Jarella's World

Shrinking into the Microverse, the Hulk is on a quest to return the body of his deceased love, Jarella, to her homeworld of K'ai. The Hulk arrives finds himself in a barren wasteland of a planet and wonders if he might be on the world planet. Suddenly he hears the familiar language of Jarella's people, and that they are in distress. Leaving Jarella's body behind, the Hulk goes to the sound of the commotion and sees the people of K'ai, reduced to primitive savages, failing to fend off a massive dragon-like creature. The Hulk easily subdues the creature and is soon cheered by Jarella's followers. The Hulk orders them back and then leaps away, returning moments later with the body of Jarella to show them that their queen is dead. By this time, the Pantheon of Sorcerers have come out of their cave and use their dwindling magics to restore the Hulk's ability to understand their language.

As the people of K'ai prepare Jarella's body for a funeral, Torla of the Pantheon tells the Hulk he figured their queen had died. When Hulk asks what happened to K'ai, the wizard explains that when Jarella and the Hulk were pulled to Earth it caused upheaval that sent the planet K'ai spinning away from its sun, killing much of the plant life and animals of their world. With their planet in ruins, the people of K'ai were forced to live like nomads, fending off the surviving animals of this world who sought them as a food source. Now that they know their queen is dead, Torla tells the Hulk that they must bury her in the only remaining paradise on K'ai, the so-called Valley of Life.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Doc Samson continues to try and cure General Ross after he suffered a breakdown. He has decided to take the General out hunting and tells him the news from Gamma Base: The Hulk has been banished from Earth. Back at Gamma Base, Glenn Talbot orders Captain Marvel to stand down, telling him that he will pay for helping the Hulk. Talbot is interrupted by the sudden arrival of his ex-wife, Betty Ross, who has arrived on Gamma Base with Rick Jones, Fred Sloan and Mar-Vell's lover Elysius. Betty explains that she was able to get onto Gamma Base in her own private plane. She asks Captain Marvel what happened to the Hulk, and the Kree hero explains how he helped the Hulk return to the Microverse so he could bury Jarella, and also how Talbot had destroyed the device he used to do so, preventing the Hulk from returning to Earth. This is not met with the approval of the Hulk's closest allies, but Glenn Talbot insists that he was doing his duty.

Back on Jarella's world, the people of K'ai lead the Hulk to the Valley of Life. But Torla explains that they cannot bury their queen there themselves as anyone who has tried to enter the valley will be killed by the demons that apparently live there. The idea of leaving Jarella without giving her a proper burial infuriates the Hulk who refuses to do that. Despite the protests of his adopted people, the Hulk picks up Jarella's body and carries her into the Valley of Life. The Hulk finds the location peaceful and tranquil and before burying his love he thinks of all the other times he has experienced death: the loss of Bruce Banner's parents as well as his brief friend Crackerjack Jackson. When the Hulk attempts to dig a grave he is suddenly attacked by the very environment around him, including plants, the water, the dirt and even animals that dwell here. The Hulk fights off everything from massive beasts to tiny insects until he is left alone. When he prepares to bury Jarella again he is stopped once again, this time by the Elder of the Universe known as the Gardener who has decreed that no living man shall taint the Valley of Life.

Recurring Characters

Hulk, Captain Marvel, Betty Ross, Rick Jones, Fred Sloan, Elysius, Doc Samson, General Ross, Pantheon of Sorcerers (Torla, Holi Moli), Glenn Talbot, Gardener, Jarella (corpse)

Continuity Notes

• This story makes multiple claims that Jarella's world exists on an atom, going so far as to say that it existed on a slide which the Hulk later broke and thus what caused the near decimation of K'ai, as seen in Incredible Hulk #203. This is not accurate at all. In fact, per Fantastic Four #282 the Microverse exists in another dimension that is accessed through the process of shrinking. K'ai was likely thrown off its orbit by the combined mass of the Hulk and Jarella growing in enormous size. This has been demonstrated as the cause of earthquakes on K'ai before as explained in Incredible Hulk #203. The broken slide would have had no bearing on what happened on K'ai.

• Torla mentions how in the past they were able to cast a spell that could awaken the mind of Bruce Banner in the body of the Hulk. They demonstrated this in Incredible Hulk #146. However their magical powers are greatly diminished here due to the decimation of K'ai.

• Mention is made of the Hulk's last visit to K'ai which happened in Incredible Hulk #202-203. Jarella died shortly after that in Incredible Hulk #205. Her body was quarantined at Gamma Base until the Hulk liberated it last issue.

• General Ross suffered his mental breakdown in Incredible Hulk #228.

• Betty refers to Glenn as her ex-husband. The pair got married in Incredible Hulk #158 however had just recently got divorced due to irreconcilable differences in Incredible Hulk #238.

• The flashback where Bruce Banner is at the gravesite of both of his parents is a false memory, as revealed in Incredible Hulk #312. In that story it was revealed that Banner came from an abusive household thanks to his father, who murdered his mother. Later when Banner accidentally killed his father in self-defense, he submerged all the troubled memories of his past life with the narrative that he normal parents.

• The Hulk also remembers the death of his friend Crackerjack Jackson who died in Incredible Hulk #182.