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About This Series
Issues
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About This
Series:
Issues:
Where does this
comic series go right where the TV series and movies go wrong?
Hulk just seems to be more fun when his adventures are fantasy based
versus pure science-fiction based. What do I mean by that,
exactly? It's fun to see Hulk beat up other incredible monsters,
mythical heroes, and other things that aren't so science-based.
Live-action interpretations, so far, seem to dwell on the science
aspect of the Hulk. Nobody cares! He was once human, now
he's a big green monster. Let's see him kick some a**!
Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the live-action versions of Hulk, but they have not yet fully given us what we wanted. I like it when Hulk mixes it up with gods like Thor, or some unusual underground creatures. It's also those elements that have made the Hulk a hit in comics.
"Incredible Hulk", the first series, started in 1962. It ran for only six issues, ending in March of 1963. Hulk did not make a mighty roar when he first debuted. It wasn't until a year and a half after it was cancelled that the character was attempted again in his own stories. Hulk kicked around in other Marvel titles like "Amazing Spider-Man", "Avengers", and "Fantastic Four" during that time. Kirby and Lee were starting to realize that the character was a hit with college-age readers! So Hulk was tried out again as a major character, this time as one of two features in the comic series "Tales to Astonish". This began with issue #60 (October, 1964). Hulk became HUGELY popular. So much, that the series was retitled "The Incredible Hulk" (Series 2) with #102 (April, 1968). It remained "The Incredible Hulk" until March, 1999 when the series was canceled. It was immediately replaced with another "Incredible Hulk" series, restarting with #1.
Hulk was created by the legendary team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Stan Lee's goal was to create an offbeat hero. Truly, no one ever did a "monster hero" before the Hulk. At least not one that became popular as quickly as the Hulk did. Lee loved the classic movie versions of "Frankenstein" and "Jekyll and Hyde". He never thought of Frankenstein's Monster as a villain. The monster was just doing his own thing and all these crazy people were chasing after him with torches and things. He just wanted to be left alone. That same aspect became the sole motivation for the Hulk character. The "Jekyll and Hyde" similarity comes into play from the fact that this big green monster can change into human again, and vice versa. Like Jekyll, Dr. Bruce Banner has a hard time controlling his violent alter-ego from emerging. An interesting fact of note, the first design of the Hulk character was patterned after Boris Karloff, who played Frankenstein's Monster in the classic film.
In issue #1 (first series), the Hulk was originally colored gray. Why gray? Stan Lee did not want the color to reflect any particular ethnic group. Colorist Stan Goldberg, however, had trouble with gray. This resulted in different shades of gray, and even green throughout the issue. After seeing the first published issue, Lee decided to change the skin color to green. When the origin story was reprinted, for two decades hence, Hulk's color was changed to green. In one reprinting I've seen, the Hulk even looks yellow!
But gray would not go away. In issue #302 of the second series (December, 1984), the gray Hulk was reintroduced in flashbacks set close to the origin story. The fictional canon became that Hulk's skin was initially gray after the accident, but changed to green. Now reprintings of the origin story show Hulk in his true gray color.
Bill Mantlo became the writer of "Incredible Hulk" with issue #245 (March, 1980). Although this, in itself, does not seem a significant event, it should. Beginning with issue #300 (October, 1984) to #313 (November, 1985), Mantlo penned the popular Crossroads of Eternity storyline. What this storyline did is explore the fact that Bruce Banner was a victim of child abuse. And it was this child abuse that was reflected in the angry, childlike manner of the Hulk. Mantlo left the series shortly after this, but ALL the series writers since have played off of, and elaborated upon, Banner's sordid childhood. John Byrne was the first replacement, then Al Milgrom, before Peter David began a colossal 12-year run!
