Comic Review: The Immortal Hulk (2018-) #17

The Immortal Hulk #17

Marvel Comics

Written By Al Ewing

Art by Joe Bennet

“Nobody tells me what to do. You keep needlin’ me, and if I want to, I’m gonna take this joint apart. And you’re not gonna know what hit you.” – John Paxton and Bill Meadow, The Wild One.

I genuinely feel every review of an issue of The Immortal Hulk should start with the black page cold-open quote that Al Ewing places on the first page of the entire series. It perfectly sets the tone, and actually echoes what’s in those 30 pages so succinctly, that it could be the entire review itself…..but no, no I won’t do that. I’ll give you guys a real review. It will be hard not to just write “It’s damn great” 300 times in a row because it is great x 300, but… I’ll think of something.

Last we left our immortal, tortured “hero”, he was tricked into investigating what he thought was the abandoned “Shadow Base Site B”, an underground lab belonging to a think-tank that is doing everything it can to understand/take down Banner and all of his other Hulk-brethren. But, they were ready for The Hulk, when they blasted him with simulated sunlight to shrink the monster back into man, which succeeded, but they didn’t count on one of Banner’s personality’s worming it’s way into Banners form: enter Joe Fixit (Remember when the Hulk was grey and a mob enforcer in Las Vegas? Well, he’s back…in Bruce form), and that’s where this issue begins. And oooh boy is it a doozy.

Pretty much this issue focuses on Joe Fixit vs The Bushwacker (A “so dumb that it works” villain concept that could only be dreamed up in the late ’80s. The CIA made him out of some kind of special plastic so he can turn his arms into any kind of fleshy looking weapon, because, of course.) Bushwacker gets cocky thinking he’s dealing with puny Banner, instead is greeted with a kick in the nards by the street smart Mr. Fixit. They tussle on, as Mr. Fixit figures out a way around the faux sunlight generators, turning them into Gamma rays, turning into an H.R. Giger monster Hulk, and taking out The Bushwacker in spectacular fashion. But of course, the shadowy Shadow Base has an ace of its sleeve, and it’s one big fat ace I’ll leave you guys to discover on your own.

Of course, like the 16 issues that preceded it, this comic is near perfect. I have no qualms about saying that The Immortal Hulk has been the best on-going title at either of the Big 2 since it’s been being published. Al Ewing and Joe Bennet have taken a character that has had a bit of a hard time it’s his own series for the last 10 or so years and created a mega-hit that will be talked about for years. It’s ranged from Hulk going from town to town in a pseudo Tales From The Crypt format, to Hulk traveling to hell, realizing he will be the destroyer of our world, to him trying to solve the mystery of why he, and other Gamma-hero types just cannot die…now we throw one of his many Hulk personalities jumping into his human form…and it’s been A. HELL. OF. A. RIDE.

Joe Fixit’s dialogue is hysterical ( “Radioactive ants in yer eyes, Big Shot!”), and terrifying all at the same time. Plus the big cliffhanger, which is going to have a huge impact going forward, just makes this another notch on Ewing and Bennet’s belt of awesomeness. It takes the skilled hand of a Joe Bennet to make Bushwackers arm putty weapons look Cronenbergian, and not idiotic like it should. All in all, another ace installment in an Ace (Yep, with a capital “A”) series. Keep up the wonderful work gents, and you will get all my money for the long haul.