| The Rampaging Hulk | |
|---|---|
 Cover ofThe Rampaging Hulk #1 (Jan. 1977). Art byKen Barr | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Schedule | List
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| Format | Ongoing series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | List
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| No. of issues | List
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| Main character | The Hulk |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | List
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| Colorist | List
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| Editor | List
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| Collected editions | |
| Essential Rampaging Hulk Vol. 1 | ISBN 0-7851-2699-6 |
| Essential Rampaging Hulk Vol. 2 | ISBN 0-7851-4255-X |
The Rampaging Hulk is acomic book series published byMarvel Comics. The first volume was ablack and white magazine published byCurtis Magazines (an imprint of Marvel) from 1977–1978. With issue #10, it changed its format to color and its title toThe Hulk!, and ran another 17 issues before it was canceled in 1981. It was a rare attempt by Marvel to mix theirsuperhero characters with the "mature readers" black-and-white magazine format.
With the change to color and the title toThe Hulk!, the magazine became Marvel's attempt to cash in on the popularity ofThe Incredible Hulk TV series, starringBill Bixby andLou Ferrigno, both of whom were prominently featured and interviewed[1][2] over the course of the magazine's run, as was executive producerKenneth Johnson.[3]
The series had a second run of six issues from August 1998 to January 1999.
The Rampaging Hulk ran for nine issues from January 1977 to June 1978.[4] With issue #10 (Aug. 1978), the bi-monthly magazine changed its title toThe Hulk! and became a full-color book utilizing "Marvelcolor".[5]
The magazine featured fully painted covers by such artists asKen Barr,Earl Norem, andJoe 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 forThe Hulk! #17 (Oct. 1979).
Artists such asWalt Simonson,[6]John Buscema,Howard Chaykin,John Romita Sr.,John Romita Jr. (doing some of his first professional work),Keith Pollard,Jim Starlin,Joe Jusko,Bill Sienkiewicz,Val Mayerik,Herb Trimpe,Brent Anderson, andGene Colan provided interior artwork; while writers such as Starlin,Doug Moench,[6]Roger Stern,Dennis O'Neil, andArchie Goodwin took on the scripting chores. The coloring of the color issues was done bySteve Oliff,[7] using a system developed byRick Marschall for the magazine.[8]
Through its run, the magazine published backup features starringUlysses Bloodstone (issues #1–6 and 8) theMan-Thing (issue #7)[9] andShanna the She-Devil (issue #9).[10] TheMoon Knight was featured in issues #11–15, #17–18, and #20, featuring some of Bill Sienkiewicz's early work starting in #13,[11] when his style was similar to that ofNeal Adams.
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 ofanti-gay stereotypes.[12][13][14]
With issue #24, the magazine returned to black-and-white, though it published the lastDominic Fortune backup story in full color.[15] It was canceled with issue #27 (June 1981).[5]
A six-issue comic book series in color, also titledThe Rampaging Hulk, was published from August 1998 to January 1999 by Marvel. Most of the stories were written byGlenn Greenberg with art byRick Leonardi andDan Green.[16]
The stories inThe Rampaging Hulk were set between the end of his original, short-lived solo title and the beginning of his feature inTales to Astonish.[17] A problem with this was pointed out by fans in theletter columns. 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 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 toThe Hulk!, the series turned to using stories set contemporaneously with the majority of Marvel publications (including its sister titleThe Incredible Hulk). It also adopted the same formula of the popularIncredible Hulk TV series: human interest-driven, with no supporting cast, no supervillains, and no guest stars.[18]
AlthoughThe Rampaging Hulk /The Hulk! was intended to feature stand-alone stories, some characters (such as the extraterrestrialBereet) crossed over into theIncredible Hulk title. Bereet appeared in issue #269 (March 1982) of the regular series to explain away theRampaging Hulk series as fictions she created for the entertainment of her homeworld's residents.[19] This changed theRampaging Hulk stories intometafiction.
Other Marvel mainstays also appeared, with theX-Men making an appearance in issue #2[20] and theAvengers in issue #9.[21]
In these stories, written by Doug Moench and drawn by Walter Simonson, the Hulk contended against an invading race of aliens called the Krylorians.
Bruce Banner shower rape.
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