Immortal Hulk Omnibus

The Immortal Hulk Omnibus by Al Ewing
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Once upon a time, a British writer and his collaborators took a certain green character and made comics history. That was Alan Moore but Al Ewing does a comparable job in Immortal Hulk.

I've never been a Hulk guy despite some of my earliest nightmares starring the Lou Ferrigno version. As soon as someone mentioned that Immortal Hulk had some horror elements, I had to take the plunge. This was my second time through since I couldn't resist getting a huge honkin' omnibus.

This contains Immortal Hulk 1-50, Gamma Flight 1-5, and a bunch of one-shots that probably could have been skipped. Al Ewing and Joe Bennett, along with a host of inkers and colorists, were the creative team for the bulk of the material.

So how much do I reveal? When night falls, the Hulk walks the earth, even if Bruce Banner was dead when the sun rises. There is lots of body horror, metaphysical elements, and large scale violence. Over the course of fifty issues and some change, the Hulk goes up against General Fortean, his father Brian Banner, the Abomination, Roxxon Oil, Xemnu the Titan, The Leader, and various other threats.

I alluded to Swamp Thing in my initial statement and that's what this reminds me of, even on the reread. Ewing adds swathes of material to the Hulk mythology, like the Green Door, the source of Gamma radiation, the world below, and even a link between the Hulk and the Leader that is brand spankin' new as far as I know.

When your main character is an engine of destruction, you need a strong supporting cast and we get that in the form of Charlene, the scientist that is initially working for General Fortean against the Hulk, Doc Samson, Absorbing Man, Titania, and Gamma Flight, Puck and Sasquatch formerly of Alpha Flight.

Ewing explores all of Bruce Banner's personalities, from the classic Big Guy Hulk to Joe Fixit to Devil Hulk. As much as this could have devolved into Hulk punching stuff, it never felt like that. This is a smart book. In fact, Joe Fixit even says "walking up and punching it doesn't seem like it would work this time" at one point. I also liked that some time was devoted to the Hulk-Thing relationship as well.

Is this a perfect book? No. I thought the ending fizzled a little the first time I read it and thought the same this time. I thought it dragged a little toward the end as well. However, I still think this is one of the best Marvel runs of the past 25 years, right up there with Waid and Samnee on Daredevil and Fraction and Aja on Hawkeye. Five out of five stars.

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