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The Incredible Hulk is one of the most enduring, iconic characters in pop culture. Even if someone doesn’t read comic books or watch superhero movies, they know what the Hulk looks like. He is a vital part of the Marvel Comics mythos, and despite the fact that people have admired the character in his live-action appearances and supporting roles in other characters’ comics, many fans don’t talk about the fact that a recent series for the character is the best thing that Marvel Comics has released in decades.
The Immortal Hulk, written by Al Ewing with art by Joe Bennett, is one of the single most incredible comic book runs ever created. With decades and decades of previous work on the character to compare it against, the modern masterpiece is all the more impressive for its position in Marvel history. It has quickly become the benchmark for all future stories featuring the Hulk, and it stands as a blueprint for where the character should be taken in his live-action iterations.
The Immortal Hulk Is a Tragic Horror Story, Not a Superhero One
Immortal Hulk Features Terrifying Imagery and Horrifying Themes
The Immortal Hulk ran for fifty issues, and it never faltered once over the course of its month-to-month release. The series reinvented so many aspects of the Hulk’s character, as well as the supporting characters around him. It positioned the Hulk not as a superhero in a larger universe of other champions of the oppressed, but as a damaged, broken man cursed with an immense and heavy burden.
The way in which Al Ewing and Joe Bennett portray Bruce Banner and his series of alters is one of the most sophisticated and empathetic interpretations of Dissociative Identity Disorder that has ever been featured in a comic book. In addition to the book’s dedication to Bruce Banner and his inner struggles, The Immortal Hulk also explores wider topics like runaway capitalism, generational trauma, faith, and what it means to truly die.
Using the Marvel Universe as a complex backdrop for a wonderfully intimate, personal tale of growth, change, and trauma, The Immortal Hulk creates a tapestry of tragedy and horror in ways never before seen in a mainstream comic book. The focus on generational trauma, corporate greed, and existential dread makes the series so unique in the current comic book landscape, and it is miraculous that it was able to be released as unhindered by editorial interference as it was. Nothing is standard about the life of Bruce Banner, and nothing is standard about The Immortal Hulk. Every single issue is precisely fine-tuned to hook the reader and completely emotionally enrapture them.
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In a similar vein to Alan Moore’s absolutely iconic run on The Saga of The Swamp Thing, Al Ewing crafts a broad, sweeping epic that still remains utterly committed to character and the importance of an intimate narrative arc with The Immortal Hulk. Despite the fact that the series is technically a continuation of the stories previously presented in The Incredible Hulk runs of the past, Ewing’s Hulk series is a perfect jumping-on point for curious readers and casual fans. It’s the kind of series that makes fans go from casually enjoying the Hulk and his appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and in the occasional Avengers comic to being dedicated superfans of the Jade Giant as a character.
The Immortal Hulk Is the Boldest Take On a Classic Character In Years
The Hulk Has Never Been More Engaging or Emotionally Compelling
The complex tale of The Immortal Hulk is one of the most radical new takes on a beloved character that Marvel Comics has ever produced in its entire existence. Shifting gears from the more action-oriented 2000s era for the Hulk, the series takes the character back to what made him so compelling in the first place—his position as a true monster. More in line with tragic horror stories like Frankenstein or Dracula, this interpretation of the Hulk sees the character as a terrifying mass of sheer power. The Hulk is seen as a force of nature here — unstoppable, uncontrollable, and unkillable.
Reimagining the Hulk’s power and exploring the idea of death through the eyes of a man incapable of dying for very long, The Immortal Hulk establishes so many new and fresh ideas for the Hulk and his mythos, including the terrifying Below Place, a kind of hell-below-hell where Gamma mutates like the Hulk and some of his supporting characters go when they die.
Once in the Below Place, the Gamma-powered characters are able to return to the land of the living through “the green door”, a mysterious force that allows them to seemingly never truly die. This wrinkle in the Hulk’s story gives context to his incredible power, and it simultaneously serves as an engaging meta-commentary on the nature of superhero stories and the fact that characters in comic books can never truly stay dead.
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This reimagining of the Hulk mythos, its origins, and what death actually means to the Hulk has introduced whole new powers and concepts to the comic.
Changing the way Hulk transforms, changing what makes him transform, and changing how the different alters inside the mind of Bruce Banner operate and interact with one another, The Immortal Hulk takes the character in directions that have never been explored before. The wonderful thing about the series, however, is the fact that, despite it pushing the Hulk and company in new and exciting directions, it clearly has a deep love and reverence for what came before.
Al Ewing and Joe Bennett are clearly huge fans of the character and his long history, and their dedication to honoring what was done by previous creatives while exploring their own new avenues is one of the most commendable things a comic book creative team can do. Bringing back lesser-known characters like the U-Foes, Alpha Flight, and Xemnu is just one example of how the series honors what came before, and the ways in which The Immortal Hulk updates and fleshes out those characters is absolutely wonderful.
The Immortal Hulk Should Be The Blueprint for the MCU and Future Hulk Comics
Immortal Hulk Is the Best Thing Marvel Has Done in Years, And They Should Take Advantage of That
Mark Ruffalo’s interpretation of Bruce Banner and the Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a bit of a mixed bag for some fans. While his appearance in some of the films has been a wonderful addition to the overall roster of Avengers and other heroes present, it has occasionally felt like the MCU simply doesn’t know what to do with the character moving forward.
Fans were given the classic, child-like Hulk in The Avengers, the more intelligent gladiator version in Thor: Ragnarok, and the Professor Hulk iteration in both Avengers: Endgame and Disney Plus’s She-Hulk, but even with the myriad of changes made to the character over the years, it feels that the MCU’s Hulk has stagnated.
Nothing truly unique or exciting has been done with the character on the big screen in years. 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, a film that technically exists in the same continuity as Mark Ruffalo’s iteration despite starring Edward Norton as the beastly hero, was a lackluster adaptation of the Hulk’s mythos that didn’t do anything new or bold with the character.
Surprisingly, the only time that the Hulk has arguably been adapted with any level of actual nuance or emotional weight in live-action was in Ang Lee’s unfairly maligned 2003 film Hulk. The film was the closest thing that fans of the character have gotten to an adaptation of the Hulk’s darker, more horror-oriented concepts. The Immortal Hulk surprisingly has a lot in common with Lee’s film, and the blockbuster arguably deserves another shot from fans who were less than pleased with it on release.
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The Hulk is such a versatile character, and his history over the years is complex, compelling, and action-packed. Immortal Hulk laid out the perfect blueprint for an engaging live-action adaptation, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems dedicated to keeping the character as sidelined as possible.
There are so many wonderful things from the pages of The Immortal Hulk that could be done with the character, from traveling to Hell to battling a Minotaur corporate CEO to facing off against the terrifying forces of the Leader, one of Hulk’s greatest foes. The possibilities associated with the Hulk are endless, and creatives need to realize that. The Immortal Hulk remains the best solo comic book run that Marvel Comics has released in years, and it is, without a doubt, the best Hulk story that has ever been published.
“}]] Al Ewing’s The Immortal Hulk is one of Marvel’s best books ever, and it has made fans even more disappointed with the MCU version of the hero. Read More