One Hulk, Two Hulk, Green Hulk, Red Hulk Or Wait, Why is the Hulk Red?

With the release of Captain America: New World Order, We — as a comicbook aficionado, historian, journalist, and creator for over 60 years — have been repeatedly asked by several of our non-comics friends and family this very same question, “Wait, why is the Hulk red? (and when did he become red?)” Well funny story about all that, this didn’t just happen with this film, but the seeds of which were planted way back before the creation of the Marvel Universe. Back then, Marvel was still mostly Westerns and Monster comics. Before the introduction of the character we now know as the Hulk, there was another “Hulk”, In Journey Into Mystery #62 (1960) the psychic predator, Xemnu, created by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, and was referred to as "the Hulk" before Bruce Banner's version even existed. Then, later in ’62 When Banner came on the scene, he transformed into a gray Hulk, but we’ll get to that in a minute, first, we want to talk about Chris Giarrusso and a strip he created called Bullpen Bits (which later evolved into Mini Marvels) that ran on the Bullpen Bulletin Pages in Marvel comics beginning in 1999. (Oh, if you want to know what I think of the actual Captain America film check out my review, over here).

We mention Chris because it was in his strip with little cartoon characters of the various Marvel characters (Giarrusso described it as Marvel done “Peanuts style” doing silly things. According to Chris it was in 2008 that Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness created the Red Hulk in the regular Marvel Universe. later Paul Tobin, Sean McKeever, and Marc Sumerak, each contributed to the Mini Marvels run of stories. Later on, Jeph’s daughter, Audrey, while in high school, got the gig writing the Mini Hulks strip soon after with art by me. It was a Mini Marvel adaptation of an already existing character. Neither Chris or Audrey had any hand in the creation of Red Hulk. but it was Audrey's idea to include a Blue Hulk, which was unique to the strip. The Mini Marvels strip eventually graduating into a series of full-sized one-shot comics and trade paperbacks.

In addition to the regular Marvel characters that were being spoofed in that strip, Audrey, Chris Giarrusso and later Paul Tobin, Sean McKeever, and Marc Sumerak, all contributed to the Mini Marvels run of stories. Needless to say, the very concept of different colored Hulks apparently garnered enough traction amongst the Marvel staff that they made their way into the mainstream Marvel books. Still, it is important to understand that when Hulk first appeared in Incredible Hulk #1 (1962) co-created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby he was in fact gray. According to Marvel Lore, when that book appeared in print the actual coloring process of comics wasn’t sophisticated enough to maintain the same gray hue throughout (causing the Hulk to range in color from light to dark gray, to purple to blue to green, so the decision was made to color him green going forward).

Thus, it wasn’t until the second issue that the Hulk appeared as “normal” green self (Incredible Hulk #2, May 1962). Therefore, it was a green Hulk that existed in comics (with him later appearing from 1977–1982 on our TV screens in the form of Lou Ferrigno (with Bill Bixby portraying his alter ego of David Bruce Banner. Then, back in the comicbooks, in February of 1980, Bruce Banner’s Cousin, Jennifer Walters, was involved in a near fatal accident and received a transfusion of Bruce’s irradiated blood which transformed her into the Savage She-Hulk. (In 2022 She Hulk also got her own TV series on Disney+ with Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer and Malia Arrayah She-Hulk.

Interestingly enough, when the series was announced there were some conservative newsreaders who bemoaned the “Woke agenda” of a female hulk, without realizing that the character had been created some 40 years earlier, and not so much as an attempt to create a progressive character, but as a way for Marvel to protect their copyright on the name “Hulk” as a superhero.) In fact, during the run of The Incredible Hulk TV series, in a recorded interview, a journalist even asked Bill Bixby if there had been any talk of a female Hulk showing up, which Bixby thought was a good idea, but never actually occurred in the show.

