Most folks know that the Incredible Hulk started as a six issue continuing series early in the silver age from Marvel. But it was cancelled and made room in the schedule for something else.
When the Hulk returned to a regular series, he shared half of Tales to Astonish with Giant-Man starting with issue #59 & 60. Eventually, the series took over the entire book with issue 101-102, and has been running for decades.
But not everyone realizes there was a black and white non-code magazine in 1977-78-79 by the name of "The Rampaging Hulk." After nine issues, the adjative "Rampaging" was dropped from the title, and it continued through issue #29 or so.
Has anyone read these adventures, and what do you think of the stories, artwork, and plotting. I don't believe there were any continued stories, as each magazine was complete in itself, and featured other characters, heroes or stories that varied each by issue.
A couple of years ago, two volumes of the Essentials was released, combining the first 15 issues in the first volume (plus Incredible Hulk 269) and the rest in volume two. Does anyone know why #269 was included, or how it tied in?
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I bought 2 issues of the Rampaging Hulk back in the mid-'80s at a comic book convention. Honestly, I don't really remember anything about them. I really just bought them because of the covers. Like issue #9.
The first nine issues comprised an ongoing arc about the Krylorian invasion of Earth: “In 1977 Marvel launched a black & white magazine titled The Rampaging Hulk, the first nine issues of which purported to tell “untold tales” which were to have occurred immediately after Hulk #6, “retroactive continuity” in the original sense of the term. The stories it told, although entertaining, were problematic at best, presenting “first” meetings of the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner, the Avengers and the X-Men before they “really” happened in established continuity. The stories also prominently featured the bird-woman Bereet, a “techno artist” from the planet Krylor, but it was Bill Mantlo in issue #269 of the comic book series who introduced Bereet into mainstream continuity and smoothed out the contradictions with the following monologue: “The Hulk! From afar, we witnessed his birth in gamma green fire! For more than a decade we have observed his exploits, weaving them into ever new fictional adventures, in which, through the magic of techno-art, we were able to take part. I have never met the real Hulk, nor any of his companions. I did not need to! Through the star eye, I could make them be whatever I wanted them to be.” (From here: https://captaincomics.ning.com/forum/topics/its-not-a-mopee-its-a-be...)
Those first nine issues are not bad as long as you rememnd yourself gong in that they never “happened.” After that, the series switched to vibrant “MARVEL-COLOR” and the stories became self-contained. Those issues were pretty good, too… quite a bit longer than a standard comic book and they dealt with more mature themes. It’s difficult to determine precisely where these stories fall in continuity, but IMHO they are well worth seeking out. The Essential volume is a good way to read the first nine in one fell swoop, but the color issues did not reproduce well in black and white.
I believe I can fill in some of the blanks for you, Mr. G.
At the time, I bought eight of the first nine issues of The Rampaging Hulk. (One of them, somehow, eluded me, but the way the series was written, I didn't miss much.)
Those first nine issue of the series were set in 1962, contemporaneous with the year the original Hulk series debuted. The events of The Rampaging Hulk #1 took place within days, if not less time, of the gamma-bomb accident which caused Bruce Banner to sporadically transform into the Hulk. The conceit of the series was that it showed hitherto-untold adventures of Old Jadejaws during that time. That conceit would prove to make things a bit sticky as things went along.
The old supporting cast---Lieutenant General "Thunderbolt" Ross, Betty Ross, and Rick Jones---were there from the get-go. And something new, as well.
Most of the stories were self-contained, except for a couple of deliberate two-parters. But a running thread connected most of the issues together. In that first issue, Bruce Banner and Rick Jones encounter Bereet, a female "techno-artist" from the planet Krylon. She's a peace-loving sort who has come to Earth for benign reasons. However, the rest of her race aren't so friendly. Once Krylon becomes aware of the Earth, their people determine to conquer it.
This forms the thread which runs through most of the first nine issues. Sometimes, it's in the background; sometimes, at the forefront. But it provides certain elements which distinguish it from the original six-issue Incredible Hulk series. Bereet is a regular character, an ally to Banner, and when he exists, the Hulk. As Earth becomes aware of the Krylon invaders, LGEN Ross is placed in charge of the U.S. military forces combating the aliens. Thus, Ross juggles two missions at once: (1) capturing or destroying the Hulk; and (2) defeating the Krylons.
The Hulk was characterised as a blend of both his original brutish personality and his later "Why does Hulk's head hurt when he tries to think?" conception. The "rampaging" Hulk wasn't quite as ruthless as his first incarnation, and he wasn't quite as dumb as his more well-known depiction later in the '60's.
