The Gamma Files- Lets talk about all things Incredible Hulk

I want to use this forum topic to discuss the Hulk and show off Hulk related collectables, and discuss Hulk cartoons, TV shows, movies and whatever. I'll share some pics of my collection aver the next few days. I just have to snap some new ones as my comic/toy room underwent a renovation recently. Feel free to share your pics, stories or comments on anything here.

For this first post I'm going to share a bit of my history with the character.

As a lot of my friends here at TXI know. I'm a HUGE fan of The Incredible Hulk. I'm not sure how old I was when I commandeered my older brothers Hulk comics. I'm pretty sure I wasn't in school yet. So maybe 4 years old or so. I didn't even really read them yet. I just liked the images and got the gist of the story from the pictures. Then probably sometime around 1979 or 1980 I got an 8" Mego Hulk and now I was pumped because I play out the comics. Then somewhere along the way came my 12" Mego Hulk that I still have to this day. That figure has been with me ever since. On a shelf or packed in a box that Hulk is my life long buddy. Around 1982 or 83 I started watching the live action Hulk TV show in reruns on the local French language station. I couldn't understand much of what was dubbed over in French, but I didn't care it was HULK!!!! Years later my cousin Kevin told me he hated watching that show with me because I drove him nuts running around the room roaring like Hulk. 1982 brought the Hulk cartoon on Saturday mornings. I was in heaven yet again.

Like most kids of the 80s I went through all the big toy lines. Star Wars, GI Joe, He-Man, MASK, etc etc etc. But the Hulk was always there, even if just in the backround. Into teenage years other things took over my attention. Mainly girls and getting through the hell of junior high and high school. Not much love for the big green guy during this time. Damn growing up   .

Hulk popped into my mind at different times over the years but life was going in other directions in my 20s and early 30s. My parents moved out of our old house around 2009 or so and I had to move the rest of my old stuff out. I found my old Hulk 12" Mego!! I put him on a shelf and the seeds were being planted. Sometime in 2011 I dug out my old comics and on top of the pile were my old Hulk books . I was becoming disenchanted with Star Wars collecting around that time so I decided to pick up some Hulk books to fill in some holes in my old collection. That got the fire started   . Then came a search for Hulk figures. Then Hulk "stuff" and on and on. Now it's 2015 and I have a near complete set of Hulk comics from issue 184 to the latest issue this month. I'm slowly working on the older books now. I've picked up a nice assortment of Hulk stuff as well. I've even painted my collecting room purple and green.

I'm not sure why The Hulk has always been my favorite and why I latched onto the character so early in life. Maybe it has something to do with being a small nerdy, picked on kid. Maybe I saw myself in Bruce Banner. A small guy who got angry and wanted to lash out at his tormenters. Whatever the reason I love Ol' Jade Jaws.

This picture shows my old original 12" Mego Hulk on the left. The boxed one I picked up about four years ago from Joe Y.

Really cool to hear your Hulk background story Paul

I enjoy all the movies and the Bill Bixby series too but my wife has a extra special childhood love for the Hulk like you do

Which actor do you prefer as Banner in the recent movies ?

ourchickenshack wrote:Really cool to hear your Hulk background story Paul

I enjoy all the movies and the Bill Bixby series too but my wife has a extra special childhood love for the Hulk like you do

Which actor do you prefer as Banner in the recent movies ?

That's a tough one for me. I like all the recent actors who have played Banner. Eric Bana from the 2003 movie played a Banner that always had the rage just under the surface. Edward Norton played a classic Bill Bixby type Banner. Kind and mild mannered. Rage came when someone needed help. Mark Ruffalo kind of combines the two. I like how in Age of Ultron they made him look like the constant fight to keep Hulk in check takes a toll on you. He looked like hell the whole movie,

But I have to say my favorite would have to be Edward Norton just because he put me so much in mind of Bill Bixby onscreen.

What's your wife's story on Hulk?

I'd love to meet Lou sometime.

kisstour03 wrote:That's a tough one for me. I like all the recent actors who have played Banner. Eric Bana from the 2003 movie played a Banner that always had the rage just under the surface. Edward Norton played a classic Bill Bixby type Banner. Kind and mild mannered. Rage came when someone needed help. Mark Ruffalo kind of combines the two. I like how in Age of Ultron they made him look like the constant fight to keep Hulk in check takes a toll on you. He looked like hell the whole movie,

But I have to say my favorite would have to be Edward Norton just because he put me so much in mind of Bill Bixby onscreen.

What's your wife's story on Hulk?

Agreed on Norton's portrayal of Hulk - of course that could e just because I really like him as a actor in general

Julie had a cousin (Brandon) that was a couple years younger then her that spent a lot of time with her growing up and they became very close . I guess he was a huge Hulk fan and they watched the tv series together , stole her older brothers comics to read together and got in trouble for shredding each others pants legs so they would be more Hulk like

Julie had a Big Green Machine Big Wheel and Brandon had a Incredible Hulk Big Wheel too

Unfortunately Brandon died at a very young age in a car accident so now , any time she see's the Hulk , it brings back fond memories of the times she had with her cousin

I was a pretty big Hulk fan growing up. I never got into comics (Walking Dead remains the ONLY comic I have ever read more than 2 issues of, never mind followed the series), but the show was airing right in that same time period as ANH and ESB. I remember in cooler weather, I had a denim jacket with all kinds of buttoned areas. I would pretend to be Banner, "get angry", and then pop open all the buttons on my jacket and just have it attached to me with the top button on my neck. I guess I figured that gave me the torn jacket look Hulk had when he first metamorphosed.

