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STAN LEE TALKS FRANKLY
ABOUT HULK
Pizzazz. October,
1978 (pp 6-7)
Special
thanks to mark narduzzi for transcribing this article
Pizzazz:
Stan, what’s been your connection with the TV series?
Stan:
Basically, I’ve been a consultant. In the beginning that
meant I went to lots of meetings with producers, directors, and
story editors. We talked about the type of stories we should do.
We argued. We didn’t always agree. But we did agree enough
times to make it exciting. Luckily, I had a lot of input. Also
luckily, some of the things they wanted which I didn’t want,
but which we did anyhow, turned out very nicely.
Pizzazz:
How does the TV Hulk compare to the comic book Hulk?
Stan:
Well, one thing I’ve been saying is that on the TV show they
should make the Hulk a bit more intelligent. Or, at least, we
should get the feeling that he’s trying to understand. In
the comics, I used to refer to the Hulks “clouded brain.”
But so far on the TV show, he’s been treated as though he
has no brain at all. Still, if he didn’t have some kind of
brain, how would he know only to attack only the bad guys? I’d
like to see the TV Hulk try to speak. Ken Johnson, the show’s
producer, may be leaning in that direction too. I just think it
would be interesting if his IQ were raised a little.
Pizzazz:
How would you compare the Hulk TV show to the Spider-Man TV show?
Stan:
Unfortunately, they’ve been treating the TV Spider-Man as
a cardboard character – too juvenile. Philosophically, I’d
say that if you compared the Spider-Man TV show to the Hulk, you’d
come up with the same kind of difference we always used to point
to between DC comics and Marvel comics. In DC comics, they’d
take a plot, plant a clue in it – such as a cigarette butt,
and on the last page Batman would find it and solve the crime.
At Marvel, we always tried to create our stories from the inside
out-we’d look at the character first, his limitations, his
gestalt, and then develop a story which probed, or developed,
that particular character’s id. In the Spider-Man TV show,
there are too many plots which could be plots for any TV show,
that don’t uniquely test Spider-Man. Whereas in the Hulk
series, they’ve been playing up the Hulk’s character.
They’ve been focusing on Bill Bixby (who plays the Hulk’s
alter ego, mild-mannered David Banner) and they have seriously
probed the question: how do you live with the fact that you’re
the one human being on earth who periodically turns into a green-skinned
monster? Of course, I’d play this characterization aspect
up even more – make Bixby even more anguished.
Pizzazz:
To what do you attribute the Hulk’s TV success?
Stan:
First, to the fact that Bixby’s such a good, sincere actor
that he makes you really care about the character. Also, there’s
something very exciting about Lou Ferrigno, who plays the Hulk.
But then the next question people are always asking me is “How
come fantasy is so big right now? Star Wars, etc…” Well
my answer is that it’s always been big! Over the years, whenever
there’s been a good well-made fantasy movie or TV show, it’s
been a big success. King Kong. Frankenstein. War of the Worlds.
But the shoestring guys, grinding out junk for a few bucks, were
always giving fantasy a bad name. The best way I can think to
explain it is that everybody loved fairy tales when they were
kids, and most of us still love them. In our stories, we try to
upgrade fairy tales. Our heroes are bigger than life, but they’re
fighting villains realistically. Lou Ferrigno looks realistic.
(At least, as realistic as a monster can!) That’s another
big reason for the show’s success. All of us have situations
where we think, “Wow, I’d like to be able to stand up
to that guy, or boss, or teacher, or whatever.” And here’s
a guy who’s doing it. Unfortunately, of course, he’s
not aware he’s doing it.
Pizzazz: Where’d the idea for the Hulk come from?
Stan:
When I developed Hulk, what I was thinking about was Dr. Jeckyll
and Mr. Hyde, and the Frankenstein movie. In Frankenstein, I always
thought the monster was the good guy – my sympathies were
with him rather than with the nutty mob chasing him around with
torches. So I always thought there’d be a lot of pathos in
having a good monster, who looked horrible and who everybody thought
was a menace despite his being good on the inside. But not to
be too much like Frankenstein, I threw in the Jeckyll and Hyde
angle – Banner changes into the monster.
Pizzazz:
Would you say that the Hulk is an all-out fantasy show?
Stan:
We always try to combine the fantastic with the intensely realistic.
I consider the reality bit to be when a superhero has to get uptown
quickly and he doesn’t have a subway token. And in the Hulk
TV show, if Banner tears his shirt while “hulking out,”
they just don’t forget about the torn shirt and in the next
scene he’s got a new one – they concern themselves with
where he’s going to get a new shirt. It’s that combination,
the fantastic and the intensely true-to-life, that works.
Pizzazz:
Is the Hulk a tragic figure?
Stan:
Yes. He has to be. It’s a tragic situation to be in –
a man who, through no fault of his own, turns into an uncontrollable
monster. Banner doesn’t want to be the Hulk. And he’s
afraid of what the monster might do.
Pizzazz:
Can you give us some previews of upcoming Hulk TV episodes?
Stan:
Not too many, really. I don’t want to spoil the surprises.
But I can mention that there’s a great horse-racing story,
and a good tearjerker about a racing car driver with a retarded
brother. The Hulk saves the retarded kid at the end – it’s
quite an adult, mature story, with lots going on between the green
Goliath and the kid.
Pizzazz:
Can you say a few words, o proud papa, on behalf of the Greenskin,
on this glorious occasion of PIZZAZZ naming him “Man of the
Year?”
Stan:
I think it’s a good indication that the human race is progressing
towards a higher level of development, when a green-skinned monster
can slowly but surely begin to take his place in the higher echelons
of society and celebrityhood. If the Hulk can do it, perhaps there’s
hope for us all.
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