Indestructible Hulk design art by Mukesh Singh
By Paul Montgomery
Bruce Banner shreds through pants like they’re going out ...
Indestructible Hulk design art by Mukesh Singh
By Paul Montgomery
Bruce Banner shreds through pants like they’re going out of style. Of course, no matter how often he’s forced to borrow from hampers, clotheslines and Laundromats, the garment rending always proves worthwhile.
Hulk’s style may be timeless, but can it stand up to time travel?
The Age of Ultron has clocked the Marvel Universe right in the kisser, and only an “Agent of T.I.M.E.” can hold it together. As Bruce Banner plunges through a temporal rift in the pages of Mark Waid and Matteo Scalera’s INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #11—coming July 31—he dons a newly upgraded outfit. Tasked with designing quantum armor fit for a world-class scientist and the beast within, cover artist Mukesh Singh embarked on a journey of his own.
Today we take a look at the evolution of Hulk’s new look, from concept experiments to finished cover. Singh and series editor Mark Paniccia guide us down the catwalk.
Marvel.com: What was the objective for this particular armor design?
Mukesh Singh: The aim was to come up with a version of the existing armor for Bruce Banner tweaked for time travel.
Indestructible Hulk design art by Mukesh Singh
Mark Paniccia: I had seen a piece that Mukesh had done online and loved the energy and imagination that had gone into it. He had been recommended to me by editor Sana Amanat. I reached out and asked him if he’d be interested in doing a cover and to design a new armor for time travel—a modification of the current suit. He came back with some really great designs.
Mukesh Singh: The brief was no jet packs, no WMD system—you don't need WMD when you have a Hulk—no shark repellants and no lunch boxes. Kidding.
Mark Paniccia: I especially liked these thick, short glowing tubes and rods that protruded from the armor. I imagined them as energy rods that helped stabilize reality during time travel. Maybe they were gamma powered, storing ambient radiation from Hulk.
Mukesh Singh: The central power gear on his chest was something I felt was a helpful visual bridge between the old and the new armor. Mark suggested having those energy rods as well that would be exposed whenever he turned into the Hulk, then withdraw into silos when he is not. The color scheme reflects the traditional Hulk colors, hints of purple and green.
Indestructible Hulk design art by Mukesh Singh
Marvel.com: It’s probably worth noting that helmets never came into play.
Mukesh Singh: Head gear was considered when I sat down to tweak the design, but it is one of those taken-for-granted things in super hero fiction where we do not focus on the trivial details unless those trivial details are a fundamental feature of our fictitious world. Here it is fine sans-headgear as long as the basic concept comes across: protecting Banner from accidents when he turns back into his normal self—except normal doesn't quite sound right here. Hulk is “normal” too. There is an unwritten mutual contract between fiction and fiction readers. We get on with the program. Too much logic and the whole concept of superheroes falls apart. Where do we