Peter David started with issue #331 (May, 1987). He took the idea of Bruce Banner's child abuse much further. Although this might seem depressing, David handled it well, and it really didn't hurt the series. As a matter of fact, it gave insight as to what the Hulk was really about. We now found out that Bruce Banner had serious mental problems before becoming the Hulk. Banner had, in fact, DID (Dissassociative Identity Disorder). In the comics, Hulk became gray for awhile. The gray Hulk was sly and very coherent. No longer was the the ignorant "Hulk, smash!" monster. Well, gray Hulk was extremely mean and a borderline villain. Eventually, the classic green Hulk and the new gray Hulk duked it out. Green Hulk, of course, won out. The saga is a bit more complicated than that, but that's the general idea.
Issue #377 (January, 1991) turned out to be one of the most significant turns in Hulk history. Peter David revamped the character again! In a storyline involving hypnosis, the splintered personalities of Bruce Banner were formed into one definitive, new and improved Hulk! The new Hulk had the same, savage power of classic Hulk, with the cunning of Gray Hulk, but the intelligence of Bruce Banner. I LOVE THIS VERSION OF HULK THE BEST!!! This is the way Hulk always should have been. I like it that's he impossibly big and strong, but brilliant. What a combination!
Marvel pushed on Peter David to bring back the savage version of Hulk, and he didn't want to do it. This ultimately led to Peter David leaving Marvel after issue #467 (August, 1998). This was his 137th issue of "The Incredible Hulk"! The series ended with #474.
Hulk has been toyed with in comics since this series, but nothing seems to stick or hold strong interest with the masses. Two live-action movies have been attempted. The first, in 2003, was a mild commercial hit. The second, in 2008, was a huge hit for a while but was quickly forgotten. Will Hulk ever again enjoy the great popularity he had from the 1960s-early 1990s? It's hard to predict, but needless to say, this series is still the biggest and most important thing that ever happened for the character.
Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the live-action versions of Hulk, but they have not yet fully given us what we wanted. I like it when Hulk mixes it up with gods like Thor, or some unusual underground creatures. It's also those elements that have made the Hulk a hit in comics.
"Incredible Hulk", the first series, started in 1962. It ran for only six issues, ending in March of 1963. Hulk did not make a mighty roar when he first debuted. It wasn't until a year and a half after it was cancelled that the character was attempted again in his own stories. Hulk kicked around in other Marvel titles like "Amazing Spider-Man", "Avengers", and "Fantastic Four" during that time. Kirby and Lee were starting to realize that the character was a hit with college-age readers! So Hulk was tried out again as a major character, this time as one of two features in the comic series "Tales to Astonish". This began with issue #60 (October, 1964). Hulk became HUGELY popular. So much, that the series was retitled "The Incredible Hulk" (Series 2) with #102 (April, 1968). It remained "The Incredible Hulk" until March, 1999 when the series was canceled. It was immediately replaced with another "Incredible Hulk" series, restarting with #1.
Hulk was created by the legendary team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Stan Lee's goal was to create an offbeat hero. Truly, no one ever did a "monster hero" before the Hulk. At least not one that became popular as quickly as the Hulk did. Lee loved the classic movie versions of "Frankenstein" and "Jekyll and Hyde". He never thought of Frankenstein's Monster as a villain. The monster was just doing his own thing and all these crazy people were chasing after him with torches and things. He just wanted to be left alone. That same aspect became the sole motivation for the Hulk character. The "Jekyll and Hyde" similarity comes into play from the fact that this big green monster can change into human again, and vice versa. Like Jekyll, Dr. Bruce Banner has a hard time controlling his violent alter-ego from emerging. An interesting fact of note, the first design of the Hulk character was patterned after Boris Karloff, who played Frankenstein's Monster in the classic film.
In issue #1 (first series), the Hulk was originally colored gray. Why gray? Stan Lee did not want the color to reflect any particular ethnic group. Colorist Stan Goldberg, however, had trouble with gray. This resulted in different shades of gray, and even green throughout the issue. After seeing the first published issue, Lee decided to change the skin color to green. When the origin story was reprinted, for two decades hence, Hulk's color was changed to green. In one reprinting I've seen, the Hulk even looks yellow!
