Immortal Hulk #11 // Review
Hulk and the gang take a metaphysical journey to...Hell? All that and more in this The Immortal Hulk #11, written by Al Ewing, with pencils by Joe Bennett, inks by Ruy Jose, and colors by Paul Mounts. Previously, a dark entity (possibly the Devil, himself) manipulated the Hulk and the Absorbing Man into a fight that resulted in a “green door” being opened to what ol’ Jade Jaws refers to as “Hell”. Now, Hulk, reporter Jackie McGee, Gamma Flight, and Carl Creel are trapped in a nightmare come to life, with seemingly no way out.
The power of this issue comes from the scenes between the Hulk and Jackie. Several issues ago, Hulk granted her one question, and she chose to ask, “how do you get to be what you are”. The question wasn’t elaborated on, because Hulk had to go fight a raging Sasquatch at the time, but the readers have been wondering about Jackie’s motivations for following the great green one ever since. Given that she’s got a history with the Hulk that involves him smashing her childhood home, one could assume that she has an unhealthy fixation with him. Ewing finally gets around to answering (mostly) just what her deal is in this issue, and a lot is done to flesh her out. Plus, it’s just nice to see this version of the Hulk have a normal conversation with someone, and maybe even form a connection.
As usual, the horror elements that Ewing brings to this book carry it into new territory for the Hulk. The trip into Hell gets really creepy once dead, zombie versions of people from Banner’s past start showing up. Especially, when it is revealed that the only words they can say are echoes of things they said when they were alive. Couple that with Hulk’s realization that an old foe of his died without him knowing, and these scenes are downright disturbing.
Gold stars also go to Ewing for making good use of Gamma Flight’s Puck in this issue. After finding a thoroughly shaken Creel, Eugene rallies him, and tells him he’s the key shutting the door to Hell. When Creel asks how he knows about such things, Puck reminds him just how long he’s been around, and all of the weird things he’s experienced throughout his life. If only Ewing could just get a greenlight for a new Alpha Flight series. Between Eugene in this issue, and his recent handling of Sasquatch, he’s got the makings of a really strong take on the Canadian superhero team.
Speaking of teams, the art team of Bennett, Jose, and Mounts continues to be one of the best to ever handle the character. Luckily, they have been consistently working on this title since it’s beginning, with minimal fill-ins, and may they never leave. It would be a sad day if The Immortal Hulk lost any of this team to another book, because they are perfectly suited to handle not only the Hulk, himself, but all of the insanely horrific things Ewing has woven into the series.
After all is said and done, this may not have been the most exciting issue of the series, but it had some powerful character moments, and you can tell that Ewing is heading somewhere big with the story. The only worry is that he seems to be wrapping it up with the reveals of the big bad’s plans and Hulk literally being dumped into Hell to, presumably, face him head-on. Hopefully, Ewing has many more stories to tell, though, because this is the best the big, green guy has been written in years.
