Something Spooky: ‘Immortal Hulk’ Smashed Our Expectations
by Tony Thornley
There’s something to be said about turning expectations on their heads. That’s exactly what happened with Immortal Hulk, the 2018 soft relaunch of Marvel’s jade giant — a story that would change the Hulk forever.
Bruce Banner can’t stay dead. Alongside his increasingly violent and intelligent green alter-ego, Bruce comes to a startling realization: he cannot die. And neither can any of his other friends, family or allies, who are starting to come back wrong. Bruce and the Hulk are about to start a journey that neither will come back from the same … and it all begins by stepping through a glowing. Green. Door.
I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up the first issue of Immortal Hulk. The series — written entirely by Al Ewing, with most of the art by Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose, and Paul Mounts and the lettering by Cory Petit — was billed as the Hulk as a horror movie monster. However, in the first story arc, we got the Hulk filling a role almost like a force of justice. He was scary, and violent, but he always went after the bad guy, not innocents. He always delivered judgment with a grin. A disturbing one, yes, but a grin.
But then, the Hulk began to die. And every time he was reborn anew, unable to stay dead. His transformations were suddenly grotesque and painful. Hell, in one particularly memorable sequence, they were even used as a weapon. As that went on a new, horrifying mythology was born.
The series was consistently good-to-great throughout. It started as a dark superhero book with heavy horror elements. And then Ewing introduced cosmic horror to the equation. Then he shifted genre, and then again, and then again, and again. Always the body horror was there, but it was a series that had something to say.
Trans rights are human rights. Tax the rich. Stand up for the little guy. But through it all, one of the most popular and enduring characters in Marvel’s pantheon has new life breathed into.
The series has a dark spot hanging over, with abhorrent political views expressed by Bennett. The pages looked great, but Bennett let hate-filled opinions creep their way into the book, becoming a black mark on one of the greatest superhero comics of the era.
Regardless, this is the series, beginning to end, that I will now recommend to anyone looking for a great superhero horror book. A perfect read for this time of the year.
