The Rampaging Hulk #9 - Marvel

June 1978 - The Hulk vs. The Avengers, continued!

This cover by Earl Norem is one of my all-time favorites. I'm not exactly sure how the (relatively) puny Ant-Man and Wasp are possibly holding up their end--literally--but who cares? This cover is awesome!

Speaking of awesome, this inside cover isn't too snazzy either, recalling a truly Great Moment in Hulk History:

This is referencing Incredible Hulk #150, when the Hulk faced off against the X-Men Havok. Drawn by the perfect team of Herb Trimpe and John Severin, the Hulk does nothing less than rip an entire chunk of a cliff right off, done in extreme long shot to convey just how powerful Ol' Jade Jaws is. It remains probably my all-time favorite Hulk moment, so it was cool to see it mentioned here.

Anyway, last issue of The Rampaging Hulk ended with the Hulk, Rick Jones, and the alien woman Bereet smack-dab in the middle of an alien invasion. One of the aliens shape-shifts into looking like IronMan, and starts causing damage on Earth.

This of course gets the nascent Avengers (remember, these stories take place somewhere around Hulk #'s 1-6) involved, and that's where this issue picks up:

Never having seen this issue before, I was soooo looking forward to it--I loved The Rampaging Hulk's art team of Walt Simonson and Alfredo Alcala, who excelled at pulse-pounding, jumping-off-the-page action. The previous issue swapped out Simonson for Herb Trimpe, and while I wasn't as thrilled with that, the book still looked distinctive from the Hulk color comic, one of the things I love(d) about the b/w magazine format.

So you can imagine my disappointment when I opened this issue and saw the art team was Sal Buscema and Rudy Mesina. Not at all meant as a slight to Mr. Buscema--who was and is a fine comic book artist--but one look at these pages and you can see they look a lot like the Hulk color comic, just without the color. One of the things I liked the most about the magazine, the thing that made it the most distinct, is gone, right at the moment that the biggest, most knock-down, drag-out fight was about to occur. *Sigh*

Okay, anyway, this issue is pretty much one big fight:

You gotta admire The Wasp and Ant-Man for even daring to get near the Hulk! I guess that's what makes them heroes.

There are some moments here that feel a little more brutal than what you saw in regular Marvel comics, like when Thor tosses his hammer right into the Hulk's chin:

...ouch! My teeth hurt when I look at that.

Eventually, the Avengers and Hulk realize they're on the same side, and turn on the alien invaders:

The End...for now!

With this issue, the "Bloodstone" co-feature (which I never warmed to) is gone, replaced by Shanna the She-Devil(!) drawn by Tony DeZuniga. But before we get to that, there's a really nifty Shanna pin-up gallery by DeZuniga:

The strip, written by Steve Gerber, is to me a real improvement over Bloodstone, and provides a nice balance to the testosterone-fueled lead feature. Also, Tony DeZuniga really does some fantastic work here: his draftsmanship, layouts, and use of darks and lights make this Shanna strip a real joy to look at:

I'm already a big fan of The Rampaging Hulk, and now I like it even more! Can't wait to get to the next issue!

The Rampaging Hulk #8 - Marvel

April 1978 - The Hulk vs. The Avengers!

Before get into what happens in this issue of The Rampaging Hulk, let's take a moment to appreciate the nifty cover by Ken Barr (I love how massive the Hulk looks). In addition, let's take agander at the nifty inside cover pin-up by Terry Austin:

When last we left the Hulk (story-wise, I mean), the Green Goliath, Rick Jones, and the alien woman known as Bereet had just defeated an alien colossus, and woke up in a quiet, wooded field. For a moment, there was peace.

But of course that can't last, and this issue opens with our disparate trio witnessing some alien ships overhead:

Following the aliens' trail, they find a hidden fortress deep inside a mountain where the aliens are planning some sort of invasion. The Hulk, of course, only knows the most direct manner possible when dealing with them:

As the story rolls on, the aliens use a duplicating ray to mimic the appearance of IronMan, whose mission is to create some sort of diversion--that's a can do!

The fake IronMan starts blasting a bridge, which leads to a fight with the Hulk. That, in turn, leads to the entire Avengers getting involved:

...to be continued!


These Rampaging Hulks are a blast to read, and while I miss the art team of Walt Simonson and Alfredo Alcala, you can't complain having Herb Trimpe drawing the Hulk again.

On top of the main Hulk story, there's a way-cool pin-up section; kind of an Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe-type thing before that existed:

...all pin-ups drawn by George Perez! Can't beat it!

