The Incredible Hulk wasn’t supposed to be green.

He was supposed to be gray.

Stan Lee, who created the Hulk with artist Jack Kirby, often told the legendary story of creating a gray Hulk but when the first story was printed the gray didn’t register properly. 

Instead of the coloring being consistently gray, Hulk was a rainbow of colors from panel to panel and page to page. Of all the colors, Marvel settled on emerald green. 

So the green Hulk was born and the gray Hulk died … at least for about a quarter of a century until Marvel got the printing right and reintroduced in the 1980s, first, a smarter, leaner, meaner gray Hulk, then the Vegas strongman Hulk known as Joe Fixit.

Several years ago, the Eisner Award-winning team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale reimagined the Hulk’s earliest days as a gray behemoth, with “Hulk: Gray.” The Loeb/Sale team created similar early looks at other Marvel heroes based on a color scheme with “Daredevil: Yellow” and “Spider-Man: Blue.”

Arguably, the coloration isn’t important. In “Hulk: Gray,” Bruce Banner recalls his early days as Hulk in a late-night session with Dr. Leonard Samson on what would have been Banner and Betty Ross’ wedding anniversary. 

“Hulk: Gray” reimagines Banner/Hulk’s rescue and early friendship with Rick Jones, the doomed love for Betty whether as Bruce or the Hulk, the animosity between Gen. “Thunderbolt” Ross and Hulk/Banner, etc.

Still, the coloration is important. The art team uses a muted palette throughout the six issues collected in one volume. Sale’s massive Hulk is more menacing in his slate-gray form. Even more so when a traditionally green Hulk confronts readers near the end of the story. 

Suddenly, the idea of a gray Hulk makes far better sense and creates a far more powerful figure than the emerald green giant.

“Hulk: Gray” makes a compelling argument that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby should have fought harder with the printer to make their original concept of a gray Hulk work.