Writer: Al Ewing

Art: Joe Bennett, Tom Reilly, Matias Bergas, Chris O’Halloran, VC’s Cory Petit, and Alex Ross

Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 8th, 2020

Giant monsters have been unleashed in this week’s all-new IMMORTAL HULK #29 by Al Ewing and magically the Roxxon Corporation is unavailable for comment. People need help. However, who will the people of Phoenix Arizona turn to for help while all the other heroes are indisposed? You guessed it; the Immortal Hulk! Let’s smash into this week’s issue and see what’s in store for Mr. Green Jeans as Roxxon unleashes some Japanese movie fury!

Al Ewing continues his Hulk vs. Roxxon story with a rather straightforward, cut and dry, narrative that actually appeared rather calm and subdued for an IMMORTAL HULK issue. Ewing was most certainly building up the issue to an epic monster mash however, readers will realize that the story never quite makes it to the “punch” line. Ewing’s focus this issue was purely set up to get readers to the next issue when $&@$ will truly hit the fan. As for the underlying purpose of the issue, it appears Ewing’s goal was to better explain the daytime Hulk, his limitations, and the budding relationship being formed with Jackie and the Immortal Hulk.

Fans of IMMORTAL HULK will be pleased to hear that Joe Bennett is not only back as the lead artist BUT he was also thrown right into his wheelhouse. Bennett shines when given the opportunity to draw monsters. And, in all honesty, the more gruesome and grotesque the monster; the better the illustration. The sheer saving grace of this issue not being a total waste of time this week was Bennett’s horrifically detailed splash pages of big $&@$ Kaiju monsters dwarfing the Immortal Hulk and setting up the next issues throwdown. Otherwise, the story, setup, and plot were rather tame and truly lacking in the normal Ewing reveal or revelation that ends an issue.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This week’s IMMORTAL HULK isn’t chalked full of as much gripping storytelling as prior issues have been BUT Ewing does create a quick read that’s easy to follow and ultimately sets up for the monstrous showdown we were all expecting for issue 30. While Ewing uses this week’s narrative to dive deeper into “daytime” Hulk, as well as his relationship with Betty and Jackie, readers really don’t get any definitive answers on those topics which Ewing will have to further explore later anyway. That said, Bennett’s art continues to be top-shelf leaving readers excited for what’s to come. Pick this issue up if you’ve been on board since the beginning. However, this isn’t a great time to jump in and faithful readers need to hang in there while Ewing uses this issue to build up to something fierce in issue 30.