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Thursday, November 12, 2020 

Screen Rant says Civil War 2 was Marvel's worst event...as an excuse to call Immortal Hulk the best thing to emerge from it

In this sugary column at Screen Rant, they actually admit Civil War's sequel crossover was bad, but that's just so they can declare Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk run the best thing to come out of it:
Marvel Comics' Civil War was a 2006 crossover event that pitted Captain America and Iron Man against one another in a superhero battle of the importance of liberty versus security. The comic was controversial at the time, but it was popular enough to help inspire the third Captain America movie and helped solidify Iron Man's characterization for the modern era of comic books. The comic's 2016 sequel Civil War II on the other hand was a major step backward. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by David Marquez, Civil War II failed to live up to its predecessor and was swiftly rejected by fans due to, among other things, it's badly thought out premise and the poor characterization of Carol Danvers. But while Civil War II on its own was certainly a bad comic, it was also indirectly responsible for creating one of the best books Marvel has published in decades. Because without Civil War II, there would be no The Immortal Hulk.
So the sequel was bad, much like Secret Wars 2 from 1986 was a lousy followup to the 1984-85 crossover, but the first Civil War wasn't bad? Oh, but of course they couldn't possibly think an event built on leftist politics shrouded in moral equivalence to cover their tracks was even remotely bad, could they? Though that sure is amazing they admitted Bendis was capable of turning out something horrible, and double the amazement they'd admit the past decade's renditions of Carol Danvers were poor. Trouble is, it's probably got little to do with how, over the past decade, Carol underwent horrific transformation from a beauty into a monstrosity that looked more masculine than feminine. Worst is that a woman (Kelly Sue deConnick) oversaw this horrific disrespect for womanhood.
During the midway point in Civil War II the newly introduced Inhuman character named Ulysses has a vision of the future where the Hulk going on a rampage and kills several Avengers. In order to stop this from happening Hawkeye takes proactive measures and actually kills Bruce Banner before anything can happen. This scene would branch out and lead to the publication of the still ongoing comic called The Immortal Hulk, written by Al Ewing and illustrated by Joe Bennett. What makes The Immortal Hulk so good is that it isn't your typical superhero story- it's a straight-up horror comic that takes place in a superhero universe. Immortal Hulk #1 begins with the Hulk's resurrection after his death in Civil War II, except this time, the Hulk is portrayed as a downright terrifying creature of the night who seeks vengeance on anybody that he views as "bad".

Bruce Banner and the Hulk have always had a Jekyll and Hyde influence, but The Immortal Hulk is the first Hulk comic to truly embrace the character's horror fiction roots. It's quickly established that the Hulk isn't just an angry monster anymore, he is an intelligent and ruthless force of nature whose godlike healing factor lets him transform into Lovecraftian monstrosities made of flesh and bone. While the first few issues of The Immortal Hulk are effective as stand-alone stories of the Hulk and his nighttime adventures, the comic doesn't hit it's stride until Ewing starts to connect the stories together and transform The Immortal Hulk into a multi-faceted narrative about the Hulk and his role in the Marvel Universe.
And this is all lectured to the audience without an iota of objectivity, compounded by the distortion that the Hulk was a product of the horror genre, which is a blatant lie. He was part of the sci-fi thriller/adventure genre, plain and simple, and while there were some pretty scary-looking monsters who turned up, such as the Bi-Beast, what came out in decades past was anything but horror-themed, and not built on the graphic content seen today. Oh, I notice they didn't seem interested in mentioning the other horror themes that turn up in Ewing's stories - namely, the rabid leftist politics and social justice pandering. As if the horror themes emphasizing gross violence weren't enough.

So SR's made 3 big mistakes: inaccurate citation of what roots the Hulk has in fiction, fawning over the forced shift made towards horror themes in modern times, and obscuring the political pandering and posturing that's turned up along the way, much like the MSM is covering up the election fraud this year in the USA. More explanations for why SR is so irrelevant in today's pop culture scene.

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Have to admit, although I know what science fiction is, I have never heard of the sci-fi thriller/adventure genre. It sound like three genres, not one. There is nothing about the Hulk that really fits into the thriller genre, definitely not under Lee/Kirby/Ditko.

The Hulk is a cross between Shelley's Frankenstein's monster and Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, with maybe a bit of werewolf thrown in at the beginning. Marvel was putting out a lot of monster books at the time, they were just getting their toes wet with superheros again, so they made the Hulk into a monster book with heroic elements. Closer to horror than to a sci-fi thriller/adventure genre.

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