Sleeping with
Annie the LMD under the Southwestern stars, Thunderbolt Ross is suddenly
awakened by a shadowy figure in the night but decides it was a dream and goes
back to sleep….
At
Gamma Base, Ross with Annie and Machine Man are studying a holo-map, searching
for the escaped villain Zero/One while getting reports on Black Fog, also in
hiding. Suddenly Machine Man shifts into weapons mode and fires on Ross, who
spied his actions in the reflection of a tablet device and quickly hustles
Annie and a soldier out of the way. He transforms into Red Hulk and smashes
Machine Man to pieces. As Rulk spies the shadowy figure departing the robot, MM
wants to know what just happened….
The
next day, Iron Man, Daredevil, and Spider-Man are training on the Avengers
Mansion grounds when Red Hulk lands and asks where to find Doctor Strange. They
direct him to his home on Bleeker Street and Rulk is gone in a flash….
Wong
announces the arrival of Rulk to Doctor Strange. Soon, they are talking about Red
Hulk’s ability to see ghosts ever since his encounter with Blackheart. Strange
lights some incense and asks Rulk to find an inner calm. He scans Ross’
memories until he comes to a time when Ross and his daughter Betty went hiking
together, finding peace together, at least until she transformed into Red
She-Hulk and bounded off to another appointment. At this point Rulk thinks
Strange is trying to learn too much about him and wonders if Strange is trying
to reform the Defenders with Betty as his Hulk; he crashes out through the
ceiling and away….
He
lands in a street not far away where ghosts approach him, revealing they are
the shades of soldiers who died under Ross’ command. Their leader is the ghost
of Glenn Talbot, who took on Ross’ war against Hulk while Ross himself joined
the enemy by becoming a Hulk. A ghostly version of the Abomination assaults
Rulk. The spirits are driven off by Dr. Strange employing a magic light that
burns them away. Strange now understands what these ghosts are and that they
have been set upon Ross by a powerful entity that attached itself to him when
he left the afterlife…and we see this entity is watching them from a nearby
rooftop….
Story #2The Objective
Writer:
Jeff Parker.Penciler:
Dan Adkins.
Synopsis
Colonel
Thunderbolt Ross leads an elite team into the Pyrenees Mountains in Catalonia
to retrieve a mysterious artifact. They approach a castle through a field of
bones and discover the door nailed shut from the outside. They break into the
castle and their science guy Volatzin uses a magical device to find their
objective: the Orkosk Eye, a spider-like amulet with a jewel in the center,
sitting on the ribcage of a medieval skeleton. Private Mellon carefully removes
it with a knife and goes to put it in a box but it jumps on his chest,
possessing him and turning him into a huge horned monster. It starts killing
the soldiers and, learning from Volatzin that it can only be removed from a
dead host, they shoot the Mellon-monster down. Volatzin gets too close and the
amulet leaps to him, transforming him into a tentacled monster. Ross and Barlow
are the only survivors at this point but Barlow refuses to use a machine gun
lest he damage the objective. Ross drags him out and realizes Barlow has a
secret mission of his own, ordered by the General to ensure that someone
touches the amulet to see what happens. As they quarrel, the monster seizes
Barlow and Ross shoots both of them to pieces, then he crushes the Orkosk Eye
under his foot….
With
the Orkosk Eye gone, the castle is now safe for the Moksha Vampire Sect to
occupy as their fortress….
Back
at the Pentagon, Ross accuses Brigadier General Nelson of sabotaging the
mission by sending Barlow to test the cursed artifact on his men. Nelson orders
Ross’ arrest but it is Nelson who is taken into custody as Barlow’s diary reveals
the truth. Ross is offered Nelson’s position, in charge of experimental
armaments. Ross agrees as long as it is kept to science, something they can
control….
Characters:
Story #3Catching Up with Jeff Parker
Writer:
Jeff Parker. Penciler/Inker:
.
Synopsis
An interview with the writer of the Red Hulk series since issue #25.
Story #5Bring on the Bad Guys!
Writer:
Jeff Parker. Penciler/Inker:
Gabriel Hardman. Colorist:
Bettie Breitweiser.
Synopsis
Character profiles of villains Zero/One, General Fortean, Omegex, Black Fog, and
Sultan Magus, all introduced in this series.