The Incredible Hulk and me.

Ever since I read my first Marvel comic back in 1977, I've been a fan of the Incredible Hulk. I don't know if it was Sal Buscema's awesome artwork, or the larger-than-life image of the Green Goliath (I suspect it was a little of both), but my four year old self just feel in love with the character. Several months later, the classic TV series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno debuted... but I was already a fan by then, collecting Marvel UK's MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL every week (I can remember wondering, even at that early age if the live-action Hulk would be wearing his ripped purple trousers!).

Since that very day, my life's ambition was to draw the Incredible one for Marvel Comics... something I am very, very proud to say I've been able to achieve. Since starting in the comics industry in 2003, I've drawn the Hulk several times -- the first time being a Hulk vs Thing battle in Panini Comic's SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN issue 100, and a couple of months after that a cover for the 2005 INCREDIBLE HULK Annual. From there I've gone on to draw three Incredible Hulk comic strips for the Panini/Marvel UK title MARVEL HEROES (the third of which featured the Hulk fighting another all-time favourite of mine, Death's Head -- which was another dream come true), a Hero Initiative cover for Marvel US's HULK #1 (printed in the Marvel/Hero Initiative HULK 100 Project Collection), drawn Hulk spot illos for SFX Magazine's preview feature for the 2008 INCREDIBLE HULK movie, and produced the cover and disc artwork for the entire line of UK Incredible Hulk cartoon DVD's... which include the classic 1966, 1982 and 1996 cartoon shows.

The Mighty World Of Marvel

Back in the 1970's, the first comic I ever read was a Marvel UK comic by the name of The Mighty World Of Marvel. This title featured black and white reprints of US Marvel stories, with the Incredible Hulk it's lead strip. This title (along with Marvel UK's other line of comics) featured some beautiful cover artwork, especially produced for these UK collections by the US Marvel Bullpen. Here are some of my favourite ones... most of them featuring the artwork of Pablo Marcos, who after Sal Buscema is my favourite classic Hulk artist. Looking at these covers brings back some wonderful memories of a more innocent time. My thanks to my mum and dad for always making sure I had my weekly fix from the Mighty World Of Marvel.

Sal Buscema... Comics Fast & Furious Artist

I've made no secret that my all-time favourite comic artist is the legendary Sal Buscema. A huge influence in my own work, Sal's dynamic artwork and excellent storytelling made him one of Marvel's most popular and well loved artists. Thanks to the Official Walt Simonson fanpage on Facebook, I found out that TwoMorrows Publishing has released a book solely devoted to Sal's career.. titled Sal Buscema: Comics Fast & Furious Artist.

This book features an excellent in-depth interview with Sal, who talks about his 40 year long career in comics (and still going strong!). He also discusses how he broke into the comics business and working with his brother, the equally legendary John Buscema. It also includes a gallery of his artwork... which features some of Sal's favourite published work, plus some of his own personal work as well. My copy of this book arrived the other day, and I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone who is a fan of this amazing artist. You can either order the book from TwoMorrows, or Amazon.