Lee originally intended the Hulk to be colored gray, believing that "gray would be a heavy, dramatic, somber color, in keeping with the melodramatic mood we wanted to establish." However, initial copies of the first issue showed that the printers had a difficult time maintaining the gray color, and the decision was made to change his skin to the more familiar green. Until 1986, any and all reprints featuring the origin story would depict the Hulk with green skin until writer/artist John Byrne would incorporate the original gray coloring into canon in The Incredible Hulk #318.