Back in the Marvel comics, in 2015 the character, Amadeus Cho, also became a green Hulk, (The Totally Awesome Hulk #1), after being exposed to a concentrated dose of gamma radiation while attempting to save his friends from a villainous attack, essentially mirroring the origin story of Bruce Banner, this radiation triggered a similar transformation within Cho’s body, allowing him to turn into a powerful, green Hulk-like form. Two other gamma-irradiated characters (villains, actually) in the Hulk mythos are the Abomination (Emil Blonsky (1967), played by Tim Roth in The Incredible Hulk, 2008 and She-Hulk ‘22) and The Leader (Samuel Sterns, 1967) played by Tim Blake Nelson in both The Incredible Hulk (2008), and Captain America Brave New World (2025)

The Gray Hulk eventually reappeared in Incredible Hulk #324 (July 1986) while Peter David was writing the series. In this incarnation, Gray Hulk wasn’t so much of raging monster, as he was a Vegas crime boss named “Mr. Joe Fixit”. It wasn’t until the mid-to-late 2000s that Hulks began to take on more of a variety of rainbow hues. As noted, before, this began in a humorous strip entitled Bullpen Bits that appeared in various Marvel comics on the Bullpen Bulletins Page, written by Audrey Loeb, Chris Giarrusso, Marc Sumerak, Sean McKeever, and Paul Tobin (and which Giarrusso drew) it was in that strip that tiny red and blue Hulks were introduced.

In January of 2008 Jeph Loeb (Audrey’s father) and Ed McGuinness introduced Red Hulk in a new volume of Hulk comic. At first the actual identity of Red Hulk was unknown, but two years after his introduction, he was revealed to be General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross. (This came as something of a surprise to everyone, as the character of Thunderbolt Ross had been killed some 20 years earlier. No explanation was given for this resurrection. This was, of course, followed in 2009 by the appearance of Red She-Hulk in Hulk (Vol. 2 #15) who turned out to be General Ross’ daughter, Betty, who ultimately morphed into Red Harpy (2019 in Immortal Hulk #16). Betty had been previously transformed into a Green Harpy way back in Incredible Hulk #168 (July 1973).

Other Hulks have included a Purple Hulk who first appeared in Avengers #24 (March 2012) created by Brian Michael Bendis and Daniel Acuna, who turned out to be Norman Osborn (formerly The Green Goblin, one of Spider-Man’s most notorious foes). Norman was given Super Adaptoid technology which he used to absorb all the powers of the Avengers at once, Hulk included… and nearly killing himself in the process. Outside of the comics, Happy Hogan became a purple Hulk during the events of the What If…? animated series.

While an Orange Hulk originally appeared as a playable character in the videogame Marvel vs. Capcom, this Hulk was not given any significance storyline but played slightly different from the standard Hulk later an Orange Hulk was introduced to the comics by Rick Remender and Mark Brooks Uncanny X-Force #12 (July 2011). This “Solar Hulk” was from Earth-295 (the Main Marvel Earth is 616). Orange Hulk seems to have gained his powers from solar radiation in the same way that Bruce Banner traditionally gained his through gamma radiation. It is also implied that he is stronger during daylight hours.

Blue Hulk who became Captain Universe in Incredible Hulk #1 (November 2005) was created by Jay Faerber and Carlos Magno. However, someone else who could well deserve the title of the Blue Hulk is Rick Jones. When Rick was exposed to gamma radiation by the Intelligencia in Hulk (Vol. 2) #2, he became a new type of Abomination, christening himself the ‘A-Bomb’ Hulk. As to why he became blue instead of green, it was assumed that since the Gamma radiation had been combined with other forms of radiation, it altered his skin tone to blue rather than green. He was later cured of the radiation and returned to his human form.

There was also a Brown Hulk who first appeared in The Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2 #13, February 2000). This “Devil Hulk” (which was created by Paul Jenkins and Ron Garney was actually less of a physical monster and more of an inner demon for Bruce Banner to wrestle with intellectually rather than physically.

Then there was a Black Hulk from Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #4 (November 2014) by Rick Remender and Leinil Francis Yu who was the character Kluh (this Hulk was linked to yet another incarnation of a greenish, deformed Hulk, referred to as “Guilt Hulk” who was just one of several split personalities of Banner formed by his abuse by his father Brian Banner.

