Review: Is This The End For ‘Immortal Hulk’ #44?

Just when you thought the Hulk couldn’t get any lower, the bottom has fallen out. Immortal Hulk #44 has arrived to give us perhaps the ultimate low at the hands of Henry Gyrich and the U-Foes.

The series continues to build to a climax, and this issue makes it clear it’s not going to be a triumph for team Hulk. There will be sacrifice, death, and carnage. It’s a low chapter for the Hulk from Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose, Belardino Brabo, Paul Mounts, and Cory Petit.

Gyrich has dispatched the U-Foes to replace Gamma Flight in the field. The monstrous quartet are determined to tear the Hulk limb from limb. Does the Green Goliath even have a chance? And what is happening to his friends and allies from Gamma Flight?

For most series, this would be a big climactic issue within an arc. It’s a huge throwdown, and comes with huge consequences for the rest of the series. However, under Ewing’s pen, this issue sets up big things for the series, and it’s clearly the middle of the arc. The emotional core of the “big guy” and Joe Fixit struggling to survive makes the U-Foes’ horrifying assault even worse. On its own, this is a solid action issue, but as a part of the larger arc, it’s an exciting setup for the action and terror to come.

With his actions last issue, Bennett has created a difficult position to judge his work. On one hand, his line art is put together well, and he and his inker partners up the ante visually through the issue. It really looks great. However, his actions last issue, adding antisemetic imagery into his work, loom large over this one. It’s hard to forgive this when looking at the art, whether his actions were negligent and ignorant as he claims or intentional. It’s a difficult position to look at the issue and be reminded of that so recently after the previous one.

It’s tough to look at a series like this, easily the best Hulk run in the character’s history and know that its legacy has a dark mark across it like this. However, it’s still one of the best comics on the market today, and one that will have an enduring legacy.

Immortal Hulk #44 is available now from Marvel Comics.