative Zone. He says that they don’t even make him sweat. Rick says that years ago all he cared about was winning a bet with his friends about driving out onto a testing range. He says that he didn’t know anything about the gamma bomb test, or that the man who saved him from the blast would spend the rest of his days bailing him out. The chairman asks Rick why he stuck by the Hulk for so many years. Rick says that without Bruce that he would be wormfood. Rick says that not only did he save his life, but that he learned everything from Bruce that he never learned in an orphanage: sacrifice, love, devotion, and responsibility. Rick says that people thought Bruce was a wimp, but then so are the Avengers ad Captain Marvel. He says that Bruce had as much pure guts as any of them. Rick says, “He was the best friend I ever had, and I loved the guy. And now he’s gone, and there’s nothing left to him. And that’s all there is to that.”
Betty sits in the doctor’s office listening to Rick’s words as she waits to be seen. The nurse tells her that she is ready for her, but Betty says that she has changed her mind.
The chairman says that Rick Jones knows the Hulk better than anyone. He asks if Rick believes that the Hulk is really dead. Rick says that he does. He says that he was one of the first ones to see ground zero. He says that they didn’t find any of the others, but that they did find what was left of the Hulk. Rick says that it was as if his body had turned to powder and was lying there like Peter Pan’s shadow waiting to be picked up. Rick says that the wind came up and blew him away to a better place. Rick says that maybe it was Rio. The chairman yells, but Rick says that he didn’t want to sound too maudlin.
Rick charges into the room looking for Betty. Betty tells Rick that she is there. Rick says that he was worried when he heard that she asked where the nearest hospital was. He says that he thought she had gone to abort the baby. Betty says that she did, but that she didn’t. Rick says that he isn’t knocking her decision, but asks why she changed her mind. Betty says that she has seen so much death in her life. She says that she has lost her mother, father, Glenn, Bruce and everyone. She says that whenever one of them dies she always cursed the unfairness of it. She asks how she can now kill the last remaining thing from the last loved one she’s ever had. She says that no matter what the risks that the death stops there. She asks Rick to promise that he will stick with her. Rick says that they are a team. He says that he is planning on writing a book about everything and that he can’t spell.
The President of the United States addresses
the Gammagate affair. He says that no one is more grief stricken
over the tragedy of Middletown. He says that he accepts full
responsibility even though he was unaware of the stockpiling of
the gamma bombs. A soldier at the salvage site says, “Oh
sure he was.” The President says that he is announcing that
because of the devastating power of the weapon that he is
ordering the dismantling of all gamma bombs. The soldier says
that is closing the barn after the cow has gotten out. He says
that it is all about politics and asks General Hamilton if he
agrees. General Hamilton pulls the truck over. The soldier asks
why they are stopping. Leader’s hand comes in and touches
the soldiers’ shoulder. His eyes glows.
The two
soldiers stand there as Leader drives away in the truck. Leader
says, “The General did very well, his Leader is proud.
Continuing my memoirs, 5PM, May 1st. My plan has
worked perfectly. I have accomplished all my aims in the poetic
fashioned that I wished. I have rid myself of the Hulk, in such a
spectacular manner that the entire world bore witness to it. And
in the selfsame moment that the Hulk vanished from the
earth… my new order of beings was created. They sit now in
the back of this truck confused and uncertain. Two teenagers, a
lawyer, an encyclopedia salesman, and a priest… not that
their previous lives have any great meaning anymore. They think
they will die, but they will not. Although they may wish they
had. My new race is born. My greatest enemy is gone. My power
base grows every day. All I need now is time.”
No Excuses rating: 7 out of 10
Well this is the wrap up issue. The inclusion of the Leader at the end spices it up somewhat, seeing his goals attained, but really this is mostly a restating of who the Hulk was to people issue. McFarlane sticks around to layout the issue, but he was on to greater things (Spider-Man) that would one day allow him to bail out on Marvel and create Spawn… Erik Larsen begins his tradition of following up on Todd’s Marvel work. Larsen can be really good, but he can also be really bad… Todd lays out the issue but Larsen manages to gork it up a little. 3.5 out of 5 for both the writing and the art.
Review and pictures by The Leader