These were intended to be "continuity implants". Not "retroactive continuity" (as Roy Thomas had intended that term to mean; not as it's used to-day). A retcon went back an explained something left unexplained in the original series, or inserted a passage to make more sense out of a character's history, without changing anything that was originally presented.
Instead, The Rampaging Hulk tales were continuity implants---adventures that took place in the character's past that just hadn't been told before.
Where things started to get a bit awkward was when the stories began to include other Marvel heroes, and the series insisted on keeping the all of the characters of the Marvel universe in the precise statuses they held in 1962. Sometimes, it wasn't a problem, such as when the Metal Master, a foe from the original six-issue Hulk series, returned. But most of the time, writer Doug Moench had to jump through quite a few creative hoops. At various times, he had the "rampaging" Hulk meet the Sub-Mariner, the X-Men, and the Avengers. In each case, Moench had to do some creative tapdancing to explain why these meetings (obviously) weren't reflected in the original Marvel comics of the time.
There were other contrivances, too. Such as putting Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp all in the same story---The Rampaging Hulk # 9 (Jun., 1978)---and having them work together. Yet, since this was before the founding of the Avengers, in The Avengers # 1 (Sep., 1963), Moench had to write his plot in such a fashion that it didn't occur to the five heroes to band together at that time.
As you might guess, there was an awful lot of convenient amnesia and sidetracking of characters at crucial moments.
On the plus side, the art---the first three issues pencilled by Walt Simonson, then variously handled by Jim Starlin, Keith Pollard, Herb Trimpe, and Sal Buscema, with Alfredo Acala inking most of them---smoothed over many of the inconsistencies and plot gyrations.
With issue # 10---when the title shifted to simply The Hulk---the stories were advanced to the then-modern day of 1978. Purportedly, the adventures in The Hulk took place in the same universe as those of standard Marvel comics. However, unlike The Incredible Hulk, the stories in The Hulk tended to follow the template of the then-popular television series about the Emerald Behemoth. That is, instead of involving super-villains, gamma-spawned monsters, and alien attacks, the plots were character dramas, with Bruce Banner encountering people in trouble and intervening on their behalf, transforming into the Hulk at one or two critical junctures.
You asked why The Incredible Hulk # 269 (Mar., 1982) was included in the first volume of the Essentials collexion.
You see, somebody at Marvel decided that including the Rampaging Hulk stories as part of Ol' Greenskin's actual history was too much of a sticky wicket. It had been tough enough writing the Rampaging tales as to not contradict the original Marvel history. But having all of it count, now, was just too much weight for the mule to bear. If a current writer wanted to use Ivan, Banner's duplicitous assistant from The Incredible Hulk # 1, well, when was he last seen in the series. Wait, was he seen in The Rampaging Hulk? The standard series says this, the monochrome series says that. Who can tell?
So, in The Incredible Hulk # 269, writer Bill Mantlo reïntroduced Bereet. Early in that issue's tale, "The Hulk-Hunters", it was explained that all of the events of The Rampaging Hulk # 1-9 never actually happened. Rather, they were "techo-art" movies created by Bereet for the entertainment of her people back on Krylon.
Since The Incredible Hulk # 269 explained away those first nine issues of The Rampaging Hulk, that's why it was included in the Essentials collexion.
Other than this, I don't know too much about it. Hope it helps.
I tend to think of a "continuity implant" as an aspect of a story (such as the Skrulls being behind the scenes at the Hulk's origin; an actual story from a mid-90s Hulk annual, BTW), and anything which can be slotted between two previously-released issues (such as Hulk #6 and TTA #59) as "retroactive continuity," which explains why I classified the nine "Rampaging" issues as retroactive continuity and the Commander as a continuity implant. Because the Commander stipulated that history must not be changed in his definition of retroactive (and I didn't bother to supply one), I would be willing to go with that, with the stipulation that these stories were intended to be retroactive continuity but ended up being continuity implants as defined by the Commander.
For the record, Banner's duplicitous assistant was named "Igor" (and later given the surname "Drenkov").
"Other than this, I don't know too much about it."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I kinda liked the issues Walt Simonson did (with Alfredo Alcala). The Jim Starlin issue was cool as a stand-alone, it being done during that strange period in between when his art used to be so fantastic and before Joe Rubinstein came along in AVENGERS ANNUAL #7. For a stretch there, every Starlin story seemed to be done as layouts and finished by others who were less and less compatible with his style. (I think Alex Nino finished RH #4, didn't he?) and just to make it confusing, I thing RH #4 took place after RH #5... for whatever reason.
