Image Vault: Spidey Vs. Hulk

ONE DAY WHILE SAVING THE WORLD..! (184k)

For some reason, I really like this one. It's another one of my images from Neefer's collection, drawn some time in 1991. During that time, Peter David's "Incredible Hulk" run was in full swing, starring the merged Hulk (later dubbed the "Professor" persona during Paul Jenkin's run, but really he was just a giant bully with the intellect to match). Spidey's summary of the Hulk's volatile backstory was cobbled together from my OHOTMU TPBs and then-recent issues. And it only scratches the surface of how messed up the Hulk was at the time.

Of course, the thing that sets the Hulk apart from most characters in comics is that his status quo is constantly in flux, and has to stay that way for the concept to work. Thanks to the pop-psychological nature of the Hulk as a violent manifestation of Banner's multiple personality disorder, each new creative team can make up new rules and shift to any persona for the character they feel will suit the stories they want to tell. If the book starts to flounder, they can dump it all and start from scratch without pretending the past never happened... an option a lot of comics don't have today, with 40+ years of backstory to keep track of and no convenient MPD to make everybody forget.

Bruce Jones is currently writing the character very close to the TV series incarnation, with an emphasis on the horror and suspense that comes along with a guy who can't help toppling a few buildings when you piss him off. It's probably the most popular the title has been since 1991 when Dale Keown and Peter David were on a roll. This current phase will pass eventually like all the others and the Hulk will be interpreted another way, and so it will be as long as the property is going.

As for the art... I would like to think I've at least gained a better grasp of how to draw thighs...