Marvel Comics to publish Joe Hill’s ‘Baby Hulk’
The current COVID-19 pandemic notwithstanding, Marvel Comics announced that in October 2020 it will publish the new horror series Baby Hulk from writer Joe Hill — a series Hill first pitched to Marvel 15 years ago.
In May 2005, years before Hill’s first prose novel was published, Marvel Comics published a Spider-Man story written by Hill and illustrated by artist Seth Fisher in Spider-Man Unlimited #8. Hoping to write more comics, Hill pitched a “Baby Hulk” series, but Marvel chose not to greenlight the project.
Since then, Hill has garnered praise for his prose novels (Heart-Shaped Box, Horns, The Fireman, and NOS4A2) and comics work, including the acclaimed Locke & Key series (with artist Gabriel Rodriguez) for which Hill won an Eisner Award for Best Writer in 2011; both NOS4A2 and Locke & Key were adapted into popular television series at AMC and Netflix, respectively. Marvel reconsidered the pitch, and contacted Hill with an offer.
Hill acknowledged the long history of the new series, which is now coming to fruition.
“This came at a time when I had written four novels that I couldn’t sell. I pitched Marvel on Baby Hulk, because at the time I had a toddler, and at the time I had no idea. I thought toddlers were cute and stuff, but they’re so full of rage. My two-year-old would pick up a plastic truck and scream and throw it across the room and I thought — what if that was a real truck?”
Baby Hulk features Brent and Carla Nash, first-time parents whose baby boy, Avner, inexplicably transforms, when enraged, into a super-strong, green-skinned monster resembling the Hulk. “Although being a new parent is a lot of fun, it’s also scary and stressful,” said Hill. “You’re not getting sleep, you’re not sure what you’re supposed to do, or if you’re doing it the right way. You hope you’re doing everything right but you fear you’re doing everything wrong. Baby Hulk explores the very real anxieties of being a new parent in a fictional context.”
Hill promised that the series will also showcase a variety of frightening antagonists. “Avner’s Hulk-like transformations bring the Nash family to the attention of evil characters wanting to exploit Avner’s potential, including organizations like Hydra and demons like Mephisto, and I’m introducing a new villain, K.O.D.O.M, who is a failed Hydra experiment to create its own M.O.D.O.K. He has a freakishly small head atop a gigantic super-muscular body.”
Baby Hulk is illustrated by artist Franco Mattioli. Although many American readers may be unfamiliar with Mattioli’s work, the artist is acclaimed in Europe for his long run on the erotic Italian horror comic Adoro i Vampiri Amorosi. “Mattioli’s vampire porn comics will give you nightmares,” said Hill. “I’m excited that Baby Hulk will introduce his art to an American audience for the first time.”
Baby Hulk will also feature a five-page backup strip written by Hill entitled “Son of Son of Satan,” with art by Brian Coldrick. The strip follows the strange adventures of teenager Warner Hellstrom as he takes a summer road trip across America with his father Daimon Hellstrom, the supernatural superhero known as the “Son of Satan.” Accompanied by Warner’s diabolically flatulent pet corgi, Erebus, the father and son deal with their challenging relationship issues while fighting monsters in every haunted town along their journey.
“The strip’s central thesis is that the only thing worse than being the son of Satan is being the son of Son of Satan,” said Hill. “Son of Son of Satan is meant to be a funny counterbalance to the poignant dread of the main feature, but it still has its fair share of decapitations and projectile vomiting.”
Hill, who wrote the introduction to Coldrick’s collection of horror comics, Behind You: One-Shot Horror Stories, had high praise for Coldrick’s work. “I’ve been a fan of Coldrick’s art for a long time. He can create an entire horror story in one panel, and he’s the perfect artist for this strip.”
Editor Wil Moss said that readers who like the horror tone of Marvel’s current Hulk title, The Immortal Hulk, will enjoy Baby Hulk. “The horror elements of The Immortal Hulk have resonated with Hulk fans, and the work of Joe and Franco and Brian on Baby Hulk is going to delight readers who are looking for scary horror grounded by compelling characters that you love.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The above article is an April Fools’ Day parody. Surprise!
PLEASE NOTE — “Franco Mattioli” is a fictional artist. The author commissioned artist Zach Henson to create the Baby Hulk image featured in this parody article. His website is zachhenson.com. Zach did an incredible job creating Baby Hulk, so please check out his other work!
Although this article is fictitious, Joe Hill did pitch a “Baby Hulk” series to Marvel Comics (the exact time frame of the pitch is unknown to the author, who guessed that it was in 2005, around the time Hill’s Spider-Man story was published). The details and characters of the Baby Hulk comic outlined above were invented by the author and were inspired by the knowledge of Hill’s pitch, but the actual details of Hill’s pitch to Marvel are unknown to the author.
Hill’s comments in this article regarding his pitch for “Baby Hulk” were slightly modified from his comments made to interviewer Coy Jandreau with Collider on July 25, 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con. All other Hill commentary in this article is fictitious.
Artist Brian Coldrick’s work can be found at his website briancoldrick.com; his book Behind You: One-Shot Horror Stories is highly recommended.
Marvel Comics, Joe Hill, Brian Coldrick, and Wil Moss were not involved in the creation of this parody April Fools’ Day article, and any commentary from these entities/individuals in the article is fictitious (except as noted above).
To date, Marvel Comics has chosen not to greenlight Joe Hill’s “Baby Hulk” pitch. The author would very much like them to do so.
The text, images, and characters above are the property of their respective owner(s), and are presented here for not-for-profit, educational , and parody purposes only under the fair use doctrine of the copyright laws of the United States of America.
