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Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters Vol 1 1

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Tammuz didn't make a sound when the Eye ate of his flesh. Not a sound! He understood what civilization is, Shalim -- what it costs!

—Adad

Appearing in "Time of Monsters"

Featured Characters:

  • Tammuz (First full appearance)

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Adad (First appearance; dies)

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Synopsis for "Time of Monsters"

In Jordan in the year 9500 B.C.E., a young man named Tammuz and the elder of his village, Adad, stand at the rim of a bone-strewn crater with a large green-glowing meteorite at the bottom. Adad explains that once the Mother Goddess had watched over their people, granting them bountiful providence that they had taken for granted. The Mother Goddess, angered, had torn out her eye and cast it to Earth, resulting in the land becoming blighted and toxic. As Adad asks if Tammuz can feel the Mother Goddess' magic from here, Tammuz looks down at his bound hands and asks to be let go. Adad refuses, accusing Tammuz of having lost his faith, having led his son, Shalim, astray, and of spreading rumors that he has lost his mind and is leading their people to ruination. Saying that he alone knows what the Eye wants, Adad laments having taken endlessly of the Mother Goddess' bounty without giving in return. Tammuz protests that their people are starving without clean food and water, asking why Adad has brought him here. Adad says the ancestors have revealed a means of salvation to him, kicking Tammuz over the rim of the crater as he says that great remedies cannot be obtained without equally great sacrifice. As Tammuz crashes among the bones littering the bottom of the crater and picks himself up, Adad departs, saying that he will tell Shalim that he faced death with dignity and bravery, Tammuz protesting that leaving was not even his idea. Abruptly, Tammuz's eyes glow green as the power of the Eye infects him. As his skin melts and burns away, Tammuz is pulled backwards and collapses onto the meteor, thinking to himself that he will have quite the story to tell Shalim once they leave the village, but that it is too late to leave. As his vision clouds over, Tammuz sees a green door appear and senses something gazing at him out of it.

Returning to the village, Adad finds Shalim conversing with his mother's skull - fretting over Tammuz being late. Scolding his son for desecrating her grave, Adad brushes Shalim off, asking where he had been and notes that Shalim has packed for a voyage. Shalim quickly states that he and Tammuz were going to forage for dates near the Shell People's village. Helping himself to the provisions, Adad brusquely brushes Shalim off, asking if he knows where Tammuz is. Shalim realizes that Adad knew about their plan to run away and furiously lunges at his father, angrily demanding to know what he did to Tammuz. Shoving Shalim back with his spear and causing him to shatter his mother's skull, Adad snarls that he saved them all. Grabbing Shalim by the neck and squeezing, Adad sneers that his son is a pathetic milksop and that Tammuz willingly sacrificed himself to save their village. A villager bursts into the hut and ignores Adad's order for him to leave, saying a massive beast has been spotted in the gorge. Elated that his plan has worked, Adad orders every hunter in the village to fetch their weapons - including Shalim, who he says has a chance to redeem himself.

That night, Tammuz - transformed by the power of the Green Eye into a hulking humanoid creature with horns and claws - makes his way through the gorge towards the village, his mind alight with new knowledge that can be used to save the village and a certainty that the Eye is the key to doing so, if only its power - enough to shatter worlds in the wrong hands - can be properly harnessed. Letting out a roar, Tammuz decides to share his new knowledge and plans with not only his tribe, but all the tribes, leading them into a future of peace and prosperity. Abruptly finding himself confronted by Adad, Tammuz realizes something is wrong and turns to run, only to be snared by a net. Stabbed by Adad's spear and those of the other hunters, Tammuz collapses - shocked by his people attacking him. Ripping through the nets with his talons, he lashes out in growing rage, but realizes they do not recognize him in his transformed state and tries to speak, only for the words to come out as garbled gibberish. Shalim fires an arrow that pierces Tammuz's eye and sinks into his brain, killing him, and Tammuz passes through the Green Door again. Adad congratulates his son, but Shalim recognizes a birthmark on the beast's shoulder and realizes in horror that the monster that he has just killed was Tammuz.

Tammuz finds himself in a barren wasteland and wonders where he is. A booming, sinister voice says that he bears its mark and that it turns its face towards him. Lamenting that his people - even Shalim - have betrayed him, Tammuz turns to see an enormous entity made of green vapor, which introduces itself as the One Below All and says that its sole purpose is destruction. Furious and embittered over being betrayed and murdered, Tammuz agrees that he very much wants to destroy things as well, smiling maliciously and agreeing that their shared weapon is hatred as the One Below All conjures a Green Door for him.

Later that evening, the village feasts on Tammuz's corpse. A villager approaches Shalim with the liver and says that Shalim earned it, but Shalim says that he is not hungry. Addressing the village, Adad says all is almost as it should be now that they can gorge themselves on meat, lauding his son's prowess as a hunter. Lying through his teeth, Adad informs the village that Tammuz bravely sacrificed himself to the Mother Goddess' Good Green Eye and that she gave them the beast in return. Saying that he knows that some of the younger generation have been talking about forsaking their lands and traditions, Adad holds up a bone and says that the beast is proof that they do not have to do that in order to survive and prosper - merely be willing to pay the price that the Eye demands. Adad adds that they need not pay the price themselves, outlining plans to conquer the surrounding tribes and sacrifice them to the Eye. As Adad takes a bite of flesh, the village chanting his name, Shalim glances over at Tammuz's severed head - which has been mounted on a spear - to see that its remaining eye has opened. Tammuz's corpse begins to reconstitute itself, the scattered bones and chunks of flesh reforming - and bursting out of the villagers' mouths and stomachs. Tammuz's severed head grins wickedly at the ensuing carnage, no longer intending to use his power to build or heal - but to kill and destroy. The only one left alive, Shalim protests that he did not know that Tammuz was the beast. As his body finishes reconstituting itself, Tammuz realizes that if he wanted to he could speak, could share his new knowledge with others, even still build a future for himself together with Shalim... but the One Below All's all-encompassing rage and hatred - blazing inside him like a green inferno - would never let him do so. Ripping the arrow out of his eye, Tammuz glares down at Shalim and bares his teeth in a vicious snarl. Embracing a life of embodying hatred and destruction, Tammuz kills Shalim and strolls out out the inferno engulfing his village alone.

Appearing in "A Little Fire"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

  • Scarecrow's Pitchfork
  • Astral "Projector"

Synopsis for "A Little Fire"

  • Synopsis not yet written

Solicit Synopsis

AL EWING AND ALEX PAKNADEL INTRODUCE THE ORIGINAL HULK!

• Ten thousand years ago, something green and glowing comes to poison the ancient ground of the Fertile Crescent — and the hearts of its people.

• One boy is left to bear the consequences — and, for the first time...to open THE GREEN DOOR.

• Plus: Bruce Banner faces a challenge unlike any he’s seen before as writer David Vaughan makes his Marvel debut!

See Also

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