The Hulk snuffed out all life in an entire universe this week

In this week’s The Immortal Hulk #25, Al Ewing and artist Germán García played out a simple but inevitable equation from the comic’s core premise.

If the Hulk cannot die, then the Hulk will be alive at the end of the universe. And if Galactus was the last being alive in the universe that preceded our own Big Bang, then the Hulk could become the Galactus of the universe after ours. And so, The Immortal Hulk #25 was a beautifully rendered short science-fiction story about the struggle to protect the last bits of life at end of the next universe.

What else is happening in the pages of our favorite comics? I’ll tell you. Welcome to Polygon’s weekly list of the books that our comics editor, me, enjoyed this past week. It’s part society pages of superhero lives, part reading recommendations, part “look at this cool art.” Let’s get started!

The Immortal Hulk #25

Al Ewing, Germán García/Marvel Comics

I won’t say too much about the story of Immortal Hulk #25, except that Ewing mostly gets out of the way and lets García do his thing, and the results speak for themselves. It’s a lovely one-and-done story that I’ve already given you all the context you’d need to read it, so do check it out.

Martian Manhunter #9

Steve Orlando, Riley Rossmo/DC Comics

The same could be said for Orlando and Rossmo, with this page of J’onn J’onzz performing a “thoughtopsy” on a dead body to find out how it was killed.

Aquaman Annual #2

Kelly Sue DeConnick, VIctor Ibáñez/DC Comics

But enough about art, I thought you’d like to meet Sea Daddy.

Wonder Woman #81

G. Willow Wilson, Tom Derenick/DC Comics

The DC Universe has a new deity of love, as the intersex god Atlantiades assumes the power of their late mother Aphrodite.

Action Comics #1016

Brian Michael Bendis, Szymon Kudranski/DC Comics

Someday, Brian Michael Bendis is going to write an in-canon Batman book, and on that day I will ascend.

Marauders #1

Gerry Dugga, Matteo Lolli/Marvel Comics

We all knew that the hook of Marauders was “the X-Men are pirates” but the secondary hook of the story is that Kitty Pryde can’t use the gates to Krakoa and nobody can figure out why.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Full Circle

Gerry Duggan, Greg Smallwood/Marvel Comics

The Amazing Spider-Man: Full Circle is a book where a dozen writers and artists tell a Spider-Man story exquisite corpse-style, and it’s very fun.

Fearless #4

Seanan McGuire, Claire Roe/Marvel Comics

Fearless concluded this week with a nice cap on the anthology series’ main ongoing yarn: about Captain Marvel, Storm, and Susan Richards being the keynote speakers at a STEM summer camp for girls. I’d like to particularly thank McGuire and Roe for the extremely gay fashion that Carol wears over her costume.