Generations of Hulk creators, final part...

I hope my rambling series on the Hulk has kept you entertained these past couple of weeks. I had fun researching, putting it together, and sharing my thoughts on the best way to present the character. I hope it helps budding writers, and artists think about the approach they take when working on their own stories. I also wished it helped non-Hulk fans understand the appeal of the Jade Giant. He was certainly much more complex than has been presented in the recent Marvel live action films, and television shows. Today I’d like to talk about my favorite artists to work with the character. Let’s pretend that only one living artist allowed to draw the character until they retired. Who would I choose, and in what order?

In the number one spot is Dale Keown. In my opinion he is, and remains the best Hulk artist ever. He’s illustrated countless iconic moments thanks to the writing of Peter David. His sense of scale, proportion, and strength is so great it should be studied by all comic artists. Especially those trying to make memorable strong characters. His style simply works whether the story involves the classic “Savage” Hulk, the street savvy Joe Fixit, the genius Professor Hulk, or the tyrannical Maestro. He is adept at drawing epic battles, horror stories, alien monsters, heroic team-ups, and dramatic arcs equally well. He is additionally good at drawing normal-sized heroes, and villains. This allows him to frame them alongside the Hulk so we get a sense of scale. To me Dale Keown is the standard that every modern Hulk artist is measured against. It is a well deserved honor.

My second choice to draw the Hulk forever, and ever is Arthur Adams. Just about all the same praise I heap on Dale Keown applies to Mr. Adams as well. The major difference between the two is that Art knows monsters better than any other living artist. From the largest kaiju to the smallest imp, from pulp monsters that appeared only once in an obscure book, to the world famous Universal Horror monsters. Mr. Adams has drawn all of them at least once in his career. Drawing monsters is absolutely in his DNA. He has been rendering highly detailed pieces for 40 years, and shows no sign of slowing. The Hulk is one of the greatest monsters he’s ever brought to life, but to say that his greatness is limited to the Hulk would be a disservice to his talents. He is a fantastic pin-up artist, and can arguably be called the best X-Men artist, the best Fantastic Four artist, and the best Avengers artist to ever live. Saying he should only draw the Hulk from this point on would rob the world of a true genius.

My third choice for who should draw the Hulk in perpetuity is relatively new. In fact he did not exist in my rankings until a few weeks ago. The same thing applies to my number five choice. Ryan Ottley is one of those people that was born to draw powerful characters. If the Hulk is the strongest there is, then he deserves an illustrator that knows how to present it. Mr. Ottley’s work on the Starship Hulk arc written by Donny Cates was absolute madness, but in a good way. He is known for drawing gratuitous violence in the Invincible series, and was able to bring that gore into the Hulk but did so sparingly. He has a surprisingly unique take on creature, and monster designs that is unlike his peers. These twisted creations work in the context of the series, especially when the Hulk has to tear through swaths of powerful opponents. Mr. Ottley also knows his supporting characters, and does a great job illustrating the Hulk’s allies, and rivals. I just wish he had gotten more than 14 issues to show off his talent. I would kill to see his take on the Leader, the Abomination, or the Maestro.

The fourth person on my list was previously my number three. I have already sung the praises of Ed McGuinness, and will continue doing so until my dying day. He is one of those people that you want to create a second Hulk book, just so he can have more to draw. I mean if there can be a Spectacular Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, and Ultimate Spider-Man comics all out at the same time then why can’t we have two or more Hulk books going? McGuinness draws the Hulk so well that it hurts thinking I will never be half as good as he is at drawing the character. His rendering of the Hulk uses every synonym of power that you can think of. He has force, might, energy, and intensity. The only limitation for McGuinness is that he is too good at drawing muscular characters. Even the “normal” heroes are swollen. It makes the Hulk have a diminished impact when he shares a panel with characters that have the same physique but are a few feet shorter. But that’s a minor issue for someone that I’ve said was born to draw the character.

The fifth person that I think could carry the Hulk for all time would be Nic Klein. I said previously his style was equal parts Bernie Wrightson, and Mike Deodato Jr. His take on the Hulk oozed strength. The monsters, and demons he draws tap into some primordial fears of humanity. He presents the stuff of nightmares in vivid detail. It’s scary how good he is at bringing the ugly to life. If the Hulk book is only about horror then there is no one else on the list better qualified to draw it. I wanted to see how he would draw other Marvel characters working with, or against the Hulk. I wanted to see if he could render technology, weapons, or battle sequences with the Hulk. But based solely on the few issues he’s released in 2024 I can tell that he is up to the task. The sky is the limit for Mr. Klein, and I look forward to following it.

