Friday evening, SheDev and I made it down to the local stadium multiplex and caught Ang Lee's vision of Hulk ... yes, that isn't a typo --- HULK.

There is no preceding The or The Incredible --- this one is simply entitled HULK. The other thing as a word of caution for people who would bring their really youngsters to this movie --- this one definitely has the some, no wait, a damn metric ton or so of images too intense for children --- and you'll never look at FiFi the french poodle the same again

So Marvel Entertainment has had another one of its great franchises adapted to the film format --- and there are a few more coming including Punisher, which there was a preview for during HULK --- yes, yes, no preceding The, so brainwashed and set in my ways, ha --- and Submariner --- and a few more

Here's what I notice after this recent deluge of comic book adaptations, the film reviewers comment heavily on the film --- as they should. The fanboys of the comics comment both on the film and its fidelity to source material.

I find that I fall into category number two, so every time I see my favorite heroes light across the big screen. Three things happen.

Number one, there is an awe to see them come to life — and this feeling seems stronger nowadays as opposed to former film adaptations just because the direction and production in these movies gets better and better.

Number two, does the comic book movie really match up well with the comic book? Most of the time it does not --- so I look for at least some vibe that the director gets it about the story they are telling or the characters they are telling a story about

Lastly, I should be enjoying the movie, I certainly am not observing the intricacies of surgically repairing burst capillaries --- sometimes, it's hard just to sit back and enjoy these movies, because of my familiarity with the other format, the comic book

As a point of reference, my generation had three Hulk related things going on during our formative years. The campy, made for TV Bixby/Ferrigno classic series made its run, and most of my friends watched that show pretty religiously. There was also this serial cartoon much like how they have X-men Evolution nowadays on WB. Also, the Hulk had his own comic book and would make appearances from time to time in crossover issues --- so I believe the green altered human is pretty firmly entrenched in the popular consciousness of my generation of 30-somethings

And back to the film --- there is always a tension between keeping it tight to comic book set character boundaries and plot --- with the freedom of film, its limitations of time, and the need to entertain the 99.9% of the audience who could give a rat's petoot about the comic book source material themselves. That being said, I leave it to other sources here on the Internet to fill you in with their textual interpretations as to source fidelity, they certainly can do it better than me