At the time of this thread, Al Ewing and Joe Bennett's Immortal Hulk is 24 issues deep, and is enjoying widespread critical and even commercial success, as well as an Eisner nomination for best continuing series.
How did we get here? How did a Hulk title become one of the hottest properties on the market? Let's turn back time a bit:
The year is 2016
The Hulk, one of Marvel's most recognizable characters, has found himself in a bit of a creative slump. Greg Pak's 2006 (!) storyline Planet Hulk had enjoyed widespread critical acclaim, perhaps the most the character had enjoyed since Peter David's seminal run. But the culmination of the storyline, World War Hulk, was divisive, and Hulk sort of bounced around in a variety of directions afterwards. Hulk's longstanding nemesis Thunderbolt Ross turned himself into a Red Hulk, Hulk found out he had a son, then offered to work for SHIELD for a bit, then enjoyed being smart for a spell as Doc Green. Nothing really seemed to catch on and get people talking about the character.
Flashforward to 2016, and Marvel is in the middle of one of its typical big blockbuster crossover events. This time it's Civil War 2, a spiritual sequel to the critically divisive yet commercially successfully comic event Civil War, just in time for the MCU film of the same name to boot. In addition to the event, Marvel was smack in the middle of its ALL NEW, ALL DIFFERENT branding, which was marked by a push to focus on newer, younger, and more diverse successors to classic Marvel heroes (and saw the birth of fan favorites like Ms Marvel, Jan Foster Thor, and the reintegration of Miles Morales into the main Marvel Universe) and figured the time was right to give the big guy some time off. They seemingly had supergenius Amadeus Cho absorb his Hulk energy to become a "Totally Awesome" fun loving Hulk, and Bruce Banner himself looked to get some rest.
And then a future telling Inhuman told everyone the Hulk was going to kill everyone. When the heroes go to confront Bruce about this, he seemingly loses his temper, causing Hawkeye to make a snap decision.
Turns out Bruce, paranoid as ever, had asked Hawkeye to put him down with a specially made gamma infused adamantium tipped arrow in the event that the Hulk looked to come back.
Now comic book deaths, as we know, are a dime a dozen. But there is a customary "cooling off period" for heroes who fall in the line of duty, and Hulk was no different, with the aforementioned Cho and his cousin Jen "She-Hulk" Walters around to take his place (She Hulk had become more savage and "classic Hulk" after the events of Civil War 2). Jump forward a few months and the Uncanny Avengers find themselves fighting against the evil ninja clan "The Hand", who have exhumed Banner's body and put the Hulk under their command.
The sorcerer Brother Voodoo was able to purge the Hulk of the Hand's influence and seemingly put him to rest, as Bruce Banner would go back to being dead.
Jump forward a few months after that. Marvel is once again in the middle of one of its big linewide events. This time it's Secret Empire, the controversial and much ballyhooed storyline that saw Steve Roger's past get reality warped to become a Hydra sleeper agent, and through his machinations stages a coup against the United States and hunts down his former allies who have now become a resistance force. In the fifth issue Hydra takes a cue from The Hand and uses comic science to temporarily resurrect Banner. While Banner himself isn't really on board with Hydra Cap, Cap is able to convince the Hulk to lash out against the resistance, and the ensuing battle levels their hideout. The science keeping Banner alive wears off, and Hulk is buried in the rubble, seemingly dead once again.
Jump forward a few months after that. The disparate Avengers titles (Mark Waid's Avengers, Jim Zub's Uncanny Avengers and Al Ewing's U.S Avengers) crossover (not linewide this time) to tell the story of Avengers: No Surrender, in which the Avengers teams are whisked away to a pocket dimension to take part in a competition staged by alien elders of the universe. One of these elders soon reveals that he has seemingly brought the Hulk back to fight at his side.
At this time Marvel was going through a new rebranding, this time promising a "Fresh Start". One of the titles revealed as part of the new line? Immortal Hulk, written by Al Ewing, featuring Bruce Banner back to life for good this time fresh off his appearance in No Surrender.
As it turns out? The Hulk cannot die. At all. If Banner dies he turns into the Hulk during the nighttime, just like he did in the very early issues. And the Hulk is different than he used to be. He is meaner and on a mission, and he will break you down.
So far in the series he's tangled with gamma irradiated monsters, the Avengers, shadowy government programs and forces of the universe beyond comprehension.
Immortal Hulk has shown itself to be a smart and scary rollercoaster ride of comic book insanity. Every issue is a slow burn that slowly ratchets up the tension until it hits you with a final page that will have you thinking about it for the next few hours. Al Ewing celebrates Hulk's entire history and infuses it with themes of abuse, religion, the nature of death in comic books, all with a healthy dose of body horror and eventually cosmic horror. Illustrated by Joe Bennett, some of the imagery that shows up in this comic will boggle the mind and have you asking "How did they get away with some of this stuff"?
The Hulk is a monster in a world of heroes. The Hulk is rage born from abuse thrown into a world that won't leave him alone, and now? He can't die, and he's not going to put up with puny humans anymore.
