THE INCREDIBLE BULK

THE INCREDIBLE HULK
CBS 1977-1982

THE INCREDIBLE BULK
MAD #204. March 1979
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Angelo Torres

Based on the comic book, the television show uses the “man on the move” concept used by programs such as The Fugitive, Run For Your Life, Branded, Kung Fu, etc. where the person is either presumed dead on on the lam and encounters different people every week. The beginning of the show (see video link above) tells the story at the beginning of David Banner (Bill Bixby), thought to be dead and accused of a murder while under the influence of his alter ego, is on the run and becomes his alter ego, the Hulk (Lou Ferrigno), when he's angry. While on the run, he tries to control his temper.

In the building are Raj and his mother from What's Happening? (though they lived in a house). MAD decided that since the show was based on a comic book, there would be comics characters throughout the article, like on this page that features Batman and Robin, Andy and Pet from Andy Capp, D.J. and Zonker from Doonesbury. and Snoopy.

The joke in the last panel doesn't quite age well.

I thought the last row of panels was really funny as a kid, and I remember other kids talking about it for months, because what kid doesn't think someone sitting on a toilet is funny?

DON MARTIN LOOKS AT THE HULK
MAD #221, April 1981
w & a: Don Martin

Not of the TV show per se, but obviously done because of it.

Not Brand Ecch was Marvel's self-parody title. Here's their take on their own Hulk character.

THE INEDIBLE BULK
Not Brand Ecch #3, October 1967
w: Gary Friedrich
a: Marie Severin

In the window here is Herman Munster.

Betty Ross was the daughter of the general who pursued the Hulk and she was Bruce Banner's girlfriend.

Yubiwaza was a fighting technique Marvel readers would only know about because it was advertised in Marvel Comics. David Janssen was the lead character from The Fugitive.

THE INCREDIBLE HUNK
Cracked #177, May 1981
a: John Severin

This parody doesn't even try to have anyone look like the actors and characters in the series or comic.

IF GARY COLEMAN PLAYED OTHER PARTS
Cracked #161, August 1979
a: R. McGeddon (John Severin)

We've already established that Cracked would do parodies and mash-ups of everything that was popular with the kids over and over and over.

Crazy did two parodies of the show, probably because they were both comics published by Marvel.

AN INCREDIBLE TALK WITH THE INCREDIBLE HULK
Crazy #32, January 1978
w: Paul Laikin
a: Kent Gamble

They liked to use Richard Nixon even after he long went away.

THE INCREDIBLE HUNK
Crazy #50, May 1979
w: Michael Weiss
a: Kent Gamble

I know the writer of this piece. He tells about his experience seeing his first printed work in high school that I featured on my former blog and he provided examples of Drucker swipes side-by-side. In all fairness to Mr. Gamble, from what I've read cartooning was a phase for him and not his day job.

In the splash panel, there seems to also be a caricature of Don Rickles. I don't know if it's swiped from anything.

I showed this same page on my Carnal Knowledge post last year where I noticed the same caricature of Candice Bergen was used four times on this page right down to her clothing.

The Ernest Borgnine portrait comes from MAD's Willard parody, Charles Bronson from their version of Death Wish, and the pigs from MAD's parody of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Their Bill Bixby seems to be Burt Ward at times.

UPDATE:

from Bananas #48, circa 1981

FANTASY "BUY" LAND

FANTASY ISLAND
1977-1984 ABC

FANTASY "BUY" LAND
MAD #203, December 1978
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Angelo Torres

An anthology series that usually had two or three guest stars each week that came to a secret island in the Pacific to live out their wishes. They would be welcomed at the beginning by Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalban) and his assistant Tattoo (Herve Villechaise). Tattoo was the comedy relief often trying to make out with the women there to greet the arrivals.

Farrah Fawcett-Majors is the first guest on the island.

The other is Shaun Cassidy.

The waiter at the restaurant is Dick Van Dyke.

Often the fantasies of the guests taught them a lesson that what you wish for isn't always what it looks like.

Cracked did a parody called Funniest Island that's on my want list. They also had this in If Mork Appeared In Other TV Shows and Movies in #167, March 1980.

FANTASTIC ISLAND
Crazy #54, September 1979
w: Michael Weiss
a: Kent Gamble

Dick Van Dyke's in this one too. Also Hope Lange as the woman wishing to be the Hulk.

I have known the writer Michael Weiss for a while. He himself is a comedy writer and comics fan. He once told me some of his first printed work in high school was for Crazy, and recalls how happy he was to have sold some pieces to them, only to discover how much of the art he recognized as swiped from Mort Drucker. In an Incredible Hulk parody coming up in a few months, we'll show some panels that are even more blatant, and aren't even of celebrities. Below are a few panels where Hope Lange's likeness is taken directly from MAD's The Ghost and Mrs. Misses:

To be fair, Mr. Gamble wasn't much older himself and was directed specifically to draw like Drucker, who he obviously idolized, and being an illustrator seems to have been a phase.

REALITY ISLAND
Crazy #82, January 1983
w: Dana Kadison
a: Alan Kupperberg

Crazy's second parody of the show.

The writer in the splash page is Erich Segal. He is never referred to again in the story after this.

The second guest star is Barbara Eden. On the first few seasons of I Dream of Jeannie, censors allowed her bare her midriff but wouldn't allow the network to show her navel. Her series after this was Harper Valley PTA.

FANTASY I LAND
Sick #124, December 1978
a: Jack Sparling

Bert Lance was Jimmy Carter's budget director.

Ricardo Montalban also did commercials for the Chrysler Cordova.

The other visitors were Rev. Billy Graham, anti-homosexual activist Anita Bryant, and George Wallace, a presidential candidate that ran on the platform of segregation, though he was long out of the public eye at that point.

John Travolta, before he became a movie star, appears as a guest here.

One of the Looney Tunes compilation movies was framed to parody the show.
UPDATE:
FUNNIEST ISLAND
Cracked #155, November 1978
a: John Severin

I've been trying to find this issue for a while, but Chris Ekman of Barre, MA was able to locate it for me. This is one of the few spoofs Cracked did in the late 70s that didn't rely on someone like Fonzie or Mork.

Sometimes the guest stars on the show were recognizable and played themselves, as with this example of Gloria Steinem.

From The Final Segments to Popular TV Series in Crazy #47, February 1978, by Paul Laikin and John Reiner.

UPDATE 2:

FANTASTIC ISLAND
Bananas Looks at TV (probably a reprint), c. 1981
w: Jovial Bob Stine
a: Sam Viviano

Passengers are Ed Asner, Suzanne Somers, and O.J. Simpson

UPDATE 3:

cover for Mundo Loco (Crazy World), South American version of Cracked

Their version is called Crackpot Island

SCTV parody