Bruce Banner - The Hulk Appreciation 2021

[Intothevoid]

I think narratively where we are at in Immortal Hulk, it wouldve been a serious detour to do, not to mention Bruce hasnt been in the series for some time, which really wouldn't make Skaar or Emil reunions true without the presence of Banner there. Plus it gives decent focus to the side cast, which I assume if we got five issues mostly focusing on the Gamma Flight gang there would be complaints of the lack of Hulk or whatnot. This also ensures the potential longevity of Immortal Hulk surviving past the end of the book itself, since we already know Cates is going to be handling Hulk a bit more traditionally.

No i am not talking about now of course, but when the fake Abomination first appeared in Immortal Hulk, there is now no real reason for it to not have been the real thing.

[ChrisIII]

Figures with all the other gamma resurrections-and of course the Shang-Chi appearance-he'd be back.


Maybe we'll get, at some point, something like Immortal She-Hulk or IH #34, which put Jennifer and Stern's deaths and resurrections through the green door context. Pretty sure Blonsky's been dead quite a few times.


Also it'd be interesting to him fight Betty. The two briefly met again in Chaos War but I think that fight got cut short. Now that she's gotten even more of a power-up....

[The Cool Thatguy]

No i am not talking about now of course, but when the fake Abomination first appeared in Immortal Hulk, there is now no real reason for it to not have been the real thing.

Except that his character wouldn't have complimented the story Ewing was telling.

I trust the guy who's been writing the series this entire time

[Cth]

He should make him a better one in Hulks book, not in a book where Hulk doesn't appear, i rather Hulk fight the real thing than the fake one he fought in the Immortal Hulk series already.

For me, here's what I perceive as "the problem"..

This is the afterthought series. Didn't have time to develop Puck/etc? Toss 'em in the mini. Sure they're fun characters, but there's no REASON for the team. They existed to hunt down the Hulk. They're not hunting down the Hulk anymore. So they're "on the run" and there's only a few ways that can end. So, there's no real drive for the book. Character drama? Sure, but we've seen Creed and Titania go through this in every appearance they've made. And they aren't anywhere near a Thunderbolts type change of heart so nothing really is being done with them. So, the only real hook is Samson and Charlene.. Charlene is a normal person relatively, so that leaves Samson and show of hands, who honestly believes he'll be Sasquatch forever? Hell Samson was dead and because another writer wanted to use him a status shift from a Hulk book is ignored, which is what will happen the next time Samson is requested.

But that's why its a mini and not an on-going, I get it. Like I said, Warbound Pt 2.

As far as my reaction to 2 though? Let me explain, and it won't be popular It's the same trap that Bruce Jones did. Toss in a bunch of Hulk characters and say "See? The fans wanted it!" That's how we got Mercenary Samson hooking up with Betty and Absorbing Baby, etc. So how much of the book is Ewing writing or is he just consulting since Charlene is his character. The last page reveal feels like checking off items rather than an organic part of the story. As others have said, it feels like this should have happened in the main book. Unless someone is pretending to be Emil, it seems "out of character"

Still halfway through, maybe they can make the last 3 interesting. The reveal didn't excite me like Immortal usually does.

EDIT:
It also feels like a missed opportunity/forced mandated multimedia tie-in to restore one character to their "usual" self but leave a mainstay like Rick in the situation he is. Like I said, maybe they can redeem it by the end of the mini and Rick gets the same treatment. If Bruce is Job, Rick's not too far off. No one is going to write Rick the way he is now.

[Intothevoid]

For me, here's what I perceive as "the problem"..

