Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #466Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #466
Title: “Of All Sad Words…”
Writer: Peter David
Penciller: Adam Kubert
Inker: Mark Farmer
Colors: Steve Buccellato
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Betty staggers towards Bruce and whispers that it hurts so much. Bruce stares at Betty in shock. He thinks to himself he thought he has woken up, but that he must still be dreaming. Betty falls into Bruce’s arms. Bruce had dared to go to sleep last night with the hope of a better tomorrow. He was on the cusp of a new relationship with his beloved wife, and he was to be enjoying a new “protected” government status. When he awoke to find Betty “covered with massive cellular damage that bears the mark of radiation poisoning”. Bruce feels his life spiraling away. Bruce’s eyes go green and he starts to growl.
Outside in the hallway, two soldiers are
swapping fishing stories when they think that they hear
something, The Hulk plows through the wall. The soldiers shout
expressions of disbelief, but the Hulk just keeps barreling
towards the infirmary. 
In the temporary apartment provided to Marlo and Rick Jones, Marlo lies in bed thinking about how Betty keeps asking her how she liked her book. Marlo decides that since Rick has been sleeping in lately that she had better read it. Marlo says that the read has been very smooth so far, and that she can almost hear Betty’s voice in her head.
Excerpts from “Field of Green”
I have a first memory, like everybody does… except I don’t know if it’s real. It’s my mom, smiling down on me, tickling my chin… but she died when I was a year old. Do I truly remember her… or do I want to so much that I’ve made it up so I have something to cling to?
I wish I’d had her there to talk to when I first met Bruce. I like to think that she would have liked him. Lord knows Daddy didn’t. My father was Thunderbolt Ross, a general at the time, who was in charge of overseeing the Gamma bomb project that Bruce was working on.
I adored Bruce instantly. Not surprising. We were both so hungry for love- he because of his battered childhood, me for having been shunted between boarding schools and nannies- that we grasped onto each other. And if there was one thing neither of us cared about, it was how angry my father got.
Back at the base, Ross and Cary St. Lawrence walk through all the holes that the Hulk smashed through. He asks why nobody can tell him what is going on. He wants to know where Betty is. Ross asks what kind of base they are running around here. Ross and Cary come upon the Hulk sitting sulking on the ground. Ross wants to know where Betty is. Hulk doesn’t move. Ross says that he has been more than patient with him, but that he is sick of this. Hulk points backwards to the sign above the door that reads “Medilab” and says, “there.” Ross charges into the medilab and asks Samson where Betty is, but then he sees her lying in a hospital bed surrounded my plastic quarantine sheets. Samson says that it is some sort of massive case of radiation poisoning. Samson says that if they don’t get some king of miracle that they are going to lose her. Ross shouts, “Banner!” Ross runs back outside and starts punching the Hulk. He says, “Get out here! Get out here Banner! She’s your wife! And you’re the only one who can save her! You did this to her, and you better fix it or so help me God I’ll kill you! I’ll flipping kill you!” So climb out of that green-skinned tank you wear now! Now!” Hulk raises his fists to Ross and screams, “I didn’t do it!” Samson grabs Hulk’s arms and tells him not to smash him. Ross tells Samson to let him by and that he isn’t afraid. Samson tells Ross to shut his hole. Samson says that this isn’t accomplishing anything. He tells Banner to take control, and he tells Hulk to give up control. Samson says that if Bruce doesn’t do something soon that Betty is going to die. Samson asks Hulk if that is what he wants. Hulk transforms into Bruce Banner. Bruce immediately says that they need to make some modifications on already existing equipment. Samson tells Bruce to stay focused and says that he knows that he can do this. Bruce says thank god that one of them does.
More excerpts from “Field of Green”
Our honeymoon was aboard a lovely cruiseliner. And one day we were on the observation deck and we looked down… and there was this elderly couple, sitting and relaxing. I smiled down towards them, looked to Bruce… and although he was making no sound, there were tears rolling down his face. I said, “Bruce, what’s the matter?!” And he said, “I’m so happy right now… and I see what we might have together… and I’m afraid that someone is going to take it all away.” It was as if he hadn’t fully trusted me until right then… because I wasn’t appalled by the sight of his weakness. As much as the Hulk expressed contempt for Bruce’s weakness… sometimes I think that was Bruce’s own mind speaking, judging himself so very, very harshly.
At the base, Bruce stands by Betty’s side talking to her. He says that he thought that her body had built up a tolerance to radiation as it did when she was transformed into the Harpy instead of dying from exposure. Bruce guesses that even her tolerance wasn’t infinite. Samson calls into the room using the intercom. He says that Bruce’s team is there, and that they are all upset about Bruce not wearing a protective suit. Bruce asks Samson if he thinks that he is worried about radiation. Bruce notes that they took all of Betty’s jewelry off of her. He takes off his wedding ring and places it inside her hand for luck.
More excerpts from “Field of Green”
He
cradled me in arms that could shatter tanks, up there on that
mountaintop. The place where I finally faced down the Hulk, made
peace with him, told him I was carrying his child. Not for a
moment did I think that he was going to hurt me. I’d made a
dent in that hide of his, broken through in a way that no
missile, no weapon, ever could.
