Comic Browser:

#39
#40
#41
#42
#43
#44
#45
#46
#47
#48
#49
#50
Selector

Immortal Hulk #50

Dec 2021
on-sale: Oct 13, 2021
Al Ewing, Joe Bennett

Immortal Hulk #50 cover

Story Name:

Of Hell and of Death


Synopsis

Immortal Hulk #50 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 5 stars

1901, clergyman Robert Sterns comes to visit his scientist brother Samuel on a snowy evening, Samuel can’t stop talking about his experiments with the new gamma radiation but Robert has something else in mind. He accuses Samuel of an affair with Robert’s wife and then beats him to death with his cane, the man’s body falling across his worktable. Robert then goes home and throws his pregnant wife out into the cold; she denounces him as a monster….

Hulk, now spilt into green for basic Hulk and red for Joe Fixit with Jackie McGee along, has entered the Below-Place. It is a wasteland with the largest structure in the center, a giant fortress that resembles the Leader with massive spider-like legs and multiple stone faces….

Above, the Fantastic Four (Reed Richards, Invisible Woman, Thing, Human Torch) with Jennifer Walters are trying to understand where Hulk went; Reed doesn’t know and gives his chances of survival infinity-to-one odds. But someone else is on the way to help: Walter Langkowski, in the body of Doc Samson….

Joe Fixit bangs on the Leader’s door and nothing happens. Green Hulk keeps punching and punching until the door gives way and Hulk’s hand is broken. They are greeted by the shade of Brian Banner; he admits them to an M.C. Escher castle where the shades of all of Hulk’s acquaintances who have died are walking up and down stairs endlessly. Hulk is met by Jarella who walks off; Hulk tries to restrain her but her arm comes off in Hulk’s hand and she does not notice. Hulk is approached by the shade of Samuel Sterns (we recognize him as the elder Sterns from the prologue); Hulk squishes him and leaves him behind. Joe Fixit finally makes his way in through the door with Jackie and he meets his father figure Mike Berengetti. Joe and Jackie make it to the top where a massive spider-like Leader has Hulk anchored like a marionette, the strings extruding from a monstrous tongue. Leader makes the puppet Hulk fight red Joe Fixit; Jackie looks on helplessly and then she sees the shade of her late father who tells her he’s proud of her. This gives her the power to focus her eye beams and hurt Leader, freeing Hulk. The two Hulks pull on the tongue tentacles and they pull out a pod containing the unpowered Samuel Sterns, pleading for help. The Hulks face the sky and demand to know why—why all this has happened to them. The One Above All, a glowing god-like figure, replies that Hulk is his child, created as a counterweight. The left hand is strength, the right hand mercy. Hulk forgives Sterns and walks out with him; meanwhile, Joe Fixit has freed the Bruce Banner body that had become a tree and takes that out. On the way to the Green Door, Jackie and Joe have a talk which ends with him promising to come to her aid whenever she calls, to atone for the damage he’s done to her life. The three are met by Thing and Langkowski who escort them back Above….

Bruce Banner is cleaned up and given a new suit to wear and he leaves for his new life, asking about himself and the Hulks, “Are we good people? What do you think…?”


 

Review / Commentaries


Immortal Hulk #50 Review by (October 13, 2021)

Review: And it all ends here, with a nod to the Biblical Book of Job. Hulk asks why and the One Above All questions him, as Job questioned God; in Job the point was to indicate that Job didn’t have the mental equipment to understand the natural world he could see, much less the workings of God. But that was to lead Job to greater trust in God; I’m not sure what Al Ewing’s point was, even with the epigram quoting Jesus Christ from Revelation 1:8. Perhaps to underline Bruce Banner’s discovery that he had a part to play in God overall plan and that he was really one of the good guys, which Bruce had questioned periodically over the decades of his comics run. If you’ve been following my reviews of this title (it’s always possible someone has), you know that I admit to not always following Al Ewing’s point in the midst of all of Joe Bennett’s gruesome body horror, especially when he brought in the Kabbalah, which I know nothing about. But I can recognize greatness when I see it, even if I don’t always comprehend it, much like Job and the Lord. Maybe that was the point all along? And the issue ends with the same question issue #1 closed with (“Is Hulk a man or a monster, or is he both?”) now transformed into “Are we good people?” And it’s still up to us to decide.

Comments: Final issue of the series. Walt Langkowski has been in Doc Samson’s body since issue #45. I think. The inkers are Ruy Jose and Belardino Brabo. Issue includes a lengthy letters column plus thanks from all the creators, Ewing, Bennett, Jose, Brabo, Mounts, and Petit (is this the first comic in which even the letterer and colorist have had a chance to say goodbye?)  There’s a brief cover gallery from Alex Ross and added previews indicate Gamma Flight goes back to their self-titled comic at issue #5, Red Harpy joins the Defenders in issue #3 of their current title, and the new HULK series by Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley starts next month.




> Immortal Hulk comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
Diamond Select Toys Marvel Gallery Mr. Joe Fixit Deluxe Diorama
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)
sign in to view this special content

Main/1st Story Full Credits

Joe Bennett
?
Paul Mounts
Alex Ross (Cover Penciler)
Alex Ross (Cover Inker)
Alex Ross (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Cory Petit.



Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Bruce Banner
Bruce Banner

(Robert Bruce Banner)
Gray Hulk
Gray Hulk

(Hulk)
Hulk
Hulk

(Robert Bruce Banner)
Human Torch
Human Torch

(Jonathan Storm)
Invisible Woman
Invisible Woman

(Sue Storm)
Jackie McGee
Jackie McGee

(Jacqueline McGee)
Mr. Fantastic
Mr. Fantastic

(Reed Richards)
Sasquatch
Sasquatch

(Walter Langkowski)
She-Hulk
She-Hulk

(Jennifer Walters)
Thing
Thing

(Ben Grimm)


Thor

The Marvel Heroes Library is a fan Marvel Comics site
Version 14.8.32 (Dec 7, 2024. VS22)

Copyright © 1997-2024 Julio Molina-Muscara (creator, webmaster)
Site content is a collective effort by the MHL team and Marvel aficionados

Characters are copyright © Marvel or their respective owners. All portions of this Marvel fansite that are subject to copyright are licensed under a creative commons attribution 3.0 unported license All rights reserved