But gray would not go away. In issue #302 of the second series (December, 1984), the gray Hulk was reintroduced in flashbacks set close to the origin story. The fictional canon became that Hulk's skin was initially gray after the accident, but changed to green. Now reprintings of the origin story show Hulk in his true gray color.
Bill Mantlo became the writer of "Incredible Hulk" with issue #245 (March, 1980). Although this, in itself, does not seem a significant event, it should. Beginning with issue #300 (October, 1984) to #313 (November, 1985), Mantlo penned the popular Crossroads of Eternity storyline. What this storyline did is explore the fact that Bruce Banner was a victim of child abuse. And it was this child abuse that was reflected in the angry, childlike manner of the Hulk. Mantlo left the series shortly after this, but ALL the series writers since have played off of, and elaborated upon, Banner's sordid childhood. John Byrne was the first replacement, then Al Milgrom, before Peter David began a colossal 12-year run!
Peter David started with issue #331 (May, 1987). He took the idea of Bruce Banner's child abuse much further. Although this might seem depressing, David handled it well, and it really didn't hurt the series. As a matter of fact, it gave insight as to what the Hulk was really about. We now found out that Bruce Banner had serious mental problems before becoming the Hulk. Banner had, in fact, DID (Dissassociative Identity Disorder). In the comics, Hulk became gray for awhile. The gray Hulk was sly and very coherent. No longer was the the ignorant "Hulk, smash!" monster. Well, gray Hulk was extremely mean and a borderline villain. Eventually, the classic green Hulk and the new gray Hulk duked it out. Green Hulk, of course, won out. The saga is a bit more complicated than that, but that's the general idea.
Issue #377 (January, 1991) turned out to be one of the most significant turns in Hulk history. Peter David revamped the character again! In a storyline involving hypnosis, the splintered personalities of Bruce Banner were formed into one definitive, new and improved Hulk! The new Hulk had the same, savage power of classic Hulk, with the cunning of Gray Hulk, but the intelligence of Bruce Banner. I LOVE THIS VERSION OF HULK THE BEST!!! This is the way Hulk always should have been. I like it that's he impossibly big and strong, but brilliant. What a combination!
Marvel pushed on Peter David to bring back the savage version of Hulk, and he didn't want to do it. This ultimately led to Peter David leaving Marvel after issue #467 (August, 1998). This was his 137th issue of "The Incredible Hulk"! The series ended with #474.
Hulk has been toyed with in comics since this series, but nothing seems to stick or hold strong interest with the masses. Two live-action movies have been attempted. The first, in 2003, was a mild commercial hit. The second, in 2008, was a huge hit for a while but was quickly forgotten. Will Hulk ever again enjoy the great popularity he had from the 1960s-early 1990s? It's hard to predict, but needless to say, this series is still the biggest and most important thing that ever happened for the character.
Issues:
#416: April,
1994. The fourth, and final part of the "Troyjan War"
storyline. Great art and writing. Silver Surfer guest stars
as one of Hulk's buddies, which is cool. The Corsairs team of
space heroes is also on Hulk's side. Hulk fights the much bigger
monster Troyjan in a battle to the death. Guess who wins?
I love the intelligent green Hulk! I still say it was the best direction for the character.
#422: October, 1994. This is the second, of three parts, to the "Myth Conceptions" storyline. Great art and writing. Cool stuff! Hulk fights Thor! But it isn't the Thor he knows! This Thor has red hair, a beard, and looks altogether different. But he seems to have Thor's great power. Is this Thor really an imposter, or is something else going on?
Again, I love the intelligent Hulk! This change in the character made his dialogue snappier and, ultimately, more entertaining to read.
I love the intelligent green Hulk! I still say it was the best direction for the character.
#422: October, 1994. This is the second, of three parts, to the "Myth Conceptions" storyline. Great art and writing. Cool stuff! Hulk fights Thor! But it isn't the Thor he knows! This Thor has red hair, a beard, and looks altogether different. But he seems to have Thor's great power. Is this Thor really an imposter, or is something else going on?
Again, I love the intelligent Hulk! This change in the character made his dialogue snappier and, ultimately, more entertaining to read.