The Immortal Hulk #18 - Marvel Comics

IMMORTAL HULK No. 18, July 2019

Despite cramming most of this comic’s action into its final third, and arguably relying upon a mass of character (re)introductions with which to populate the rest of this twenty-page periodical, it is still reasonably clear just why Al Ewing believed at the time of its publication that “Hulk fans have… been really supportive of this run, even though we’re putting their hero through some incredible contortions and convolutions.” For whilst the former “Future Shocks” writer’s script to Issue Eighteen of “The Immortal Hulk” seems to spend a significant amount of time depicting Mister Bancroft’s sedentary taxi journey back to the Friedrich Inn and Doctor Leonard Samson’s dialogue-heavy debate with Gamma Flight, these conversational pieces still provide plenty of fascinating insights into the turbulent world of Bruce Banner and his monstrous alter ego; “Look at the damage he’s done over the years -- billions of dollars. Trillions. And yet civilians never die in these rampages.”

In addition, the intermittent glimpses of General Fortean’s face-fingered Subject B slowly stalking its oblivious prey, and horribly murdering any hapless bystander who stands in the scaly-skinned abomination’s way, generates an increasingly tense atmosphere which may well have tempted the odd Hulk-Head to sneak an early peek at this comic’s cataclysmic conclusion. Luckily, for those within this books’ 75,983 strong audience who ‘stayed the course’ though, the ensuing confrontation between the Green Goliath and his visually-disturbing, sharp-clawed opponent is worth the wait, due in large to the revelation that a semi-conscious Rick Jones is somehow partially buried deep within the ghastly creature’s horribly-malformed maw…

Significantly ramping up this horror show an extra notch or three, has to be Joe Bennett’s pencilling, which seems to successfully heap muscle upon muscle over the Hulk’s broad shoulders whether he be appearing as little more than a reflection in the mirror, or as a ‘last minute saviour’ to protect Marge from the same grisly demise which has befallen her co-worker Anna. The Brazilian artist really seems to have a fine grasp for creating highly memorable new foes for this ongoing series too, with Ewing demonstrating just how much faith he had in his creative collaborator’s design skills by placing Emil Blonsky’s ‘heir presumptive’ into the plot simply because the illustrator “said he’d quite like to draw the Abomination.”

First published on the "Dawn of Comics" website.'

The regular cover art of "IMMORTAL HULK" No. 18 by Alex Ross