Incredible Hulk vol. 3 #54Incredible Hulk vol. 3 #54
Title: “Dark Minds, Dark Hearts part 5: Enemy Mine”
Writer: Bruce Jones
Penciller: Mike Deodato Jr.
Inker: Mike Deodato Jr.
Colors: Studio F
Editor: Alex Alonso
Hulk stands before Abomination. He tells Abomination that he is going to have to ask him to clean up his mess. Emil motions to Nadia and starts to introduce his wife when he says, “Oh! Forgot… you’ve already had the pleasure!” Abomination hits Hulk and sends him flying.
Agent Kelly exits his car and greets Agent Baxter, the agent with the DVD. Baxter says that his is using names and asks what Home Base would say. Kelly says that they would say Baxter is a traitor. Baxter says that once they see the DVD that they will be singing his praises. Baxter asks where his money is. Kelly starts to reach into his pocket, but Baxter says that they’ll do it at the same time and starts to go to his pocket.
Abomination asks the Hulk if he is bleeding and says that it seems he is out of shape. Hulk coughs and says that there have been changes in him and that Abomination wouldn’t understand. Emil offers the excuse that he has been locked in a sixty-foot computer being forced to watch a loop of his faithful wife saying goodbye to him. Abomination kicks Hulk and asks if that torture was Banner’s idea. Hulk says that it was Ross. Abomination slams Hulk and says that it is the same difference. Nadia tells Emil to stop and that he didn’t know. Emil says that it seemed like he knew what he was doing in the video of them together in her bedroom. Nadia says that they showed Emil that to try and goad him into fighting Hulk. Abomination says that it worked and smashes Hulk’s face against the ground. He holds up Hulk by the beck and pulls back his fist. Nadia tells him that she was a part of it. Emil stops. He throws Hulk to the ground and says that Nadia mentioned that. Nadia says that she did her homework even if it was late. She says that Emil killed Bruce’s wife Betty. She says that worse than that he resigned her to being a living corpse in a glass coffin. Emil says that he knows the feeling. Nadia asks him what he was feeling when he was beating her black and blue. She asks him if he knows what she did when she heard that they had locked him up. She says that she cheered and that she went out night after night. Emil smacks Nadia and tells her to be seen and not heard. He stands over her when Hulk’s shadow darkens Emil’s shoulder. Emil asks Hulk if he is back for seconds. Hulk punches Abomination in the face and drops him to the ground. Hulk says, “The Doctor is out!”
Kelly tells Baxter to go get in his rental car and get as far from Home Base as possible. Baxter says that he is on his way and to give his best to the big man. Kelly, or S-5, puts the DVD in the car player. Home Base says that at last they will see the face of Mr. Blue. Baxter gets in his car and the thing explodes. S-5 and Home Base watch as the bandages come off “Mr. Blue’s” face.
Abomination hits Hulk with a steel I-beam.
Hulk says that he does have a lot to hate Abomination for. He
says that he would love to snap Emil’s neck for his sake and
for Nadia’s. Hulk hits Abomination and says that his
relationship with the Hulk has changed since began exercises in
mind control. Hulk says that there is growing evidence that there
is a bleeding together of the minds. Hulk hits Abomination again.
He says that he no longer knows which of them is the puppet and
which is the puppeteer. . He says that he is afraid. More than he
is afraid of them getting his blood and more than his hatred for
Emil. Hulk says that if the beast ever comes out and stays out
that he could easily topple the planet to its foundation. Hulk
says that neither of them can afford the luxury of the fight they
have been lured into. Emil says that he sees what Hulk is saying
and responds by saying that it works for him. Emil takes a bus
and rams it into Hulk. Abomination looks and sees Banner lying on
the ground. He says that it is the original 98-pound weakling.
Emil holds Nadia upside down. Emil asks Bruce if he really
thought that he bought into the agents’ fairy tales. Emil
says that he is there for one reason and that is to kill the
Hulk. He says that he doesn’t need Nadia for that. Emil
throws Nadia aside and grabs Bruce with the other hand. Banner
says that Emil is “so thick”. He points out the
helicopter and says that it is them up there. He says that they
want the Hulk’s blood, not his. He says that he warned him
that he had changed. 
Bruce punches
Abomination and draws blood as Emil flies backward.
Up above, the two agents watch Banner. One says that he has changed back to Banner. The other says that of course he has and that Banner isn’t stupid. He says that he told them this was idiotic. He says that they don’t even know if the new rifle will work. The other agent says that it will work and for him to swing around for another pass.
Emil says that this he really likes. Banner says that they knew he would. He says that they knew he would ignore all reason and keep fighting until one of them was dead. Hulk punches Abomination and says that it isn’t going to be him.
