Incredible Hulk (1st Series) #1

Collector Notes:

Issue one sees Hulk as grey in colour before becoming green owing to a printing error with issue #2 but the colour stuck as Stan Lee liked it, claiming it made Hulk look more gamma ray-radiated.

The Hulk then next appears as a regular feature in Tales To Astonish #59 and with #102 Tales To Astonish is re-titled The Incredible Hulk (2nd Series). Under this new name the series lasted thirty more years until it finally concluded with issue #474.

#1 (May 1962) Origin and 1st appearance of The Hulk (grey). Jack Kirby cover and art. Very hard to find in higher grades which is true for both pence and cents copies owing to dark blue cover.

The UK variant edition has the exact same contents and cover as the American edition apart from the price and cover date and some distributor information inside. All six early UK editions of The Incredible Hulk have the price circle which says 9d (ninepence) instead of 12c (twelve cents) and the date box has no month. All six issues were distributed across the UK though in varying degrees as detailed in the individual listings information. All these comics were printed at the same time with the same paper stock but switching a different cover plate at the end of the print run.

It is thought that somewhere between 2-3% of the print run was UK variant editions for distribution to the UK and some on to South Africa and Australasia (I have seen a Hulk #1 pence copy with a South African rand stamp). Look for reprints of early Hulk stories in British comics like Smash! from issue #16 onwards (dated 1967), Marvel Annual 1974 and particularly in The Mighty World of Marvel in 1972 which brought the Silver Age Hulk to whole new generation of British kids.

Character(s):

Hulk (Robert Bruce Banner)

Age:

Silver Age

Credit: