The Immortal Hulk #40 - Marvel Comics

IMMORTAL HULK No. 40, January 2021

It is arguably quite apparent with Al Ewing’s narrative for this twenty-page periodical that “the new Sasquatch was an idea that came to me quite suddenly” rather than being part of some long-term plan by the former “2000 A.D.” writer. For whilst Leonard Samson’s ‘off-screen’ transformation into Doc Sasquatch undoubtedly provided this comic’s Hulk-Heads with a startling revelation when the green furry beast suddenly makes an appearance in front of his astonished Gamma Flight team-mates, the character’s presence within “So Here’s The Thing” debatably makes an already somewhat uneven piece of penmanship even more choppy.

Indeed, considering that much of this comic’s story seems to simply involve setting up the pieces for another confrontation between Bruce Banner’s alter-ego and the Fantastic Four’s muscle, Benjamin Grimm, the abrupt arrival of Walter Langkowski’s replacement may well have struck some readers as simply being ‘shoe-horned’ into Issue Forty of “Immortal Hulk” simply to ensure Joe Bennett had enough material with which to pad out the publication with his pencilling; “The best thing we can do is plot his trajectory -- See where he’s going -- And have someone waiting when he splashes down.”

Naturally, that isn’t to say that Ewing’s script lacks for action, as the Hulk’s violent escape from the holding facility aboard the Alpha Flight Interstellar Defence and Diplomacy Initiative’s orbital space station attests. But even this somewhat disconcertingly dynamic sequence of events appears rather contrived seeing that Joe Fixit inexplicably emerges from the bloated belly of his securely incarcerated host body, and then easily ‘duffs up’ both a heavily-armed guard, as well as Acting Commander Peter Gyrich, with little more than a twist of his Terry-Thomas moustache.

Sadly, this comic’s seemingly ad hoc pacing isn’t the book’s only problem either, with Bennett’s layouts appearing rather rushed in several places, most notably those scenes involving Gamma Flight and Fixit’s extraordinary decision to blow out one of his prison’s glass windows in an effort to be ‘sucked’ back down to the Earth’s surface. Doc Sasquatch is also persistently poorly visualised, something which Ewing touched himself during an October 2020 interview with “Comic Book Resources” in which he admitted the Brazilian artist “didn’t have as much time to prepare as he has in the past.”

The regular cover art of "IMMORTAL HULK" No. 40 by Alex Ross