The INCREDIBLE Hulk #24
Title: Dear Betty...
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inks: Dick Giordano
Letters: John Workman, Jr
Colorist: Avalon Studios' Arsia Rozegar
Editor:Tom Brevoort
Synopsis: As part of therapy, Bruce sits down and writes a letter
about his life to Betty, to try and determine where he came from
and where he's going. He remembers his beautiful mother and not
too much about his father except a lot of screaming and crying.
That led to solitary in school as he dug into books instead of being
with friends. He remembered meeting Betty at the base and falling
in love and marrying her and thinking about how his life at that
point seemed like a great dream but then she died and proved him
wrong. He talks about his disease and how soon he will die but the
Hulks will live on forever. He says that sometimes he tries to remember
her smile and smell but just can't. The
Abomination,
wrapped from head to toe, looks out the window while one of the
students he is teaching in a writing class at a local library reads
his story. The students don't know who he is but think that he has
some type of skin cancer. He tells the student to stop and that
he needs to write about something he understands. He then relates
to his class the story of Emil (basically the history of the Abomination
with a slight spin on it). He tells how Emil left his wife behind
as he went to another country to steal their magic as a sense of
duty to his country. The magic, though, turned him into a monster
and he could never go home. His enemy is the magician(the Hulk)
who created the magic that turned him into the monster, the man
who stole his life from him. His wife thinks him dead and he realizes
he has lost everything. To make his enemy feel how he does, he kills
his enemy's wife (Betty). His enemy forgives him knowing that is
the one thing Emil can not endure. Emil is totally without purpose
and sleeps at the bottom of the sea each night, hoping that his
life is actually a dream. His students ask if the story ends with
Emil seeing his wife again and the
Abomination
says no and that "happy endings are for lazy writers." Elsewhere,
Doc Samson is reading Bruce's letter when Bruce asks Samson why
he lied to him about he being the merged Hulk when all along it
was another persona. Samson says that he didn't have a choice because
the savage Hulk was close to being loose and that he expected the
real Bruce to regain control. Bruce accepts his apology. Bruce then
talks about the
Abomination killing
Betty and that it was the
Professor
persona that forgave the Hulk, not him. He was never given a chance
to accept Betty's death and he thinks about her a lot. The
Abomination
calls Nadia, his wife, at her dance class but doesn't say anything,
just like he has done numerous times. He then walks away in the
rain. General Ross goes to Samson's house to talk to Bruce. He says
that the two of them can bring Betty's real killer to justice. Bruce
says that Betty is buried and he has come to terms with it and wants
no part. Ross tells him he has something to show Bruce. The
Abomination
stands before a lake and thinks to himself about a letter to Nadia,
which he will never send. The letter states how he wish he could
explain to her why he has left her think he was dead all these years,
how telling her now would ruin her life, and how he wishes he could
see her just one more time as his nights are long and lonely. He
slowly walks into the water, to sleep another night. Ross takes
Bruce to a base and tells him how they have been tracking the
Abomination
and how he is teaching a writing class. Ross then takes Bruce and
shows him Betty's preserved body. Bruce starts to freak out a little
bit and his heart races. Ross says that it isn't his fault,that
Emil took her away from them. Bruce first says he can't but then
he welcomes the change as he turns into the Hulk. He jumps out of
the base, in search of the
Abomination
to "smash" him. Ross goes to the body of Betty and restates his
promise to make the person who did this to her pay.
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