Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson

Artist Adam Gorham

Color Artist Matthew Wilson

Letterer VC’s Cory Petit

I got the Nic Klein cover, shame he didn’t draw the issue, but Gorham does an incredible job here.

The Factory.  Merle, Alaska. Home of the X-Men. 

Issue opens with a nightmare Glob is having, we’ll learn later that all mutants had a similar dream.  Where they end up ruling the world.  It is very cool that we see what a Glob Herman could potentially look like.  A giant pink man with big ol’ wings. 

The American Midwest. 

In case we were wondering where the proper Morlocks went, once Anole stopped leading them, unless there is a Canadian New Morlocks, a New York Morlocks, and an American Midwest Morlocks.  Might be time for a Morlocks series?

The named Morlocks we see are Leech, who the Infernal Hulk is looking for, plus Pyro, Marrow (who I love), Erg, and Calisto, who isn’t named.  I think I see Artie in the crowd, and maybe Feral?  A real shame that Pyro went from government run X-Factor to living with the Morlocks, but at least he’s getting burritos or tacos. 

Infernal Hulk arrives, looking for Leech for his sweet power dampening abilities.  Hulk just wastes everyone, and rips Marrow in half, which I hate. 

Cyclops has summoned all of the mutants.  I like how this is portrayed, with the people in the actual room properly colored, and everyone else appears like a hologram, or telepathic image. 

I like how everyone is standing with their team, except for Jubilee, but that seems to be for staging purposes.  I guess the Outliers were not invited to this meeting.

70s Beast informs us that Infernal Hulk apparently has the ability to control a sizable portion of the mutant population.  I imagine the nameless mutants. 

I love how freak out Kitty Pryde looks in the top panel on this page.  The last time Kitty had a true interaction with the Hulk, it was during Gerry Duggan’s Hulk run, V3 9, where he needed her to remove a cancer cell from his brain.  Magik as there too, willing to teleport Hulk into space.  It is such an incredible issue.  Mark Bagley was the main artist for the issue. 

70s Beast has been doing his research, maybe he’s on that Avengers update?  Infernal Hulk is the Father of Horrors, so this is a completely different Hulk than anyone is used to.

This all seems too much for Glob, and he excuses himself.    

Louisiana.  Logan and Jubilee head off to confront Hulk.  I wonder what Jubilee’s scenario was?  Did she rule by acid fireworks?

That Night.  Alaska. 

I have had this thought before about how someone should use Leech this way, to dampen the X-Men, and win the day.

X-Men are gathered to keep talking about the Hulk situation. 

 I don’t love Quinten writing Glob off, he’s kind enough about it, but still, seems overly rude for one of his few actual friends.

I do really like Quinten’s comment about Hulk seeking his own horseman, as that’s what over powered villains do, they seek out X-Men to be their top hench mutants.  That’s been genre savvy.  Plus, Hulk has been a Horsemen of War before. 

Magneto is quick to compliment 70s Beast (and inform us) that he has taken a dose of Dextroamphetamine-X (for patent purposes, I’m sure), so this explains why Magneto isn’t in his comfy chair.  Just in case anyone wonders why this is possible.   

I like how fast Quinten figures out that his powers are not working.  He has one of those powers that is on all of the time, and he was having a conversation, so he probably didn’t even notice the lack of telepathic noise he’s gotten so used to always hearing.

Infernal Hulk also brought along Bridger, who first appeared in issue one of this series.  Fandom hasn’t made a proper page for him, so we don’t know much about him.

Magneto talks a big game, but he isn’t doing much to slow Hulk down.

I love how quick Magik is to put her soulsword into Infernal Hulk.  This is high stakes, and we don’t have time to be gentle.    

Infernal Hulk does a sweet boss move, and simply removes the soulsword from his chest.  He ponders what would happen if he removes Magik’s head with a blade bound to her life force.  I don’t love his train of thought here.

Leech arrives, informing Hulk that Bridger has accomplished his goal.

Infernal Hulk taunts him, he already claims mutantkind as his right, it is just a matter of time before they realize he’s telling the truth. 

The mission?  Retrieve Glob Herman. 

New York City.  The Baxter Building.  Avengers (Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Spider-Man (the Parker one), Vision, and Scarlet Witch, are chatting with Reed Richards.  This Hulk is like nothing they’ve ever dealt with.

Thankfully, Bruce Banner finally arrives.  He knows how to beat Hulk.  We need a better monster. 

There’s only ten issues to this run, so I’m going to commit to issue ten (I already have issues eight and nine preordered), as I’m sure we’ll get Glob, and at least the Alaskan X-Men appearing in this title, and hopefully, the Hulk War that is coming in January 2027.