The Incredible Hulk [2023] #16 - Marvel Comics

THE INCREDIBLE HULK No. 16, November 2024

Containing a somewhat anti-climactic conclusion to “Lament For A Fallen Crown”, in that Eldest is simply bested by the One Below All by ill-advisedly coming within his sight, Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s narrative for Issue Sixteen of “Incredible Hulk” still arguably manages to hold its audience’s attention due to the readers’ desire to witness just how the firstborn of the Mother of Horrors is going to get her well-deserved comeuppance. In fact, the sheer unadulterated hubris of the “most powerful of Earth’s ancient demigods” is utterly enthralling, especially once the deceptively potent young girl somehow manages to push Enkidu’s personality into a dark corner of his mind, and arrogantly unlocks the Green Door in the guise of the first Hulk; “Awaken little brothers. This is a day most joyous. Open the way to our mother’s prison for I now hold the key.”

Equally as intriguing though, is the way the fallen city of Nineveh is depicted by the “American Eisner-nominated comic book writer”, with the ancient metropolis’ once beautifully adorned, bustling streets now writhing with a mass of ill-looking demonic entities. The Bull-Man of Akkadia’s grim exploration of this municipal is powerfully-paced, and also does a good job in showing just how strongly settled Eldest’s malign influence was some 3,600 years ago – something which is particularly noteworthy once the wicked wrongdoer’s hold is no more, and humanity quickly recovers its unchallenged sovereignty so as to adorn the brave Tammuz’s tomb with the various bones of the God Child’s devilish disciples.

Finally, despite the aforementioned lack of battle between the tale’s two central characters, this twenty-page periodical’s plot does include a brief glimpse of Enkidu's physical might, when the green-skinned monstrosity is told by an even larger purple-hued, multiple-fanged fiend that a group of caged humans are not for sale. This brutal slug-fest is sense-shatteringly savage due to some fearless pencilling by artist Danny Earls, and demonstrates just how the Hulk has managed to wander so far into the Assyrian capital without being previously challenged by one of its hellish inhabitants. In addition, the sequence quite cleverly starts the notion that a few mortals may well be already re-arming themselves against Eldest, as the Irish illustrator almost covertly sketches a handful of escaped slaves collecting fallen weapons and quietly following in the Bull-Man’s thunderous footsteps to the palace.

The regular cover art of "THE INCREDIBLE HULK" #16 by Nic Klein