When I was writing this thread I considered summarizing some of the first issues, but honestly? I couldn't find a way to do it without giving away some of the series' most shocking moments. So much of its power comes from the moment to moment experience of reading it. It has to be seen to be believed.
I thought instead I'd give a quick rundown on some "Hulk facts" that I think would be useful to know before diving into the series proper that helps re contextualize some things as the series draws upon alot of the character's history
First off:
It's very important to know that Bruce Banner has Dissociative Identity Disorder which manifests itself into a variety of different Hulk personas and incarnations
The most popular include:
There's classic Savage Hulk. Green, comes out when Banner's angry. Talks in Hulk speak (HULK SMASH). Basically a child and wants to be left alone but is deeply vulnerable to affection of any kind.
There's the Grey Hulk. This was the Hulk that showed up way back in the character's first appearance. He's canonically weaker and smaller than classic green hulk but it's balanced out by being an intelligent and crafty shit talker. In the 80s he resurfaced as the "main" Hulk for awhile, becoming a bodyguard in Las Vegas by the name "Joe Fixit". It should be noted this version is nocturnal and can only appear at night instead of when Bruce is angry
Devil Hulk was/is all of Bruce's resentment towards the world made into an evil hulk that was locked away in his mind during a therapy session. Recent revelations suggest this version was not as malevolent as once thought
"The Maestro" was an older, evil version of the Hulk from a possible future, where after a nuclear war he seized power and ruled over what was left
Alot of this stems from the fact that Bruce was abused as a child by his father Brian, who became paranoid after working with gamma radiation and believed Bruce was a mutant monster. Brian killed Bruce's mother by slamming her head down on their driveway and was sent away to a mental institution
Years later Brian was released, seemingly reformed, and the two clashed again at the site of Bruce's mother's grave, and Bruce believed that Brian had later been killed during a mugging
This was later revealed to be a repressed memory: Bruce had accidentally killed his father in self defense at the gravesite
Other characters:
Betty Ross. The closest thing to Hulk's Lois Lane/Mary Jane/comic book love interest. Has been turned into a Red She Hulk and a Harpy woman by MODOK. Her father Thunderbolt is a longtime Hulk nemesis who turned himself into Red Hulk for awhile, and who was recently killed
Rick Jones is a longtime Hulk sidekick who was around since the beginning, since Bruce saved him from being caught in the gamma bomb blast that turned Bruce into the Hulk. He's been around the Marvel U for ages until he was recently killed during Secret Empire
Doc Sampson is basically a psychiatrist who was exposed to just enough gamma radiation to gain enhanced strength. He was evil for awhile but he's cool now.
Immortal Hulk is a fantastic series and if you have any interest in a damn good horror comic I would highly recommend it. If you have been reading it what have your thoughts been so far?
How did we get here? How did a Hulk title become one of the hottest properties on the market? Let's turn back time a bit:
The year is 2016
The Hulk, one of Marvel's most recognizable characters, has found himself in a bit of a creative slump. Greg Pak's 2006 (!) storyline Planet Hulk had enjoyed widespread critical acclaim, perhaps the most the character had enjoyed since Peter David's seminal run. But the culmination of the storyline, World War Hulk, was divisive, and Hulk sort of bounced around in a variety of directions afterwards. Hulk's longstanding nemesis Thunderbolt Ross turned himself into a Red Hulk, Hulk found out he had a son, then offered to work for SHIELD for a bit, then enjoyed being smart for a spell as Doc Green. Nothing really seemed to catch on and get people talking about the character.
Flashforward to 2016, and Marvel is in the middle of one of its typical big blockbuster crossover events. This time it's Civil War 2, a spiritual sequel to the critically divisive yet commercially successfully comic event Civil War, just in time for the MCU film of the same name to boot. In addition to the event, Marvel was smack in the middle of its ALL NEW, ALL DIFFERENT branding, which was marked by a push to focus on newer, younger, and more diverse successors to classic Marvel heroes (and saw the birth of fan favorites like Ms Marvel, Jan Foster Thor, and the reintegration of Miles Morales into the main Marvel Universe) and figured the time was right to give the big guy some time off. They seemingly had supergenius Amadeus Cho absorb his Hulk energy to become a "Totally Awesome" fun loving Hulk, and Bruce Banner himself looked to get some rest.
And then a future telling Inhuman told everyone the Hulk was going to kill everyone. When the heroes go to confront Bruce about this, he seemingly loses his temper, causing Hawkeye to make a snap decision.
Turns out Bruce, paranoid as ever, had asked Hawkeye to put him down with a specially made gamma infused adamantium tipped arrow in the event that the Hulk looked to come back.
Now comic book deaths, as we know, are a dime a dozen. But there is a customary "cooling off period" for heroes who fall in the line of duty, and Hulk was no different, with the aforementioned Cho and his cousin Jen "She-Hulk" Walters around to take his place (She Hulk had become more savage and "classic Hulk" after the events of Civil War 2). Jump forward a few months and the Uncanny Avengers find themselves fighting against the evil ninja clan "The Hand", who have exhumed Banner's body and put the Hulk under their command.
The sorcerer Brother Voodoo was able to purge the Hulk of the Hand's influence and seemingly put him to rest, as Bruce Banner would go back to being dead.