I want you to think of Joe Madureira as my honorable mention. He is an artist that would have been a top-five in my book, possibly a top-three to carry the Hulk forever. That is of course if only he got a chance. The Hulk is an absolute unit when he draws him. Proportionally landing somewhere in between McGuinness, Ottley, and Klein. The thing is with the exception of some concept sketches, and the occasional cover, he hasn’t really had a chance to show fans what he could do with the character.

Joe Mad’s style of art oozes personality. He comes from a generation of artists that’s much more animated than any other illustrator that made their mark in the ‘90s. Similar to Humberto Ramos, artists in that era were pulling influences from manga, and video games into their comic work. That is to say it looked vastly different than anything else on the shelves. The fact that he drew massive bruisers so well that I was furious that he never seemed to land a run on the Hulk. Worse yet, when he finally got a chance to draw a power character for Marvel it ended up being the Red Hulk.

As a comics fan it felt like I was living in the worst possible timeline. The best artists to never draw the Hulk were finally given a chance by the powers that be. Only to find out that they would be drawing the red clone character instead. If I was upset that Ed McGuinness’ talents were wasted on a 10+ issue run featuring mainly the Red Hulk, I was twice as angry when Joe drew the Red Hulk for a Spider-Man team up. Just to see what it would have looked like I changed the hue on the Red Hulk in Photoshop. It helped me imagine that I was in a better timeline. The constant disappointments with Marvel writers, and editors was one of the reasons why I walked away from comic books for more than a decade.

I pray that someone at Marvel might let Joe Mad, or Ryan Ottley get a chance to draw a proper Hulk arc in the future. It would certainly give me a reason to start collecting again. There were many other artists that could draw a fantastic Hulk. I might talk about them someday. For now I’d like to hear your thoughts. Did you have a favorite artist that drew your favorite characters? Was there an artist that you could imagine would be a great fit for a book if they ever got a chance? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Generations of Hulk creators, part 5...

In the previous blog I talked about how Ed McGuinness was an artist born to draw the Hulk comics. Unfortunately for him the writer that he was paired with was sort of the opposite. When the Incredible Hulk was rebooted Jeph Loeb decided to change the focus of the series. He created a murder mystery for an OP villain called the Red Hulk. Mr. Loeb deviated from the stories that worked best for the title character. McGuinness ended up drawing issue after issue featuring the “Rulk” rather than the Banner version we were familiar with. I felt like his talents were being wasted. Because of this I stopped collecting the series in 2009, and walked away from comics entirely. Only recently had I started getting back into the series. In that time I learned that there were other writers, and other artists that were more familiar with the Jade Giant, and knew exactly the types of stories that fit the character. For example there was a 20-issue run titled the Indestructible Hulk, written by Jeff Parker, and Mark Waid. It featured art from Kim Jacinto, Matteo Scalera, Walt Simonson, and Leinil Francis Yu.

The Indestructible Hulk was notable because it highlighted the intelligence of Banner, and the power of the Hulk in equal amounts. In the series Banner was still a fugitive. He surrendered himself to S.H.I.E.L.D., and in return he would start inventing technology for them that could revolutionize the world. In exchange for a lab, and assistants Banner offered the Hulk to be used as the ultimate shock trooper for the organization. The Hulk would be able to take missions head-on, and prevent S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from being put in harms way. The series reestablished Banner as one of the big brains, if not the biggest brain on Earth. It also reminded audiences that the Hulk was capable of surviving conflicts, and extreme conditions that would have killed all but a handful of Marvel characters. The series was reminiscent of the adventures of the Professor Hulk written by Peter David, and illustrated by Dale Keown. That series was a high point for the characters in the early ’90s.

It turned out that while I was avoiding the books there was another story arc for the Hulk that was even shorter than the Indestructible Hulk. It featured a version of the Green Goliath called the Starship Hulk. I scoffed when I read the premise. Banner had taken over the mind, and body of the Hulk. He imprisoned the green personality in his own subconscious, and was going to “pilot” the Hulk. Banner implanted stolen A.I.M. technology into the Hulk, and planned to use his gamma radiation as a form of propulsion. His goal was to leave the Earth as a literal “Smashstronaut” and never threaten humanity again. All of this sounded absolutely bonkers. I assumed that there was no way that the story by Donny Cates would make any sense, or even fit in the context of the universe. I picked up the trade paperbacks that made up the 14-issue run, as well as the tie-in TPB that made the Banner of War arc. I quickly realized that the story not only worked for all of the characters involved, but the partnering of Cates, and artist Ryan Ottley was absolute genius. I’m sure it was considered madness as well depending on who you asked. I read, and reread the series several times over the past few weeks. The story was my favorite Hulk arc in the past 15+ years.

