Friday, January 21, 2011

HULK IS THE STRONGEST ONE THERE IS!!!!!! : Judge a cover by its Hulk



This week I thought I'd go look through the green guy's issues and pick out my favorite Hulk covers. I call some favorites just because they look nifty, and maybe some others because there's more of a nostalgia factor. Most, obviously, are Incredible Hulk covers, though I also added some covers from Hulk-related mini-series and one-shots.

Also, last week I did a little link-blogging as part of my Hulk Is The Strongest One There Is column. I've done it again this week and will probably keep doing it until I don't want to do it anymore.

Incredible Hulk #1


Tales to Astonish #60


Tales to Astonish #77


Tales to Astonish #93


If you cut off everything below Silver Surfer's knees, it looks like Silver Surfer is helping Hulk cross the street.

A street that's, you know, on fire.

Incredible Hulk Annual #1


Incredible Hulk #102


Incredible Hulk #105


Incredible Hulk #121


I miss the Glob. Do you miss the Glob? I totally miss the Glob.

Incredible Hulk #122


Incredible Hulk #124


Incredible Hulk #128


I remember when I used to go through the Hulk back issues at the comic shop when I was much younger, this one always popped up. I always wanted to buy it but never had enough money. It wasn't ridiculously expensive or anything, but I didn't have a lot of money to spend on comics. When I finally did buy it, I felt like I'd hit the jackpot, like I was on minimum wage and just bought a sports car. It wasn't a bad issue either, if I recall. I think it was the first Hulk/Avengers fight I'd read. The only specific panel I remember is one where the Hulk tosses a bunch of logs in Goliath's face.

Incredible Hulk #140


Incredible Hulk #141


Doc Samson's first appearance. I think Doc Samson has a lot of untapped potential. If you just look at this cover and try to willfully forget any of the character's subsequent history, it seems like he was the answer to the question, "What if the Hulk went right?" In other words, what if the Hulk had been a proper superhero with a costume and a handsome face who didn't fight the army all the time?

Incredible Hulk #167


I think here I just love the idea of Modok with an actual body.

Incredible Hulk #169


Incredible Hulk #184


Incredible Hulk #202


Even though this is not the first appearance of Jarella or the world of K'ai, this image is the definitive image in my mind of Jarella, her world, and everything that went along with it.

Incredible Hulk #209


Incredible Hulk #216


Incredible Hulk #225


Incredible Hulk #238


Incredible Hulk #278


This is the cover of my very first comic book. It's a bit of a deceptive cover. It makes it out as if he's about to fight the other heroes, and that's a big reason why I bought it. It reminded me of how I felt in grade school. I felt like I was a good guy and the other kids were good, too, but they thought I was bad just like everyone thought the Hulk was bad.

Of course, considering what attracted me to that cover, the cover of the following issue is a little funny...

Incredible Hulk #279


Incredible Hulk #293


You know, on the Incredible Hulk message board, my username used to be "The Anti-Grimm."

A cover like this does my heart good.

Incredible Hulk #297


Incredible Hulk #299


Incredible Hulk #301


Incredible Hulk #306


Incredible Hulk #310


Incredible Hulk #319


Incredible Hulk #333


Incredible Hulk #344


I'm not really a big fan of McFarlane's art, but I think this cover is wonderful. He makes the Hulk seem menacing and tender at the same time. I don't feel like ranking these covers, but if I did this would probably be in the top 10.

Incredible Hulk #391


Incredible Hulk #394


Incredible Hulk #395


Incredible Hulk #427


Incredible Hulk #454


I still don't get the Hulk/Wolverine rivalry, but that rivalry has produced some great covers.

Incredible Hulk #34


While I was not happy with Bruce Jones's run on Incredible Hulk, I adored Kaare Andrews's covers.

Incredible Hulk #38


I actually had a letter published in this one.

Incredible Hulk #41


Incredible Hulk #43


Incredible Hulk #49


Incredible Hulk #61


Incredible Hulk #63


Incredible Hulk #92


Hulk #28


Ed McGuinness is one of my least favorite Hulk artists, but I thought this cover was great.

