oHOTmu or NOT Ep.49: High Evolutionary to Hulk

The king of genetics. The Spider-Man villain who stole every bit of his shtick. Marvel's first movie hero. A guy who can't control his temper. Which are hot and which are not? The Girls collectively known as the Canadian Hot Squad make that determination. And so closes our coverage of the fifth issue!

Featuring permanent panelists Elyse, Isabel, Nathalie, Josée, Amélie and Shotgun.

Listen to Episode 49 below (the usual mature language warnings apply), or subscribe to oHOTmu OR NOT? on iTunes!

Relevant images and further credits at: oHOTmu or NOT ep.49 Supplemental

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22 responses to “oHOTmu or NOT Ep.49: High Evolutionary to Hulk

  1. See, that shot of the High Evolutionary’s soul leaving his body is why I love this show. Most of us diehard comic fans have trained our brains to “read” comics, so we interpret the visual language in a certain way. I would have never seen an ass in a diaper or a giant nutsack until now…but I can’t UNSEE it. You are literally rewriting my brain!

    I was in on the ground floor with the Hobgoblin, so I have a soft spot for his earliest appearances. Such a great mystery. Oh, and the comic showed the original Hobby dying the colors of the Green Goblin’s costumes, making a new mask in the same mold, etc. Too bad Marvel royally screwed that character and botched the mystery due to in-office squabbling and petty feelings.

    The Hulk…yeah, this is a horrible image. Hulk has NEVER looked quite this squat. I believe the Girls nailed it. Byrne ran out of room to make the legs the proper length and just cheated. You should show them an image of McFarlane’s Banner. He took Byrne’s version and tooned him up to like an 11!

    Oh, and IS the Norton film a continuation of the Bana film? I know the Brazil angle, but the flashback to the origin shows it matching the TV show more, with Norton in the chair and all that, not the Gamma bomb. I haven’t seen the Bana/Ang Lee Hulk film in ages…and I don’t plan to. So I’ll just take your word for it. Thanks for all the classic Hulk TV show mic drops. I think I need to get my DVD set out…

    Great episode as always ladies and gents!

    Chris

    P. S. Have the Girls seen the Howard the Duck movie? I sense a Patreon goal commentary episode. That animal/human thing comes up in that film, surprisingly!!!

  2. I’m surprised when the ladies mentioned Hobgoblin’s outfit that you didn’t tell them Hobgoblin was later revealed to be fashion designer Roderick Kinglsey. Hope you weren’t saving that for a future episode and I spoiled it.

    Hulk never looks as cool in those purple speedos. Hard for even him to look intimidating in his drawers. (That’s a southern US slang term for underwear). I prefer Hulk in his torn purple pants.

    1. We also say drawers, in ever in Acadian French where it sounds like “draws”, I don’t think the South has the market cornered on that one.

      As for Hobby’s identity, the entry was all “Unknown” even with height and weight, so I kept the mystery. After all, from my point of view (even if it was later retconned away), he was revealed to be Ned Leeds.

  3. Another highly entertaining episode!

    Regarding Howard the Duck’s homeworld: Although his original creator Steve Gerber never actually showed Howard’s home, I remember reading on Gerber’s website many years ago (before Gerber passed away) that he had envisioned Howard’s homeworld as being populated by anthropomorphic animals of all species, similar to the universes of Disney or Warner Brothers cartoons. After Gerber’s departure from the book, another writer, Bill Mantlo, did a story where Howard and Beverly were transported to Howard’s home, but Mantlo’s depiction was of a world populated entirely by ducks (including duck versions of several established characters and real-life figures: Ducktor Strange, Truman Capoultry, President Richard M. Duxon, etc.) Gerber disliked Mantlo’s “Duckworld” concept so much that, after Gerber returned to Marvel, he pitched an idea for a Howard the Duck mini-series that would reveal that “Duckworld” wasn’t Howard’s real home but a fictitious/illusory dimension bearing no resemblance to his real homeworld. Marvel passed on that pitch, although Gerber did eventually write an unrelated Howard mini-series.

    It seems like the Hulk entry was designed to promote John Byrne’s then-current run on Incredible Hulk, and to keep Byrne happy at the expense of Hulk’s long history. I can accept Byrne drawing the main figure (even though I don’t care for it), but for all the panels illustrating the entry to come from Byrne’s run? No Kirby, Buscema, or Trimpe panels? That’s just not right…

  4. As I have said many times in the past, this show gives me hope.

    The fact that Bruce Banner was the outright ‘hot’ winner of this episode made me happy! Nerd dudes for the win!

    As for costumes, I am still all in on bucket boots. I need to find a pair for myself!

