The Scary Hulk

[dr_hermes]

The first two issues of THE INCREDIBLE HULK back in 1962 showed the character as a genuine monster right out of Universal horror movie. He was essentially a werewolf version of the Frankenstein Monster. Every night, Bruce Banner changed against his will into the Hulk. Jack Kirby drew the brute very much in the Karloff image; in the first issue, the

Comments

[stevegreen]

I'm guessing this is a reprint, since the Hulk is green.

[dr_hermes]

It is from a reprint, but the Hulk was green by then. He was only grey in the first issue. Stan Lee said the production methods of the time made getting a consistent grey rather difficult, so he settled for green instead (the choice of so many monsters). Iron Man went from grey to yellow in his second appearance for the same reason.

I kind of prefer grey for both of them but then comics in those days showcased bright primary colors. Early issues of the Justice League got me a bit kiddy as a kid because of the bright reds and greens and blues all coming off the page.

[full_metal_ox]

There's at least a third classic monster (although this one wasn't a Golden Age Universal character) that the Incredible Hulk evokes: Bruce Banner and the Hulk are, after all, four-color updates of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

[dr_hermes]

That's true. I was thinking of the Wolf Man because the change came at night, but Jekyll and Hyde is even more appropriate - the contrast between Banner and the Hulk shows that.