Next is Yellow Hulk (this one enhanced by the villainous scientific group A.I.M.) who was introduced in Matthew K. Manning and Marcio Fiorito’s Marvel Action: Avengers #9 in 2018. The Yellow Hulk is a result of the godlike Nightmare messing with Captain America’s mind. Nightmare brought Steve Rogers’ nightmares to life, creating a pocket reality where his Avengers allies had been corrupted by the terrorist group Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) The Yellow Hulk is seemingly identical to the Savage Hulk in power and personality, but now A.I.M.’s signature shade of yellow.

Apparently, there is also another individual who is a yellow Hulk, and that is Jackson Lenard who is a character created by the gaming company Legend but eventually used in the Marvel Universe. He is a friend of Dr. Banners who was trying to find a cure for the Hulk but was turned into one himself!

Silver Hulk (otherwise known as Galactus’ Herald was designed by Ron Lim, and appeared in the one-shot comic What If...? Galactus Transformed Hulk? #1 (2025). The story sees Galactus choosing Bruce Banner as his new herald, imbuing him with the Power Cosmic.

Finally, there is actually a White Hulk (a Hulk clone) which appeared in James Kochalka’s story Hulk Squad, Smash! from Strange Tales Volume 5 #1, (September 2, 2009). The White Hulk was essentially written as a joke character in the anthology of weird and wild stories. Needless to say, given the nature of Marvel’s multiverse it means this character does officially exist in Marvel canon, and he’s described as part of a team of experimental Hulk clones created by the government.

Actually, there is “technically” one more Hulk-like character, and that is a “Skin-Tone Hulk” (Doc Samson), a psychiatrist who attempted to steal Hulk’s powers. While Samson became incredibly muscular, only his hair turned green. In the past, Bruce Banner has shown the rare ability to use his Hulk strength when still in human form (see Bruce Jones and Mike Deodato’s Jr.’s Incredible Hulk Volume 2 #50, 2003), suggesting he too qualifies for the ‘skin-tone Hulk’ title.

As a postscript to all of this, our friend, Ray Felix has independently developed a Red Hulk-type character that he wound up using in his own Bronx Heroes comic series A World Without Superheroes. That character eventually came to be known as Rampage. and went on to appear in Bronx Villains #1 from Ray’s production company Bronx Heroes.

Oh Canada!

I've long had a love of and desire to collect specialty comics. That is to say comics that either contain corporate characters selling or appearing in comics that are sponsored by other companies (not their respective publishers) or comics where the characters are pushing some sort of pro-social cause. Quite a few of these comics have been from Marvel, DC, and Archie, and I have amassed quite a few of them. 

Recently I acquired one that came out way back in 2001 for which I had long been searching. Well it arrived the other day and I've just finished reading it, and while I enjoyed it, I do have just one minor beef with it, which I plan on sharing with all'y'all now. 

As you can plainly see, the comic in question is Marvel's Wolverine Son of Canada, which was subsidized by Doritos/Lays, and was issued only in Canada. In this comic, native son Wolverine, along with Spider-Man and The Hulk get sucked through a vortex and wind up in The Great White North (where they eventually meet up with Storm, Captain America, Silver Surfer, Thing, and Thor all of whom have been captured by minions of Blastaar). 

To cut to the chase, the heroes manage to free their friends, and defeat Blastaar and his minions with relative ease (hey, it's only a 16-page comic with 2 pages of ads). My issue is this. I found a typo (printo, really as it was probably hand lettered). The error came on page two where Wolverine says "This is Vancouver, British Columbia." and Spider-Man responds, "Canada? Where in Canada? which makes no sense as Wolverine just said that they were in Vancouver, British Columbia. Causing me to think that Spidey was supposed to have said "We're in Canada? which would have made much more sense.

(I placed arrows on the art so you could better see what I was talking about above. 

Not a big deal, but, honestly, my editor-sense was buzzing.

Having gone through that, I just wanted to add one more image from the comic, which is a shot of Cabot Tower on Signal Hill in Newfoundland, but only because my good buddy Roger Keel lives in Newfoundland, and I thought he might be entertained by its inclusion in the comic. 