A lot of things began to make sense for me right then. Because in the way he spoke to me in that moment, with all the gentleness in the way that he cradled me, I realized just how vulnerable he was. In his own way, the Hulk was, and is, as soft as Bruce ever was. But he wouldn’t want to appear “puny”. So he bellows and smashes and drives everyone away so that they won’t see what, just for a moment, he let me see. He’s scared, as scared as the rest of us. I understood him, maybe more than anyone else on earth… perhaps even Rick. And he knew it, and he trusted me. And I reached up, brought his face down to mine, and kissed him, because I realized, to a degree, that I loved Bruce not just in spite of the Hulk… but in some way… because of him.
Granted, there was a tie when I didn’t know what to make of him. When Doc Samson, through hypnotherapy, merged Bruce’s fractured psyche to make one gestalt being. It wasn’t his size- well, it wasn’t just his size- I found intimidating. It was the fact that he was so different from anything I’d ever known before. Tall, powerful, confident, he seemed complete unto himself.
He said that he needed me, but I found it
so difficult to believe. I didn’t think I mattered. But
he… won me over, there’s no other way to put it. His
love for me was so unswerving, his patience so endless. It was
like falling in love with him all over again. I only realize it
in retrospect, but that moment when we kissed…
that
may well have been the single greatest moment of joy in our
relationship. As if everything, before and since, culminated in
that kiss, because it was upon that that we began to build what
we thought would be the rest of our lives together.
Back at the base, Bruce tells everyone that they need to build faster, as if it were done yesterday. He says that they are using the basic equipment that Cary St Lawrence used when she tried to drain the gamma radiation off the Hulk. He asks Cary if she remembers that. Cary sarcastically says that it’s hard for her to forget one of her many successes. Bruce says that he is modifying it with the techniques from the gamma ray machine that he created when he first became the Hulk- one that helped him control the changes, one that siphoned off the radiation and , more importantly, stimulated cellular growth. Bruce says that they just can’t drain the radiation off, but that they have to repair the damage done. Ross asks Bruce what sort of radiation it is. Bruce looks at Ross, but doesn’t answer. Ross repeats himself. Bruce says that it was gamma radiation, and that before Ross asks that it is possible that Betty got it from him. Bruce asks Ross if he is happy that he has his blame squarely placed. Ross punches Bruce and tells him not be high and mighty with him as this is his fault. Samson tells them both to shut up. He tells them to behave the way that Betty would want them to. Bruce says that he has connections to check. Ross tells him to check them.
More excerpts from “Field of Green”
After Bruce had apparently been enveloped in a nuclear blast, I’d light a candle in the window every evening in our Florida home, hoping for his return and thinking about my life. That’s when I started this book, in fact. Most of all, I kept thinking about how much I wanted to be a mother. My one pregnancy ended in miscarriage, and I still felt the loss. I’d sit there in the long evenings, put my hand on my stomach, try to imagine what it would be like to feel it swelling. Or I’d imagine bouncing my little girl on my knee… always a daughter. How egocentric.
My life with Bruce was… is… so transient. There was no constant except for change, and it would be wonderful to have a child, a product of the both of us that would be forever… or at least as forever as we mere mortals can be. And I miss what I didn’t have with my own mom. It’s left a gap in my life that I would love to fill. I bet Bruce and I would be wonderful parents, because if God did see fit to give us a living, breathing miracle, we’d appreciate everything that we went through to have it in our lives.
A good wife, a good woman, a good mommy… it’s not chic to say that these are the things most important to me. In many ways I’m old fashioned, like a relic from the 1960’s. And when I’m not dreaming of a life with Bruce, or our baby, I do dream of my mom. I had one just the other night, in fact, and it was strange… like a dream of the future…
Back at the base, Bruce tells everyone that this is the time to pray. For minutes nothing happens, but then slowly, miraculously the skin begins to regrow, the tissue reknitting… Someone asks about the vitals. The signs are all highly accelerated but steady. The procedure appears to be working. They finally accomplish full cellular regeneration. Ross starts to apologize for what he said to Bruce when Betty’s vital signs crash. The crew turns off the rad field and rushes in to revive her. They start her on Eppy. Bruce reaches out towards the window and screams, “Betty! Betty, no! Betttttyyyyyyy!!” Tears roll down Ross’ cheek.
More excerpts from “Field of Green”
In the dream, I’m with my mom… and I’m holding the baby who died… and my mom and I are talking about adventures. The extraordinary adventures that I did have… and the “mundane” ones that I haven’t had yet. And in my dream, I think I hear my name being called, but it’s just the wind carrying it away.
People who have ordinary lives, they dream of what it would be like to be extraordinary. And someone like me… I envy those who have simplicity of existence. Who know the small joys: A mother that loved them, a husband who stayed with them, and a child to see you as their entire world. And I think the dream means that my life will continue until I have all the things I truly want. That I just have to keep on a steady course and I’ll have it all. That perhaps, just perhaps, the rest of my life will be a calm sea with smooth sailing. I would like that… a great deal.
Marlo says that she can’t wait to tell Betty how much she loved the book. She says that Betty is the luckiest woman in the world.
At the base, Betty still has no pulse. Her hand begins to open slowly and Bruce’s wedding ring drops the ground. After being down for ten minutes with no signs they call the time of death May 9, 10:39 AM.
No Excuses rating: 10 out of 10
I still get a lump in my throat when I read this issue. Truly a moving issue, and Peter David shows his in depth knowledge of Betty (of course he would know having written her for 12 years. The only thing that ruins this issue a little is that I knew at the time I was reading it that it was Peter David’s second to last issue. Kubert work is fantastic and his book sequences are really incredible.