The later issues just seemed "knocked out". Like, the series was on the schedule, they suddenly realized Simonson couldn't do it or had quickly lost interest, but nobody else really wanted to step up to the plate.
When the book went color I believe Ron Wilson became the regular artist for a stretch. I was never crazy about the TV series, so deliberately doing comics in that style left me generally bored.
I tended to be more interested in the back-ups. During the B&W period, the main back-up was BLOODSTONE, which picked up where 2 issues of MARVEL PRESENTS (which I have never read) picked up. The art was pretty BAD. And then, abruptly, they switched writers. After John Warner had written every episode (I think), out of nowhere, Steve Gerber came in and KILLED OFF the main hero, ending the series forever. (Or at least, until someone did a sequel decades later with a descendant of his. Which turned out to be much more fun than the original series ever was. Who saw that coming?)
I believe Gerber also did a SHANNA story (he was her main writer from her original series, I think), teamed with Tony DeZuniga, who in my view always did the sexiest SHANNA ever seen (at least, until Frank Cho, but his SHANNA wasn't the "real" one).
When the book went color, they finally gave MOON KNIGHT (who'd I'd enjoyed ever since MARVEL SPOTLIGHT) his own series. But it started out chaotically. Gene Colan did ONE episode. Keith Pollard did ONE episode. This is no way to start a series. And then... the 3rd episode was done by a guy who, reportedly, had walked into the office with his portfolio one day and walked out with that job-- Bill Sienkiewicz. Aside from his being very good (and a very good Neal Adams clone), apparently nobody else really wanted to do MOON KNIGHT at the time, and he wound up doing it for YEARS! (Personally, I always wished Don Perlin would have done the regular series. I loved Don's version-- he co-created the guy, after all-- and was always disappointed when he never got to do another appearance of MK.)
At some point, it was decided to spin MK off into his own book, and the replacement was DOMINIC FORTUNE, who'd earlier appeared in MARVEL PREVIEW #2 and MARVEL SUPER ACTION #1, both time in B&W. As before, Howard Chaykin did the art.
At some point, THE HULK went back to being B&W again. I think Gene Colan had become the regular artist by that time.
It amazes me that I got the entire run of that book, cnsidering how little the lead feature actually interested me. The best thing I can say about it is, it was WAY better than the stuff Len Wein & Sal Buscema were knocking out in the color comic at the same time.
I absolutely cannot understand the logic that insists that a story that isn't in continuity is a story one can't enjoy.
Whenever I re-read the first nine (which I do, occasionally), I skip the Starlin. It's like an "in-continuity fill-in."
for Kirk (and anyone else who may not knoW), the color stories are in the vein of the TV show (self-contained, Banner on the run), but it's Bruce, not David, and the Hulk can speak.
Those first two Moon Knight chapters have never been reprinted, which is a shame; the story really begins there. Every time the run is reprinted, the focus in on the Seinkiewicz issues.
So, to sum up, Rampaging Hulk never happened, eh?
How do you all feel about someone just picking up the first Rampaging Hulk Essential Volume one?
I hear the black and white reproduces well, and the first nine issues are all contained, and it's got a goodly sample of the next color issues reproduced in B&W...as well as the "dismissive" Incredible Hulk #269 in B&W...
What's not to love?
Should I pick up a copy cheap to just read and enjoy the artwork?
It happened... after a fashion.
I think you have enough information to go on. You post above demonstrates you've got a good feel for the contents. If it sounds like something you'd like, I say go for it. If it makes your decision any easier, I have all the originals but I nevertheless bought the Essential just for the ease of reading those first nine issues under the same cover.
If you do decide to buy it, be sure to report back here to let us know your thoughts.
"I absolutely cannot understand the logic that insists that a story that isn't in continuity is a story one can't enjoy."
In the days before CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, DC regularly publsihed adventures set on Earth-1, Earth-2, Earth-S, etc. None of them were exactly compatible with each other, but, they all "happened".
Then Wolfman & Perez do their thing, and next thing, we've got the Post-Crisis New DCU, where, suddenly, EVERYTHING is on one Earth, and anything that doesn't fit, "never" happened. And writers weren't even allowed to write new Earth-1 or Earth-2 stgories anymore, because it might "confuse" readers.
"Those first two Moon Knight chapters have never been reprinted, which is a shame; the story really begins there. Every time the run is reprinted, the focus in on the Seinkiewicz issues."
Absurd. It's a 4-part story. Can it be that, so far, they have still never done an ESSENTIAL MOON KNIGHT book, with all his appearances in WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, MARVEL SPOTLIGHT, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, THE DEFENDERS, THE HULK and MARVEL PREVIEW all together in one volume???
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