Immortal Hulk #1

History

The series was part of Marvel's 2018 'Fresh Start' line-wide relaunch under new Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski, and grew directly out of the narrative groundwork laid in Avengers: No Surrender, where Bruce Banner was resurrected after being killed by Hawkeye in Civil War II #3. Editor Tom Brevoort developed the series concept alongside Ewing, who had long conceived of the Hulk's earliest adventures as a monster-horror anthology; the back matter in early Director's Cut editions included Brevoort's notes on that development process. Penciler Joe Bennett — a Brazilian artist who had cut his teeth on horror comics for Brazilian magazines Calafrio and Mestres do Terror in the 1990s before joining Marvel in 1994 — brought precisely the visceral, expressionistic horror sensibility that Ewing's scripts demanded, and the two formed one of the more creatively symbiotic writer-artist pairings of the era. Inker Ruy José and colorist Paul Mounts completed the core artistic unit, with Alex Ross providing the main cover and a rotating roster of artists supplying an unusually large array of launch variants.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Released June 6, 2018 (cover-dated August 2018); written by Al Ewing, penciled by Joe Bennett, inked by Ruy José, colored by Paul Mounts, with a main cover by Alex Ross. Editor: Tom Brevoort.
• First appearances in this issue: reporter Jackie McGee (an homage to the TV series character Jack McGee), Detective Gloria Mayes, and the Dogs of Hell motorcycle gang.
• The issue formally identifies the active Hulk persona as the Devil Hulk, one of seven distinct Banner/Hulk alter-personalities Ewing names within the series framework (the others include Child Hulk, Joe Fixit, Brian Banner, The Professor, the Green Scar, and Bruce Banner himself).
• The story establishes the core immortality premise: Bruce Banner can be killed, but at sundown the Hulk resurrects from the corpse — a mechanic built on Banner's death at Hawkeye's hands in Civil War II #3 and his resurrection in Avengers (Vol. 7) #684.
• The issue opens with an epigraph from Carl Gustav Jung's 'Psychology and Religion' and a second internal quote from the Book of Job, signaling the series' intent to operate as psychological and theological horror rather than standard superhero action.
• The Alex Ross main cover is a deliberate homage to Incredible Hulk #105 (1968). A separate Matthew Waite variant for the issue homages Incredible Hulk #181.
• Issue #1 went to at least five printings, with subsequent print covers using Bennett's interior artwork in wraparound format; it was also reprinted in a Director's Cut edition featuring Bennett's raw pencils and behind-the-scenes production material.
• The series ran for 50 issues (June 2018 – October 2021), was nominated for the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series in 2019, 2020, and 2022, and won Marvel the 2018 Diamond Gem Award for Best New Comic Book Series.

Key issues in Immortal Hulk

Other variants of Immortal Hulk #1 (13)