Incredible Hulk #351
Total Recall
Continued from Avengers Annual #17…
Having returned to Las Vegas following his involvement in the Evolutionary War, the Hulk finds that rays of the sun almost unbearable to handle. Thinking this will cause Banner to finally come back, the Hulk refuses to surrender to this and begins leaping his way back to his apartment, an ability hampered by the very sun that is sapping his strength. Meanwhile, Marlo Chandler is rummaging in the kitchen when her roommate Mona and her friend Suzi Berengetti arrive home from shopping. Suzi has brought Marlo a stuffed animal for her collection as a present. They ask how Marlo is doing since she was injured and if Joe Fixit has come by recently. However, they discover that he hasn't, which isn't received well by Mona who has started taking a disliking to Marlo's new boyfriend. Suzi, wife of mobster Michael Berengetti and Joe's employer, tells them that Joe has been away for a while and nobody knows where he went. Marlo suspects that there is much more to Joe Fixit than he is letting on.
By this time, the Hulk has made it back to his apartment inside the Colosseum Casino. Taking his private elevator, he feels even weaker than ever. After a hot shower, the Hulk then retired to bed. His final thoughts being how he managed to survive the Leader's bomb blast and set himself up in a life that is perfect. He soon drifts off to sleep and begins to dream of the moments just after the Leader triggered the Gamma Bomb in Middletown...
... After the bomb blast, the Hulk finds him in a massive lush forest and at first, believes that he died. However, he soon hears the screams of a woman and follows its sound. It leads him to a massive Wartho, a telling sign that he is back on Jarella's world of K'ai. The Hulk kills the Wartho by snapping its neck. At first, he thinks the woman he saved is Jarella, however upon closer inspection he realizes that it's just a woman who dyed her hair to resemble is deceased lover. Before he can get answers another Wartho attacks. This time, the Hulk allows himself to get swallowed and rips his way out of the Wartho's stomach. Demanding answers, the Hulk is disturbed by the fact that the woman worships him as a god and even wears religious symbols depicting his image. They are soon joined by three men named Gorsham, Whully, and Booly. They explain that they have summoned the Hulk here because thousands have already died in his name and that they don't want to see any more bloodshed. Meanwhile, Sister Marclark, the woman the Hulk had saved, flees back to a nearby village. She claims that she saw the Hulk but such claims are considered blasphemy and she is taken to see the Grand Inquisitor Risuli.
Meanwhile, the Hulk is taken to Gorsham's home where he is told that since he revived their dying world the Hulk became revered as a god. Unfortunately, this led to religious wars and a cast system where people are oppressed by the Grand Inquisitor Risuli. Seeking to eliminate Risuli's rule, Gorsham and his followers used the technology found in Psyklop's old citadel to locate the Hulk and used the technology and their magics to bring the Hulk there. In order to prevent the transfer from destabilizing Earth's sun, they swapped the Hulk with a statue which contained the same amount of mass. The Hulk initially refuses, but Gorsham offers to cast a spell that can permanently rid the Hulk of his alter-ego, Bruce Banner. The Hulk accepts this deal, little knowing that Gorsham and his followers aren't telling him everything.
While at the castle of Grand Inquisitor Risuli, Sister Marclark is being tortured for her blasphemy. She insists that she saw the real Hulk. Seeing that his rule is being threatened, Risuli tells his followers that Marclark is lying and what she saw wasn't the Hulk, but the Anti-Hulk.
Recurring Characters
Hulk, Marlo Chandler, Suzi Berengetti, Gorsham, Whully, Booly, Grand Inquisitor Risuli, Mona
Continuity Notes
This story begins to explain what happened to the Hulk after he seemingly died in a gamma bomb blast in Incredible Hulk #345.
Marlo was injured by the cyborg known as Charlie in Web of Spider-Man #44.
Suzi states that the Joe Fixit has been AWOL for some time. The Hulk has been away from Las Vegas to fight the Thing in Fantastic Four #320/Incredible Hulk #350 and he was involved in the Evolutionary War in Avengers Annual #17.
A number of facts about the realm of K'ai they are:
The narrative mentions the first time that the Hulk visited this world in Incredible Hulk #140. It also recommends that read "Marvel Handbook, Book of the Dead" for more details. It is specifically referring to Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #18 which would have had the most recent entry on Jarella at the time.
The magicians used Psyklop's mountain hideout. This was the facility the villain used in Incredible Hulk #202-203.
the wizards were concerned that the Hulk being on K'ai would destabilize the Earth's sun. This potential danger was first realized in Incredible Hulk #148. The transportation of the statue to take the Hulk's place is to convince the people of Earth that the Hulk died in Incredible Hulk #345, the crumbling dust that Rick Jones encountered in Incredible Hulk #346.
A spell used to submerge Banner's personality was previously used in Incredible Hulk #156.
Likewise is the death of Jarella mentioned. Jarella was killed on Earth in Incredible Hulk #205.
Mention is made how the Hulk saved K'ai from destruction. The planet was on the verge of turning into a waste land until the Hulk revived it using the Soul Gem as seen in Incredible Hulk #247-248.
