The Immortal Hulk #25
Nicolas Duncan
Recap
Throughout the years, there has been many interpretations of Banner and his alter ego; Hulk. During, the “No Surrender” event, Avengers #684 issue by writers; Jim Zub, Mark Waid and Al Ewing explored the Hulk’s background of multiple deaths and the roadmap to The Immortal Hulk! – Now, Ewing articulates the best fan favorite features by taking a fierce lead to an outstanding new dark, horrific, and psychodynamic arc that keeps the reader on the edge at all times!
Over the last twenty-four issues, we learned that Hulk/Banner can “presumably” be killed; however, the night is for the monster. Hulk has some sort of regenerative and absorbing abilities, but to what extent? Bruce Banner is taunted by the original trauma and his father’s strong grip. Although, Banner continues to have self-inflictions by his inner monster, Hulk executes the work that his other-selves are incapable to accomplish.
Recently, General Fortean lost his way from hunting a monster to becoming one himself. As “the other one”; Abomination, Fortean has not only lost the battle to Hulk, he has lost his soul. Now, Fortean is part of the family, or is he? Joe Fixit, Daddy Dearest, and Samson welcomes Fortean to the Green Room’s Hellscape, but this wild and weird party is over for the General. We have learned much about Hulk since the first issue of this series. He is a creature to be feared! The result; Hulk takes over Shadow Base and places himself on the “The Steel Throne”.
But, wait… there is a connection with the Hulk’s origins to those of the Fantastic Four and Galactus.
Review
The Immortal Hulk #25 took me completely off guard and I still don’t know how I feel about it. During the first read, I felt like I was trapped in some sort of cosmic birth canal. Parts felt awesome as my mind wrapping around thoughts of meiosis and mitosis of a freshly fertilized universe after a long sabbatical due to the Green. There were parts talking about death led me down the path of a possible cosmic spontaneous abortion. I know some of you reading this review are laughing, but it’s been ages since we have such metaphoric storytelling quite like this.
If you recall from The Immortal Hulk #20: “Metatron”, Bruce learns a powerful lesson on his life, death, and the “Green” phenomenon. “This is now the hour of death and rebirth”. – Timothy Leary. Who is the Metatron, “The one who guards”? Before The Immortal Hulk series, personally, I run the other direction from any and all biblical teachings. I have my reasons to the dismay. Like previous issues, Al Ewing masterfully and beautifully constructed thought-provoking Ancient Hebrew and Jewish mysticism in such a magical way; I just want to learn more! “Can you hear me?” “Can you see me?” “Do you know who I am?”
Many pray to Metatron, because this biblical creature is considered the angel of life and the guardian angel of the “Tree of Life. Some believe the Archangel Metatron was once a human, like us, but with a higher worthiness and responsible to witnesses and records all the happenings into the Book of Life. Among spiritual scriptures and ancient texts, the Archangel Metatron “Rules of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” Does this sound familiar? Since issue #10, we were introduced to words, which are Kabbalistic in nature and refer to good and evil, or angels and demons, or even heaven and hell to a degree. Ewing applies previous teachings and builds our knowledge in The Immortal Hulk #20.
Ewing continues his magic and sends us on a cosmic ride filled with poetic and philosophical tone in The Immortal Hulk #25. He takes us through a mind-blowing journey of mysterious creatures. This book is pure science fiction with astounding alien aesthetic biotechnology everywhere and seems to be a possible sequel to Ewing’s own Ultimates, the issue takes place in the never-before-seen Ninth Cosmos. Ewing outstanding storytelling succeeds in making the reader feel like they’ve stepped into a world they don’t quite understand and yet with familiar attributes. If you recall from the last issue, it was revealed that the Hulk will survive until the end of the current universe with unimaginable power. We all have heard that history repeats itself: years ago, Galan of Taa endured the death and rebirth of the universe to become Galactus “Devour of Worlds”. Now, the HULK SMASH entropy of the cosmos has become “Breaker of Worlds”.
The narrative is sharp on colors by Chris O’Halloran and Paul Mounts relating physical laws of the universe. The artwork by German Garcia, Joe Bennett, and Ruy Jose fills each page with elaborate details, forcing the reader to hang on every aspect of this crafted alien story.
Final Thoughts
MIND-BULGLING!!!
The Immortal Hulk #25: Breaker of Worlds
- Writing - 10/1010/10
- Storyline - 10/1010/10
- Art - 9/109/10
- Color - 9/109/10
- Cover Art - 9/109/10