The Incredible Hulk #3 Review

Written by: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Art by: Nic Klein
Colors by: Matthew Wilson
Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover art by: Nic Klein
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: August 30, 2023

The Incredible Hulk #3 brings Hulk face-to-face and eye-to-many-eyes with Brother Deep, the firstborn monster of the Eldest.

Is The Incredible Hulk #3 Good?

Hang on to your Cthulhu caps! The Incredible Hulk #3 leans into the Lovecraftian horror by pitting the Hulk against an ancient monster ripped straight from the Mountains of Madness. If you’ve got a hankerin’ to see Big Green punch out a Kaiju-sized beastie, you’re in luck with this issue.

When last we left the Hulk and Charlie, a group of zombified religious zealots attempted to sacrifice the Hulk to the ancient evil living leagues below their church and abandoned mining town, Brother Deep. Now, Hulk is done with that sacrifice nonsense and smashes everything in his way. When Charlie falls into the hole, Hulk leaps down after her, landing the two at the resting place of Brother Deep and what looks like the Gates to Hell.

Mayhem ensues.

At the risk of spoiling the rest of the review, I liked what Phillip Kennedy Johnson is doing here. Johnson maintains the “Hulk Smash” method of solving conflicts but firmly grounds the conflict in a horror context, similar to what Ben Percy is doing on Ghost Rider. If you like horror (as I do), and you like the Hulk (as I do), and you’re interested in seeing the two paired up together in their purest forms (as I do), then this run is a good fit.

What’s great about The Incredible Hulk #3? Phillip Kennedy Johnson pits the Hulk against a larger-than-average adversary with predictable yet satisfying results. Leaning on supernatural monsters gives Johnson a pathway to introduce new, Galactus-sized challenges we haven’t seen before. Challengers you might expect to see in a Dr. Strange comic, so this path has a refreshing aesthetic, even if the outcome is predictable.

What’s not so great about The Incredible Hulk #3? If it wasn’t obvious, the predictable outcome is the main downpoint. In fairness, the series is still getting settled, so a standard “Hulk smash” issue is fine for now, but the arc doesn’t quite feel like it has a direction or momentum yet. Monster-of-the-Month stories have their place, but that model gets repetitive quickly in an ongoing series.

How’s the art? Nic Klein is turning out to be a genius choice for the tone and aesthetic Johnson is going for. Klein has a keen eye for horror, which suits this story to a tee, with a good mix of creepy imagery, relatively safe amounts of gore, and powerful Hulk smashing.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces

The Incredible Hulk #3 successfully blends standard Hulk smashing in a Lovecraftian horror story that feels like a refreshing change of pace from Hulk’s Avengers antics. Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s script is solid yet predictable, and Nic Klein’s horror art is fantastic.