This is the afterthought series. Didn't have time to develop Puck/etc? Toss 'em in the mini. Sure they're fun characters, but there's no REASON for the team. They existed to hunt down the Hulk. They're not hunting down the Hulk anymore. So they're "on the run" and there's only a few ways that can end. So, there's no real drive for the book. Character drama? Sure, but we've seen Creed and Titania go through this in every appearance they've made. And they aren't anywhere near a Thunderbolts type change of heart so nothing really is being done with them. So, the only real hook is Samson and Charlene.. Charlene is a normal person relatively, so that leaves Samson and show of hands, who honestly believes he'll be Sasquatch forever? Hell Samson was dead and because another writer wanted to use him a status shift from a Hulk book is ignored, which is what will happen the next time Samson is requested.

But that's why its a mini and not an on-going, I get it. Like I said, Warbound Pt 2.

As far as my reaction to 2 though? Let me explain, and it won't be popular It's the same trap that Bruce Jones did. Toss in a bunch of Hulk characters and say "See? The fans wanted it!" That's how we got Mercenary Samson hooking up with Betty and Absorbing Baby, etc. So how much of the book is Ewing writing or is he just consulting since Charlene is his character. The last page reveal feels like checking off items rather than an organic part of the story. As others have said, it feels like this should have happened in the main book. Unless someone is pretending to be Emil, it seems "out of character"

Still halfway through, maybe they can make the last 3 interesting. The reveal didn't excite me like Immortal usually does.

EDIT:
It also feels like a missed opportunity/forced mandated multimedia tie-in to restore one character to their "usual" self but leave a mainstay like Rick in the situation he is. Like I said, maybe they can redeem it by the end of the mini and Rick gets the same treatment. If Bruce is Job, Rick's not too far off. No one is going to write Rick the way he is now.

Yea i basically agree with everything you said.

[Kingkalamari]

For me, here's what I perceive as "the problem"..

This is the afterthought series. Didn't have time to develop Puck/etc? Toss 'em in the mini. Sure they're fun characters, but there's no REASON for the team. They existed to hunt down the Hulk. They're not hunting down the Hulk anymore. So they're "on the run" and there's only a few ways that can end. So, there's no real drive for the book. Character drama? Sure, but we've seen Creed and Titania go through this in every appearance they've made. And they aren't anywhere near a Thunderbolts type change of heart so nothing really is being done with them. So, the only real hook is Samson and Charlene.. Charlene is a normal person relatively, so that leaves Samson and show of hands, who honestly believes he'll be Sasquatch forever? Hell Samson was dead and because another writer wanted to use him a status shift from a Hulk book is ignored, which is what will happen the next time Samson is requested.

But that's why its a mini and not an on-going, I get it. Like I said, Warbound Pt 2.

As far as my reaction to 2 though? Let me explain, and it won't be popular It's the same trap that Bruce Jones did. Toss in a bunch of Hulk characters and say "See? The fans wanted it!" That's how we got Mercenary Samson hooking up with Betty and Absorbing Baby, etc. So how much of the book is Ewing writing or is he just consulting since Charlene is his character. The last page reveal feels like checking off items rather than an organic part of the story. As others have said, it feels like this should have happened in the main book. Unless someone is pretending to be Emil, it seems "out of character"

Still halfway through, maybe they can make the last 3 interesting. The reveal didn't excite me like Immortal usually does.

EDIT:
It also feels like a missed opportunity/forced mandated multimedia tie-in to restore one character to their "usual" self but leave a mainstay like Rick in the situation he is. Like I said, maybe they can redeem it by the end of the mini and Rick gets the same treatment. If Bruce is Job, Rick's not too far off. No one is going to write Rick the way he is now.

They're placed into a position to work together only because they're wanted fugitives by all major authorities, including HPG who has some serious muscle power running Alpha Flight now, it's spelled out pretty clearly in IH, theres just not room for it in Immortal Hulk to wrap it.

Without knowing the situation of how Emil came to that position and came back to life, seems like its jumping the gun to day it's out of character for him. It is most definately Gamma fan service here with Skaar and Abomination, but these are comic books, its gonna happen if the mailbox was loaded with people asking where these characters are.

