Bruce Banner: The Hulk Appreciation 2020

[Immortal Hulk]

The Super Powered Fancast
(9.4 out of 10)

The Story: Al Ewing continues to take these characters on a dark, twisted psychological journey and it is done with style. There are some bold ideas being put forth with Hulk and it is fascinating to see how Ewing molds and manipulates the characters and their circumstances. This journey into the mind of Banner and the darkness of the Green Door continue to be engaging as a reader. I can’t predict where the story is going, but the journey continues to be a rewarding one.

The Art: Joe Bennett’s art is fantastic. Every panel depicting the Devil Hulk is dark, ominous and beautifully detailed. A great looking issue from start to finish.



https://www.superpoweredfancast.com/...ulk-38-review/

[Jness]

All I have to say about this issue is @*(#@#*( YEAH.

[Jness]

I'm curious what's the general take on Immortal Hulk amongst the Hulk fandom? I'm in absolutely love with the run so far but I've never read much Hulk growing up despite him being one of my childhood favorites; so I'm curious how it stacks up with the more knowledgeable Hulk fans. I never know how the fandoms react, like, before I was really digging Coates' Galactic Black Panther stuff and was surprised to find that the BP fans on here HAAAATED everything Coates was doing LOL

I've been reading Hulk since issue #280. This is the best run of the title I've ever read. For me, second best is PAD's run up to #400 or so, and third best is Paks.

[Immortal Hulk]

I've been reading Hulk since issue #280. This is the best run of the title I've ever read. For me, second best is PAD's run up to #400 or so, and third best is Paks.

It's my favorite too, and, if it keeps going with this level of quality, it's gonna be #1 by far. PAD's being the second, and third being a tie between Mantlo's and Pak's runs, even though I tend to like Mantlo's run more nowadays.

All I have to say about this issue is @*(#@#*( YEAH.

Agreed on the review.

[Intothevoid]

They are, and that’s why I’ve held off on declaring Immortal Hulk the GOAT Hulk run despite loving the entire run so far. If Ewing botches the ending it’s going to hurt the run as a whole, because all of those excellent build up issues will have built towards something underwhelming. So I’m waiting for that final issue to end up in my hands before I give a final judgement on Immortal Hulk.

That said, do I have confidence that Ewing is going to nail the ending? Yes. Why? Because he already did so with the Shadow Base and Roxxon arcs. Both of those had occasional parts that made me wonder if the sheen was wearing off. I never stopped enjoying reading each issue, but there were issues where I wondered if Ewing had peaked already. But then we got Hulk turning Shadow Base into Gamma Base and the apocalyptic future of issue 25. And we got the most terrifying bit of body horror yet with the conclusion of the Roxxon arc, as well as the reveal of Leader and just how much he had been involved with this run from the start. The next issue looks like it will be a conclusion to the “mindscape” arc, and will lead into the finale. I’m confident next issue will be a banger, and then we’ll get another brief lull period as Ewing builds up to the issue 50 finale. I could be wrong, and if I am a lot of these issues won’t hold up, similar to how a lot of Aaron’s Thor ended up being underwhelming culminating as it did in the tepid War of Realms. But I’ve got faith in Ewing.

Yea the reason why i am conident the final ending of the series will be good is because Ewing stated he had the ending already planned out since the very beginning of the series, getting till the ending is what he constantly is working on and has mentioned several times how he has changed a lot of the things as he goes on, sometimes even completely, but the ending still remains the same in his mind, so i have a feeling whatever he has cooked up for the ending is gonna be mindblowing since he is so confident in it.

[ChrisIII]

Looking back at that Thing panel artwork you can see Grey skin and blue torn pants in the corner, which I think could mean full Grey Joe like others have said.

When not in his full Vegas getup, Joe's look was always blue pants and sometimes torn white shirt (Especially when he was transforming back and forth from Banner), as opposed to Savage's usual purple pants look.

[Intothevoid]

Looking back at that Thing panel artwork you can see Grey skin and blue torn pants in the corner, which I think could mean full Grey Joe like others have said.

When not in his full Vegas getup, Joe's look was always blue pants and sometimes torn white shirt (Especially when he was transforming back and forth from Banner), as opposed to Savage's usual purple pants look.

Yea it's clearly Joe and looking at Joe and his mullet in issue 38 i have no doubts this is also him experiencing a painful transformation

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[the nomad]

I'm curious what's the general take on Immortal Hulk amongst the Hulk fandom? I'm in absolutely love with the run so far but I've never read much Hulk growing up despite him being one of my childhood favorites; so I'm curious how it stacks up with the more knowledgeable Hulk fans. I never know how the fandoms react, like, before I was really digging Coates' Galactic Black Panther stuff and was surprised to find that the BP fans on here HAAAATED everything Coates was doing LOL

The General Census is that the Immortal Hulk is one of the greatest runs on the character in a long time. It is universally acclaimed and talked about and personally it is one of the reasons why I got back into reading the Hulk.

