Incredible Hulk vol. 3 #38Incredible Hulk vol. 3 #38
Title: “Last Chance Café”
Writer: Bruce Jones
Penciller: John Romita Jr
Inker: Tom Palmer
Colors: Studio F
Editor: Alex Alonso
Slater is complaining that they have no clothes, food, or car. He asks Sandra if she has any other bright ideas. Sandra looks down at her laptop. She says that their job was to track down the Hulk, and as for the car another one is coming along right now. The car comes to a stop and two people come out to see if everything is all right. Slater asks if there is any food, but Sandra tells him one thing at a time. The man asks them if they are all right. Sandra says that they are now. The woman asks if there is anything that they can do. Sandra holds her gun behind her back and says that she is wearing a cute tube top. She asks if she is a size six.
In a moment, Slater and Sandra are driving along in the people’s car in the people’s clothes. Slater says that Banner is right over the next hill. Slater tells Sandra to turn left and they can overtake him. Sandra turns right and says that she is sticking to the plan. Slater says to forget the plan and that they are in the middle of nowhere and that Banner is all alone. Sandra says that Banner is never alone. Sandra holds a map up in front of Slater’s face. She says that the red dot is a diner and that Banner will stay on his present course and wind up there. She says that they will be there waiting for him with their little cocktail. Slater asks what happens if he changes his course. Sandra says that he won’t. She says that he is hot and tired the same way they are. He will stop in for a drink and six hours later he will fall into a deep sleep. She says that is when they will move in.
Banner stands in a field looking down at the diner.
Sandra tells Slater that they have company. Slater asks if it is Banner, but when he goes to look Sandra yells at him to drink his coffee and pretend that he is happily married to her. Banner orders an ice tea. Slater thumbs his pistol. He says that there are only about twelve people here and that they could take Banner. Sandra repeats that they will stick to the plan. She tells him to try and act like a professional.
Back at the bridge at the scene of the accident, the original cop returns to the scene with another cop. He wonders where the guy that freed the kid went and where the people that he borrowed the car got off to. They find two dead bodies and the cop scratches his head wondering what happened there.
Back in the diner, Sandra asks Slater how she looks. Slater says that she looks easy. Sandra hikes up her tube top and says that is good, as it will make this easy. Sandra walks to Bruce’s table, sticks her chest out, and says that she left the house today without her purse. She says that she would kill for a drink. Banner stares at her for a second. Sandra shakes Bruce’s hand and says that he is a lifesaver. She introduces herself as Sandra and Bruce introduces himself as Bruce Smith. Bruce asks what he can get for her. She says that she would kill for a Coke. As Bruce turns his head to call for the waitress, Sandra reaches between her breasts and pulls out the sedative. She quickly dumps the sedative into Bruce’s drink.
The original cop is kneeling by the nude dead body of the man. He looks over to the other cop and tells him to look for any ID. Suddenly the dead man reaches up and grabs the cop by the neck. The other cop looks over, but now “Bob” is gone. He looks back and the body of the nude dead woman is standing before him. Blood is running out of the bullet hole in her head. The police officer asks if she is okay. The woman says that she is now.
Back at the diner, the waitress asks Bruce and Sandra if they are ready to order. Bruce orders a burger and fries, but Sandra says that she is fine as she is. Sandra toasts to cool weather. Bruce clinks his glass with hers, but before he can take a sip his laptop comes alive with a message from Mr. Blue. Bruce says to excuse him. Sandra gives him an angry stare, as Bruce stares at his laptop, and says, “sure.” The message says, “Mr. Green: Present location unhealthy. Suggest you vacate at earliest convenience.”
A man sits alone in a dark room. His communicator activates and he tells the person on the other end to speak. The woman with the blood running out of her forehead is now dressed in the policeman’s clothes and sitting in the policeman’s car. She is using the radio and tells him that the quarry is having ice tea at a roadside café. The man asks where Slater and Verdugo are. The woman says that they are with the quarry and asks for instructions. The man tells her to keep an eye on them and that he is particularly interested in Slater’s next move. The woman puts a Band-Aid over her bullet hole. She says that the message is received. The formerly naked dead man gets into the passenger side of the car wearing the other policeman’s car. They drive away leaving the two nude dead bodies of the police.
