When I was a little kid, ten cents would buy you an issue of "Tales to Astonish" featuring Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk in one comic book.

This week, you can catch excellent big screen adaptations of both classic Marvel Comics icons at the Fountain Place Cinema 8 Theater.

"The Incredible Hulk" was released Friday and looks like it may become a box office smash. Jack Kirby and Stan Lee's "ncredible Hulk" was always an unusual character. Prior to the superhero boom of the 1960s, Jack and Stan did comics featuring huge and fearsome city destroying monsters. When the Hulk came along, he was a mix of that, the superheroes and classic film and fictional monsters. Dr. Robert Bruce Banner was basically the mad scientist who creates his own Frankenstein or Mr. Hyde out of himself.

The new movie adaptation mixes elements from decades of Marvel Comics along with the classic 1970s television show featuring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, and some minor parts from Ang Lee's "Hulk" film from five years ago. Where the Lee film was mired in subtext and character motivation the new version is a pure high octane, action laden adventure movie.

This time around Ed Norton (of "Fight Club" and "American History X") stars as the puny Dr. Bruce Banner who is on the lam lest Army General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt) capture him and use his altered DNA to create living weapons of mass destruction. Ross brings in a British Royal Marine commando, Emil Blonsky (played by Tim Roth) and puts him in charge of recovering Banner but does not tell him about the Hulk.

When the commandos catch up with Banner in Brazil, the frail doctor Hulks Out and takes down a trio of thugs and Blonski's commandos warning him "leave me alone!"

Blonski confronts Ross demanding to know what Banner's secret is. Ross explains that during WWII the US government utilized a special "super soldier" formula to create an amped up soldier. Longtime comics' fans will realize Ross is actually talking about Captain America. Banner did not realize that his own experiments were secretly manipulated by Ross, who was trying to recreate the exact formula or process that created Cap.

Ross uses Dr. Reinstien's super soldier formula on Blonski who gains enhanced strength, reflexes and agility to deal with the Hulk, making him the equivalent of Captain America. However, because Blonski did not receive the radiation treatment with the serum, he becomes mentally unstable.

Banner gets in contact with Betty Ross (Liv Tyler), his ex-girlfriend and of course, ol Thunderbolt's daughter. Betty is now a science teacher and is dating Dr. Leonard Samson (yes, Doc Samson from the comics). The couple go on the run after a showdown between the Hulk and the Army where the overly cocky super soldier Blonski gets every bone in his body broken, despite his Captain America like abilities. Banner and Betty get ahold of the mysterious "Mr. Blue," Dr. Samuel Sterns, an online friend of Banner's who has been supposedly working on a cure for the Hulk. They induce Bruce into a controlled Hulk Out and test the serum to see if it works.

All of this leads to a showdown between the Hulk and Blonski who becomes the Abomination in a rock 'em sock 'em slug fest the likes of which has not been seen on screen since King Kong duked it out with Godzilla.

"The Incredible Hulk" is a romp' em, stomp 'em action flick that promises to reboot the Hulk franchise after the disappointing performance of the earlier Ang Lee film. Ed Norton is far better as Bruce Banner than the way too studly Eric Bana. (Longtime comics fans were bewildered that "Puny Banner" was portrayed by a stereotypical action movie stud, in Bana, whose next major role was playing Hector in "Troy.") Liv Tyler is far livelier as Betty Ross than Jennifer Connally and Director Louis Leterrier, best known for the high energy action flick "The Transporter" delivers the goods, giving the audience a Hulk film that truly is an incredible mix of adventure and fun and trivia for fans. Leterrier included tips of the hat to the Hulk's decade's long continuity, the history of the Marvel Universe and the classic television show through the use of the haunting theme music and cameos by both Ferrigno and the late Bill Bixby.

You don't have to be a trivia obsessed fanboy to enjoy "The Incredible Hulk", but you will get even more out of it if you are. This is an excellent follow up on "ron Man" which is probably the best superhero movie adaptation yet to come from this fledgling film genre. In fact, Robert Downey Jr. who stars as Iron Man, has a cameo at the end of "The Incredible Hulk" which along with Samuel L. Jackson's cameo in Iron Man sets the stage for a possible big budget version of "The Avengers" the classic Marvel superhero team consisting originally of Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor and Captain America. And yes, movies about Thor and Captain America are also in the wings if "The Incredible Hulk" matches the box office success of "ron Man."

Comic book adaptations are being seen as concepts that are proven in that they have a built in audience. If other comics adaptations like "The Dark Knight" and "Hellboy 2" can deliver entertainment for the fans and box office for the studios and producers it could become a new American film genre like the Western or the Romantic Comedy. And that could be a good thing for old fans like me who have a treasure trove of happy, nostalgic memories rotating around sitting on the front porch swing, drinking ice cold lemonade and enjoying the four color adventures of the superheroes who inhabited the ever fascinating world of the comic-book.