Hulk is the mightiest and most monstrous "hero" in the Marvel Universe, with his best stories emphasizing this point. There's perhaps no better example of this than Immortal Hulk, which both honored the jade giant's history while heavily reinventing him and his mythology. Lauded by fans and critics and putting the character back on the comic book map, Immortal Hulk has become perhaps the character's finest hour.
Sadly, the follow-up to the acclaimed run wasn't nearly as much of a smash hit. For various reasons, namely failing to pick up on where Immortal Hulk left off, it was simply disappointing to fans. Thankfully, the newest numbering reboot of The Incredible Hulk will take the character back to his body horror roots. This should hopefully bring things more in line with Immortal Hulk, in doing so giving Banner's alter ego another run for the record books.
Hulk's Most Recent Comic Book Series Wasn't a Fan-Favorite
As mentioned, Immortal Hulk was the best-reviewed comic book that the Hulk has had in arguably decades, with some even considering the Al Ewing/Joe Bennett project to be superior to Peter David's Hulk comics. This created some big shoes to fill, and the succeeding run from Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley had its work cut out for it. Whereas Immortal Hulk explored Banner's psychosis like never before, the prematurely ended series Hulk felt a lot more shallow in its themes. Essentially more of a "Saturday morning cartoon" take on the character, the series was a tonal 180 from what had come directly before.
However, Marvel is set to take advantage of this with a run that goes back to what made Immortal Hulk great. Incoming writer Philip Kennedy Johnson has discussed the direction that his upcoming run on The Incredible Hulk will take, and it's quite similar to what Immortal Hulk did. Johnson has noted that the new antagonist will tie directly into the Green Door, and the characterization of the title character will be closer to both Ewing's series and the classic Jekyll/Hyde meets Frankenstein's monster incarnation of the hero. At the same time, he also discussed the series having elements similar to classic "adventure of the month" comics. This means that some of the cartoon tone from Hulk might not be completely abandoned.
The New Hulk Series Will Recapture Immortal Hulk's Best Elements
This is for the best on both fronts, as it will be respectful to both previous creative teams and implement concepts that defined their runs. Thus, fans of either run will have something to enjoy, and there will be more of a narrative "through line" connecting their more disparate elements. Sticking closely to Immortal Hulk is definitely a win, as it cut to the core of the character that's in many ways been absolutely lost for decades.
Even in the Silver Age, the more psychological horror aspects of the Hulk were already there, with the Ewing book emphasizing them more than ever to deliver a tour de force comic book. While there's a chance it might imitate things a bit too much, it's for the best that The Incredible Hulk emulates Immortal Hulk. This is because Immortal clearly had the winning formula for modern comics featuring the character.
The Incredible Hulk #1 hits shelves on June 21.