Bruce asks where they were. Sandra says that they were toasting the weather. Bruce puts his drink back up to his lips, but before he can take a sip a huge hand grabs his shoulder. A large man wearing sunglasses, a New York Jets shirt, with a red beard asks Bruce if he minds if he dances with his girlfriend. Bruce asks Sandra if she knows this gentleman. The man says that of course she does. He scoops her up off her seat. She tells him to wait, but he just asks her if she doesn’t recognize an old flame. The man tells her to go put a quarter in the juke unless her “hubby” there minds. They both look at Bruce, but Bruce says that he doesn’t mind. As Sandra stands at the juke box, the man looks at Bruce and says, “Just gonna sit there like a blob of jelly and do nothing, huh? Not the Banner I used to know.” Samson lowers his glasses and Bruce finally recognizes him.
The police car pulls up to the diner and the “cops” get out and walk in.
Samson says that his hair is dyed and that the beard is a fake. Banner says that he sees that, but asks why. Samson says that the woman is Sandra Verdugo. He says that she used to be with Special Forces, but that she was executed last week for the murder of her child. He says that she looks pretty foxy for a dead woman. Samson says that the guy at the table pretending not to notice them is Jink Slater, Sandra’s partner. Samson says that they are there for him alive or dead. Samson takes out an eyedropper and puts the antidote to Sandra’s sedative in Bruce’s drink. Bruce asks Samson how he knows all this. Samson says that the people that they work for hired him to do the same thing, or at least he thinks that it was the same people. Bruce asks why they would do that, but Samson says that he is still working that out. Bruce asks Samson if he is bringing him in or killing him. Samson points out the laptop on Slater’s table and says that odds are that he has already been “made”. Samson also points out the two police officers and how their clothes don’t fit at all. Bruce asks what that means. Samson says that what it means is that short of a miracle that neither one of them is going to leave the diner alive.
Sandra walks up to Slater. She says that they are changing their tactics. Slater asks what that is supposed to mean. Sandra says that the bearded guy is Doc Samson and that Banner doesn’t seem to be drinking her “Mickey Finn”. Slater says that while they are at it that the two police that just walked in look suspiciously like the couple whose car they just stole. Slater says that lots of people in the diner aren’t what they appear to be. Slater holds his gun on Sandra under the table and asks her if that includes her.
Two men stand in a dark room watching everything happening. One man says that he warned him about Slater. The other man says that Slater and Verdugo are moot right now, and that it is Banner’s reaction they are interested in right now.
Bruce asks Samson when he started being afraid of “norms”. He says that unless they have an atom bomb with them that they have a tall order in front of them. Samson says that what they have is ten times worse. Banner asks what the plan is. Samson says that depends. He says that Bruce kept his temper quite well a minute ago and asks if he can lose it as easily. Bruce says that it doesn’t work like that and that he can’t turn it on and off like a faucet without a reason. Samson says that they need to give him a reason then. Samson starts smacking around Bruce.
Slater says that Samson is deliberately
provoking Banner. Verdugo tells Slater to sit down and that he
will mess up the plan. Slater says that her plan is dead and that
she is too. Slater shoots Sandra in the head. Slater tells Samson
not to move and points the gun on him. The two “police”
pull their guns on Slater and tell him not to move. Samson tells
Bruce that this is the moment of truth. Bruce changes into the
Hulk.
Hulk smashes
the ground. He looks over and then punches Samson clear out of
the building. Samson lands in a nearby forest. He hits the tree
and falls to the ground. Samson tells Bruce to give them hell.
The two police and Slater start shooting Hulk. Hulk picks up the
jukebox and throws it into Slater. Hulk picks up the two
policemen.
The camera goes dead in the darkened room with the two men. The one man says that he was afraid that the café cameras were too hastily erected.
Samson is barely conscious. He pulls off his fake beard and says that Banner owes him one. Samson walks over to Bruce’s laptop. He dusts it off and then opens it. The screen reads, “Mr. Green, Working on your location… you are open and vulnerable. Advise you seek shelter until status can be assimilated- Mr. Blue. A voice behind Samson says that she is going to need that. A thick tree limb strikes Samson in the back of the head. Samson says that this isn’t his day as he passes out. Sandra Verdugo stands over Samson. Blood is coming out of the bullet hole in her head. She is holding Bruce’s computer in one hand and his duffel bag in the other.
No Excuses rating: 8 out of 10
Well I’m glad to see that the people chasing the Hulk aren’t just normal human beings (though they still seem to be stupid enough to fire normal guns at him). We finally get to see the Hulk do something (though they cut away before we find out what Hulk does to the other pair of agents). Romita’s Hulk is fantastic. It’s larger than life (though I wish it wasn’t on two separate pages so I could do a better picture). His storytelling is fantastic as usual. The biggest question now of course is who are the two men watching these events go down.