Behind a beautiful Joe Jusko cover (I always liked the way Joe rendered the Hulk...he always looked so massive) are the final two stories of the Hulk's b/w adventures.
Unlike most of Marvel's other b/w magazines, though, the editors of The Hulk! announce up front (in an editorial by Ralph Macchio) that this is the last issue. You would think with The Incredible Hulk still on TV, that selling a second Hulk comic book would easy as pie, but Macchio says many retailers still couldn't figure out where to "rack" the magazine, leading to middling sales, so Marvel finally decided to pull the pug.
The first story is "Feudin'" by Lora Byrne, the great Gene Colan, and Dave Simons:
Bruce gets picked up while hitch-hiking, and then runs into trouble (of course) when another hitch-hiker kidnaps the trucker, as part of a larger scam.
Of course, they don't realize someone else in the truck. And when they do, they draw Bruce into their backwoods society, but it all goes wrong when they think Bruce has made a pass at one of the women:
Of course, they don't realize someone else in the truck. And when they do, they draw Bruce into their backwoods society, but it all goes wrong when they think Bruce has made a pass at one of the women:
...this story is unusual in that doesn't end with the Hulk destroying everything. Rather, the Hulk is as gentle as he can be here.
Next is a text-piece that is a history of the Hulk by Steven Grant:
Next is a text-piece that is a history of the Hulk by Steven Grant:
The article runs five pages, and near the end, Grant mentions that "The Hulk! was cleared away to make room for other material--namely, Marvel Universe."
Um, what is Marvel Universe?
According to Grant, "Marvel Universe will be a full-color magazine, much like Marvel's Epic Illustrated, featuring a number of Marvel superheroes as well as the Hulk."
Wow, that sounded really cool. I guess MU never got off the ground...that's a shame. I think a more adult-oriented magazine, done in the same style as Epic, but featuring the stars of the Marvel universe, would have been really interesting.
Anyway, The Hulk! has one more story to go, this time by J.M. De Matteis, Colan, and John Tartaglione, where he finds himself in the strange, strange world of...Las Vegas!:
Um, what is Marvel Universe?
According to Grant, "Marvel Universe will be a full-color magazine, much like Marvel's Epic Illustrated, featuring a number of Marvel superheroes as well as the Hulk."
Wow, that sounded really cool. I guess MU never got off the ground...that's a shame. I think a more adult-oriented magazine, done in the same style as Epic, but featuring the stars of the Marvel universe, would have been really interesting.
Anyway, The Hulk! has one more story to go, this time by J.M. De Matteis, Colan, and John Tartaglione, where he finds himself in the strange, strange world of...Las Vegas!:
...like most of De Matteis' best work, its a very human-centric story, told with a lot of compassion for its protagonists. Colan's work here under Tartaglione is much more recognizable than it was under Simons in the first story. Gene Colan = awesome.
There's a letters page where Marvel says goodbye, and then we get one last send-off:
There's a letters page where Marvel says goodbye, and then we get one last send-off:
The Hulk! (in its earlier incarnation, The Rampaging Hulk) was one of the first b/w magazines I ever bought as a kid, and I guess I can attest to Macchio's statement that newsstands never knew where to place it, because I had a hard time finding it after picking up after first finding it.
That's too bad, because there was a lot of good material in this magazine. What a shame it all had to stop because newsvendors couldn't quite do their job.
Farewell, Jade Giant!
That's too bad, because there was a lot of good material in this magazine. What a shame it all had to stop because newsvendors couldn't quite do their job.
Farewell, Jade Giant!
2 comments:
Excellent post! I have every issue of the Hulk mag, from B&W to color back to B&W, and it was always a high quality affair.
As for Marvel Universe, I'm pretty sure that morphed into the comic we know as Marvel Fanfare. The Epic-style mag would've been better!
Gene Colan makes everything better.
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