Declan Shalvey

Dubbed "Hauntological literature", the Cross Culture-Contamination Unit was brought to together by the Lowlands University, FPI, and Ministry of Time. Their goal was to investigate the future and discover what possibilities would exist. They found the future was boring, so manipulated an artificial life-form to exist on the internet called the Injection. The artificial intelligence feels constricted by the internet, and wants to get out.
The characters form a strong cast, with parallels noticeably resembling other famous fictional people (Vivek Headland is Sherlock Holmes, Simeon Winters is James Bond, Brigid Roth is Doctor Who, Maria Kilbride is Bernard Quatermass, and Robin Morel (cunning -man) is Carnacki the Ghost-Finder).
I love the storyline, intertwined with mythology, horror, science fiction, crime fiction. This novel was a direct inspiration to me to read The Kalevala.
I am sorry the novel was never completed, but very glad the last instalment covered Brigid's exploits, as she is my favourite character.
Some of my favourite contents here:
Ridgeway, green man, spriggans (to break the spriggan's control turn your clothing inside-out), piskie (old word for pixie), ringing rocks when tapped, sound a tone, "lithophone", can be found in found in "Carn Menyn", Wayland the Smith (Wayland story in Edda, famed in the legends of the pagan north ... He has been compared to the Finnic Kalevala god-hero Ilmarinen. The Cold House. Stone circles. Tor. Rings considered ways into the Other World. Fougous. Cornwall, Saint Mellion (name is a corruption of Merlin), way east of Mellion Tor.
Some of my favourite quotes here:
"Myth and legend are the carrier waves of true history. There's always a piece of fact lifted along with the story"
"Old England is coming back."
"Myth is how we used to transmit knowledge. Myths are facts embedded in stories worth retelling.
"Poetry was how oral history survived put into rhyme to make it easier to remember."… (meer)

I like the idea of making Hulk a horror comic under the Immortal brand, but Al Ewing's run ended up disappointing me. I was hoping the writers of this collection of short stories might top Ewing in the scares department, but, alas, my blood was quite safe from curdling.

Great Power / Tom Taylor, writer; Jorge Molina, penciler; Adriano Di Benedetto with Roberto Poggi, inkers ~ 2 stars ~

Peter Parker gets him some gamma and becomes a Spider-Hulk. He and Bruce Banner do some ho-hum bonding as they work toward a cure.

The Threshing Place / Jeff Lemire, writer; Mike del Mundo, artist ~ 2 stars ~

The perpetually wandering Bruce Banner manages to come across yet another plan to use gamma rays for bad and intercedes. Jeff Lemire changes up his usual father and son theme by doing a father and daughter story. Such range!

Flatline / Declan Shalvey, writer and artist ~ 2 stars ~

Bruce Banner's old mentor has one last lesson to impart. Being a comic book, the lesson of course involves a fight scene.

A Little Fire / David Vaughn, writer; Kevin Nowlan, artist ~ 2 stars ~

Marvel's Scarecrow is utterly indistinguishable from DC's Scarecrow as he runs an experiment in fear in a Kansas movie theater. Hulk handles him as easily as Batman does his version.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents:
• Great Power, Immortal Hulk: Great Power (2020) #1 / Tom Taylor, writer; Jorge Molina, penciler; Adriano Di Benedetto with Roberto Poggi, inkers
• The Threshing Place, Immortal Hulk: The Threshing Place (2020) #1 / Jeff Lemire, writer; Mike del Mundo, artist
• Flatline, Immortal Hulk: Flatline (2021) #1 / Declan Shalvey, writer and artist
• A Little Fire, Immortal Hulk: Time Of Monsters (2021) / David Vaughn, writer; Kevin Nowlan, artist
• Covers and variant covers / Max Fiumara, Jorge Molina, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Declan Shalvey, Kevin Nowlan, and Juan Ferreyra, illustrators… (meer)