  5. Glad there was some love for hobgoblin. My favorite all time Spider-Man villain. That story was very compelling As an unfolding mystery and In IMHO some of the best action scenes ever in a superhero comic ( you get a taste of that in the panels). Lighting in a bottle as far as I’m concerned despite the let down of an ending or endings as it became later.

    What can I say about Howard… he’s awesome! Ironic that the company that sued marvel now ends up owing him.

    You gotta show the gals some images of Hulk hanging out with the woodland creatures. Classic!

  6. All right, I have yet to listen to this episode, so I am commenting on the gallery post. I hope (but do not expect) that the plethora of Hulk panels will put to bed once and for all the idea that all of the faces John Byrne draws look alike. If these don’t do the trick, I refer you to his Baron Blood story in Captain America (#253-254) and his run on the Fantastic Four. Please take special note of any issue with Susan Richards, Frankie Raye, and Juliette D’Angelo — three beautiful young women with different face shapes.

    It’s true that Byrne often goes out of his way to make characters attractive, which often leads to similarly high cheekbones and well-proportioned noses. But I think that counts as a consistent style, not a lack of variety. The characters are still easily distinguished from one another. And when he gives himself permission to make characters less attractive, the distinctions are even greater.

    Thanks. I feel better now.

  7. Yeah, it’s all subject to criticism once you record it and share it with the world. At least we’re listening, right?

    I’m about a half-hour in to the show now, and enjoying it as always. One of the girls asked a question I’ve always wondered about, so I did thirty seconds of research and came up with an answer from Merriam-Webster.com. If the internet crashed forever, you and the squad could just sell me albums, but I would miss being able to do this. From the dictionary people:

    What’s the Difference Between a Goblin and a hobgoblin?
    While a goblin is traditionally regarded in folklore as a grotesque, evil, and malicious creature, a hobgoblin tends to be more about creating mischief. (The character of Puck from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream might be regarded as one.) First appearing in English in 1530, hobgoblin combined goblin with hob, a word meaning “sprite” or “elf” that derived from Hobbe, a nickname for Robert. Goblin derived via Middle English and Medieval Latin from the Greek word kobalos, meaning “rogue.” The American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson famously applied the word’s extended sense in his essay Self-Reliance: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

  8. Yes to the Hobgoblin, my favorite Spider-Foe! Even though he caused a split decision among the squad, that made me even happier. A villain can look cool, but hard to like because you know he’s supposed to be a BAD GUY. Eliciting a strong reaction in some fashion is a great indicator that it’s a powerful concept. So that was excellent to hear. But yes, he’s so cool, he’s HOT! Hear it for Hot-goblin?! (… *crickets* …)

    This image of Byrne’s Hulk is just the worst. He did plenty of excellent full-figure shots in the comic, so not using one of those was a crime. And I really would have liked seeing more panels of earlier Hulk artists. Too much Byrne-service in this entry. A shame.

    I had not even realized that my Hellstrom comment would be read on a Howard episode. Awesome!

    High Evolutionary. I guess he evolved beyond the need to go to the bathroom in that armor. Ew.

    Love the action figure, SIskoid! The image hover text is a riot! Till next time!

  9. And excellent show as always everybody! I always get a kick out of the ladies destroying my belief in “because comics” explanations. I now have so many questions about how the High Evolutionary does anything in that armour……

    High Evolutionary – I never knew how long this character had been around as I only ever remembered him from the Marvel annuals event, The Evolutionary War. It makes me want to go back and see stories with his knights. “Just let them have a crotch.” was the saying I’m taking with me from this entry.

    Hobgoblin – “Halloween dream.” It certainly was as I was the Hobgoblin for Halloween one year as a kid. Shout out to my mom for having to make that entire costume from scratch for me. If I remember correctly, I used my Dad’s volt-meter in it’s case as my pumpkin bomb satchel. Needless to say, no one in the neighbourhood knew who I was. I’m with the above comments that Hobgoblin was my favourite Spidey foe. That is until the “Inferno” event where he turned into an actual goblin.

    Hulk – So much love for Bruce! Not so much for the Hulk. I always liked Sal Buscmea’s version of the Hulk as it conveyed a monstrous anger that would probably not be considered a “hot”. But, once again, as above comments state, this was all about Byrne. Finally, a guy with glasses is considered hot! There may be a slight bias there……

    I specifically supported the Fire and Water Network on Patreon for this show and Who’s Who. I enjoy a lot of other shows on the network (Panel by Panel, FW Team-Up, etc.) but I knew I would easily support this network because of the awesome work you ladies and lad do. Keep up the great work, everyone!

  10. Another great show. And not one character I’d consider hot. I suppose Hulk is the closest as he’s showing a lot of skin. Then again, HE is covered up, so mysterious, which has a certain appeal… mind, we do see his face and he’s pretty good liking. OK, HE wins.

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