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Incredible Hulk #17

Sep 2024
Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Nic Klein

Story Name:

City of Idols Part One


Synopsis

Incredible Hulk #17 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4.5 stars

Two teen girls, Becky and Katie, stand atop a building in Las Vegas, contemplating jumping. A stranger approaches and stops them; he asks why they are there. The girls explain that a man promised to put them in a movie and that was a lie. Promising to give them what they came for, the stranger invites them to a dark cavern beneath the city where they find more people and an elaborate throne with a wolf’s head over it. Becky is invited to sit on the throne…and then the wolf bites her head off, making her the new idol of the House of Lycana. The others turn into werewolves and attack Katie….

Hulk arrives in Las Vegas. Crowds stand back and marvel while nervous police try to keep him calm while asking him to leave. The top of the pyramid glows and Hulk leaps off to it; a walking corpse directs him to the special entrance to where “she” awaits, behind the Sphinx….

In a red limbo, Bruce Banner speaks with the imaginary Betty Ross in his head; he is afraid for Charlie, her soul encased in a porcelain doll. Betty tells him the time has come when he must choose between Charlie and the Hulk….

Hulk descends into the Earth to a cavern where he is greeted by Eldest, in the guise of an ordinary red-haired woman. She invites him in, calling the place a temple of Lycana. She relates how they first met thousands of years ago and how they died together. Hulk puts down the doll and attacks Eldest who stands unmoved by Hulk’s blows. She gives him a glimpse of her true form, a massive horned and winged demon, holding Hulk in the palm of her hand, before resuming her present guise. She informs Hulk that Charlie will be rescued…by handing her over to the House of Lycana who will make her one of their own. Bruce shouts to the Hulk to stop them. Eldest offers Hulk the choice: Charlie to the werewolves or himself to her. And she begins shooting stalactites through him. Betty speaks to Bruce, holding out a Pactum Aeternus to him, telling him to betray Hulk so Charlie can be saved. Bruce signs the document, “In exchange for the restored body and soul of Charlene Tidwell, I forever surrender my flesh to Eldest.” A magical chain encircles Hulk’s neck, pinning him to the ground as Eldest gloats, “I have him, Mother, you’ll soon be free and the world set to rights….”   



 

Review / Commentaries


Incredible Hulk #17 Review by (September 18, 2024)

Review: It’s about time: Hulk was sent to Las Vegas in issue #13; then we took breaks for the Hulkscape, the proto-Hulk, adding background but not furthering the plot, and installments of the INFINITY WATCH and BLOOD HUNT events. And now we finally reach Sin City (not the Frank Miller one) to put the book’s original plot back on track. And it’s very good, the mounting horrors of the last several issues and soon to reach Legacy #800 (two more issues) for what I assume will be a double-sized special issue and resolve all of the big plot threads. The best part is that artist Nic Klein is back, master of portraying horrors in this series ; I don’t think this ssereis would work without his gritty touch.  

Comments: The monsters portrayed on the cover do not appear in the story. Charlie Tidwell was trapped in the Frozen Charlotte doll in issue #11. Eldest and the proto-Hulk’s first meeting was related in issues #15-16. Nic Klein also contributed to the colors.



> Incredible Hulk comic book info and issue index

Elektra

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Preview Pages




Nic Klein
Nic Klein
Matthew Wilson
Nic Klein (Cover Penciler)
Nic Klein (Cover Inker)
Nic Klein (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Cory Petit.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Bruce Banner
Bruce Banner

(Robert Bruce Banner)
Hulk
Hulk

(Robert Bruce Banner)