The series is primarily about healing from trauma, i assume either Sasquatch-Len or Del-Rick will likely be healed by the time the series wraps. With the plotline revolving around involuntary a involuntary Gamma mutate farm, it's already setting up the pieces to get to that point.

That being said, hey if you're not into it, I'm not here to change your mind and I doubt anything i said will, but the nice thing is it being a spinoff means you can just not read it and not miss anything pertaining to Immortal Hulk's wrapping story.

[ChrisIII]

Emil seems to be that kind of character that kind of changes character depending on the writer, almost like he has his own revolving personalities. One writer has him as sort of a wimp, another a remorseless monster, and I think Peter David for the most part made him The Beast out of Beauty & The Beast living with outcasts in the sewers.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

If anything you could just skip Gamma Flight and read it in a trade.

[SanityOrMadness]

Well, he was never a great foil before now. Hopefully, this is Ewing making him a better one

Honestly, Ewing's name on this feels like Bendis' credit on Secret Warriors - mostly for the name value, it's 90%+ Crystal Frasier's book, just as SW was Hickman's.

[Vordan]

Marvel getting back into the animation game beyond just What-If has me hopeful we’ll get a Hulk project, and maybe even one not tied to the MCU! Give me a Planet Hulk series, an adaption of PAD’s Hulk run, and of course Immortal Hulk, and I’ll be happy.

[Dinosaur Hulk]

Marvel getting back into the animation game beyond just What-If has me hopeful we’ll get a Hulk project, and maybe even one not tied to the MCU! Give me a Planet Hulk series, an adaption of PAD’s Hulk run, and of course Immortal Hulk, and I’ll be happy.

Well we already have one Planet Hulk, do they really want to make another one?... I would be down for this, but I don't think it's their priority when it comes to animation. The same goes for IH. Which is sad, because we could get something on par with Invincible tv-show. Just think about it- gore, action and a lot of memes. Could be awesome.

[Jness]

I definitely did appreciate the misdirection in the solicit - I remember thinking “Is Skaar really *that* much of a requested favorite?!” But I definitely did not see *this* coming.

[Vordan]

Aw yeah spoilers:

Abomination is back!

end of spoilers God it’s been too long. Gamma Flight #2 was pretty good!

Well we already have one Planet Hulk, do they really want to make another one?... I would be down for this, but I don't think it's their priority when it comes to animation. The same goes for IH. Which is sad, because we could get something on par with Invincible tv-show. Just think about it- gore, action and a lot of memes. Could be awesome.

That thing was a DTV made on a shoestring budget, I’m talking a series of episodes with actual money behind it. But there are always other options, they could do World War Hulk after if they needed something to justify a redo. DC did Death of Superman again so they could do Reign of the Supermen.

[Dinosaur Hulk]

That thing was a DTV made on a shoestring budget, I’m talking a series of episodes with actual money behind it. But there are always other options, they could do World War Hulk after if they needed something to justify a redo. DC did Death of Superman again so they could do Reign of the Supermen.

We could only dream about series of movies like:
1) Hulk's rampage on Vegas (vs The Thing?) / him being tricked by Illuminati
2) Planet Hulk (I would actually make it a two-parter)
3) World War Hulk
4) Maybe Red Hulk movie? I know it's a bit controversial but I kinda enjoyed first issues of Loeb's run. Call it a guilty pleasure

[Vordan]

We could only dream about series of movies like:
1) Hulk's rampage on Vegas (vs The Thing?) / him being tricked by Illuminati
2) Planet Hulk (I would actually make it a two-parter)
3) World War Hulk
4) Maybe Red Hulk movie? I know it's a bit controversial but I kinda enjoyed first issues of Loeb's run. Call it a guilty pleasure

Art was amazing, I’ll give Loeb & McGuiness that, and it doesn’t have to be a panel for panel adaption. Take the basic plot and maybe something good could be made from it. I’ll be honest though, I’ve never really gotten why people love Red Hulk so much