Chris Weyant’s cartoon is set in a living room, where an old woman is sitting next to and addressing The Hulk, who has just transformed into his enraged, green, monstrous self. Weyant’s original caption—“I don’t know why I even bother to talk politics with you”—explains what made him so mad. Many of you offered alternative explanations:
- “We weren’t even married when I slept with the Fantastic Four.”
- “I don’t care, pick any restaurant. No, not that one, pick something else.”
- “Just read the articles. Stop reading the comments.”
- “Would it kill you to let me hold the remote?
- “You forgot your estrogen again, Mother.”
The first caption works on several levels: (1) The Hulk is a jealous spouse who obsesses about his wife’s prior relationships, (2) The Hulk’s wife was, despite all appearances to the contrary, pretty wild in her youth, and (3) The Hulk’s wife was not just sexually adventurous but deviant because she slept with a married couple (Mister Fantastic and The Invisible Woman) and siblings (The Invisible Woman and The Human Torch), maybe all at the same time.
I love the second caption because it suggests that The Hulk lost his temper after getting slowly frustrated by his wife’s maddening refusal to make a simple decision, or to let him make the decision for her. The other judges, however, criticized the entry on the ground that it showed us only half of an ongoing conversation. I don’t think that’s a problem. After all, the winning caption from New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #145 did the same thing, but I got out-voted.
I like the sixth caption because it came out of left field and is unique—the only entry to suggest that The Hulk is a woman.
Before Bruce Banner turned into The Hulk, he would often warn his adversaries by saying, “Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” Several of you alluded to that catchphrase:
- “Well I don’t like you when you’re calm, either.”
- “You won’t like me when I’m angry, either.’
- “Don’t make me angry.”
In the 2008 movie, “The Incredible Hulk,” Banner, who has a limited grasp of Spanish, confuses his Spanish-speaking adversaries by saying, “No me de hambre. No me limarias cuando tenga hambre.” Translation: “Don’t make me hungry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m hungry.”
The following six entries allude to the fact that the woman is witnessing an unpleasant transformation:
- “Now watch me turn into your ex-wife.”
- “Don’t turn me into the villain.”
- “Try going through menopause.”
- “You’re not the man I married.”
- “You’ve changed.”
- “That’s nothing. When I get angry I turn into Marjorie Taylor Greene.”
That last caption functions not only as a political joke but as a pun that addresses The Hulk’s skin-color. Here’s a similar but superior pun: “I don’t like your tone.”
These next three entries allude to the adjective that’s always used to describe The Hulk:
- “I’ll tell you what would make you really incredible – patience.”
- “It would be more incredible if you just took out the trash.”
- “You’re just like your father, except he was credible.”
Several of you focused on that fact that Bruce Banner, a brilliant but physically unimposing scientist, bursts out of his clothes when he turns into The Hulk:
- “A real genius physicist would stop buying slim-fit shirts.”
- “I’m not buying you another shirt.”
- “I just hemmed those pants.”
Here’s this month’s best example of transforming an ordinary statement into a joke that makes sense within the context of the cartoon: “I thought you were going to mellow with age.”
Finally, we have a caption that recognizes what an inarticulate brute Banner becomes when he turns into his savage alter ego: “With you it’s always Hulk Smash or Hulk Mad. When’s it going to be Hulk Earn a Decent Living?”
This week’s winning caption—“You’ve changed.”—comes from Brandon Lawniczak, who has won The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest once and been a finalist five times. The five runners-up are:
- “We weren’t even married when I slept with the Fantastic Four.”
- “A real genius physicist would stop buying slim-fit shirts.”
- “Don’t turn me into the villain.”
- “I just hemmed those pants.”
- “I don’t like your tone.”
For those of you who are interested in seeing how we made our selections, we recorded the process and you can view it here.