Paul Mellia | Hulk
Paul Mellia
Hulk, 2024
Archival Digital Print on Paper with Hand Embellishment
74 x 58 cm
29 1/8 x 22 7/8 in
29 1/8 x 22 7/8 in
Edition of 15 AP
This is a super-realistic close-up of the Hulk mid-roar, filling the frame in Mellia's signature airbrushed 3D style: every tendon, tooth and wrinkle rendered photographically, with the classic yellow 'The...
This is a super-realistic close-up of the Hulk mid-roar, filling the frame in Mellia's signature airbrushed 3D style: every tendon, tooth and wrinkle rendered photographically, with the classic yellow "The Incredible Hulk" masthead above, a Marvel Comics corner box below, and a comic cover blurb reading "It's Doom's Day!". The whole piece is framed as an homage to a vintage Hulk comic cover, right down to the bright lime-green border.The text elements are part of the fun. Two touches are clearly Mellia's own wit rather than Marvel canon. The blurb "It's Doom's Day!" name-checks Doctor Doom, Marvel's arch-villain who debuted in Fantastic Four #5 in 1962 and later crossed into Hulk territory with The Incredible Hulk #143 (1971) . And the tagline "...Yes Mellia, I am 1000 pounds of green fury" has the Hulk addressing the artist himself, breaking the fourth wall in a way that only the world's only officially licensed Marvel fine artist could get away with.The character's history. The Hulk was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, first appearing in The Incredible Hulk #1 in May 1962, born from scientist Bruce Banner being caught in a gamma bomb blast while saving teenager Rick Jones . A nice detail for collectors: the Hulk was originally gray, but inconsistent printing forced the switch to green from issue #2, making the green version the icon Mellia paints here . The character is a hybrid of monster and superhero genres, essentially a Jekyll-and-Hyde story born from 1960s nuclear anxiety .