Home Base tells two agents sitting in chairs that they have a mole in their organization. He shows them S-3 from the surgery DVD and her as they know her now. He asks where S-3 is now. One tells Home Base that she is at the Desert Base. The other says that neither she, nor Agent 1, have called in since the Abomination was seen headed for Entropy. The first one says that they assumed that it was going as planned. He notes that if S-3 underwent surgery that they still don’t know her true identity. Home Base says that he doesn’t care about her true identity. He says that he wants her strung up and butchered like a steer. He asks if that is clear.
S-3 crawls bleeding to her computer. She types out, “MR. GREEN, HAVE FAILED YOU. ABOMINATION IS OUT! REPEAT. ABOMINATION OUT! COMING FOR YOU!”
At Bruce’s stolen truck his laptop sits on the seat displaying S-3’s message to stay away from Entropy.
S-3 is standing and calls into Home Base. She says that the mission was compromised. She says that S-2 is dead, but that Abomination is out and presumed headed to Entropy. They ask S-3 her position. She says that she is at the base and that it is in ruins. She says that she has severe injuries to her head and leg. They tell her to stay where she is and they will come get her. S-3 tries to tell them where she is, but the hang up on her. She wonders why they would do that and then collapses on the floor. Also in the room, a woman is also lying across a desk in the room seemingly dead.
The helicopter spots Hulk and steers around.
Abomination and Hulk emerge from rubble. Abomination punches Hulk and says that this is just like old times. Emil hits Hulk with a tree and breaks it against him.
The shooter in the helicopter is shaken by an updraft. He tries to get a shot in Hulk.
Hulk punches Abomination. Abomination pounds
Hulk to the ground. He asks Hulk, “By the way… ever
wonder about Betty…? About how I killed her…? …The
look on her face… the fear in her eyes… ever think
about that…? Hulk’s face goes from sad to angry as he
says, “…did I… ever think… about THAT?!”
Hulk punches
Abomination. He hits him in the stomach, in the face, and then
pounds him to the ground. Hulk lifts Abomination over his head.
The copter tries to shoot Hulk, but Abomination’s body is in
the way. Hulk throws Abomination at the helicopter and blows it
up as they hit each other.
Back at Nadia’s café, Bruce says that he wasn’t very sure for a moment, but that Emil doomed himself when he mentioned Betty. Nadia wishes that she could apologize for him. She says that she is happy that he wasn’t hurt. Bruce says that he is happy to be Banner again. He says that Emil had no idea how close he came to unleashing the monster permanently. Nadia kisses Bruce and says that is so he knows that the other thing wasn’t entirely for show. Outside, Bruce says that Nadia should get out too. Nadia says not to worry about her. She says that they have no use for her now. She says that she has thought about it and asks Bruce if he ever gets to New York. Bruce tips his hat and says that one never knows. He walks off.
At the Desert Base, S-3 lies dead on the floor. One of them draws his gun and says that the big man told them to be sure. He shoots S-3. They walk out of the room. On the desk is the body of another woman still. Looking closer reveals the woman on the desk has S-3’s face.
No Excuses rating: 3 out of 10
Sloppy, poor, and just bad writing. Bruce Jones should be ashamed of himself for releasing this piece of garbage. It becomes glaringly apparent that not only does Bruce Jones not know anything about the Hulk, but that he pays so little attention to his own work that he can’t even be bothered to remember his own work. Why is Abomination surprised that Hulk is bleeding? Hulk bled the last time he and Emil fought in #25. Why does Abomination ask Hulk if he ever wonders about how he killed Betty or the look on her face? Bruce was in the room when she died, and Abomination TOLD him how he killed her. Does Bruce Jones even have any idea about anything of which he writes? Well the answer is blatantly clear with the next example. Jones is so poor that he can’t even remember his own garbage writing. In the last issue “Baxter” said that he wanted the money left in the park and he would give them information about where the DVD was. In this issue Baxter hands them the DVD and promptly dies. Jones is so sloppy that he can’t even be bothered with the continuity of one issue. Remove this hack from my favorite character please!!!!! I don’t understand why the Abomination, completely in control of the fight, would stop to have an argument with his wife. The agents are trying to shoot the Hulk to get the Hulk’s blood, but the Abomination just splattered the Hulk’s blood everywhere! Go pick it up! But really that is just me complaining about the design of the drapes on the Titanic. This puppy is going straight down. 0 out of 5 for writing and that’s just cause I can’t get a lower score than that. Some of Deodato’s stuff looks pretty nice, but I have to say that his fight scenes were mostly disappointing to me. Or maybe it was just the issue being THAT bad. Who knows?