Okay, so ... Hank as a young man, circa the mid-late 1960's (which is an era I actually remember -- although I was much more interested in who, in the neighbourhood, owned a Slip-N-Slide as opposed to what the Mercury and Gemini astronauts were up to -- AND I will also volunteer that I lived on the same street that Pete Conrad also lived on once upon a time)... anyway ... you so have this down, mister! Old School Hank, hit on the (very brief) pro-wrestling thing ... the hair is perfect (I remember it on the big brothers of my playmates -- you totally do your homework!) ... and, with this pose, you foreshadow everything that waits in store for this guileless young man.

You nail your sketches of Hank as a young man, every single time, your work has such heart to it, you capture him perfectly -- Jack and Stan would be so proud. (Not to mention how much you make this ol' Cougar smile). YOU, sir, are my hero. ()

--
"In America the young are always ready to give to those who are older than themselves the full benefits of their inexperience." ~ Oscar Wilde

Thanks! I really don't know why I've been drawing him sporting his 60s look, instead of something more modern. Probably just because it's fun and absolutely nobody is drawing Hank like this nowadays. I've actually been tossing around the idea of doing an entire fan comic that takes places during those few weeks of Hank's pro-wrestling career. But if I did something like that, I might choose to update him a little bit; since I don't think I could pull off an entire story set in the 60s.

I'm a child of the late-70s/early80s (born in 1973), and I remember seeing a few guys with this hairstyle too. But they were usually in their late-30s or 40s and unsuccessfully trying to hang on to their youth.

Anyways, I appreciate all the compliments. Hank's always been my favorite and I've always felt that I know exactly what's going on inside his head. He's that guy who could be dodging bullets, while simultaneously solving complex algebra equations in his head and making a shopping list for personal hygiene supplies. All while thinking to himself, "Hey, I'm dodging bullets while solving complex algebra equations and making a shopping list," and "How do I say 'Ha, you missed me!' in as many syllables as possible?" So he's the easiest, and most fun, character for me to draw.

WOW! This is amazingly lovely! I've always liked pre-blue Hank... one of Marvel's hottest hunks!

Thank you, I have a feeling that we each like Hank for completely different reasons, but it's all good. I'm glad you're enjoying my renditions of the character. I'll keep uploading new ones as I get them done. Thanks again!

Hey, I've always been a fan of Hank's... since I was little kid. I grew up in the 70's and 80's... I liked him in the Avengers, and liked him in the (original) X-Men reprints. I even managed to score some of those back issues back in the day, tho I don't have any of them now. I will agree that, as an adult, I do think he's "hot". But that's not the only reason I like Hank McCoy. He's an intelligent man, but not so lost in science that he does not enjoy pop culture / regular things. He's always been shown to be a good friend, and he's shown that he can make the best of a bad situation. How many people would turn bitter over becoming blue and fuzzy?!?

I totally agree with you on all your points. If you go through the history of Hank's character (pre-lion form), then he actually has one of the richest and most diverse backgrounds of any superhero. He's also one of the most well-developed and complex characters with multiple facets to his personality (everything from a wisecracking party animal to a brilliant scientist).

Also, his physical attractiveness is a very important aspect of his character in his human form. It's that striking contrast of his clean-cut, masculine good looks combined with the name "Beast" and his ape-like powers that makes the character so cool (at least that was the case in most of the early X-Men issues). It also helps him pull off the blue and furry look without just becoming a hideous abomination (like having a lion's face for instance ).

Anyways, no offense intended with my previous comment. I'm just happy to meet so many other fans of Hank McCoy on this site.

I didn't take offense. (It's truly hard to offend me - you have to be hateful or willfully ignorant to do so.) I think we all may be guilty of the "he's hot" or "she's hot" without much more thought to it than that. Nothing really wrong there. But, I do like Hank for reasons that I pointed out. Maybe he's not an iconic favourite like Wonder Woman, but he's long been a favourite. I imagine that if he were a real person, I would probably get along with him and enjoy his company. There are a couple of other favourites who fit this bill as well, and who I think share a few traits with Hank - Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) being one of them.

I will say that I'm not too happy with Hank's current lion-esque form. This is mainly because I'm not too happy with any of the secondary mutations that were introduced. In a way, Hank's made the most sense, but the others that were introduced did not. Besides Emma and Hank, how many other secondary mutations can be named? I can't think of any off-hand.

I'm glad to mee other fans too. One of my favourite art commissions that I've had done is a sketch card of pre-blue Hank.

What writers do you think wrote Hank the best? I don't remember who was writing Avengers in the late 70's off the top of my head, but those were always good issues, and great for Hank. I feel like his place is more with them than the X-Men. I like how Kurt Busiek used him in Avengers when the title got the Heroes Return reboot. He wasn't used often, but Kurt seemed to get Hank. I also liked how John Byrne wrote (and drew) Hank in X-Men: Hidden Years.

Well, I was born in 1973, but I didn't start collecting comic books until 1987. So my first introduction to Hank McCoy was in the pages of X-Factor and Louise Simonson was writing it back then. Her work tended to be a little soap-opera influenced, but overall it was very well written. However, she never really wrote Hank as a super-brilliant scientist, in fact for a big portion of her run on the series, Hank was essentially mentally retarded because of an illness he was given by Pestilence. That was actually the point where I started reading the series, so I thought being a musclebound buffoon was just who Beast was. It wasn't until years later that I realized he was supposed to be a brilliant scientist.

Of course, the early Stan Lee issues pretty much defined Hank McCoy. You can actually see how he grew as a character over those first 10 issues. I don't think it was until X-Men #8 that Stan and Jack Kirby really started to get a handle on just who Hank McCoy was.

Gerry Conway wrote Amazing Adventures #11 (the issue where he becomes the blue/grey and furry Beast) and he really seemed to understand the character. As I've said before, it's easily the best Beast story that I've ever read, so far.

Aside from Jeff Parker's excellent work on X-Men: First Class, there's really nothing from 1991 up until now that I've been happy with when it comes to Hank McCoy. Although, in the later issues of First Class, it seems that Hank, Bobby and Warren have just been relegated to the status of sidekicks, with Scott and Jean being the focus of the series.

However, I've been out of the comic book hobby for about 15 years now and I'm just getting back into it. From what I've read, Hank doesn't seem to get nearly enough attention when he is in team books and writers only seem to focus on him when they are mutating him into something else. But I'm going to dig up some of those old Avengers issues, so my opinion might change on this.

Unfortunately, Hank doesn't seem to get much respect. You're right, X-Men: First Class has been pretty good, even tho lately it's been the Scott & Jean Show!