Jump forward a few months after that. Marvel is once again in the middle of one of its big linewide events. This time it's Secret Empire, the controversial and much ballyhooed storyline that saw Steve Roger's past get reality warped to become a Hydra sleeper agent, and through his machinations stages a coup against the United States and hunts down his former allies who have now become a resistance force. In the fifth issue Hydra takes a cue from The Hand and uses comic science to temporarily resurrect Banner. While Banner himself isn't really on board with Hydra Cap, Cap is able to convince the Hulk to lash out against the resistance, and the ensuing battle levels their hideout. The science keeping Banner alive wears off, and Hulk is buried in the rubble, seemingly dead once again.
Jump forward a few months after that. The disparate Avengers titles (Mark Waid's Avengers, Jim Zub's Uncanny Avengers and Al Ewing's U.S Avengers) crossover (not linewide this time) to tell the story of Avengers: No Surrender, in which the Avengers teams are whisked away to a pocket dimension to take part in a competition staged by alien elders of the universe. One of these elders soon reveals that he has seemingly brought the Hulk back to fight at his side.
At this time Marvel was going through a new rebranding, this time promising a "Fresh Start". One of the titles revealed as part of the new line? Immortal Hulk, written by Al Ewing, featuring Bruce Banner back to life for good this time fresh off his appearance in No Surrender.
As it turns out? The Hulk cannot die. At all. If Banner dies he turns into the Hulk during the nighttime, just like he did in the very early issues. And the Hulk is different than he used to be. He is meaner and on a mission, and he will break you down.
So far in the series he's tangled with gamma irradiated monsters, the Avengers, shadowy government programs and forces of the universe beyond comprehension.
Immortal Hulk has shown itself to be a smart and scary rollercoaster ride of comic book insanity. Every issue is a slow burn that slowly ratchets up the tension until it hits you with a final page that will have you thinking about it for the next few hours. Al Ewing celebrates Hulk's entire history and infuses it with themes of abuse, religion, the nature of death in comic books, all with a healthy dose of body horror and eventually cosmic horror. Illustrated by Joe Bennett, some of the imagery that shows up in this comic will boggle the mind and have you asking "How did they get away with some of this stuff"?
The Hulk is a monster in a world of heroes. The Hulk is rage born from abuse thrown into a world that won't leave him alone, and now? He can't die, and he's not going to put up with puny humans anymore.
When I was writing this thread I considered summarizing some of the first issues, but honestly? I couldn't find a way to do it without giving away some of the series' most shocking moments. So much of its power comes from the moment to moment experience of reading it. It has to be seen to be believed.
I thought instead I'd give a quick rundown on some "Hulk facts" that I think would be useful to know before diving into the series proper that helps re contextualize some things as the series draws upon alot of the character's history
First off:
It's very important to know that Bruce Banner has Dissociative Identity Disorder which manifests itself into a variety of different Hulk personas and incarnations
The most popular include:
There's classic Savage Hulk. Green, comes out when Banner's angry. Talks in Hulk speak (HULK SMASH). Basically a child and wants to be left alone but is deeply vulnerable to affection of any kind.
There's the Grey Hulk. This was the Hulk that showed up way back in the character's first appearance. He's canonically weaker and smaller than classic green hulk but it's balanced out by being an intelligent and crafty shit talker. In the 80s he resurfaced as the "main" Hulk for awhile, becoming a bodyguard in Las Vegas by the name "Joe Fixit". It should be noted this version is nocturnal and can only appear at night instead of when Bruce is angry
Devil Hulk was/is all of Bruce's resentment towards the world made into an evil hulk that was locked away in his mind during a therapy session. Recent revelations suggest this version was not as malevolent as once thought
"The Maestro" was an older, evil version of the Hulk from a possible future, where after a nuclear war he seized power and ruled over what was left
Alot of this stems from the fact that Bruce was abused as a child by his father Brian, who became paranoid after working with gamma radiation and believed Bruce was a mutant monster. Brian killed Bruce's mother by slamming her head down on their driveway and was sent away to a mental institution
Years later Brian was released, seemingly reformed, and the two clashed again at the site of Bruce's mother's grave, and Bruce believed that Brian had later been killed during a mugging
This was later revealed to be a repressed memory: Bruce had accidentally killed his father in self defense at the gravesite
Other characters:
Betty Ross. The closest thing to Hulk's Lois Lane/Mary Jane/comic book love interest. Has been turned into a Red She Hulk and a Harpy woman by MODOK. Her father Thunderbolt is a longtime Hulk nemesis who turned himself into Red Hulk for awhile, and who was recently killed
Rick Jones is a longtime Hulk sidekick who was around since the beginning, since Bruce saved him from being caught in the gamma bomb blast that turned Bruce into the Hulk. He's been around the Marvel U for ages until he was recently killed during Secret Empire
Doc Sampson is basically a psychiatrist who was exposed to just enough gamma radiation to gain enhanced strength. He was evil for awhile but he's cool now.
Immortal Hulk is a fantastic series and if you have any interest in a damn good horror comic I would highly recommend it. If you have been reading it what have your thoughts been so far?
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