A Story Beyond All Time And Space: Immortal Hulk #25 Reviewed
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
The time is unknown. A small being of light travels across a sea of black and broken things. Nothing is left. A lone entity named Par%l floats across the infinite nothing. It looks back to a former lover named Farys that gave it a message to be delivered to the time before, a forbidden message, but one Par&l will send. The vast green breaker of worlds approaches and will crush all that is. Par%l then goes to their homeworld of O%los right before it is consumed by the breaker of worlds. Now all that remains for Par&l to do is gaze upon the face of the world breaker, the Hulk.
It’s difficult to know where to begin with Immortal Hulk #25. My philosophy prevents me from giving any comic book a 10/10 (or at least since I came to Comicon), but I would give this book a 10 if I could.
Immortal Hulk #25 is among the most strangely brilliant comics I’ve read within memory. The story of Par%l is fascinating. This concept of the future beyond human imagining which, centers upon an alien creature so foreign to what we know as life yet still understandable, is among the most beautifully transcendent pieces of science fiction I’ve encountered.
Even the comic’s concept of time and moving through it is brilliant. I can’t say for certain whether Par%l’s encounter Farys occurred before or during the events of the comic, but it also doesn’t really matter for the story. Time is meaningless in the face of what’s to come, and Par%l and Farys need to skate across it.
The very language used by Al Ewing in the narration is beautiful. It describes these strange concepts that should be near incoherent in an understandable manner.
All of this has may leave you wondering how this is an Immortal Hulk comic, but, fear not, it is. This comic ties into what we’ve come to know about the Hulk and the vast and apocalyptic horror it has become.
Germán García gives this strange story a beautiful aesthetic. It delivers the images needed to communicate the alien concepts of the book. Chris O’Halloran backs him up with gorgeous color. Joe Bennett, Ruy José, and Paul Mounts round it all out with a brief return to the aesthetic we’ve come to know and love from Immortal Hulk.
Immortal Hulk #25 brings us a monumental new issue for this phenomenal series. An odd and wonderful story about an alien creature navigating the end of all things and looking to send one last message into the void awaits the reader as you wait in bated breath to see how this all ties back into the Hulk. It’s an incredible comic and easily earns a strong recommendation.
Immortal Hulk #25 comes to us from writer Al Ewing, artists Germán García and Joe Bennett, inkers Germán García and Ruy José, color artists Chris O’Halloran and Paul Mounts, letterer VC’s Cory Petit, cover artist Alex Ross, and variant cover artists Kris Anka; Joe Bennett with Ruy José and Paul Mounts; Gene Colan; Rudy Nebres with Jason Keith: Ron Lim with Israel Silva; Ed McGuinness with David Curiel; and Andrea Sorrentino.
Final Score: 9.9/10
