The Immortal Hulk #5 - Marvel Comics

IMMORTAL HULK No. 5, November 2018

“Guest-starring Alpha Flight’s Sasquatch”, as well as featuring a few touching paragraphs detailing the recently deceased Steve Ditko’s contribution as “one of the original architects of the Hulk” in its “Gamma-Grams” Letters Page, this twenty-page periodical undoubtedly delivered upon its pre-publication promise of depicting its titular character being involved “in a brutal, bloody battle with the monster who made him.” Yet whilst on the surface this graphic violence is seemingly supplied by the Green Goliath’s simply stunning heavyweight bout against Walter Langowski’s orange-furred alter ego, in reality Al Ewing’s script tries to tell a rather befuddling story concerning the return of Doctor Brian Banner “in through the Green Door.”

Indeed, for those readers unaware of Bruce’s long-dead father’s fate Issue Five of “The Immortal Hulk” may well have proved a bit too mystifying with its revelation that “dad” now somehow has “the ability to possess gamma mutates” and resultantly has been inhabiting the Canadian superhero for some considerable time ever since the ‘Jock’ “stayed as Sasquatch too long”. On its own this perturbing possession may well have produced an innovatively surprising plot-twist, yet instead it rather begs the question as to how the supervillain’s spirit subsequently “got into Hotshot’s girlfriend too” if the murderous former nuclear physicist was already residing within the subconsciousness of someone aboard Alpha Flight Space Station..?

To make matters arguably more confusing though, the British writer then muddies the water even more so by having the Hulk suggest that someone else is actually behind Brian’s mind control of Langowski’s physical form; a mysterious unknown entity who can both clearly bring back the dead as well as open the repeatedly mentioned “Green Door.” Fortunately however, any passing bibliophile merely perusing “In Every Mirror” whilst stood beside the spinner rack should easily forget its debatably bamboozling narrative in favour of the comic’s utterly awesome ‘thrill-a-second’ action sequences.

Joe Bennett is clearly at the very top of his game as he pencils a truly fearsomely savage Sasquatch not only going toe-to-toe with the Hulk, but momentarily actually overpowering his old adversary with claw rakes to the chest. In fact, it’s rare to see a punch from Bruce’s gamma-induced form ever held in check, let alone see the monster’s eyes be gouged out from their sockets in a truly terrifying piece of pencilling; “Take a good look, my special boy. You’ll see a darker shadow than yours.”

Writer: Al Ewing, Penciler: Joe Bennett, and Inker: Ruy Jose