Hulk

The 1960's Incredible Hulk cartoon is in my opinion the best of its kind. It very cleverly recreates the mood and feel of Stan Lee/Jack Kirby's early and later Hulk stories from firstly The Incredible Hulk and later Tales to Astonish. For the first time also, the animation employed by the Grantray-Lawrence company suits the subject it is based on. This Hulk series, like the 1970'S/80'S Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno is supposed to be moody, paranoid, even creepy at times and the animation suits this allowing for action and adventure too. The only problem i have is with the Hulks voice, which doesn't have the rage or sadness that the character needs. He just sounds a little annoyed most of the time. However the series has enough delights and a cool and memorable theme song to boot, and is a classic of its kind.

I've reviewed the stylistic elements of the Marvel Superheroes cartoons (which are all pretty interchangeable between the various series)under the blanket title and won't rehash those here. I will say that this show has some of the strangest theme songs you'll ever hear, very bright and sunny for a show about a rampaging monster. And while the Thing may be ever loving, that description doesn't quite fit the Hulk so well.

Don't be mislead by some of the negative comments you may have read. They just don't get what the creators were going for. Some say that the animation for the 1966 Hulk cartoon is poor. What they fail to realize is that the lack of animation was INTENTIONAL. The creators intended to bring the pages of Jack Kirby's Hulk comics to TV. Each scene in this cartoon was essentially a page straight from the comic with voice-overs added. They were going for an authentic comic book look and feel here. I've seen all the 1960's Marvel superheroes cartoons and they all lacked animation for the very same reason.So if you don't like the Hulk's animation, you wont like the animation for Captain America, Sub Mariner, Iron Man, Mighty Thor, or Spider-man either.

As far as the Hulk theme song goes, it's comparable to the other 1960's Marvel superhero cartoons. They were all sung by the same people and in similar style. So it makes little sense to say Captain America's or Spider-man's theme song is great but the Hulk's isn't. I liked all the theme songs. They all have a certain classic charm, especially if you grew up watching these cartoons. In the end I recommend the 1966 Hulk cartoon mostly for Jack Kirby fans and classic comic book fans. Any true comic book fan would know what the creators were aiming for with this cartoon. They did Jack Kirby justice.

This show was basically early 1960's Hulk comics animated the crudest possible way. Early issues of THE INCREDIBLE HULK, THE AVENGERS, and TALES TO ASTONISH were used. The original drawings by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were taken from the comic and moved around with minimal animation, accompanied by narration. I know it was the 60's, but they could have came up with real animation to add some fluidity to the characters, like some of the other cartoons at the time. Unless you're a huge Hulk fan, or you remember watching this as a kid in the late 60's, you'll be extremely bored by it. The only cool things from this show were the voices (which were brilliantly cast, although the HULK himself was probably the poorest of the bunch) an appearance by Iron Man, Thor and the rest of the Avengers in one episode, seeing the legendary Jack Kirby's art, seeing some old school villains like the Toad Men and the Metal Master, and of course one of the coolest opening theme songs of all time. "Wrecking the town with the power of a bull. Ain't no monster crowned who is as lovable" They don't write theme songs like that anymore.

I remember watching the Incredible Hulk and the other Marvel Superheroes every day on tv after school when I was a little boy. I thought that it was pretty cool, watching my favorite comic book heroes on tv. Looking at them again brings back fond memories.

Watching these old cartoons, it is quite apparent that they wanted to get these shows out of the studio and on the air as quickly as possible!

In the Marvel Superheroes Series, although the color was vibrant, the animators simply used the drawings of Jack Kirby straight out of the comic book, and animated one or two parts of the character (or in some cases, simply moved a static picture of the character across the background to simulate walking), which I imagine saved a lot of time and money. This gave the cartoon a very stiff and cheap look compared to it's counterparts of the day.

Today, with the aid of computer technology, animation is much sharper and makes cartoons like the old Marvel Superheroes look very primitive in comparison.

One thing that is noteworthy is that the story lines in the Marvel Superhero cartoons (compared to story lines in today's cartoons) were always well written. Each story was faithfully recreated from the comic books on which they were based on. Todays cartoons have to rely on their sharp look to keep their viewers watching, with very little attention to the plot - that's why very few of them last more than a season.

The voice acting in this series is excellent! Whenever I think of The Hulk, I always hear the gravely voice of Max Ferguson from the cartoon series in my head..."NO ONE CAN STOP THE HUUUUUUULK"!

So, if you're looking for cutting edge animation, rent Titan A.E. or Princess Mononoke. But if you're looking for great story telling, good clean fun and action, as well as a unique way to enjoy some great comic book art work from a legend, I would definitely recommend The Incredible Hulk and the rest of the Marvel Superheroes Series!