My only Mego WGSH figures growing up were Batman & Robin, and Hulk. Man, I loved that thing, even after I snapped the knee joint.

I was very disappointed in the 2003 Ang Lee movie. Liked the 2008 movie better. However, I think Mark Ruffalo is the perfect Banner in the modern era. I'm not the greatest Avengers fan, but Hulk stole the show, especially in the first one.

Oh, and Paul, I met Lou Ferrigno a few years ago in Toronto. Actually, it was more a passing hello. It was at a Toronto con, and I was only really there for the SW actors. Saw Lou and said hello though. Got to shake his hand. Very nice guy from my experience. I would have liked to have met Bill Bixby even more though. RIP.

Ian

kisstour03 wrote:
I'd love to meet Lou sometime.

Paul, you have your chance!!!

I know it's a trip, but if you have any way of making it to Niagara Falls the weekend of June 3-5, they have a pretty good convention there. A lot of the guest list has already been announced, and lo and behold, look who is there!

http://www.nfcomiccon.com/guests



Feel like taking your vacation in Ontario?

Personally, I'm going for the WWE guys (I'm a big wrestling nut, and Shawn Michaels is my fave of all time, and somehow they managed to get him to a Canadian show, which he NEVER does), as well as Jason Voorhees and Lew Temple (The Walking Dead).

Ian

Ian_C wrote:

kisstour03 wrote:
I'd love to meet Lou sometime.

Paul, you have your chance!!!

I know it's a trip, but if you have any way of making it to Niagara Falls the weekend of June 3-5, they have a pretty good convention there.  A lot of the guest list has already been announced, and lo and behold, look who is there!    

http://www.nfcomiccon.com/guests



Feel like taking your vacation in Ontario?  

Personally, I'm going for the WWE guys (I'm a big wrestling nut, and Shawn Michaels is my fave of all time, and somehow they managed to get him to a Canadian show, which he NEVER does), as well as Jason Voorhees and Lew Temple (The Walking Dead).

Ian

Hmmm. That could be an option. I'd like to meet Shawn Michaels too!!!! He's also my favorite wrestler ever in WWE.

I grew up watching the the Hulk cartoons and the Hulk T.V. show with Lou Ferrigno who I got the chance to meet when I was younger. I was never a huge collector of the Hulk stuff though I am more a Wolverine fan, I seen all the movies and love the Avenger ones with him. He will always be apart of my life though as like most nerdy kids I was picked on lots and always wished I could just turn into him and pound some ass .

But Wolverine sucks .

I'm seriously considering saving up and going to that convention this summer.

One of my grail Hulk items I'd like to find sometime. It's a Parkes Run jumbo size coloring book. I had several of these Hulk ones when I was younger. Along with others from the line. I've never come across one on Ebay or anywhere else.  I do find the odd Star Trek or Wonder Woman one on there and a page from the company catalogue from the 80s. I had a tip about one at a collectables store in Ontario but lost the name of the store. I found this image online.

I've just never been a Wolverine fan. No real reason other than I never read any solo books he was in. And it's fun being the only guy in a comic conversation to say Wolverine sucks.

The funny thing is. When I was a kid there wasn't any one store that seemed to carry Hulk comics consistently from one month to the next. So my collection was mainly the bunch of books I "borrowed" from my brother and the odd newer book we'd find at whatever grocery store or corner store rack. This was the days before comic shops were common. So in the mid to late 80s I actually read more Spider-Man than anything because the little store down the street always carried them. Along with GI Joe and Transformers.  Other characters I only had the odd books here and there and again books from my brothers collection.

I want to share some sort of Hulk image with each post. So here's an item from my collection. A Hulk ice pop mold set my wife bought me last year. I love oddball stuff like this.

I'm thinking it just about time for a Hulk tattoo. I'd either like to get an original design of an image that I really like from one of my childhood books.

Love your collection Paul! I've been so close to buying Megos and that Hulk is easily the coolest one out there. So striking. I don't remember the Megos as a kid though.

I used to be a huge Hulk fan as a kid and it was actually one of the first words I learnt in English. My family still tease me because I used to call him "The Incredible Honk" - with a French accent so I didn't pronounce the "H" haha!

Funnily enough I just read about bronze age 20 Hulk comics for the first time. Really good stuff!

Thanks again for sharing!

ChristianC wrote:Love your collection Paul! I've been so close to buying Megos and that Hulk is easily the coolest one out there. So striking. I don't remember the Megos as a kid though.

I used to be a huge Hulk fan as a kid and it was actually one of the first words I learnt in English. My family still tease me because I used to call him "The Incredible Honk" - with a French accent so I didn't pronounce the "H" haha!

Funnily enough  I just read about bronze age 20 Hulk comics for the first time. Really good stuff!

Thanks again for sharing!

Bronze Age hulk is my favorite!! I have to make time to sit down and read my favorite run again for the milliontith time lol.