The Infernal Hulk #2 - Marvel Comics

THE INFERNAL HULK No. 2, February 2026

Quite possibly surprising many of this comic’s audience by having the (new) titular character first go up against a deep-sea adversary rather than a land-based opponent, Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s narrative for Issue Two of “Infernal Hulk” is unequivocally packed full of some serious stomach-churning action. Indeed, Eldest’s grisly journey straight through Ngathil the Endless’ internal organs is graphically gratuitous at best, and certainly should put the odd patron of this publication off their food in the short-term.

Of course having the central lead get swallowed whole by a titanic-sized monstrosity and then punching his way to freedom is disappointingly a trope used before by this book’s American author. But at least on this occasion the American Eisner-nominated writer mixes things up a little bit by having the God-Eater’s gut populated by a seemingly sentient form of large beetle – a plot device which debatably deserves far more screen time than the half dozen panels it is eventually awarded.

Similarly as unfortunate is the fact that despite all the pre-publication promise that this twenty-page periodical would pit the Hulk against Namor the Sub-Mariner in a battle for Atlantis’ future, the former Defenders never actually come face-to-face until the adventure’s end. And then Bill Everett’s creation is casually cast aside by the firstborn of Vinruviel like he was just a hapless, impotent doll. This confrontation, or rather lack of, is really frustrating, and brings the comic to a less than satisfactory conclusion; “Hrrnn. I sent Ngathil away because your deaths do not yet interest me. When they do interest me you will see me again.”

Also slightly off-kilter appears to be the pencilling of Nic Klein whose pictures featuring the ruler of Atlantis are strangely somewhat roughly-hewn when compared to the smoother, more detailed art of the Hulk. In addition, the sudden switch from the German’s heavily embellished layouts to the cartoon style of Kev Walker for this book’s cliff-hanger is shockingly jarring, and incredibly off-putting. True, using such markedly different artists to depict contrasting situations within a storyline is not new. However, on this occasion it wouldn’t come as a great surprise if some bibliophiles passed over the British illustrator’s work the first time round – thinking it to be an advertisement of some kind rather than the magazine’s actual conclusion.

Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Artist: Nic Klein, and Color Artist: Matthew Wilson