Marvel's critically adored Immortal Hulk comic might be coming to an end, but it was just revealed that the story isn't over, and the Gamma Flight team from the comics will be starring in their own series from June this year. With returning writer Al Ewing working alongside Crystal Frasier - who has previously worked as a consultant on Immortal Hulk - and artist Lan Medina, Gamma Flight will follow the team who have spent most of Hulk's series tracking the Green Goliath, and who have passed through the horror of his recent adventures to become very different people.
While Immortal Hulk will end with issue 50, readers have shown they have a huge appetite for the dark, body-horror-filled, existentially terrifying version of the strongest Avenger. In response, Marvel have published a series of one-shot stories from acclaimed creators, and Gamma Flight appears to be the next step in responding to that same demand.
The team will be made up of Absorbing Man, Titania, Puck, Doc Sasquatch, Dr. Charlene McGowan, and Rick Jones, who it appears will remain in his mutated form following his recent possession by the villainous Leader. Originally assembled from the remnants of Canadian super-team Alpha Flight, Gamma Flight was ultimately corrupted by the leadership of bureaucratic Avengers foe Henry Gyrich. Having bonded with the semi-reformed villains added to the team because of their Hulk experience, Doc Sasquatch was able to get the group out from under Gyrich's thumb, but while Puck took his lethal threats for a bluff, readers know that the hero's experiences throughout the series have exposed a real darkness that is sure to be explored in this new spin-off. Speaking to Marvel, Ewing said:
GAMMA FLIGHT is an opportunity to explore some of the concepts and plant some of the seeds from IMMORTAL HULK in their own space, building off the found family that came together in those pages and putting them into action against some strange and ugly doings in the unexplored corners of the gamma world. We've been ricocheting ideas off each other for a while on this one, and I suspect the result is something that'll tickle Hulk fans old and new.
With multiple former villains on the team and Doc Sasquatch's unsettling new outlook unaddressed, Gamma Flight is likely to traffic in the same dark but compelling stories that have made Immortal Hulk such a huge hit. While mired in themes of despair and trauma, Ewing and Joe Bennett's Immortal Hulk has also found moments of incredible tenderness, and the idea of Gamma Flight as a found family is the perfect relatable core around which to built this hotly anticipated spin-off series.
Gamma Flight have been some of the most human characters in a deeply humane story, including villains working towards the light and heroes being pulled down into the darkness. If Gamma Flight can bring the Immortal Hulk magic with it when the first issue hits shelves June 23, it's likely to be one of the best comics Marvel or DC put out this year, and has the opportunity to make Gamma Flight the most compelling team to form around stopping the Hulk since the Avengers.
Source: Marvel