In the first issue, the Hulk was gray. By the second, he was green — and the most recognizable character Marvel would create in the Silver Age had his final form.
The change was practical. Gray ink had printed unevenly in The Incredible Hulk #1, with copies coming off the press in shades ranging from charcoal to nearly silver. Stan Lee and his colorist landed on a green the printers could hit consistently. The decision stuck. Six decades later, the green is non-negotiable — sealed into every cartoon, lunchbox, and Avengers poster ever produced.
Kirby drew the cover and the interior. Ditko inked the cover. The two greatest hands of the Silver Age, working the same book, before anyone fully understood what either of them was about to become.
The story itself — "The Terror of the Toad Men!" — introduces an alien race of mole-faced invaders who never quite achieved the cultural staying power of, say, Galactus. But the book is the book. Second Hulk appearance overall. First green Hulk. First Toad Men. One of Marvel's earliest cosmic-scale stories. Overstreet ranks it among the top thirty Silver Age comics ever published.
What people forget: The Incredible Hulk was canceled after six issues. The character we now consider Marvel's foundational monster spent the rest of the decade as a guest star in Tales to Astonish and a fixture of the Avengers — his solo title a brief experiment that didn't survive its first year. Every surviving copy of issue #2 is an artifact of that vanished run, a fragment of a series Marvel didn't yet know was important.
This CGC 4.0 copy presents honestly. Off-white pages, structurally sound, the cover colors still doing the work Kirby and Ditko intended. The grade reflects a book that has lived through six decades of being loved, not stored. That feels right for a Hulk.
DETAILS
Grade: CGC 4.0 Very Good
Off-white pages
Cert #0353122018
Published July 1962, Marvel Comics
Story: Stan Lee | Cover & art: Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko
Key issue: 1st green-skinned Hulk, 2nd Hulk appearance, 1st Toad Men
In the first issue, the Hulk was gray. By the second, he was green — and the most recognizable character Marvel would create in the Silver Age had his final form.
The change was practical. Gray ink had printed unevenly in The Incredible Hulk #1, with copies coming off the press in shades ranging from charcoal to nearly silver. Stan Lee and his colorist landed on a green the printers could hit consistently. The decision stuck. Six decades later, the green is non-negotiable — sealed into every cartoon, lunchbox, and Avengers poster ever produced.
Kirby drew the cover and the interior. Ditko inked the cover. The two greatest hands of the Silver Age, working the same book, before anyone fully understood what either of them was about to become.
The story itself — "The Terror of the Toad Men!" — introduces an alien race of mole-faced invaders who never quite achieved the cultural staying power of, say, Galactus. But the book is the book. Second Hulk appearance overall. First green Hulk. First Toad Men. One of Marvel's earliest cosmic-scale stories. Overstreet ranks it among the top thirty Silver Age comics ever published.
What people forget: The Incredible Hulk was canceled after six issues. The character we now consider Marvel's foundational monster spent the rest of the decade as a guest star in Tales to Astonish and a fixture of the Avengers — his solo title a brief experiment that didn't survive its first year. Every surviving copy of issue #2 is an artifact of that vanished run, a fragment of a series Marvel didn't yet know was important.
This CGC 4.0 copy presents honestly. Off-white pages, structurally sound, the cover colors still doing the work Kirby and Ditko intended. The grade reflects a book that has lived through six decades of being loved, not stored. That feels right for a Hulk.
DETAILS
Grade: CGC 4.0 Very Good
Off-white pages
Cert #0353122018
Published July 1962, Marvel Comics
Story: Stan Lee | Cover & art: Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko
Key issue: 1st green-skinned Hulk, 2nd Hulk appearance, 1st Toad Men
