The Immortal Hulk #21 - Marvel Comics

IMMORTAL HULK No. 21, September 2019

Whilst many onlookers may well be able to persuasively argue that this particular issue of “The Immortal Hulk” probably saw its readership drop by a staggering thirty thousand readers in July 2019 due to the title’s fortnightly release schedule, it is also easy to see why many of this twenty-page periodical’s potential customers were probably put off by Guest Artist Ryan Bodenheim’s stagnant storyboards. True, the professional illustrator’s clean-lined pencilling does an admirable job of depicting General Fortean’s covert mission on board the Alpha Flight Space Station. But the American’s panels are so devoid of life and two dimensional, that even when the United States Air Force officer brutally slays Doc Samson and Walter Langkowski, their cold-blooded killings still lack much in the way of any emotion or dynamism.

Sadly, so uninspiring an appearance genuinely robs “A Secret Order” of some rather well-penned moments, such as the Absorbing Man shockingly being reduced to a blob of Fentanyl mid-way through a conversation with Titania, and resultantly one can only imagine the disappointment Al Ewing felt when he first saw what drawings Paul Mounts had to work with whilst colouring this comic book. Indeed, it is debatably hard to imagine a more coldly sterile portrayal of a space-based murder spree, especially when this publication’s conclusion ends with one of the youngest Major General’s “to ever hold the rank” being horrifically absorbed into the Abomination’s corpse after he foolishly decides to touch its blubbery flesh.

To make matters worse though, the British writer’s insistence on peppering his narrative with flashbacks to Fortean’s younger days, doesn’t debatably help this comic’s publication’s pedantic pace either, with an eleven year-old Reginald experiencing a supposedly super-inspiring church sermon to respect “our brave fighting forces” being the most tedious of the lot. In addition, a few of these jarring intrusions upon the senior soldier’s orbital rampage make it difficult to determine just why an old war horse like Thunderbolt Ross counted so heavily upon the man, when he clearly froze upon fighting the Hulk for the first time; “I am unable to process what I am seeing. I -- I Just -- How can we keep -- fighting this -- this thing --”

Thaddeus is predominantly projected in the comics as someone with a compulsive obsession over defeating Bruce Banner’s alter ego, to the point where he is willingly transformed “into the Red Hulk in order to better combat his nemesis.” Yet, in these frustrating interludes with his protégé, he’s depicted as someone who rather than admonishing the Major for his failure on the front line, tells Fortean “never [to] apologise for being human” and even astonishingly admits to “Reggie” that he too has felt “the impossibility of this… situation” and suffers “my moments of… of doubt.”

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

Writer: Al Ewing, Guest Artist: Ryan Bodenheim, and Color Artist: Paul Mounts