There's also the regular Bloodstone back-up feature (although, at eighteen pages, you'd have a hard time calling it that), as well, rounding out another slam-bang issue of The Rampaging Hulk!

The Rampaging Hulk #2 - Marvel

April 1977 - The Hulk vs. The X-Men!

Writer Doug Moench always did a good job on these Rampaging Hulk stories--he managed to capture the goofiness of early 60s Marvel while simultaneously delivering a slightly modern "comment" on those self-same stories, as well as working in classic Marvel pulse-pounding action.

That said, the real star of these early Rampaging Hulk issues is the art, by the fantastic team of Walt Simonson and Alfredo Alcala. So other than mentioning that Hulk fights a giant robot, with the original X-Men getting involved--I'm going to get out of the way and let the artwork speak for itself:

There's also the regular back-up feature, Bloodstone, which never did much for me but still looks pretty spiffy as well, thanks to artists Bob Brown and Rudy Nebres:

These Rampaging Hulks are enormous fun, and I look forward to presenting more of these on the blog ASAP!

The Rampaging Hulk #1 - Marvel

Jan. 1977 - "The Krylorian Conspiracy"

The other old mag I picked up at the 2010 NYCC is this, the very first issue of The Rampaging Hulk, one of my all-time favorite black-and-white comic magazines. I've never read this issue before, but I've enjoyed every single RH I've come across, so I knew this would be more than worth the two bucks the dealer was asking.

Written by Doug Moench with art by the dynamite team of Walt Simonson and Alfredo Alcala, this issue starts off on the right, giant green foot:

...all these stories take place right after the Hulk's initial run in Incredible Hulk #s 1-6, but in the first few pages we get a recap of the jade giant's origin. You know the drill: Bruce Banner, gamma test, that idiot Rick Jones, etc.

Not in any way to slight the great Jack Kirby (at all!), but the sheer violent power of the Hulk is brought off perfectly by Simonson and Alcala, where our hero seems to be bursting off the pages:

The Hulk finds himself entangled with an alien race called the Krylorians, who have the ability to assume human form. And while the story is told in the classic, iconic Mighty Marvel Manner, Moench finds time to throw in some good gags, showing us the Krylorians aren't exactly the Skrulls:

The Hulk and Rick Jones meet the slinky Bereet, a fugitive from Krylor, the Krylorians home planet. Bereet has amazing, advanced technology at her disposal, and at the end of our first black-and-white Hulk adventure she agrees to team up with her unusual partners to help stop the invading Krylorian armada:

I love how the Hulk looks here--he's a giant, rippling mountain of muscle, and more than a little scary-looking.

After the main story there's an editorial by John Warner, explaining what this magazine is and the concept behind it, followed by the inaugural installment of Bloodstone, written by Warner and drawn by John Buscema and Rudy Nebres.

There's also a custom ad for the next issue, and I'll be damned if they don't make it look as fun and exciting as possible:

...now I gotta go find Rampaging Hulk #2!

The Rampaging Hulk #4 - Marvel

Aug. 1977 - "The Other Side of Night!"

The Rampaging Hulk is one of my favorite b/w magazines; I discovered it as a kid and its stories were always fun and exciting, usually drawn by top-flight artists.

That standard is met again in this issue, featuring a story by Jim Starlin and John Warner, drawn by the unusual combo of Starlin and Alex Nino!

You wouldn't think that's a pairing that would mesh well, but they do. Here are just a couple of exceptional pages from the story:

Since this story has a more sci-fi-ish setting (The Hulk is transported across space by the Ming the Merciless-like baddie known as Chen K'an), Nino's finishes give the story that kind of other-worldly feel, which works perfectly. Plus, the story itself is just a lot of fun.

Following this, there's a "Gallery of Villains", featuring Handbook of the Marvel Universe-esque fact pages on various Hulk villains, like The Gargoyle, The Toad Men, and The Ringmaster.

The regular back-up feature at the time was Bloodstone, again written by Warner and featuring art by Val Mayerik and Sonny Trinidad :

I've never quite gotten that into the Bloodstone strip, and the fact that this installment runs almost twenty pages left me a tad disappointed--I want more Rampaging Hulk, dammit!

At the end of the book, there's this fun, old-school ad for the next issue featuring a real donnybrook between the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner:

The use of some old Kirby poses is a nice touch, since this series featured Hulk stories set early in his "career", back when the King was drawing the book.

Bloodstone aside (which truly isn't a bad strip, just a little dull, to me at least), this is another solid installment of the series, topped off by a fine cover by Starlin.