Warning: spoilers for The Immortal Hulk #42!
As a series, The Immortal Hulk has reinvigorated Marvel’s Jade Giant, returning to the character’s roots and drawing on a huge range of horror tropes to unleash Hulk’s potential and turn his narrative into one of the most disturbing in modern comics. Reveling in the disgusting body horror of a character who can heal from anything, exploring the existential dread of a villain none of the heroes can quite keep in their minds, and dropping the bombshell that the Savage Hulk persona heroes have spent decades pummeling is actually just a child, Al Ewing and Joe Bennett’s series is electric horror that underscores how unique comics can be as a medium.
As the series nears it final, fiftieth issue, things aren’t letting up, and a new power revealed in the most recent issue seems to draw on the horror writing of H.P. Lovecraft, hinting that Hulk’s final showdown against the unfathomable One Below All is likely to fully immerse the strongest Avenger in cosmic horror, as he faces a terrifying foe equivalent to Lovecraft’s Great Old Ones like Cthulhu in terms of horror and scale.
In The Immortal Hulk #42, Jacqueline McGee – a reporter formerly embedded with the Hulk – is confronted by Shadow Base scientist Dr. Charlene McGowan. McGowan reveals that McGee, who has coveted the Hulk’s power since he destroyed her childhood home and walked away scot-free, is a gamma mutate, and likely has some previously unrevealed powers. As McGee panics, her eyes flash green, and a scene from her perspective shows McGowan overlaid with an ecosystem of terrifying beings, none of which can be seen by anyone but McGee.
It’s a hugely unsettling moment, but one immediately familiar to fans of horror comics, thanks to a version of the same ability seen in Providence by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows. Providence details the story of Robert Black, a journalist whose research into a mysterious book takes him on a tour of disturbing situations pulled from the work of H.P. Lovecraft, who is ultimately a character in the story. Hugely disturbing, issue 9 of the series introduces the visual of unseen creatures swimming through the air, seen only by characters whose special eyewear – or previous eldritch experience – allows them to witness the disturbing truth.
Providence takes its visual from Lovecraft’s short story “From Beyond,” and draws on the idea that there are many layers of overlapping reality – often influencing each other on an unseen level – which, like many of Lovecraft’s creations, reveal a deeper truth about the universe liable to chip away at the sanity of mortal minds. Immortal Hulk has already engaged with many of Lovecraft’s themes – the One Below All is a vast, unknowable monstrosity bent on hollowing out the Hulk and using him to devour reality – but the moment feels like the most deliberate hat tip yet to the famed Cthulhu-creator’s work.
Hopefully, McGee’s new abilities can help Hulk’s allies save his missing personae and reconstruct the Green Goliath in time to defeat the Leader and scupper the terrifying plans of the One Below All. But as the Lovecraft references show, this is one villain who may ultimately be too big for even the Hulk to smash.
