King in Black: The Immortal Hulk #1 Review
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Aaron Kuder
Color Artists: Frank Martin & Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
I enjoyed the Absolute Carnage tie-in for Immortal Hulk quite a bit. It was interesting to see how exactly Ewing’s take on Banner’s psyche would address a symbiote. Some may be disappointed that this isn’t more of the same, since the Hulk isn’t directly involved with King in Black so far, but this is still a nice supplemental nod to the bigger picture. The gist of it is the Hulk, left in his current state by the Leader in his own book, takes on a single symbiote. Sounds pretty simple, and it is. What’s surprising is how fluently Ewing moves between the horror that we’ve come to expect/love from Immortal Hulk and the wholesome resolution of a Christmas story. The effect of Banner’s upbringing on his personas is important to this one-shot, so while this isn’t important to Immortal Hulk, it’s still good to get more insight on what makes him tick. There are some nitpicks I could point out in the story (why is this one dude casually walking home with arms full of presents in the middle of a symbiote invasion?), but that’s just me taking things too seriously.
This issue has no dialogue. Because of that, in addition to the aforementioned tonal shifts between horror and wholesome, Aaron Kuder shines in this book. It takes incredible talent to nail those elements, as well as the sequential storytelling itself. When it comes to the coloring, I couldn’t tell when I was looking at that of Frank Martin or Erick Arciniega. I normally recognize the former by his somber palette as seen in the pages of Venom or King in Black. I think the fact that I couldn’t pick out his work is a testament to how well he and Arciniega joined together to create a coherent and consistent look and feel for the story.
Artist: Aaron Kuder
Color Artists: Frank Martin & Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
I enjoyed the Absolute Carnage tie-in for Immortal Hulk quite a bit. It was interesting to see how exactly Ewing’s take on Banner’s psyche would address a symbiote. Some may be disappointed that this isn’t more of the same, since the Hulk isn’t directly involved with King in Black so far, but this is still a nice supplemental nod to the bigger picture. The gist of it is the Hulk, left in his current state by the Leader in his own book, takes on a single symbiote. Sounds pretty simple, and it is. What’s surprising is how fluently Ewing moves between the horror that we’ve come to expect/love from Immortal Hulk and the wholesome resolution of a Christmas story. The effect of Banner’s upbringing on his personas is important to this one-shot, so while this isn’t important to Immortal Hulk, it’s still good to get more insight on what makes him tick. There are some nitpicks I could point out in the story (why is this one dude casually walking home with arms full of presents in the middle of a symbiote invasion?), but that’s just me taking things too seriously.
This issue has no dialogue. Because of that, in addition to the aforementioned tonal shifts between horror and wholesome, Aaron Kuder shines in this book. It takes incredible talent to nail those elements, as well as the sequential storytelling itself. When it comes to the coloring, I couldn’t tell when I was looking at that of Frank Martin or Erick Arciniega. I normally recognize the former by his somber palette as seen in the pages of Venom or King in Black. I think the fact that I couldn’t pick out his work is a testament to how well he and Arciniega joined together to create a coherent and consistent look and feel for the story.
A Look Inside
