It's from HULK (formally THE RAMPAGING HULK) issue 24 (December 1980). Predictably, it also contained an article on the TV show (which *may* have been recycled somewhere by Marvel UK, probably (if anywhere) in an issue of RAMPAGE) which I've also posted.
The editorial to this issue is interesting. Ralph Macchio (nope, not that one) explains that - to keep the magazine viable - they've had to abandon the colour interiors on the main strip (but retain them for the back-up strip). That's honesty you have to admire.
I was never much interested in the TV Hulk - he looked nothing like the proper Hulk , he couldn't speak and it was the same dreary old plot every week. Then Rampage magazine's Hulk started their more " real life " Hulk adventures which were equally tedious - thank god for the back-up strips like the new X Men who were far more interesting.
ReplyDeleteOh, for me it was the live-action TV show that came first... followed by a HULK annual from the Chelmsford branch of Woolworths.
DeleteI think all your criticisms of the the TV show are valid... but I still consider it a superior slice of TV fare. Maybe you only realise how good it is when you compare it to the three late-eighties revival movies from (Marvel's owner) New World International.
I prefer the more realistic adventures and - for some reason - I never think of the screen Hulk as a body builder in a green fright wig! Even when you can spot his cute little Hulk slippers in shot (Terror in Time Square is a good one for that).
Out of interest, did Marvel UK ever rerun the controversial Hulk tale, penned by Jim Shooter himself, where Bruce Banner is almost male-raped in the YMCA? That was probably a slice of realism-too-far. I've read the strip - and read the controversy - and although not particularly pleasant, it didn't seem awful. I think I was viewing it through modern sensibilities were comics push more boundaries and - more importantly - there is a far greater representation and diversity of gay people in the media.
I've never heard of that YMCA tale or if I did read it I certainly don't remember it. My strongest memory of the TV Hulk was sitting in a neighbour's house while it was on and being told what it was about - I was too polite to say " Yes I do know as I've been reading the comic for 3 years ".
ReplyDeleteBy the way , you mentioned gay people - apparently Bruce Banner was renamed "David" Banner because TV executives thought Bruce sounded too gay !! By the time the recent films came along he had reverted to Bruce so at least sense prevailed in the end.
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