The Hulk is depicted as the force of nature he truly is in a recent piece from Argentinian comic artist Sebastián Píriz. Having worked on Disaster Inc., Heavy Metal, and Headspace, Píriz is no stranger to comics, but also creates stunning fan art of Marvel, DC, Star Wars and other beloved properties.
The latest piece depicts the Hulk in a cloud of dust, squatting over debris in a washed-out style that blends him with the destruction he's just caused. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962's The Incredible Hulk #1, scientist Bruce Banner was irradiated by a gamma bomb of his own design and originally adopted a monstrous form with the setting sun, though later comics have done much to alter both his transformation and backstory. Hulk has been everything from a pure-hearted hero to a Las Vegas bouncer to the apocalyptic Breaker of Worlds, finding renewed popularity thanks to Mark Ruffalo's depiction in the MCU.
One of the things that sets the Hulk apart as a hero is the sheer chaos and destruction he causes, whether deliberately or by accident. Many stories have explored the idea that to regular people, the Hulk isn't seen as a hero or even as a person, but as a natural disaster touring the country, only to flare up and cause devastation worthy of a hurricane or earthquake at unpredictable intervals. This is an idea brought to life by the Hulk artwork Sebastián Píriz shared on social media, which can be seen below:
With Hulk's face shadowed and off to one side, only indicated by the menacing glow of his eyes, the former Avenger appears truly insidious. But it's the choking, radioactive greens and browns that make little distinction between the Hulk and the damage around him that communicate the sense of witnessing not a hero saving the world, but an unknowable threat who just landed like a bomb, eradicating whatever might have filled the frame moments earlier.
Some stories have attempted to depict Hulk's damage in a favorable light, suggesting that Bruce Banner's genius prevents the Jade Giant from ever taking a life during his rampages, and that Damage Control (a construction company in the Marvel Universe staffed by superhumans) possesses the resources to effectively restore anything he destroys. But other narratives have taken the Hulk's destructive potential more seriously. Ultimates - from Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch - takes place in an alternate reality where the Hulk is a cannibalistic beast who tears New York to pieces and literally attempts to eat the heroes who try to stop him. More recently, Al Ewing and Joe Bennett's Immortal Hulk paired the Hulk with Jackie McGee, a journalist whose home and family were destroyed in the course of one of Hulk's battles, which the comic also shows are accompanied by emergency government warnings in the style of a severe weather event.
Píriz's depiction leans towards this second reading, and the lack of context - the absence of a story to justify the destruction - makes it easy to see how monstrous the Hulk would appear to anyone who doesn't have decades of comics telling them that he's the good guy. Sebastián Píriz's depiction of Hulk is an epic look at a character far more acquainted with darkness than most other comic book heroes.
Source: Sebastián Píriz