Man Banner has it really bad. When the sun goes down he isn't even in charge anymore. The Hulk is something Banner cannot run from even in death. The art is amazing in this book and I love the story telling. ( )

Nope.

Everyone I know told me how great this new series was, despite my apprehension at all the new powers the Hulk suddenly seems to have. Yes, I'm one of those assholes who's against classic superheroes suddenly leveling up to new powers.

But the Hulk's sudden Wolverine-like healing factor isn't even the thing that pissed me off here. No, it was the fact that they went back almost 60 years and retrofitted a mysterious green door into his history.

Sorry, but this, to me, is lazy-ass storytelling. Hey Marvel, I have a great way of expanding on the Hulk, but it does mean we have to go all the way back to the beginning and stick in this event that no one has ever mentioned a single time in six decades, but now we'll make it canon and we'll have to work on shoving it in where we can. Sounds great, huh?

Nope.

At its base, the storytelling is okay. Not great, not terrible. Standard Marvel fare. The art is quite good, and the Hulk looks...well...hulking. I love the nods to Buscema and Trimpe, and I'm sure there's others I missed as I began to skim just to get to the end of this stupid storyline.

But overall, I was left feeling the same as I came in...why do they have to change the Hulk? Yes, characters should grow and change, but it's all these power changes, and rewritten history things that don't work for me.

I'm done. The Immortal Hulk is dead to me. ( )

Immortal Hulk, volume 1 - Or is he both?
Author: Ewing, Bennett, Jose, Mounts
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Publishing Date: 2019
Pgs: 128
Dewey: 741.5973 HUL V.1
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
Quiet, calm, hidden, hiding...Bruce Banner. Shot in the head and taken to a morgue, left for dead. When night falls, something unquiet awakens. A horror that refuses to die.

The Immortal Hulk lives.

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Genre:
Marvel Comics
Graphic Novels
Superheroes
Horror

Why this book:
I prefer my Hulks raging and rampaging.
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The Feel:
The Hulk meets Reanimator. Nice.

Least Favorite Character:
Brian Banner.

Favorite Scene:
That’s a helluva opening scene and definitely not what I expected. Our hero...well...our hero’s alter ego shot in the head and dead on Page 6.

Favorite Quote:
“I eat gamma” is one of my favorite Hulk lines.

Favorite Concept:
Hulk vs biker gang.

Hulk as a spirit of vengeance type.

The different art styles of each of the unreliable witnesses/narrators in the church hostage crisis. Though, I almost gagged with the Old Lady seeing it as a James Dean pastiche all about love.

Gamma junkies wanting a fix so they can be like the Hulk.

Hmm Moments:
Hmmm...Kind of a Doctor Phosphorus kind of vibe...only with Gamma Radiation and the glowind death. Doctor Frye...it’s his name, but a bit Silver Agey on point too.

Seems like there should be more gamma mutates in the Marvel Universe. This series seems to take a step in that way with Doctor Frye, whatever Frye’s son turns out to be, and Hotshot...and maybe more since this is only thru issue 2 of the trade paperback.

Meh / PFFT Moments:
Walter doesn’t look like Walter. Did they even look at the old Alpha Flights and previous appearances of Walter Langowski? Looks more like a skinny, knockoff Sabertooth...and I know that Wild Child is already a skinny, knockoff Sabertooth...so, same, but different.

The Sigh:
I’m not a fan of “daddy issues” Hulk. Trauma driven fine. But “daddy issues” Hulk has always been weak sauce to me. There was enough trauma in Bruce’s backstory before all of that crap was added. Reeks of the same crap that made Hank Pym an abuser and Janet Van Dyne his victim, a disservice to both characters.

Juxtaposition:
Yeah...I don’t think that the Hulk is the “Devil Behind the Green Door/Below” that all these people seem to be seeing through their gamma powered dreams.

“Walter” telegraphed unreliable narrator a bit hard. He’s roses and wonderful and Banner was a basket case and unstable.

The Unexpected:
Again with the Green Door. And if Walter saw it, then it’s been around forever. Did Banner see the Green Door when he crossed the gamma barrier or is this a latter day occurrence? Is this a retcon pastiche? Or is this related to something else coming through that door?

Get Off My Lawn:
Were the writers and editorial even aware of “what goes on ‘Behind the Green Door’”? I can’t imagine that it was completely an accident. Some of these guys have to be old enough to be cognizant. Or have done some research.
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Pacing:
It is well paced and flows well. Not nearly as dragging heels as too many TPBs are these days.

Last Page Sound:
Oh boy, more daddy issues stories. Hooray. [/snarcasm]
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This takes the Hulk in a very awesome and interesting direction. I thought it was just going to be kinda like the whole Zombie Marvel run and just as fun, especially because the Hulk himself is all Freudian.

Listen, you know the whole thing about Id, Ego, and Superego? Hulk, (some strange mix of Banner and Hulk), and Banner? Add a little sex and a lot of the death wish?

Well now we've got a huge extra serving of the death wish and with it, an awesome new twist in the Ego.

Banner is less intelligent after his death. The Hulk now has it. Rage-filled intelligence. Immortality. And he's MEAN when he's intelligent. :) Scary.

Hulk comes out at night and stalks his prey. Banner is at the Hulk's mercy more than ever, but now he can listen to the Hulk prod him from inside. Reasoning for him. Pushing him ever on. The Hulk is now the driver. :)

Soooo cool. :) This is breathing a whole new life into the character. :) ( )

Hulk lives! Now! Again! Forever! (Cue swelling dramatic music. Maestro, please!)

Another of the big dramatic moments of Civil War II is undone as the Bruce Banner Hulk returns to his own series. But this time, writer Al Ewing is going for a straight-up horror story as he uses the nocturnal nature of the Hulk in his earliest appearances to ascribe a supernatural element to the character. And, hey, it sorta works. Hulk has always had parallels to Robert Louis Stevenson's Mr. Hyde, but now he is all that crossed with Frankenstein, a werewolf, and a zombie to boot.

It's a bit cheesy, but definitely worth a second look. ( )