I was not familiar with Ottley’s art because he hadn’t done too many Marvel titles. He was best known as the main artist on a series called Invincible, which was published by Image. You might have seen the animated show based on the ultra-violent comic. It explained the occasional gore, and dismemberment that would appear with this new story. Mr. Ottley’s art really grew on me. Similar to Ed McGuinness I could tell that he was born to draw the Hulk, but had spent years working for other companies, biding his time. Also like McGuinness his monster design style was very reminiscent of Arthur Adams. Ryan went all out creating dozens, upon dozens of various gamma-powered monsters for the book. Culminating in a 60-foot-tall mutated Spider-Man. That alternate universe version of Peter Parker turned out to be far from the biggest threat for the Starship Hulk. There was a far more dangerous villain named Titan lurking in the recesses of the Hulk’s psyche. Each creature from Ottley was as fantastic as anything that could have been dreamt up by Adams.

The proportions that Ottley used with the Hulk were familiar, but he maintained his own distinct style. The thick, and stocky body, the square, but animated face. His version of the bruiser had a lot of personality, but was absolutely made for destruction. Ottley’s patented violence, gore, and horror from the Invincible books managed to sneak into a few panels. This was especially true in the second half of the story known as Hulk Planet. It was a sort of send up of the Planet Hulk arc. If you weren’t familiar with the story this was where the Hulk had been exiled to an alien planet called Sakaar. The Hulk took on the role of Spartacus and lead a group of alien gladiators in a rebellion. This would conclude when the Hulk returned to Earth during the events of World War Hulk. By comparison in Hulk Planet the Hulk landed on a world of fellow gamma-irradiated monsters. He was not only welcomed as a visitor, but hailed as a king. Donny Cates could raise the stakes now that he was on a planet of super-powerful aliens that were strong, and had similar healing abilities. To show off how absurdly powerful they were their national sport was called Godball. It was a version of handball-meets-dodgeball using the solid cores of planets that they had destroyed. The Hulk was assured that he couldn't hurt anyone, and no one could hurt him there.

Ottley was the perfect choice to illustrate the adventure that took our hero around the world, through different dimensions, and into deep space. We got a chance to see the Hulk cut loose in ways that Jeph Loeb could have never imagined. In the span of just over a dozen issues Mr. Cates developed a story impossible for any other hero in the Marvel U to survive. Donny reminded audiences how the power scale worked, and the Hulk was at the top of the mountain. It was much more than strength that made the Hulk incredible. Characters like the Captain Marvel, the Sentry, Thor, and the Silver Surfer were powerful, and might be triumphant in some of the battles. However the Hulk survived all the fights back-to-back, while being shredded by countless gamma-monsters, losing a limb to Iron Man’s Hulkbuster armor, and having Mjolnir tear a hole through his chest. Those would have been mortal injuries for the aforementioned powerhouses. Not to mention that all of this happened before the Titan even showed up. It goes without saying that none of the members of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, or the X-Men could have lived through the same encounters.

Sadly Ottley wouldn’t draw any more Hulk arcs after the Hulk Planet story wrapped. He did get to do an occasional variant cover, but speaking as a fan I think that Ottley, and Cates should absolutely get a chance to work on another story, or perhaps limited run like the Rampaging Hulk, or Savage Hulk series from the ‘80s, and ‘90s. They understood the character better than most teams, and set a standard that few creators could match. It turned out they weren’t the only writer, and art duos that worked wonders for the series. In the next, and final entry of this series I am going to talk about the return of the monster. Were there any artists that you think would be a good fit for the Hulk? Or were there any comics you wish were drawn by a specific artist? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Generations of Hulk creators, part 2...

In the previous blog I mentioned that there were several types of stories that worked well for the Incredible Hulk. The first I highlighted was the drama, or to be more specific the psychological horror story. This was important because the plots that worked best for the characters played to their strengths, and exploited a weaknesses for the hero to overcome. The television series was a prime example of this. It was carried by Bill Bixby as Dr. Banner. He was trying to cure himself of the Hulk, but had to cobble together lab equipment from scraps, and while being hunted by the authorities. He often found himself entangled in the affairs of complete strangers. Whether it was helping someone overcome an addiction, chase off a gang, or rescue a kidnapping victim. He had to use his intelligence to find an answer. The Hulk would only show up in maybe two or three minutes out of each episode when life, and death was at stake. It highlighted to audiences that Banner was a sympathetic figure, and the Hulk was a terrifying creature that was part of the same person. There was nothing that could stop him if he was unleashed, and Banner did everything he could to keep that from happening. The Hulk as a character could also be considered a contemporary retelling of Dr. Frankenstein, with the Hulk being the monster that he unleashed to the world. Banner was also thought of as the modern Prometheus, the Ancient Greek character that stole fire from the gods, and gave it to man. He was eternally punished for his arrogance. 

