Comic Review: Immortal Hulk (2018-) #25

Immortal Hulk #25

Marvel Comics

Writer: Al Ewing

Artists:  German Garcia, Joe Bennett

Well damn, this is gonna be hard to tackle.

The tl;dr version would be this: if you are a fan of Hulk, you enjoy comics, and you like cosmic horror – you should read this. If you love a good read and admire out-of-this-world, psychedelic visuals – you should read this. Honestly, if you can read and this doesn’t just look like a bunch of weird shapes and symbols – you should read this!

Okay, let’s do this.

Immortal Hulk #24 left Hulk and his jolly gang of gamma-irradiated friends in control of Shadow Base. The king is dead, long live the king and all that. Then we got another time skip, akin to the one in #20, to the end of the universe. There, Bruce Banner (allegedly) is greeted by Metatron… Who Bruce promptly devours, thus remaining the last living being at the end of the Eight Cosmos, ready to merge with its essence and move on into the Ninth Cosmos. In #25 we get to see how the Ninth Cosmos fares with the Hulk (sort of) as its version of Galactus.

Spoiler alert: It doesn’t fare well. Ooh boy, it doesn’t fare well AT ALL.

We are treated to a glimpse into a mind-boggling vision of a distant future. Par%1 – a highly intelligent inhabitant of the Ninth Cosmos – is the de-facto protagonist of this issue. Hir is in search of colour in a cold, dark universe. Unfortunately for hir, there is none – the Breaker-Apart has done his job well, extinguishing almost all light and life in the Cosmos. There is nothing else left for PAr%1 to do but reach hir former lover, Farys, and seek a way to try and undo all of this. There is nothing left to save, after all. The only option is to warn the far past, let them know that they have to stop the Hulk from obtaining the Cosmic Purple Pants, for they hold the power for immense cosmic destruction.

It’s a surreal experience, full of cosmic dread. Ewing has crafted a future that is equal parts beautiful and horrifying. The bleakness and coldness of this proposed future take centre stage in this oversized issue. However, the book doesn’t feel bloated or slow. It’s an immensely detail-dense book, yet it feels like a breeze, while also piquing the reader’s interest in this dreamlike setting.

German Garcia is the guest artist of the book, handling all this future stuff. It’s easily one of the best-looking books of the year. He brings this psychedelic place and it’s weird denizens to life, complete with some gruesome-yet-beautiful imagery. 2001: A Space Odyssey often comes to mind while reading this issue, with loads of panels and scenes of Par%1’s Farsail drifting through the endless space echoing the movie’s aesthetics. The issue is full of wonderfully crafted and breathtaking full-page and two-page splashes. From the tranquil beauty of the Farsail, to the grotesqueness that is the Hulk’s body – every page is top-notch. Chris O’Halloran’s colouring wonderfully compliments Garcia’s artwork.

Joe Bennett is also featured in this issue, albeit in a far smaller capacity. However, he still managed to pack a huge punch in the two pages he did for this issue. It’s a creepy return of a big Hulk villain – a villain you wouldn’t want to see hold the future of two entires universes in his hands.

Immortal Hulk #25 feels like closure to a chapter and the start of a new one. The move to a cosmic horror-oriented story feels so good, so organic, like the most natural progression of events. A series that hasn’t failed in exciting me from its start has me excited more than ever. If you’re still not reading this – do yourself a favour and start.

Huh, that wasn’t so hard after all.

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