Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Nic Klein
Color Artists: Nic Klein & Matthew Wilson
Release Date: 21st May 2025

Loudly lauded by its New York City-based publisher as the “most epic rematch in Marvel history”, Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s oversized, thirty-page plot for issue twenty-five of The Incredible Hulk certainly had an awful lot of expectations to live up to. And delightfully, this brutal battering between two of the Avengers’ founding members delivers precisely that. Indeed, for those bibliophiles who enjoy an all-out slugfest, this comic’s sole disappointment is that the pulse-pounding pugilism stops dead in its tracks just as it looks as if the Green Goliath is going to continue clobbering the Warriors Three straight into next month’s instalment too; “Perhaps… I was hasty. Perhaps it is not the beast I face of old.”

Almost as entertaining as this book’s central thread though has to be the backstory to Thor’s first confrontation with Lycana, which is dramatically penned by the American author as if it were an old Asgardian myth. Quite beautifully pencilled/coloured by Nic Klein, this sub-story smacks of the distrust a village of aging veterans would have when approached by a young, unknown warrior who is stalking a shapeshifting killer, and resultantly provides this tome with a strongly contrasting pace to all the aforementioned punches, kicks and blows, as the God of Thunder carefully investigates old Arne’s trembling testimony.

Encouragingly, at least for those readers who wish to see some redeeming features exist within the titular character’s adolescent travelling companion, this comic also shows Charlie Tidwell demonstrating some uncharacteristic common sense during her time with Odinson. Rather than angrily transform into the mother of all skinwalkers as she ordinarily does whenever things don’t pan out precisely as she naively wants them to, the young girl actually tries to rationalise with her super-strong would-be abductor, and quite disconcertingly appears to be the only member of the book’s cast to exhibit any real sound judgement throughout the incredibly tense situation.

By far this publication’s biggest hook however, has to be the incredible artwork of its German illustrator, who produces some absolutely astonishing masterpieces throughout this tome. Of particular note is the huge sunken sea vessel with which the Hulk whacks Thor straight back up to the Rainbow Bridge. But this is just one of several colossal blows which literally leap off of the printed page, and make the audience genuinely feel the physical, bone-shaking impact of the connection.

The writer of this piece was: Simon Moore
Simon Tweets from @Blaxkleric ‏
You can read more of his reviews at The Brown Bag