Why Marvel’s Original Incredible Hulk Series Was Quickly Canceled

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Hulk is certainly one of the most famous characters in Marvel Comics; Before Marvel films took over the multiplexes, Hulk was one of the publishers’ few characters (along with Spider-Man, Wolverine and maybe Captain America) that ordinary people knew. The Hulk’s fame is largely due to the 1970s television series “Incredible Hulk,” starring Bill Bixby as Dr. Banner and Lou Ferrigno as his green alter ego. Taking its cue from “The Fugitive,” the “Hulk” TV series stripped away the colorful extravagance of the comics without losing the solemnity of the Hulk’s tortured half-man, half-monster self.

Yet even though the Hulk was a TV star, he didn’t have as much luck in the movies. Neither the 2003 nor 2008 Hulk films were major hits, and due to disagreements between Universal and Marvel Studios, the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) film is strictly a supporting player. The Hulk’s difficulties finding a mainstream audience dates back to the earliest Marvel comics. The original “Incredible Hulk” series, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, only lasted six issues. Yes, six, released from July 1962 to March 1963, before cancellation due to low sales.

Due to reader feedback and apparent reluctance to pitch a good idea, Lee kept Hulk as a guest star in other books. Eventually, Hulk got a second chance in the “Tales to Astonish” series, starting with issue #60. Hulk first shared the book, first with Ant-Man & The Wasp, then Namor the Sub-Mariner, but in issue #102, “Tales to Astonish” was renamed “The Incredible Hulk”. Why did the book need this second chance? Even with only six issues, the original “Incredible Hulk” series reeks of inconsistency and a creative team that doesn’t quite know what to do with the series.

Stan Lee’s Marvel Universe was a pioneer, but the man himself was a savvy trend hunter who cultivated reader feedback. In “Up, Up, and Oy Vey” (about how Jews, like Lee and Kirby, shaped the American comic book industry), Rabbi Simcha Weinstein described the Hulk as Lee’s “recall” to the popularity of the Thing from “Fantastic Four,” that is, another muscular but tragic monster-like hero.

Lee and Kirby also took inspiration from classic science fiction with the Hulk, particularly “Frankenstein” and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” The fourth issue of “The Incredible Hulk,” in which Hulk saves a family from a burning house and is rewarded with screams and gunfire, is straight out of “Frankenstein.” Lee and Kirby imagined an atomic origin for the Hulk, with Doctor Bruce Banner being transformed into a monster thanks to his invention, the “gamma bomb”. Hulk was Mr. Hyde throughout the monster comics and B movies of the 20th century.

So what went wrong? In a column published in issue 118 of “Marvel Age” in 1992, Lee claimed that “The Incredible Hulk” had sold well to First of allbut was ousted by Marvel’s other superhero successes like Spider-Man, Thor, the Avengers and the X-Men. Stan Lee was a famous self-mythologist, however, and some of the details here don’t add up. “X-Men” and “Avengers” debuted later in 1963 After “Hulk” was canned. The strongest explanation is that the first “Hulk” comics didn’t sell because they weren’t up to par, and their bimonthly publication probably didn’t help attract regular readers.

“The Incredible Hulk” has often redefined the rules for how Hulk transformations work. First Banner transforms into the Hulk at night, then the Hulk became a golem controlled by Banner’s teenage sidekick Rick Jones, then Banner develops a ray that transforms him into the Hulk at will.

Aside from General Thunderbolt Ross as the main antagonist, these six issues also have no memorable villains, only idiots like Mongu the Space Gladiator or the Metal Master. As current Marvel editor-in-chief Tom Brevoort noted, the Hulk concept stemmed from Lee and Kirby’s experience creating monster comics for Marvel (then Timely) in the 1950s. “The Incredible Hulk” combined those comics with a superhero formula and it didn’t really work.

Regardless, Lee claimed in (“Marvel Age” #118) that the “Hulkophiles” had written into Marvel’s bullpen demanding more from the Jolly Green Giant. “Stand up, stand up and Oy Vey!” backed this up with an anecdote that Kirby had received a letter from students saying that the Hulk had been chosen as the dorm’s mascot. (Incidentally, the letters page of “Tales to Astonish” #61 includes a letter from two students claiming that the Hulk in “Avengers” and “Fantastic Four” had become too morose.)

Although Lee returned to write the Hulk’s adventures in “Tales to Astonish” (now drawn by Steve Ditko), he ultimately managed to refine the character. The key to Banner’s transformations was established to be stress, later refined into anger. With only 10 pages for Hulk, “Tales to Astonish” introduced serialization and often ended Hulk stories on cliffhangers. Lee also introduced the Leader as a permanent villain in issue #62, making the Hulk a late foe. “Tales to Astonish” #77-78 thankfully removed the secret identity; Banner is introduced as the Hulk and becomes a hunted man, setting up the plan for Bill Bixby’s show.

“Influential” underplays Lee’s co-creations at Marvel Comics but, really, only Fantastic Four and Spider-Man were instant gold. Others, like the X-Men, Daredevil, and The Hulk, took longer to refine what we know them to be today.