9.16.20 #CVReview Throwback :
While DC milked Batman Day to the fullest , Immortal Hulk's zero issue touched me to tears on the eve of the original new comic book day.
These re-prints are where Ang Lee got the idea for his '03 film from. This is where Ewing got a majority of his juice for his latest killer run that has cemented the Hulk as a do-no-wrong title in recent comic book history.
Mike Mignola takes his Hellboy chops to pen the creepiest childhood visages that surround young Bruce Banner's abused past. And Peter David uses a chibli Stan Lee to help narrarate the murder of Bruce's father and the continuation of the generational curse of the Banner family of being deemed as madmen and monsters.
I could relate to this on a personal level coming from an abused broken home. Having a father that I recently gave a chance to this year be back in my life who ended up putting both physical and emotional bruises on me as an adult in a similar way as he did when I was a youth.
I will not be opening that door again.
Mental illness does carry on from generation to generation but how it's dealt with is an entirely different story.
I can empathize with Brian Banner not wanting a child so he wouldn't become his father, but then I can empathize with Bruce's repression as well and the urge to commit patricide while at the same time craving acceptance from your old man.
And the added inserts to tie-in to the Immortal Hulk story were well utilized and kept me on the edge of my seat in the middle , thinking it was over.
If this issue came out with a variant release , I would buy it and throw it on a wall even in this digital era due to the significance and resonance this story has in my personal life.
As a victim of domestic abuse , and as someone who strives not to repeat the same cycles in any of my future relationships from what I have been taught in my environment. As a person who stares in the mirror and can see a monster in the human present, not in the green silhouette of repressed rage , both the motif and the man waiting for some kind of release - I am glad for these re-prints being presented in the format they were and included in this epic series.
Immortal Hulk is what I need today. Because I am not a kid anymore. I dont need saving from a superhero, I just need to kick it with someone who understands. And I am glad that these storied tales (that live up to the hype after all these years of hearing about them) shed some light on the strongest Avenger , not just in body but in discipline as well.
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