Recently, I've been on a Bixby Hulk bender. I've been watching the shows, and to accompany that I've been noting all the documentary material on the series I can scrape up on the Net.
I used to take creator Ken Johnson's stance that the Hulk could not be heard speaking as he had been heard in the comics because it would hurt the believability of the character in a live-action world that wasn't satirical.
It wasn't just the Avengers Hulk-speak that changed my mind on that matter, it was the obvious single-mindnedness that Johnson had on artistic matters that revealed to me that Johnson's ideas weren't always for the best, despite them being passionately voiced.
Johnson's complete remorseless stance on his dedication to eliminating the Hulk's iconic color in favor of the color of anger---red--- is a good example of that. If Bixby's Hulk would have been red, the connection to the icon would have been even more tenuous than it already was. Up to that point, no one had saw him as a red beast---green was so much a part of the character IMHO that they wouldn't have even been able to legitimately do the show that way---unless of course, they titled the show "The Red Hulk" at least that would have been an attempt at discerning that great difference.
Now, of course they eventually had the Hulk appear in the color red in the comics, but, with the Hulk TV show being the characters origins catering to a mainstream audience, I'm just not buying the "Red Hulk" preference from Johnson.
My question to the comicbook readers (the same people who could comment on the Red Hulk in the comics with wisdom) is somewhat regarding the Bixby Hulk--and it's also regarding an aspect of the comics as well.
After Bixby took Johnson's place as main creative controller during the reunion movie era, Bixby's fictional character of Banner/Hulk died, and before plans could be carried out for that version of the Hulk to be "resurrected" in a script called "Revenge Of The Hulk" Bixby died in real life and the 4th reunion movie died with him. In the Revenge story, the Hulk was to be resurrected with Banner's mind controlling the monster.
Now here's the actual question: I know there are various eras of the Hulk comicbook where the Hulk had Banner's mind, but why was that dramatically significant to do for more than an issue?
What stories and or issues of the well-established Banner/Hulk character were of note to explore with Hulk having Banner's brain?
It just seems kinda flat to me---nowhere to go except pale imitations of Thing (Fantastic Four) or Beast (X-Men) type stories. isn't it a huge part of the character's identity to have those two totally different personas---is making a live-action version of that like a serious "Popeye" rendering?
Ruffalo's Hulk can change at will---but then he doesn't have complete control---does he? And even if he does, he can't communicate it---right?
Anyways, just something I've been pondering about. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on the matter.
I used to take creator Ken Johnson's stance that the Hulk could not be heard speaking as he had been heard in the comics because it would hurt the believability of the character in a live-action world that wasn't satirical.
It wasn't just the Avengers Hulk-speak that changed my mind on that matter, it was the obvious single-mindnedness that Johnson had on artistic matters that revealed to me that Johnson's ideas weren't always for the best, despite them being passionately voiced.
Johnson's complete remorseless stance on his dedication to eliminating the Hulk's iconic color in favor of the color of anger---red--- is a good example of that. If Bixby's Hulk would have been red, the connection to the icon would have been even more tenuous than it already was. Up to that point, no one had saw him as a red beast---green was so much a part of the character IMHO that they wouldn't have even been able to legitimately do the show that way---unless of course, they titled the show "The Red Hulk" at least that would have been an attempt at discerning that great difference.
Now, of course they eventually had the Hulk appear in the color red in the comics, but, with the Hulk TV show being the characters origins catering to a mainstream audience, I'm just not buying the "Red Hulk" preference from Johnson.
My question to the comicbook readers (the same people who could comment on the Red Hulk in the comics with wisdom) is somewhat regarding the Bixby Hulk--and it's also regarding an aspect of the comics as well.
After Bixby took Johnson's place as main creative controller during the reunion movie era, Bixby's fictional character of Banner/Hulk died, and before plans could be carried out for that version of the Hulk to be "resurrected" in a script called "Revenge Of The Hulk" Bixby died in real life and the 4th reunion movie died with him. In the Revenge story, the Hulk was to be resurrected with Banner's mind controlling the monster.
Now here's the actual question: I know there are various eras of the Hulk comicbook where the Hulk had Banner's mind, but why was that dramatically significant to do for more than an issue?
What stories and or issues of the well-established Banner/Hulk character were of note to explore with Hulk having Banner's brain?
It just seems kinda flat to me---nowhere to go except pale imitations of Thing (Fantastic Four) or Beast (X-Men) type stories. isn't it a huge part of the character's identity to have those two totally different personas---is making a live-action version of that like a serious "Popeye" rendering?
Ruffalo's Hulk can change at will---but then he doesn't have complete control---does he? And even if he does, he can't communicate it---right?
Anyways, just something I've been pondering about. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on the matter.
Comment