Banner doesn't live here anymore...

This blog will be a tad embarrassing of me as it is exposing that I am in my 30s and I still watch cartoons and probably will until I am dead in the dirt and then I will get out of my grave to see what new cartoons have been released.

Besides cartoons, I am also a huge comic book fan and one of my favorite heroes when I was growing up was the Hulk. The story of Hulk is that radiation scientist Robert Bruce Banner was caught in an gamma radiation explosion when saving teenager Rick Jones. Instead of burning him to a crisp, Banner seemed fine until he he became angry or agitated (in the beginning, it could also be triggered by the moon) when he would become the Hulk, a gigantic creature of near limitless strength, durability and invulnerability. He had limited intelligence, making him easily angered and the more angered he was, the stronger he became. Even though he was considered a superhero, due to his quick to punch attitude, he often found himself battling heroes along with villains.

With Hulk's popularity came cartoons, some I found loveable (like the 1982 Hulk cartoon), some I found damn dark (the 1996 Hulk cartoon) and some I found bizarre (the original 1966 cartoon).

 

The 1982 Incredible Hulk show, my personal favorite

These days, the Hulk can be found on the following shows, "Avengers Assemble" and "Hulk and the Agents of S.m.a.s.h." and while they are good enough shows, personally I liked AA precursor, "Avengers; Earth's Mightiest Heroes" a lot better because I think there is something odd about how these shows portray the green goliath. Neither show feature Hulk's alter-ego, Bruce Banner. To me, there is no Hulk without Bruce Banner and vice versa. In fact, there was an brief period where the two were separated but couldn't live without being one entity who just changed into the other every so often. The shows of today though show that Hulk is Hulk 24/7, 365, and to me, it makes the show kinda boring. Banner brought a complexity to the character, he didn't want to be the Hulk but he knew that being the Hulk had its uses. However, in the new shows, He's always Hulk and the easiest way to solve problems was to smash things. Not even the 82 show worked like that and that show featured some goofy storylines and Banner, after Hulking out, always returning to normal with clothes intact.

Though the Hulk is in fact an excellent super hero, and one of my personal favorite heroes, I feel like the more recent cartoons are leaving out what some would could call his best side, his more human side, his Banner side.