CSBG Archive
John Seavey’s Storytelling Engines: The Hulk
Here’s the latest Storytelling Engine from John Seavey. Check out more of them at his blog, Fraggmented.
Storytelling Engines: The Hulk
(or “Engine Elasticity”)
Everyone knows how the storytelling engine of the Incredible Hulk goes. There’s Bruce Banner, brilliant-but-timid scientist, who’s being chased by the hot-tempered, obsessive General Thunderbolt Ross. When Banner gets angry, he changes into the Hulk, a big, green, dumb guy with unbelievable strength, who smashes everything around him in a rage. (Which is, natch, why Ross is chasing him.) Meanwhile, Banner searches for a cure to his condition so he can reunite with his beloved Betty…who happens to be Thunderbolt Ross’s daughter, in a classic case of divided loyalties.
Unsurprisingly, that storytelling engine doesn’t actually show up as much as you’d think when you sit down and read the Hulk. Why? Because it’s a terrible storytelling engine, that’s why. It’s a false status quo, for a start–Banner can’t ever cure himself of being the Hulk, and Ross can’t ever catch him, because either way, the comic would end. The Hulk is a passive character–not as maddeningly passive as the Man-Thing is, but still very limited in his ability to shape the storyline. He either wants to smash it, or he ignores it. Most Hulk villains have to essentially goad him into beating them up, sort of like a kid who throws rocks at a “mean” dog until it snaps at him. And there are very few easy story hooks in this engine–Ross is only interested in catching Banner, Banner is only interested in curing himself of the Hulk, and Betty…the less said about Betty Ross the better, but let’s just say she won’t be a spokesperson for the National Organization for Women any time soon. The stories using this engine quickly become repetitive, which reduces the interest of both writer and audience over time.
And yet, this is the model the Hulk always returns to sooner or later. More than any other series, the Hulk departs its own storytelling engine to build a new one; the Hulk gets smart, he gets pardoned, he goes into space, he goes into another dimension, he gets split in two, he gets cured, he becomes amoral, he becomes a member of a secret organization of immortal warriors and then goes into space…but always, it seems like we go back to “Hulk smash puny humans” sooner or later. Why?
Because, as stated in the opening of the post, everyone knows how the storytelling engine of the Hulk goes. The vast majority of Hulk readers, even true-blue comic geeks, are as familiar with the Hulk cartoon, the Hulk TV series, and the Hulk movie as they are with the Hulk comic (in fact, unless you’re a devoted fan of the Hulk comic, you’re probably more familiar with the TV series than the comic.) It’s a repetitive formula that doesn’t work very well over extended periods, but it’s also an iconic, simple idea that makes a deep impression when you first see/read it. So while the Hulk engine has to stretch away from the iconic central concept in order to get room to tell plenty of stories, it inevitably “snaps” back to that concept, because it’s what we think of as who the Hulk is. Even if a single writer swears they’ll never go back to “Hulk Smash” stories, no writer lasts forever on a title. And sooner or later, someone’ll come along who remembers what Hulk comics “should” be like. They should be about the Hulk. Smashing things. And being chased by the military.
And, of course, the magical purple pants that change size when he does.
10 Comments
chroom
May 22, 2007 at 11:32 am
I always wondered about the pants. Did no one think it strange that nuclear physicists ran around wearing purple stretchy pants? In 1963?
And what about Rick Jones just kind of casually walking wherever he wanted on that base? My own military experience would indicate that a few hundred courts-martial would be in order for that kind of security.
That said, though, HULK VOL.1 has surprisingly turned out to be one of my favorite Essentials thus far. Go figure.
Thanks for keeping this up, John. I really enjoy this feature.
Evan Waters
May 22, 2007 at 1:34 pm
“Sometimes, you wear stretchy pants.”
(I’ve never actually seen NACHO LIBRE but it seemed appropriate.)
What’s weird is that I have the cheap Barnes & Noble version of the first HULK Marvel Masterworks volume, which just has the first attempt at the series, and it’s interesting that from the start Lee & Kirby (and Ditko) weren’t really clear what the character should be. They changed the status quo around a LOT- from how he transformed, to how intelligent he was as the Hulk, etc. It took years of developing him in other titles for even the status quo we have to get established.
(I’m testing this without my link to see if it goes through. I’ve been having problems.)
The Mutt
May 22, 2007 at 1:38 pm
I was never a big Hulk fan, but my memory of the early years is that Rick Jones was a major player in the stories. Why no discussion of him?
Parker
May 22, 2007 at 2:26 pm
That triangle may have not always have been done right, but when it is, it’s the heart of the book because it does what Kirby and Lee did best when their concepts are really clicking. On the surface it’s a mythical conflict among gods, titan vs. armies and their common weak spot of a woman’s love- but when you look underneath it’s a basic dynamic as old as humanity. An angry father battling this younger, powerful guy who isn’t good enough for his daughter.
chroom
May 23, 2007 at 3:02 am
You’re right about the ever-changing staus quo, Evan. It seemes like Stan Lee really had no idea what he wanted to do with the Hulk other than “irradiated Jekyll-and-Hyde”. The triangle seems like pretty standard early Marvel material, but the fluidity of the Hulk’s situation (and of the character himself) was a little more unusual.
I for one prefer him in “Hulk Smash!” mode In fact, other than the constant references to rape and cannibalism, I think the Ultimate Hulk is an excellent encapsulation of the character. You get Banner at his most pathetic, contrasted with a Hulk who is basically a rogue nuke and is treated as such by the rest of the world.
Scary superpowerful Hulk is definitely my favorite. God help me, I’m actually consdering reading “WWHulk” now.
David C
May 23, 2007 at 8:10 am
Wasn’t there an awful long stretch where the basic storytelling engine described above *also* included Ross and the Army not being able to figure out that Banner and the Hulk were the same person, despite regularly finding Banner wandering around wearing nothing but torn stretch purple pants?
Even if it wasn’t a long stretch, if it was more than, like, 2 issues, it was too long….
Malfred
May 23, 2007 at 10:44 am
So, the obvious standing challenge to any enterprising writer would be to find a way to make this engine chug along for an appreciable time (perpetual motion being a myth even in comics) while deftly avoiding the inevitable rut for as long as possible.
Maybe tell a series of stories from the points of view of successive victims and then have their stories intertwine. Perhaps this has been done. I never read The Hulk…I always had a weakness for interesting characters.
stephen cade
May 23, 2007 at 6:12 pm
I loved the Mr Fixit stories, and the Grey Hulk ones before that–they were different and interesting expositions of the character, and some wonderful stretches–but I knew they couldn’t/wouldn’t stay that way.
Rohan Williams
May 23, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Evan and chroom are so right. In those early Hulk issues, it’s as if Stan and Jack knew they had an absoltuely kick-ass concept there, but just weren’t able to figure out what to do with it.
The way the book lurches from one ‘status quo’ to another over the course of six issues is pretty interesting, especially when you consider that after all that, it ends up settling on the simplest (and most powerful) option.
John Seavey
May 24, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Incidentally, after reading all four volumes, I’d credit Roy Thomas with coming up with the “classic” Hulk. He had varying degrees of intellect and personality all the way through Stan Lee’s run on the title; it really wasn’t until Thomas wrote him that the Hulk settled into the distinctive dumb, green monster we all remember. Thomas, in particular, came up with the Hulk speech patterns…”Hulk smash puny humans! Why can soldiers not leave Hulk alone? Stupid Leader thinks he is stronger than Hulk. But Hulk is strongest one there is!” And so on.