Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #460Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #460
Title: “Homecoming”
Writer: Peter David
Penciller: Adam Kubert
Inker: Mark Farmer
Colors: Lovern Kindzierski and Digital Chameleon
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Hulk lies near death at the site of the first gamma bomb test.
Bruce Banner lies on what appears to be his childhood bed. Bruce wakes up after thinking that he heard someone. He says that the room seems familiar somehow. A voice from the other room says, “Bruce! I said breakfast is ready! Don’t make me call again.”
When the Hulk and Bruce Banner were separated it was slowly killing the Hulk. Recently, Hulk and Banner have been slammed back together and the trauma of the reunion may have been more than the Hulk’s body could handle.
Bruce stands in the kitchen door looking at his father sitting at the table. Brian Banner tells Bruce that he made him some deviled eggs because he thought it was an appropriate way to welcome him to the rest of his afterlife. Bruce says that he isn’t buying into this. He says that Brian is dead. Brian says that Bruce is as well. Bruce opens the door and stares out amazed at the red suburban hell. He asks where he is. Brian says that he thought that was obvious. He says that Bruce is in Hell.
The Hulk continues to lie on the ground. He is leaking gamma radiation like he never has before. While in his death throes, Hulk accidentally sets a pack of jackrabbits on fire.
Brian says that
this has been a long time coming. He says that it started the day
he killed him. He says that Cloot, in Las Vegas, showed him what
was coming. As Brian eats, the milk carton has a picture of the
Hulk on it. It reads, “Have You Seen Me?” Brian reminds
Bruce of when Mephisto showed at Rick’s wedding. He says
that Bruce thought that he beat him, but that Mephisto was just
laughing at him. He says that it was all a set up. The milk
carton now has a picture of Bruce, but it still reads “Have
You Seen Me?” Brian says that he knew Bruce would be coming
and that it why he started to haunt him. He says that he was that
anxious to start spending time with him. The milk carton now has
a picture of the Maestro on it. It now reads, “I See
You”. Brian’s coffee cup has turned into a gamma bomb.
Brian says that he has finally won. He says that he caught him.
Brian says that he has existed in Bruce’s mind for years,
but that they are now on his turf. He says that Bruce is
finished. The eggs in Brian’s mouth look like a Hulk head.
The Hulk looks up and groans. Large chunks
of his body are missing.
Bruce walks down the street asking everyone if they can tell him how to get out of there. A voice says, “You don’t get out, Doctor Banner. You carry it within you. Always.” Bruce turns to see the Leader standing in front of a grill. He has a chef’s hat resting on the top of his enormous head. His spatula flips up a burning jackrabbit. Leader says that he had a good run, and that he went out spectacularly. He says that he is dead now. Banner asks Leader if he really thinks that he is going to listen to him. Bruce says that Leader eats, sleeps, and breathes lies. Leader asks Bruce if he thinks that he cares. Leader starts chopping up the jackrabbits. A voice says, “It’s what I’ve always told you, Bruce. You know nothing of your own potential.”
Next to the
Hulk’s inert body, lies the skeleton of the Maestro. He was
sent back in time to die at the first gamma bomb explosion. His
own alpha and omega. A ring of green radiation flares around the
Maestro’s body as it does around the Hulk.
In Hell, Bruce sees the Maestro raking leaves on his front yard. Maestro tells Bruce that death doesn’t have the same meaning for them. Bruce asks how he can be dead and Maestro is there as well. Maestro says that death doesn’t last for them. He says that whether it takes minutes, hours, or even decades that they always come back. Bruce says, “That strains credulity, don’t you think?” Maestro says, “Of course. What part of ‘Incredible’ don’t you get?”
Radiation pours out of the Maestro’s eye sockets in his skull.
Maestro gives Bruce something else to think about. He says that for all these years the Hulk has had some strange ability to find his way back to Gamma Base, as if he had some kind of radar. Maestro says that what he really had was him. Maestro says that he was calling out to Hulk and haunting the area. He says that he was summoning him with the same knack that Hulk has for seeing astral forms. He says that he knew the Hulk was his key to eventually returning. Maestro says that he told Bruce that he absorbed gamma radiation, and that the Hulk is a walking source of gamma radiation. He says that little by little and year after year he has been absorbing him. Bruce says that he doesn’t believe it and that dead is dead. Maestro tells Bruce to explain that to Marlo. Bruce’s head quickly turns and says, “What the devil?” Maestro says, “Could be.”
Inside a helicopter above the fiery pit of gamma radiation, a pilot flashes his searchlight on the scene.
Brian Banner is speeding toward Bruce in a convertible car. He says that Bruce ran out without eating his breakfast. He says that he is going to have to be punished for this. He tells Bruce to not just stand there and to be a man.
A lick of gamma radiation flame sparks up and hits the helicopter on its rotor.
Bruce dives out of the way of the car. Brian says that is the spirit. He tells Leader and Maestro not to miss out on the fun. He says that they want to give Bruce a proper introduction to his new home.
The pilot leaps out of the helicopter just as the motor explodes, but he is then falling into the gamma radiation.
Bruce runs from the car that now holds Brian, the Leader, and the Maestro. Brian asks if he finally understands. He says that they are his own personal trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Unholy Ghost.
The pilot stands in the gamma fire screaming. He thinks of the date he is supposed to have with a gorgeous blond. He thinks about the six months it took him to get that date and that if he dies now that he will have wasted all that time.
Brian hits Bruce and starts to drag him under the car. Bruce grabs hold of the bumper and is dragged along. Brian says, “We have such a wonderful relationship, you and I. You hated me, despised me, killed me. And then spent your life loathing the Hulk… mostly because he reminded you of me.”
The pilot stands astonished as the Hulk stands up before him.
Bruce is sent flying out the rear of the car. Bruce says that it is payback time and that the Hulk isn’t there to help him. Brian says that this is his new reality until the end of time for what he did to him. Brian says that he always saw the evil in Bruce, and that he could never fool him. Brian says that it is no wonder Bruce hated him. Bruce says that he hated him for better reasons than that. Bruce says that he hated him because as insane as it sounds that a child never stops trying to win the approval of their parents. Bruce says that Brian rejected him from birth. Bruce says that he hated him because he terrorized he and his mother, and because he made him afraid to love and hate. Bruce says that he made him afraid of everything. Bruce catches the car as it darts towards him. Bruce throws the car away and says that he won’t be afraid anymore.
The Hulk scoops up the pilot, but the pilot realizes that as he does so that it is as if the Hulk weren’t really there. As if he were sleepwalking. It used to be theorized that when someone is sleepwalking that their soul was out wandering.
Bruce starts to
choke Brian. Brian asks him if he thinks killing him will get rid
of him. Brian says that they have been there and done that. Bruce
says that the son that Brian terrorized is gone. Bruce says that
the Hulk may give him strength on the outside, but that the inner
strength is his. He says that Brian will never deny him that
strength again.
Just then another light shines into the gamma fire from another helicopter.
In Hell, Bruce looks up and sees a light. Bruce sees Betty in the light and tosses Brian aside. Maestro says that Betty being the light of his life, come to offer him salvation again, is disgustingly symbolic.
As the Hulk is leaping toward the helicopter, Bruce is leaping toward the angelic Betty. Bruce tells Maestro to shut his mouth and that he isn’t fit to speak Betty’s name. Betty tells Bruce to come with her. She says that he doesn’t belong there. Betty says that he has carried her with him always and to let his faith bring him the rest of the way.
The helicopter above spots the crashed helicopter and they figure that there is no way that the pilot could have survived. Suddenly, Bruce Banner walks out of the fire carrying the pilot on his back. People around the outside see the forms and wonder where he came from. Bruce says that he didn’t get the guy’s address.
The people administer CPR to the injured pilot as a rescue unit is flying in. It isn’t until later that they realize that the strange man is gone. It isn’t until much later, when the fire is out, that they realize just who the stranger was. Word immediately circulates that Robert Bruce Banner has returned. What people don’t realize is that they don’t know the half of it.
Maestro’s
hand reaches out of the pit. His shriveled body stands up and
walks off.
No Excuses rating: 10 out of 10
Man what an intense issue. Bruce faced with Hell against his lifelong enemy, his father Brian Banner. He has to contend with the Leader and the Maestro in Hell, but far more threatening is the Maestro’s return to the waking world. Hulk’s unexplainable power to find the site of the original gamma bomb test is actually explained. Great stuff. Kubert does a great job with all the little nuisances of this issue. His Leader and Maestro look great and I only wish that we had had the time to see them in their own storylines against Hulk. Sadly the powers that be had other crappier plans for the title soon.
Review and pictures by The Leader