[the nomad]

Just read #38, and it just got real!! Devil Hulk vs Green Leader Scar. I'm sure the Leader was feigning that shock and dread at the end of the issue there. I think he's got some sort of trump card up his sleeve. And it's a bit curious tho. When I was reading the issue I saw that Banner was still alive or at least somewhat conscious. Isn't it his mindscape? I don't understand why can't he have unilateral control tho since it is his mind. I wonder if its a restriction that he's putting on himself or does it have something to do with what the Leader is doing. IDK

And has Ewing said anything about bringing Amadeous Cho into the picture seeing as how he was touched by Gamma rays too, so shouldn't he see a green door and whatnot.

[Immortal Hulk]

Just read #38, and it just got real!! Devil Hulk vs Green Leader Scar. I'm sure the Leader was feigning that shock and dread at the end of the issue there. I think he's got some sort of trump card up his sleeve. And it's a bit curious tho. When I was reading the issue I saw that Banner was still alive or at least somewhat conscious. Isn't it his mindscape? I don't understand why can't he have unilateral control tho since it is his mind. I wonder if its a restriction that he's putting on himself or does it have something to do with what the Leader is doing. IDK

And has Ewing said anything about bringing Amadeous Cho into the picture seeing as how he was touched by Gamma rays too, so shouldn't he see a green door and whatnot.

I thought the same.

About Cho. I don't think Ewing has any plans for him or Skaar, for example.

[ChrisIII]

Cho showed up a while back at the beginning of the Roxxon arc, and been mentioned a few times I think.

[PlatinumThorns]

Just read #38, and it just got real!! Devil Hulk vs Green Leader Scar. I'm sure the Leader was feigning that shock and dread at the end of the issue there. I think he's got some sort of trump card up his sleeve. And it's a bit curious tho. When I was reading the issue I saw that Banner was still alive or at least somewhat conscious. Isn't it his mindscape? I don't understand why can't he have unilateral control tho since it is his mind. I wonder if its a restriction that he's putting on himself or does it have something to do with what the Leader is doing. IDK

And has Ewing said anything about bringing Amadeous Cho into the picture seeing as how he was touched by Gamma rays too, so shouldn't he see a green door and whatnot.

Cho appeared briefly in the War on Roxxon arc, but was likely abandoned with the Namor plotline that was supposed to happen.

[Venom Melendez]

Cho appeared briefly in the War on Roxxon arc, but was likely abandoned with the Namor plotline that was supposed to happen.

What makes you think anything was abandoned?

[Cth]

Ok, so theorizing..

I think the reason we haven't seen the Triad is they're the failsafe when all the system fails. They didn't appear originally until the core Banner alter committed psychic suicide. As the core, he can't "die" just get buried really deep. So, his primal/elemental selves manifested until such point that Banner could pull himself together.

And we know that fairly soon alters start dying and Banner starts to feel himself being eaten.

So, my theory is that Leader, backed into a corner starts unleashing parts of Bruce. Taunting him with cruelty, beating back Banner, killing off parts of him (in so much as an alter can be killed/buried deep). Perhaps he unleashes Guilt Hulk which starts eating the other alters. Recall Jenkins mindspace battle with Devil where the alters all teamed up to beat Guilt Hulk. Except now, Bruce has a lot more guilt and it might have the edge.

Ultimately, Guilt Hulk and Leader are destroyed and a new merged Hulk emerges at the end of the series. So far, Ewing has covered almost all the important moments in Hulk history from Mantlo and PAD to Pak and Jenkins. But the Professor era has largely been without an "echo" which is why I think it'll come at the end of the run. And it'd be a new direction for a new writer to explore something Ewing seems interested in doing rather than putting all the toys back in the box.

Seriously, Ewing's run has been like a greatest hits album, touching upon all eras of the Hulk over the years. Professor seems to be an important missing part, and referenced early on in the run.

[PlatinumThorns]

What makes you think anything was abandoned?

Obviously I don't know if it was actually abandoned and Ewing never commented on it, but around issue #26 Namor was also dealing with environmental plots in his own mini and Avengers so it was a bit obvious what was likely going down when he decided to teamup with Bruce randomly in a restaurant. I'm not sure if it's because Ewing got a sudden influx of new projects or somesuch but something changed and Xenmu got involved instead.