The writer of Hulk's famous stilted dialogue but later changed his mind. The Immortal Hulk #50, by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett, was released on October 13, 2021, bringing an end to a glorious action-horror run of Hulk comics that leaned into the character’s movie-monster roots. Reflecting on the series, Ewing answered some fan letters at the end of the issue. One of these letters commented on the return of the Incredible protagonist’s famous stilted “Hulkspeak,” and Ewing responded in kind.
Throughout the majority of The Immortal Hulk, the Hulk in command of Bruce Banner’s gamma-mutated form is the titular “Immortal Hulk,” alternatively referred to as “Devil Hulk.” This personality that Banner developed in his childhood broadly represents his resentment towards the world and his internalized association between hatred and love that developed out of his abuse by his father. He’s a more sinister Hulk – cunning like the gray Hulk, Joe Fixit, and filled with rage like the green Savage Hulk, but kept in check by an unsettling level-headedness and a sharp mind driven by intuition rather than scientific knowhow.
Given that he’s so intelligent, it made sense for Al Ewing to cut the typical “Hulkspeak” from his dialogue. He used the opportunity to provide chilling, well-constructed dialogue and a closer look at the Hulk’s inner thoughts and philosophies. This was also motivated in part by Ewing’s personal dislike of traditional brutish Hulkspeak. However, as Ewing wrote in response to a fan letter by Jonathan Sapsed, “yes, I did change my mind on Hulkspeak – turns out I just hadn’t written enough to love it, and that changed very quickly as soon as I started. Mea culpa.”
While Devil Hulk’s ferocity mixed with intelligence made for a great take on the character, it is also hard not to miss the inarticulate jargon of the traditional Hulk (also referred to as Savage Hulk in the series). This made it immensely satisfying in the Hulk’s struggle against Xemnu, when the Savage Hulk is able to take back control of Banner and claim his place under the spotlight again. In this context, Ewing fully embraces Hulkspeak, as is required for this version of the character, and continued to pull it off excellently for the rest of the run, capturing not just the Hulk’s blunt anger, but also his strange childlike innocence.
It’s not that Ewing ever truly needed to it fault for having disliked traditional Hulkspeak, but it is interesting to see how writing it more has helped him grow as a writer. It seems that, by embracing different parts of the Hulk’s character, he was able to expand his range to enjoy writing a more classic, but nonetheless distinct, voice for the Hulk that he had previously dreaded, and that should be appreciated.
Al Ewing’s dialogue for The Immortal Hulk dialogue sounds good regardless of whether or not Hulk is saying using more than his classic choppy sentences and simplistic vocabulary. But this type of speech is a mainstay in Hulk books for the most part and it is nice to see the renowned author of The Immortal Hulk find a new love for it. Sometimes, it appears, more exposure to a type of voice can bring out whole new ways to add nuance and charm into the person attached to it, no matter how savage or incredible.
