Police Boxes

Discuss anything not related to comics here and if you are new to these boards, introduce yourself here.

Moderators: Al, AndyB

User avatar
Digifiend
Posts: 7315
Joined: 15 Aug 2007, 11:43
Location: Hull, UK

Re: Police Boxes

Post by Digifiend »

stevezodiac wrote:I seem to recall a communication breakdown with colourists at Marvel that ended up with the Hulk becoming green or is that an urban myth? He was grey on an early front cover.
It seems to actually be some sort of technical problem with the inks.
In the debut, Lee chose gray for the Hulk because he wanted a color that did not suggest any particular ethnic group. Colorist Stan Goldberg, however, had problems with the gray coloring, resulting in different shades of gray, and even green, in the issue. After seeing the first published issue, Lee chose to change the skin color to green. Green was used in retellings of the origin, with even reprints of the original story being recolored for the next two decades, until The Incredible Hulk vol. 2, #302 (December 1984) reintroduced the gray Hulk in flashbacks set close to the origin story. Since then, reprints of the first issue have displayed the original gray coloring, with the fictional canon specifying that the Hulk's skin had initially been gray. An exception is the early trade paperback, Origins of Marvel Comics, from 1974, which explains the difficulties in keeping the gray color consistent in a Stan Lee written prologue, and reprints the origin story keeping the gray coloration.
Image

User avatar
tony ingram
Posts: 1169
Joined: 12 May 2009, 18:20
Location: Suffolk, England
Contact:

Re: Police Boxes

Post by tony ingram »

stevezodiac wrote:It was probably felt the blue uniforms and the blue police box would clash so artistic licence was used?

I seem to recall a communication breakdown with colourists at Marvel that ended up with the Hulk becoming green or is that an urban myth? He was grey on an early front cover.
Not quite. The Hulk was grey in his first issue but the colour proved difficult for the colorist and printers to keep consistent so he became green in issue 2 with no explanation. The grey version later resurfaced in the late 1980s as an alternate personality of the Hulk's.

Oops, see I was beaten to it...

User avatar
philcom55
Posts: 5170
Joined: 14 Jun 2006, 11:56

Re: Police Boxes

Post by philcom55 »

Funnily enough the same thing happened all over again with Iron Man...!

- Phil R.

User avatar
tony ingram
Posts: 1169
Joined: 12 May 2009, 18:20
Location: Suffolk, England
Contact:

Re: Police Boxes

Post by tony ingram »

philcom55 wrote:Funnily enough the same thing happened all over again with Iron Man...!

- Phil R.
Yes, hence the change from iron grey (which made sense, given the name) to gold (which didn't). :D

User avatar
Digifiend
Posts: 7315
Joined: 15 Aug 2007, 11:43
Location: Hull, UK

Re: Police Boxes

Post by Digifiend »

At least Iron Man's is justified, he paints the armour like you would a car. Hulk had to retconned years later.

User avatar
stevezodiac
Posts: 4957
Joined: 23 May 2006, 20:43
Location: space city

Re: Police Boxes

Post by stevezodiac »

None of that explains Thunderbolt Ross and his bricks 'n' mortar being bright yellow. Obviously the Hulk upset a catering tin of mustard powder in the army canteen.

dreamticket
Posts: 181
Joined: 30 Jun 2009, 17:07

Re: Police Boxes

Post by dreamticket »

Digifiend wrote:Why is that Police Box red? Phone boxes are red, Police Boxes are meant to be blue.
Presumably it's red because Korky lives in Glasgow (where P.B.s were coloured red up to the end of the sixties) (it sez here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_box ).

dreamticket
Posts: 181
Joined: 30 Jun 2009, 17:07

Re: Police Boxes

Post by dreamticket »

suebutcher wrote:I'd say you're right, Steve, an artist choice for clarity.

As for the Hulk, there are similar mysteries about the colour of Korky's nose, Rupert's fur, and Magnus Robot Fighter's boots.
Firstly, thanks for the scan of #1001. Secondly, isn't the mystery about Little Plum's nose, and not Korky's?

User avatar
philcom55
Posts: 5170
Joined: 14 Jun 2006, 11:56

Re: Police Boxes

Post by philcom55 »

suebutcher wrote:...and Magnus Robot Fighter's boots.
...Maybe Magnus just had more than one pair of boots! :)

User avatar
tony ingram
Posts: 1169
Joined: 12 May 2009, 18:20
Location: Suffolk, England
Contact:

Re: Police Boxes

Post by tony ingram »

dreamticket wrote:
Digifiend wrote:Why is that Police Box red? Phone boxes are red, Police Boxes are meant to be blue.
Presumably it's red because Korky lives in Glasgow (where P.B.s were coloured red up to the end of the sixties) (it sez here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_box ).
Wouldn't Korky logically have lived in Dundee? What colour were Police Boxes there?

User avatar
colcool007
Mr Valeera
Posts: 3872
Joined: 03 Mar 2006, 18:06
Location: Lost in time, lost in space
Contact:

Re: Police Boxes

Post by colcool007 »

tony ingram wrote:
dreamticket wrote:
Digifiend wrote:Why is that Police Box red? Phone boxes are red, Police Boxes are meant to be blue.
Presumably it's red because Korky lives in Glasgow (where P.B.s were coloured red up to the end of the sixties) (it sez here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_box ).
Wouldn't Korky logically have lived in Dundee? What colour were Police Boxes there?
As it was DDW drawing Korky, the colours would be the colours of boxes he saw either in Dundee or Broughty Ferry as that was where he lived and it's around 5 miles from the Ferry to the DCT building. So Tony's question is rather apt. Mind you, being from roughly the same area, I can't remember every seeing one that wasn't Policeman blue.
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!

chrisb
Posts: 104
Joined: 01 Oct 2011, 16:39
Location: Bonnybridge, Scotland

Re: Police Boxes

Post by chrisb »

Sorry colcool but that isn't DDW drawing Korky.

Phoenix
Guru
Posts: 5360
Joined: 27 Mar 2008, 21:15

Re: Police Boxes

Post by Phoenix »

chrisb wrote:Sorry colcool but that isn't DDW drawing Korky.
Ray Moore of course identified the Korky artist as James Crichton many years ago, but I believe that colcool007's main point, that the artist would tend to draw what he was familiar with, must surely be valid.

User avatar
paw broon
Posts: 1215
Joined: 29 Jan 2011, 19:13
Location: Falkirk, Scotland

Re: Police Boxes

Post by paw broon »

I'm sure it's a different Ray More and other changes of colour have been mentioned but it reminds me of The Phantom and how his classic purple costume is re-coloured as red in European reprints. The new Scandinavian stories, however, use the traditional colour for his cossie.

Phoenix
Guru
Posts: 5360
Joined: 27 Mar 2008, 21:15

Re: Police Boxes

Post by Phoenix »

paw broon wrote:I'm sure it's a different Ray More
As far as these forums are concerned, there is only one Ray Moore, the author of The Dandy Monster Index 1937-1990, The Beano Diaries, The Magic Index, Topper Tales and The Book Of The Beezer. If he says James Crichton drew Korky from 1937 to 1962, then that is a fact!

Post Reply