The Incredible Hulk [2023] #12 - Marvel Comics

THE INCREDIBLE HULK No. 12, July 2024

Initially pitting an enraged Green Goliath against some of Strange Academy’s more cute-looking students, this opening instalment to Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s “Doctor Voodoo And The Soul Cage” storyline certainly seems to start with an enjoyable mix of pulse-pounding pugilism and tongue-in-cheek bravado. In fact, despite the genuine urgency in the Hulk’s mission to find the Master of the Mystic Arts and have him save poor Charlie Tidwell’s soul trapped within a Frozen Charlotte doll, it’s hard not to imagine the odd onlooker laughing out loud as Doyle Dormammu bravely stands before the founding Avenger in an act of insane determination, only to be effortlessly flicked aside by a swipe of the brute’s heavy hand; “Stupid kid.”

Unnervingly though, once Jericho Drumm impressively enters this publication’s proceedings the comic’s atmosphere immediately takes a distinctly dark turn, and not just because the “champion of the supernatural” quite shockingly manages to subdue Bruce Banner’s furious alter-ego with disconcerting ease either. Absolutely dripping in necromancy and adorned with numerous shrunken skulls, the Supreme Houngan appears to be the perfect foil for all the aforementioned frivolity, as he introduces the audience to an immortal flesh-weaver who is imprisoned for all eternity inside an ugly-looking idol as a result of his obscene wickedness.

Coupled with a decidedly deadly Jade Giant finally tearing himself free of Voodoo's restraints, and it quickly becomes clear that the titular character’s “one-way descent into an exorcist’s ancient prison” is not going to be one for any light-hearted reader. Indeed, such is the sudden seriousness of this twenty-page tome’s tone that by the time Banner is seen desperately clawing his way out of a wooden, dirt-filled coffin, few Hulk-heads will arguably even remember the glee generated by Dormammu’s young son trying to stop the thickly-muscled monster with an impotent spout of fire. 

Imbuing all these sense-shattering shenanigans with the prodigious pencilling they all deserve is Nic Klein, whose early layouts depicting the likes of poor Guslaug literally having a tooth knocked clean out of her mouth as the Hulk rampages through Strange’s special school for young sorcerers, is eye-wateringly good. Furthermore, the scent of decay and pure unadulterated rot reeking from the illustrator’s panels set within Sumanguru’s perpetual penitentiary is almost overwhelming, with plenty of multi-legged creepy crawlies scurrying around all over the place to help make the odd reader sickeningly squeamish.

The regular cover art of "THE INCREDIBLE HULK" #12 by Nic Klein