Well, that's all I have for today, now I have to get back to my real work so I can go catch the last matinee of Captain America New World Order later today. 

Tales from Section 12 & Beyond

Recently we were at a local comicbook show where we reconnected with Len Mihalovich, a comicbook writer/creator who penned several stories for various titles for Mythic Comics & Entertainment Group. These days he helms his own publishing corner of the Indieverse with Lenovations Press, and we not only caught up on old times, but we also picked up three of his comics at the show; Avenger New Blood #1, Fantastic Fan Boys Adventures #1, and Section 12 Antarctic Special #1 Search for Tomorrow with Tomorrow Girl.

Section 12 was created by Len Mihalovich in 1994 and published first by Dilemma Productions as part of an anthology and then in its own series from Mythic Comics. 

Avenger New Blood resurrects the legacy of the Golden Age (formerly Magazine Entertainment, now Public Domain) character, Avenger. In the first story of the issue, we meet wealthy scientist Roger Wright who became the superhero Avenger to retaliate against the Soviet agents who tortured and killed his brother. While the Avenger had no powers, he does have his own inventions on which to fall back, most notably his VTOL aircraft, Starjet and Dissolver pistol. The Avenger also possessed a utility belt containing items for almost any occasion. The first tale is from the past where Avenger and his (not sidekick, but personal filmographer) Martin “Booker Roberts, but we, for the purpose of this story are focused on Avengers granddaughter, Erica, who, though a criminal, is apparently being recruited to be the New Avenger, hence the “new Blood” aspect of the story..

Fantastic Fan Boys Adventures is about four young friends who join forces to fight evil with the greatest weapon of all, their imaginations and the comics they create to fight crime, and all before dinner. That’s the premise of this comic. As comic fans seem to have a knack for diving deep into the worlds they adore, dissecting characters and stories to apply real-world logic to comic-book science. These four friends not only create characters and scenarios, but then, once the talk has been played out, the other members do their best to dissect the tale as presented. In this issue, we discover the Fanboys’ origin stories, meet our newest hero, the Living Rocket, and witness the return of Track Suit Man. All told, it’s a wonderful comic full of adventures you’ll want to read.

The third book we scored from Len was Section 12 Antarctic Special which kicks off a three-issue miniseries with Antarctic Press and brings Ben Dunn’s character Tomorrow Girl into Lenovations Section 12 series of comics. According to a statement from Lenovations Press, “We are thrilled to unveil our first ever mini-series that brings together two comic book universes.” This collaboration has Tomorrow Girl — a fan-favorite character from Antarctic Press — teaming up with Lenovations’ super-team, Section 12.

Created by Ben Dunn, Tomorrow Girl first appeared in Antarctic Press’ Ninja High School V2 #1 as part of the Tomorrow Man family and the Ninja High School universe. Tomorrow Girl (Heidi) is 16 years old and attends Quagmire High School. Section 12 follows a top-secret government project employing super-powered individuals to contain scientific failures. With this three-issue crossover, Tomorrow Girl (in her own universe) goes up against a robot operated by a Professor Von Zoot, and gets tossed out of her own universe and into Section 12’s.

The fun part of this crossover is partly from the fact that in her own book, she is rendered in a very cartoony style, however, while in Section 12’s, she is depicted in a more realistic image. Unfortunately for her, once the universe shift, occurs, one of the monstrous, killer robots follows her into Section 12’s world and continues to weak havoc. Once she stops the robot, she is interviewed by a less than reputable reporter who casts Tomorrow Girl as a rogue alien who came here to attack the citizens of Earth. Fortunately, members of Section 12 see the broadcast and already know that the reporter is more interested in scandalous reporting than facts, and vow to track down Tomorrow Girl and resuscitate her heroic nature.

These books are  not only all ages, but pure fun, and (for us at the very least) harken back to an era of the entertaining comics of our youth which were there for the fun read, and not over-dubbed with any sort of agenda save that of heroes helping regular folks.