Kevin NowlanCritiques

I like the idea of making Hulk a horror comic under the Immortal brand, but Al Ewing's run ended up disappointing me. I was hoping the writers of this collection of short stories might top Ewing in the scares department, but, alas, my blood was quite safe from curdling.

Great Power / Tom Taylor, writer; Jorge Molina, penciler; Adriano Di Benedetto with Roberto Poggi, inkers ~ 2 stars ~

Peter Parker gets him some gamma and becomes a Spider-Hulk. He and Bruce Banner do some ho-hum bonding as they work toward a cure.

The Threshing Place / Jeff Lemire, writer; Mike del Mundo, artist ~ 2 stars ~

The perpetually wandering Bruce Banner manages to come across yet another plan to use gamma rays for bad and intercedes. Jeff Lemire changes up his usual father and son theme by doing a father and daughter story. Such range!

Flatline / Declan Shalvey, writer and artist ~ 2 stars ~

Bruce Banner's old mentor has one last lesson to impart. Being a comic book, the lesson of course involves a fight scene.

A Little Fire / David Vaughn, writer; Kevin Nowlan, artist ~ 2 stars ~

Marvel's Scarecrow is utterly indistinguishable from DC's Scarecrow as he runs an experiment in fear in a Kansas movie theater. Hulk handles him as easily as Batman does his version.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents:
• Great Power, Immortal Hulk: Great Power (2020) #1 / Tom Taylor, writer; Jorge Molina, penciler; Adriano Di Benedetto with Roberto Poggi, inkers
• The Threshing Place, Immortal Hulk: The Threshing Place (2020) #1 / Jeff Lemire, writer; Mike del Mundo, artist
• Flatline, Immortal Hulk: Flatline (2021) #1 / Declan Shalvey, writer and artist
• A Little Fire, Immortal Hulk: Time Of Monsters (2021) / David Vaughn, writer; Kevin Nowlan, artist
• Covers and variant covers / Max Fiumara, Jorge Molina, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Declan Shalvey, Kevin Nowlan, and Juan Ferreyra, illustrators

Soon after the Man-Thing's initial 1971 appearance, writer Steve Gerber assumed the role as the muck monster's primary chronicler, producing a spate of often goofy yet engaging stories centered around the emphatic swamp creature with no personality of its own. In the late 80s after years of litigation surrounding his seminal creation Howard the Duck, Gerber returned to Marvel and began working on a graphic novel-length sequel to his story from Man-Thing #12 (December 1974) "Song-Cry...of the Living Dead Man!" The talented Kevin Nowlan, working at a glacial pace, could only manage to produce only 1-2 gorgeous painted pages a month. Since he needed to eat, he accepted other, quicker assignments, further slowing his output. Years after Gerber's death, the finished story "The Screenplay of the Living Dead Man!" finally appeared in late 2012 as a three issue mini-series. The Infernal Man-Thing collects that tale along with "Song-Cry" and the very first Man-Thing appearance from Savage Tales #1 (May 1971), written by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas with art by Gray Morrow. As with many of Gerber's tales, both "Song-Cry" and "Screenplay" involve troubled individuals and social gravitas. The apparently mad writer Brian Lazarus, who produces his craft from within an abandoned insane asylum, creates demons that have a life of their own. In the sequel set many years later, Lazarus continues his struggles with his own terrors and his own humanity. Gerber seemingly taps into his own internal conflicts regarding money and creativity. Nowlan's magnificent illustrations elevate Gerber's often profound words into an excellent summation of the often troubled writer's career.