''The Rampaging Hulk'' is a
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
series published by
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...
. The first volume was a
black and white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
magazine published by
Curtis Magazines
Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin from the Old French ''curteis'' ( Modern French ''courtois'') which derived from the Spanish Cortés (of which Cortez is a variation) and the Portuguese and G ...
(an imprint of Marvel) from 1977–1978. With issue #10, it changed its format to color and its title to ''The Hulk!'', and ran another 17 issues before it was canceled in 1981. It was a rare attempt by Marvel to mix their
superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
characters with the "mature readers" black-and-white magazine format.
With the change to color and the title to ''The Hulk!'', the magazine became Marvel's attempt to cash in on the popularity of ''
The Incredible Hulk
The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of '' The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book a ...
'' TV series, starring
Bill Bixby
Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III (January 22, 1934 – November 21, 1993) professionally known as Bill Bixby, was an American actor, director, producer, and frequent game-show panellist.
Bixby's career spanned more than three decades, includi ...
and
Lou Ferrigno
Louis Jude Ferrigno Sr. (; born November 9, 1951) is an American actor and retired professional bodybuilder. As a bodybuilder, Ferrigno won an IFBB Mr. America title and two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles; and appeared in the documenta ...
, both of whom were prominently featured and interviewed over the course of the magazine's run, as was executive producer
Kenneth Johnson.
The series had a second run of six issues from August 1998 to January 1999.
Publication history
''The Rampaging Hulk'' ran for nine issues from January 1977 to June 1978. With issue #10 (Aug. 1978), the bi-monthly magazine changed its title to ''The Hulk!'' and became a full-color book utilizing "Marvelcolor".
The magazine featured fully painted covers by such artists as
Ken Barr,
Earl Norem, and
Joe Jusko. Norem's work on the series included a darkly-lit close-up of the Hulk's face, looking angry and gritting his teeth with one of his fists raised, done for ''The Hulk!'' #17 (Oct. 1979).
Artists such as
Walt Simonson
Walter Simonson (born September 2, 1946) is an American comic book writer and artist, best known for a run on Marvel Comics' ''Thor'' from 1983 to 1987, during which he created the character Beta Ray Bill. He is also known for the creator-owned w ...
,
,
Howard Chaykin
Howard Victor Chaykin (; born October 7, 1950) is an American comic book artist and writer. Chaykin's influences include his one-time employer and mentor, Gil Kane, and the mid-20th century illustrators Robert Fawcett and Al Parker.
Early life ...
,
John Romita Sr.
John V. Romita (; born January 24, 1930) is an American comic book artist best known for his work on Marvel Comics' ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and for co-creating characters including the Punisher and Wolverine. He was inducted into the Will Eis ...
,
John Romita Jr.
John Salvatore Romita (; born August 17, 1956), known professionally as John Romita Jr., is an American comics artist best known for his extensive work for Marvel Comics from the 1970s to the 2010s. He is the son of artist John Romita Sr.
Early ...
(doing some of his first professional work),
Keith Pollard
Keith Pollard (; born January 20, 1950) is an American comic book artist. Originally from the Detroit area, Pollard is best known for his simultaneous work on the Marvel Comics titles ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', ''Fantastic Four'', and ''Thor (Ma ...
,
Jim Starlin
James P. Starlin (born October 9, 1949) is an American comics artist and writer. Beginning his career in the early 1970s, he is best known for space opera stories, for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock, and ...
,
Joe Jusko,
Bill Sienkiewicz
Boleslav William Felix Robert Sienkiewicz ( ; born May 3, 1958) is an American artist known for his work in comic books—particularly for Marvel Comics' ''New Mutants'', '' Moon Knight,'' and '' Elektra: Assassin''. Sienkiewicz's work in the 198 ...
,
Val Mayerik
Val Mayerik (born March 29, 1950) is an American comic book and commercial artist, best known as co-creator of the satiric character ''Howard the Duck'' for ''Marvel Comics''.
Biography
Early life and career
Val Mayerik was born in Youngstown, ...
,
Herb Trimpe
Herbert William Trimpe (; May 26, 1939 – April 13, 2015) was an American comics artist and occasional writer, best known as the seminal 1970s artist on ''The Incredible Hulk'' and as the first artist to draw for publication the character Wolver ...
,
Brent Anderson Brent Anderson may refer to:
* Brent Anderson (comics) (born 1955), American comics artist
* Brent Anderson (singer)
Brent Anderson (born in Pascagoula, Mississippi) is an American country music singer. He has charted on Hot Country Songs with t ...
, and
Gene Colan
Eugene Jules Colan (; September 1, 1926 – June 23, 2011)[Eugene Colan]
at the Social Security Death Index via ...
provided interior artwork; while writers such as Starlin,
Doug Moench
Douglas Moench (; born February 23, 1948) is an American comic book writer notable for his ''Batman'' work and as the creator of Moon Knight, Deathlok, Black Mask, '' Electric Warrior'' and '' Six from Sirius''. He is also known for his critica ...
,
Roger Stern
Roger Stern (born September 17, 1950) is an American comic book author and novelist.
Biography
Early career
In the early 1970s, Stern and Bob Layton published the fanzine ''CPL'' (''Contemporary Pictorial Literature''), one of the first platfor ...
,
Dennis O'Neil
Dennis Joseph O'Neil (May 3, 1939 – June 11, 2020) was an American comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until his retir ...