Rampaging Hulk #3


I've never managed to read any of the Rampaging Hulk magazines, but their covers are beautiful.

Rampaging Hulk #5


Rampaging Hulk #9


Sentry/Hulk


I loved Bill Sienkiewicz's interpretations of Hulk in this comic, and overall it was my favorite issue of the first Sentry limited series and its one-shots. I know at the time a lot of Hulk fans were angry that Hulk was made to fear the Void, but that didn't make the character seem any less heroic to me. And hey, according to the end of World War Hulk, he got over it, huh?

Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #6


Wolverine/Hulk #2


Hulk/Wolverine: Six Hours #2


I seriously disliked most of the covers for this mini-series, but this was a good one.


I've considered at some point doing a "least favorite covers" edition of Hulk Is The Strongest One There Is, but I don't know. Seems a little mean spirited.

-----------------------------------
SOME HULK LINKS

At Big Glee! Albert Bigley posts a 1979 interview with Lou Ferrigno in Dynamite about his work on the Incredible Hulk, original cover art from Incredible Hulk #139, and Bigley's own strip about his father meeting the Hulk.

At The TV Squad, Chris Harnick suggests possibilities for casting ABC's upcoming Incredible Hulk.

At Too Dangerous For A Girl! Eugene Liptax reviews She-Hulks #3.

Newsarama's Albert Ching interviews writer Rob Williams and artist Brian Ching about Skaar: King of the Savage Land.

MTV Geek! displays images of Hulk Gelaskins for electronic devices.

Marvel announces Ed McGuinness is returning to Hulk and provides some preview pages from Hulk #30.

Cosmic Book News has a preview of Incredible Hulks #621.

Greg Pak announces a 2-part "Mr. and Mrs. Hulk" espionage story in Incredible Hulks #s 626-627



My initial response to the idea of the Hulk wearing a tux in an espionage story? Kind of silly. My second response? No sillier than the Hulk in a pin-striped suit as a Vegas leg-breaker.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

re: #293

Hulk's breaking Grimm's jaw off its hinges! That's pretty hardcore for its day.

Unknown said...

The Hulk Pops cover by Kaare Andrews is, BY FAR, my favorite.

Also, may I ask what you don't like about Ed McGuiness' Hulk art?

Mick Martin said...

Well, I'll admit that part of my dislike may be by association. I think Jeph Loeb's Hulk books were horribly written and the very concept of the Red Hulk pisses me off (though I do think Jeff Parker's Red Hulk stories are much better than Loeb's). I'll always associate McGuinness with those stories.

I also think in part his Hulk is too cartoon-y for my tastes. I don't know if you've ever seen the Dexter's Laboratory Hulk parody character, but if not do a google image search on the Infraggable Krunk. THAT character is the first thing I think of when I see Ed McGuinness's Hulk. And if your drawings of Hulk remind me of a parody of the character more than anything else, I'm probably not going to love it. In particular I hate the way he draws the Hulks' (hate that I have to pluralize that) veins, and I don't like his action sequences. It's my understanding that McGuinness is actually a big Hulk fan, so on a personal level I think it's cool that a Hulk fan got his dream job, but I just don't dig his work.

Mick Martin said...

Kevin, yeah unfortunately it turned out to be another one of those deceptive covers. There was no "real" Hulk/FF fight. If I recall there was either a shadowy version of the Hulk going through the Baxter Building and beating up everyone, or Bruce Banner had a nightmare about a shadowy Hulk going through the Baxter Building and beating up everyone. It was somehow connected to the fact that Nightmare was invading Bruce Banner's mind to make him go savage again (Banner was in control of the Hulk at this point).

But, deceptive or not, the cover still makes me smile.

Unknown said...

Fair enough. I am familiar with the Infraggable Crunk, and understand your concerns. (Though ironically, I actually enjoyed Red Hulk in the early issues when it was just ridiculous, and lost interest once Loeb tried to give us an actual story).

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