The Incredible Hulk Kit
I found this item at a Toy show yesterday, what attracted me to it wasn’t that it was Hulk related (more of Captain America guy) but that it was weird and I’d never seen one before. It’s also a television related piece which don’t pop up that often.
The back shows the second poster, I can totally see the makeup coming off Lou Ferrigno.
The membership card is the height of absurdity, the Hulk has excellent penmanship (I was expecting crayon) and I’m not sure what privileges you get from the Hulk. Isn’t he basically a homeless man?
The real kicker is this awesome little bendy, which Vic’s novelty made in a larger format. I’ve had friends ask me where this smaller version came from and now I know! I just can’t remember which friend now….
Was Banner/ The Hulk a homeless man? Technically no, not in the modern connotation of the term.
For a truly correct answer, we need to strip away a few 21st Century Politically Correct eupehmisms muddling everything up and return to the days when people were more concerned with being truthful than being "sensitive". Back then, the "homeless" were called "bums." Regardless of their fancy name switcheroo, nothing's changed. They don't work, don't care about working, pan-handle money on the street, and sleep in whatever alley, hallway, shelter, or subway platform they can find. A "bum" that moved around from city to city, usually either by hitch-hiking or on the railroads was a "hobo".
Banner was what is still today called a "drifter". Due to his condition, he frequently had to leave in a hurry after another outbreak of Hulk-itis, moved from city to city, and worked at a huge variety of different menial small-time jobs, pretty much whatever he could find. Usually he slept in whatever cheap hotel/ motel/ apartment or some accomodations a new friend, co-worker or employer offered him. Those are the two main differences between a "drifter" and "the homeless". While drifters may not have a fixed residence, they still work, earn wages, and aren't living on the streets consuming society's charity.
So, it's a poster with a Fan Club Membership card and a bendable? That's awesome!! That would go great with the Six Million Dollar Man Fan Club Membership (with dossier) and Batman '66 credit card!
I now realize that as much as Kenneth Johnson wants to attribute The Incredible Hulk adaptation to Les Miserables and Victor Hugo, he basically made it an updating of The Fugitive. With Mcgee as both Gerard and The One-Armed Man, and Bill Bixby as Richard Kimble. HA! 🙂
I've been seeing this item with a few dealers here in Montreal for years now, must have been a local warehouse find as they always have a ton of them. Love that button!
Campus Craft took a chance and printed this kit without The Marvel Comics copyright. They had to stop production when they sent one to Lou Ferrigno who showed it to a show executive who reported them. This company also printed some very collectible Kiss posters too. The real gem is the membership card.
I have that small Hulk bender. I got it out of a gumball machine at my local K-Mart. I colored his pants and hair black with a marker and used him with my Mego Comic Action Heroes. He was a little shorter but good enough for me.