, and
Archie Goodwin took on the scripting chores. The coloring of the color issues was done by
Steve Oliff
Steve Oliff (born February 20, 1954) is an American comic book artist who has worked as a colorist in the comics industry since 1978.
Biography
Oliff broke into professional comics by attending comic book conventions and meeting people. At one co ...
, using a system developed by
Rick Marschall
Richard "Rick" Marschall (born February 3, 1949) Miller, John Jackson"Comics Industry Birthdays" ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', June 10, 2005. Accessed January 10, 2011. . is a writer/editor and comic strip historian, described by ''Bostonia'' magazine ...
for the magazine.
Through its run, the magazine published backup features starring
Ulysses Bloodstone
Ulysses Bloodstone is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is an immortal monster-hunter.
Ulysses Bloodstone appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe / Disney+ television special ''Werewolf by Ni ...
(issues #1–6 and 8) the
Man-Thing
The Man-Thing (Dr. Theodore "Ted" Sallis) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writers Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gerry Conway and artist Gray Morrow, the character first appeared in ''S ...
(issue #7) and
Shanna the She-Devil (issue #9). The
Moon Knight
Moon Knight is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Doug Moench and artist Don Perlin, the character first appeared in ''Werewolf by Night'' #32 (August 1975).
The son of a rabb ...
was featured in issues #11–15, #17–18, and #20, featuring some of Bill Sienkiewicz's early work starting in #13, when his style was similar to that of
Neal Adams
Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Supe ...
.
The story "A Very Personal Hell" in issue #23 (Oct. 1980) has been criticized for its depiction of an attempted rape of Bruce Banner and the use of
anti-gay stereotypes.
With issue #24, the magazine returned to black-and-white, though it published the last
Dominic Fortune
Dominic Fortune is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Publication history
Created by Howard Chaykin and based on the Scorpion, Chaykin's character for the failed Atlas/Seaboard Comics company, Do ...
backup story in full color. It was canceled with issue #27 (June 1981).
A six-issue comic book series in color, also titled ''The Rampaging Hulk'', was published from August 1998 to January 1999 by Marvel. Most of the stories were written by
Glenn Greenberg
Glenn Greenberg (born New York City) is an American journalist and comic book and fiction writer. At the beginning of his career, he became a regular Marvel Comics writer, penning stories for ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'', '' The Rampaging Hulk'', ...
with art by
Rick Leonardi
Rick Leonardi (born August 9, 1957) is an American comics artist who has worked on various series for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, including ''Cloak and Dagger'', ''The Uncanny X-Men'', ''The New Mutants'', ''Spider-Man 2099'', ''Nightwing'', ''B ...
and
Dan Green.
Editorial direction
The stories in ''The Rampaging Hulk'' were set between the end of his original, short-lived solo title and the beginning of his feature in ''
Tales to Astonish
''Tales to Astonish'' is the name of two American comic book series and a One-shot (comics), one-shot comic published by Marvel Comics.
The primary title bearing that name was published from January 1959 to March 1968. It began as a science-fic ...
''. A problem with this was pointed out by fans in the
letter column
A comic book letter column is a section of an American comic book where readers' letters to the publisher appear. Comic book letter columns are also commonly referred to as letter columns (or lettercols), letter pages, letters of comment (LOCs), or ...
s. Despite the stories being placed in the past, they depicted the Hulk's character as he was contemporaneously, e.g. speaking in his "Hulk smash!"
pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...
English, changing to and from Bruce Banner based on his emotions, and wearing tattered purple trousers; whereas in the claimed time frame, he should have spoken fluent, if gangsterish, English, transformed via a gamma ray machine, and wore neat purple trunks.
With its re-titling to ''The Hulk!'', the series turned to using stories set contemporaneously with the majority of Marvel publications (including its sister title ''The Incredible Hulk''). It also adopted the same formula of the popular
''Incredible Hulk'' TV series: human interest-driven, with no supporting cast, no supervillains, and no guest stars.
Although ''The Rampaging Hulk'' / ''The Hulk!'' was intended to feature stand-alone stories, some characters (such as the extraterrestrial
Bereet
Bereet is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Melia Kreiling portrayed the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' (2014).
Publication history
Bereet first app ...
) crossed over into the ''Incredible Hulk'' title. Bereet appeared in issue #269 (March 1982) of the regular series to explain away the ''Rampaging Hulk'' series as fictions she created for the entertainment of her homeworld's residents. This changed the ''Rampaging Hulk'' stories into
metafiction
Metafiction is a form of fiction which emphasises its own narrative structure in a way that continually reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...
.
Other Marvel mainstays also appeared, with the
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...
making an appearance in issue #2 and the
Avengers
Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to:
Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe
* Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes
**Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of ...
in issue #9.
Collected editions
* ''
Essential Rampaging Hulk''
** Volume 1 collects the Hulk stories from ''The Rampaging Hulk'' #1–9, ''The Hulk!'' #10–15, and ''The Incredible Hulk'' #269, 584 pages, June 2008,
** Volume 2 collects the Hulk stories from ''The Hulk!'' #16–27, 544 pages, April 2010,
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rampaging Hulk, The
1977 comics debuts
1981 comics endings
1998 comics debuts
1999 comics endings
Comics by Doug Moench
Comics by Walt Simonson
Defunct American comics
Metafictional comics