Bruce Banner: The Hulk Appreciation 2019

[Immortal Hulk]

Correct. His history is so rich; one of the richest of any character from the comics. And you can basically can do every type of stories you can imagine with him. When you think about it, the character almost writes himself.

[GrandEleven]

The other problem Marvel Comics was having with the Hulk is that instead of learning and drawing from the character's history, new writers were constantly trying to reinvent the wheel.

That's a necessary balancing act, IMHO. I think we'd all be kidding ourselves if we tried to say Ewing didn't re-invent the wheel to some extent. It's not like he has a history of having a weakness to daylight, for example. Writers have to figure out how to inject a new angle to keep readers interested, the trick is not completely dumping on favorite tropes. Harder to do than it looks.

Ewing seems to have it down.

[Vordan]

Some reinvention is necessary. Ewing’s current run would be impossible without PAD basically totally reinventing the character, or the further addition by Jenkins of concepts like “Devil Hulk”. But you have to strike a balance: You can’t get mired in nostalgia or you end up like the X-Franchise, “writers writing X-Men stories about previous X-Men stories” as Hickman put it, but you also can’t completely throw everything away or else there’s no foundation left. The Gray Hulk was always there, it just took PAD fleshing him out and reinventing the Banner-Hulk relationship to showcase what he could be. The horror aspects of Hulk were always there, it just took Ewing to make them the focus of his run to get people to better appreciate them.

[Immortal Hulk]

That's a necessary balancing act, IMHO. I think we'd all be kidding ourselves if we tried to say Ewing didn't re-invent the wheel to some extent. It's not like he has a history of having a weakness to daylight, for example. Writers have to figure out how to inject a new angle to keep readers interested, the trick is not completely dumping on favorite tropes. Harder to do than it looks.

Ewing seems to have it down.

I believe the point is that every great writer, like Ewing, builds on everything that came before; He respects and understands the best parts from Hulk's history, but adds his "spice", and, from that, He gives us something new & familiar, at the same. The result is something incredible, as we've seen so far!

[Gamma Irradiated Being]

That's a necessary balancing act, IMHO. I think we'd all be kidding ourselves if we tried to say Ewing didn't re-invent the wheel to some extent. It's not like he has a history of having a weakness to daylight, for example. Writers have to figure out how to inject a new angle to keep readers interested, the trick is not completely dumping on favorite tropes. Harder to do than it looks.

Ewing seems to have it down.

I don't think changing a character with every new creative team and neglecting previous runs is ever a good thing. Early Marvel Comic had continuity from one writer to the next. Any change was organically done and within the scope of the character. Al Ewing has stayed within those lines. While he could explain why Hulk seems to have a weakness for daylight, this is not new. In the first issue of Hulk, he changed at daylight. In Al Ewing's Tumblr, he referenced an issue where UV rays changed Hulk to Banner, so like it or not there is precedence for it.

As far as writing a character long term, it's no different than writing a long running sitcom like Cheers, Frasier or whatever. Just bring in creative teams that know the character to keep him fresh.

[Gamma Irradiated Being]

Some reinvention is necessary. Ewing’s current run would be impossible without PAD basically totally reinventing the character, or the further addition by Jenkins of concepts like “Devil Hulk”. But you have to strike a balance: You can’t get mired in nostalgia or you end up like the X-Franchise, “writers writing X-Men stories about previous X-Men stories” as Hickman put it, but you also can’t completely throw everything away or else there’s no foundation left. The Gray Hulk was always there, it just took PAD fleshing him out and reinventing the Banner-Hulk relationship to showcase what he could be. The horror aspects of Hulk were always there, it just took Ewing to make them the focus of his run to get people to better appreciate them.

There's a difference between reinventing and being creative. What Peter David did was creatively add to the lore, without changing the core concept of the character. Peter's run was well thought out while Paul Jenkins changes were haphazard and willy nilly. There is a difference between being creative and writing for shock value.

I'm not one for nostalgia, just consistency and growth.

[Gamma Irradiated Being]

I believe the point is that every great writer, like Ewing, builds on everything that came before; He respects and understands the best parts from Hulk's history, but adds his "spice", and, from that, He gives us something new & familiar, at the same. The result is something incredible, as we've seen so far!

Exactly, well stated.

[Immortal Hulk]

Horror sites raving about Immortal Hulk (#20):

Horror DNA (5/5)

Immortal Hulk never disappoints. It's an awesome comic that delivers on multiple fronts, blending super hero action with riveting drama all wrapped in some of the best artwork you'll see on the stands today. More importantly, it's reinvigorated a decades old character, delivering something truly new and different that will set the Hulk apart for years to come.

https://www.horrordna.com/comics/immortal-hulk-20

[PlatinumThorns]

Just giving my thoughts on one of the reasons why Ewing is (so far) great since I have some free time;

This isn't the technical definition of "horror", but I would describe it when it's used in film/comics/books as putting one or more characters in a 'horrible' situation. And that's what Immortal Hulk is doing. As an example, take at look at issues #2 and #14-#20 specifically. In #2, we learn that Bruce is suffering from constant torment from the day he survived the Gamma Bomb described as the "Walking Ghost Phase"-- in which he always feels like he's dying. This is further exacerbated in the same book when we learn that Doctor Frye basically experimented on himself and his son with Gamma radiation, turning them into glowing corpses.

