Will the Real Incredible Hulk please stand up?

[Kirk G]

Another website has posted a reprint of the first Hulk Annual with a little one page contest.

See how many of these artist combinations you can guess.  I got them all right, but I can't spell all their names. (See if you can figure out why I titled this, Jack Kirby's Birthday!)

[Kirk G]

OK, so nobody has taken me up on the challenge to name the artists or name the issue numbers for these classics.

I'll try priming the pump, by at least identifying the artists (though I guarantee I will misspell them). I can't quite name the issue numbers, so I'll leave that to you.

[Kirk G]

Here's the few issue numbers that I can  help out with:

Starting from the upper left and dropping down in a vertical stack, we have:

Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers  from the first 5 solo Incredible Hulk issues, circa 1963

Mikey Demo (who he?)

Bill Everett   (from the single Hulk vs. Hercules cover of TTA #78 or so)

John Buscema and Johnny Verporten

2nd column:

Jack Kirby and John Romita  (from a house ad for TTA?)

Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott  (from the cover to TTA #64 or so)

John Romita

Last Column:

Steve Ditko (from the Incredible Hulk solo issue with the Metal Master)

Marie Severin (From TTA #92, with the Silver Surfer, I think, or immediately afterwards)

Herb Trimpe  From anyplace after Incredible Hulk #111 or so

Gil Kane        From the Abmoniation arc in TTA #88 or so

[Captain Comics]

Kirk G said:

Mikey Demo (who he?)

It's "Mickey Demeo," and that was a pen name for Mike Esposito (who usually worked with Ross Andru). Pen names were pretty common in the Golden Age, and there were still quite a few in use in the Silver Age.

Too bad I didn't see this earlier. I took this very test when it first came out! Don't remember how I did, but most of 'em are pretty familiar.

[Ron M.]

Always wondered why John Buscema drew him like an ape or neanderthal.
Didn't get JS or DM and had to guess who JV was. The rest I got.
Considering how weird Everett's Hulk looked, I wondered why he was drawing that half of Tales to Astonish, instead of his Sub-Mariner.

[Richard Willis]

Captain Comics said:

Kirk G said:

Mikey Demo (who he?)

It's "Mickey Demeo," and that was a pen name for Mike Esposito (who usually worked with Ross Andru). Pen names were pretty common in the Golden Age, and there were still quite a few in use in the Silver Age.

When Gene Colan first started working for Marvel he was "Adam Austin."

As I understand it Colan, Esposito and others were working for more than one company and wanted to avoid problems with the other company's management.

[Ron M.]

Of course Gene Colan's artwork was so distinctive it couldn't have fooled anyone.

[Mark S. Ogilvie]

Nice page, but I don't know enough to identify.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Interesting comparison of art styles. I'd like to see that story the John Buscema Hulk comes from.

[Captain Comics]

J. Buscema drew a lot of inspiration from Hal Foster, Burne Hogarth and Alex Raymond. If you're looking for what he was trying to ape with his Hulk, I'd start there.

ClarkKent_DC said:

Interesting comparison of art styles. I'd like to see that story the John Buscema Hulk comes from.

[Ron M.]

John Buscema didn't draw the Hulk very long. It looked like they suddenly didn't have a Hulk artist and he got put on it until someone else could be found.

Ape Men of Mongo?

[Ron M.]

It's interesting that three of the above are by Jack Kirby yet they look so different.