Marvel Select Barbarian Hulk Is A Smash

Marvel Select drops a new version of the Hulk as their first release of 2013, and this green goliath is great.

Barbarian Hulk comes to us from the pages of the recent Hulk run by Jason Aaron and Marc Silvestri, in which the Hulk and Bruce Banner have split into separate beings, leading the green monster to live in isolation amongst the mole Men deep underground.  It was a cool Hulk versus Banner story, and I dug Silvestri’s take on the Hulk, from the veiny, rippling muscles to the tattered loincloth and bone necklace making him look like an off-color Conan.

Marvel Select’s new Hulk captures this unique look for the character perfectly.  The design looks remarkably close to the meticulous detail in Silvestri’s line work, and the face sculpt totally nails his comic look.  The beard and long hair covering Hulk’s scowling face makes Barbarian Hulk one of the more unique takes on the hero, especially alongside the primitive costume.

Hulk’s barbarian getup is well handled, with the bone necklace a separate piece which drapes well over his neck and shoulders.  The loincloth is a soft, pliable rubber, which means it does not inhibit the figure’s ball jointed hips, allowing for plenty of posing options.

Barbarian Hulk looks great, but also packs a respectable amount of articulation into a figure of this size and mass.  Sharing many parts from the recent Disney Store exclusive Hulk, this figure sports a hinged ball neck, ball shoulders and hips, half-ball elbows and knees, swivel wrists and waist and hinged ankles.  This offers plenty of cool posing options, and the dynamic sculpt of the figure really lends itself to looking cool.

One thing that made me very happy was the paint apps on this guy.  The Disney Hulk featured an amazing sculpt, but the figure had a wash that was way too heavy and uneven.  Barbarian Hulk includes a similar paint wash, with dark green used to spotlight the intricacies of the sculpted musculature.  This wash is much more even, and I think it looks fantastic, ensuring every texture on this figure really comes to life.

Despite my recent focus, I’m still by no means a Marvel Select collector.  I love my Marvel Legends, and for me the only Select figures worth getting are the ones that can cross over and fit with Legends.  I’m very pleased that so many recent Select releases fit this bill, with the Disney Hulk being a perfect fit for modern Legends, and characters like Ultron and Flash Thompson Venom looking almost perfectly in scale.  Barbarian Hulk is another winner, as he looks great alongside virtually any Legends figures.  Although, I really think he’d prefer to be left alone.