In issues #14-#20 we see Bruce/Hulk and the supporting cast suffer in ways unseen in previous issues. First, Betty was murdered 'accidentally' by Bushwhacker (though, of course she would later come back) in front of Bruce which would extremely traumatizing for both parties. Secondly, we learn that the body of the recently deceased Rick Jones was dug up and taken by the United States Hulk Operations to be encased in a shell via Abomination's remains and turned into a weapon. If that wasn't torment enough for him, some semblance of his personality manifested through this hodgepodge and was begging Hulk to kill him. If that isn't gruesome, I dunno what is. In around the same time, through the eyes of a the Red Harpy, it was shown that Betty suffered almost as much as Bruce himself has being the token Doll. And to cap it all off...Hulk was almost fatally maimed by the stomach acids of the A-bomination. This caused the Devil Hulk to revert back into the child-like Savage Hulk, in which the Red Harpy swiftly killed him whilst he was begging for her help.

So with that that in mind, I think IH offers something to the horror genre beyond body mutilation and shocking cliffhangers. Of course I'm grossly over-simplifying the story of the given issues, but you get the point.

[marshal88]

'what'choo gonna do when the hulkster comes down on uuuuuu'

[ChrisIII]

Kind of interesting that like with Banner, "Devil" is protective of the savage Hulk as well, and scolded Betty for hurting him.

[DCStu]

Good taste for comics/heroes! I bet She'll love it and so will You.

I'm hoping so!

Are you checking Immortal Hulk? It's already a classic run (and by the end it's gonna be a legendary run) and the best thing since Greg Pak's first run, with Planet Hulk and World War Hulk.

No I'm not. At the moment I literally read DC stuff only. I think I read two Hulk comics when I was a kid and that's literally it. I'm just going to read what my kid reads when she's done with it.

While I still love the Kenneth Johnson's 'The Incredible Hulk' television show, it's one iteration of the character that has long lived out it's time and should no longer be used as the standard.

I dunno man. My daughter and I are coming to the end of the third season and I gotta tell you... parts of it might be a bit ropey now but the story telling IMO is as solid as it's ever been. As you can probably tell I'm a DC fanboy so it'll probably come as no surprise to you that I watch Arrow, The Flash etc.

Now those shows are OK a lot of the time, but they pale to the old Incredible Hulk show IMO.

I love Ang Lee's Hulk film. The problem was the Hulk's design and a few artistic liberties that Ang took with the character. In and of itself "Angry Man" was a solid flick.

Yeah, I love that film too. It was way ahead of it's time. I'm aware it likely took some liberties with canon and such - but I think the end result was worth it. Very human story. I got where it was coming from, and what Ang Lee was trying to do.

Ed Norton's Hulk movie was really good, but Marvel and Universal missed the opportunity to make Hulk closer to his fan favorite Hulk characterizations.

I'd have to take your word on that mate. It's not the worst movie I've ever seen by a long shot - but I just never bought Ed Norton as Banner.

Enjoy your new found pleasure.

Thanks! I will!

[ChrisIII]

Immortal Hulk pays tribute to the TV show as well, with the Jacqueline Mcgee character being a homage to Jack Mcgee from the show, although she's a much more complex and sympathetic character. Also, part of Mcgee's goal in the comic was to find out how the Hulk and Banner are linked; in comics that's been common knowledge since the late 60's.


The character from the two-parter "The first" has also been adapted although not quite utilized entirely yet I think.


The series also have Banner have a nomadic lifestyle although this is an approach the comic has taken many times, and I think probably predates the TV show.

[ChrisIII]

I'm guessing that's obviously Jacqueline in the art preview as well. Cool to see Redeemer there as it's even more of a Ross connection.

[PlatinumThorns]

New Ewing interview: https://www.newsarama.com/46050-immo...-al-ewing.html

Nothing interesting besies some insight on his work methods, but an interesting bit:

Nrama: Before we let you get back to it, can you tease us about any research you've been doing, or anything fans can get excited about they may not expect?

Ewing: I need to find a free afternoon sometime soon to read America: a Prophecy by William Blake. That's specifically for Immortal Hulk. And the main track I've been listening to while working on Immortal Hulk #25 is "Everything In Its Right Place" by Radiohead. Oh - and to make it clear, all those events the mysterious Voice reels off at the end of #20 are things yet to happen in Act II and Act III. That's probably plenty to be going on with. And as always - thanks for reading!

This was already confirmed to be the case on his Twitter, but something to keep note of.