Banner unleashed the power of gamma radiation, and would also be cursed for his actions. The Hulk could be presented as a misunderstood monster, reluctant hero, or even wandering adventurer. This is where I would like to start talking about my favorite Hulk artists. Because in order to tell the story of the man, and the monster then you need to be able to visually make the distinction. In superhero comics it’s very easy to see when hero is present, and when the secret identity shows up. Superman could put on glasses, and a business suit to become Clark Kent. Bruce Wayne could put on a mask, and cowl to become Batman. Bruce Banner turned into a half ton, nearly eight-foot-tall green man. Each artist brought their own visual style, their own aesthetic to the character. In my opinion the type of artist featured on the Hulk books could make, or break the story. Horror was one of the best formats for a Hulk story. Whether it was the Hulk fighting monsters, demons, or aliens. An artist that was great at rendering body, or biological horror could help ground readers into the world that the Hulk was entering. The artist that I think laid the foundation for this type of Hulk story was Bernie Wrightson.

Mr. Wrightson (RIP) was an exceptional draftsman. His lines, and detail were unrivaled. He was known for visceral renderings in his character art. We could see veins, muscles, scars, and various features on the people he drew. His black, and white art featured in the Frankenstein book released by Marvel in 1983 set a bar impossible to top. His style was perfectly suited for horror illustration, rather than mainstream comic book heroes. Unfortunately for Bernie the Comics Code Authority passed a sweeping set of laws in 1954 meant to self-regulate gratuitous horror, and violence from the comics industry. Bernie was able to skirt the code by never rending anything too graphic, but rather just hint at it. He was perfect for the horror characters like Swamp Thing (which he co-created), and the Marvel equivalent known as Man Thing. Bernie was one of the rare artists that could do it all. Many people do not know that the lead artist on a comic often only did the initial pencil work. The inking, and coloring of individual pages were often assigned to someone else. Bernie found work inking for other artists, as well as coloring for them at both Marvel, and DC. It only made sense that someone adept at drawing horror comics would be a good fit rendering the Hulk.

At the core the Hulk was a monster. The artists that did the character justice had to know how to draw creatures, rather than traditional superheroes. This was something that not every comic book artist was capable of doing. The mistake they made was in trying to draw the Hulk like a gigantic bodybuilder. The television series may have presented the idea to the mainstream, however the Hulk in the comics was anything but human. First off the Hulk on television was vastly underpowered compared to his comic counterpart. On TV he could get injured by bullets, and a fall from a great height could kill him. Whereas in the comics he could survive atomic blasts, and didn’t burn up on reentry from his leaps into space. Still there were artists that gave the Hulk a distinct bodybuilder physique. Bart Sears was one of my favorite comic book artists of all time. His understanding of anatomy was unmatched among his contemporaries. He often took proportions from professional male, and female bodybuilders when creating the physiques of his characters. They looked stunning when he penciled, and inked them. Something similar could be argued for Bryan Hitch. The lead artist on the “Ultimates” run which was designed to make the Marvel characters look, and feel real. These artists were great at the traditional hero books, however their version of the Hulk was far from my favorite.

The idea that in order to convey strength, and power in a comic book then a character had to be presented as “jacked” or have overdeveloped muscles. This was a trap that a lot of artists fell into when presenting classic characters. Someone like the Flash for example was known for his speed. Therefor it made sense that he was built like an Olympic runner, long, and lean muscles. Someone like Spider-Man had the physique of a gymnast, strong, and flexible. Each character still looked heroic, but had muscles proportional to their abilities. Yet in order to convince audiences that a character like Superman, or Omni-Man was the strongest character in their respective books they had to have bodybuilder physiques. No artists made their caped heroes (or villains) as jacked-up as Ed McGuinness, and Ryan Ottley. It was kind of hard to make people think that Clark Kent was a humble journalist when he had a neck as big as an NFL linebacker. Or that Nolan Grayson had developed his physique from writing books.

It turned out that there was a reason that each artist illustrated their heroes so strong, but I’ll talk about that in a future blog. The greatest, and longest-lasting Hulk artists had a few things in common. Their ability to create a figure that was more than a large green bodybuilder should be studied by all comic artists, and illustrators. There were many subtleties that helped explain the character, and the comic book aesthetic that was unique when compared to manga, animation, or other forms of art. We will look at this in the next blog. Were there any Hulk artists that you enjoyed? Were you familiar with the work of Bernie Wrightson? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!