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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Before your awestruck orbs are the catchy covers for issues 1-9 of RAMPAGE, which in a previous incarnation had been a U.K. weekly comic before being revived as a monthly magazine shortly after the weekly was merged into another title. I probably had all or most of them at one time, but now only have those that reprinted the main tales from The RAMPAGING HULK, a black and white mag produced by MARVEL in the States.
I've also included the covers of the first and last issues of the American title for you to compare with the British one, and to show that, as discussed in previous posts, inferior printing in this country often rendered some interior pages as a murky morass, with delicate shades of grey coming out almost black and obscuring (if not obliterating) artistic detail. (They're not quite as bad in this instance, but they're still not as good as they should be.)
Anyway, enjoy the covers and be sure to return for my next post - once I decide what the heck I'm going to do next. Any suggestions? (No dice, Charlie - I ain't jumpin' off a cliff to please anyone!)
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Above - the same page from both editions. Note the U.K. one has much darker tones.
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The above page from the U.S. edition wasn't used in the U.K. mag. Presumably the editors considered it redundant - or space was tight in that first issue.
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A painted version by Bob Larkin of the above illustration was used as the cover of the 1978 Hulk book below by Simon & Shuster.
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| No pin-up on back cover, so none here either |
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| Ditto re pin-up |
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The same two pages from #9 of the U.K. & U.S. editions. Once again, note the darker tones in the British mag. I know which one I prefer - how about you?
9 comments:
I had every issue of Rampage weekly and followed it into its' monthly version but I was never a fan of these Rampaging Hulk stories - I didn't notice the problems with the printing quality but at least the pages were in the right order, I remember that Conan No.8, No.9 and No.11 all had pages printed in the wrong order which was really annoying. It's interesting when you look at these covers that the first five issues have no consistent design and it's only with No.6 onwards that they adopt the "cover in a box" design that was part of the Dez Skinn makeover - I never really liked that new look except for Conan where it looked quite good I thought.
That cover in a box was one that Dez borrowed from early '70s U.S. Marvel comics, Col, if I'm not very much mistaken. I suppose it was to make them stand out, but perhaps it wasn't always successful. I quite liked the look of the Hulk in those b&w tales and the fact that they were set early in his 'career', but they were later retroactively explained away as alien movies or something.
By the way kid, you wanted suggestions for future posts - well, didn't you say you were planning a run of the Captain Britain covers from 1976-77 ?
I loved Rampage! Especially issues 2, 8 and 9 because I was desperate to read about Thunderbird, the dead X-Man ( a version of whom is now on the cinema screen).
I did indeed, Col. It'll be happening sooner than later. Keep dem eyes peeled.
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Must confess I think I preferred the weekly to the monthly, Dougie. Also, the new X-Men never really grabbed me - I preferred the original team. Must try and see that movie, I hear it's really good.
I got a couple of these Rampage monthlies but it was the weekly I was interested in. The Defenders strip did it for me - as prob the most macho and 'boys own' of Marvel strips at the time, Rampage. I have fond memories of reading it by candlelight during the three-day week power-cuts of the 70s. I think the comic, both the weekly and monthly were too Hulk-centric or me at the time as I wasn't much of a fan of his.
I think the savage Hulk complemented the theme suggested by the title - Rampage, which is why he was probably chosen, Karl. (And having a TV show at the time probably didn't hurt.)
A very interesting and informative post. I didn't start getting the mag till slightly later.
Like Col, I look forward to the CB gallery.
And you won't be disappointed when it appears, JP - there were some nice covers in that run. I'll also show some interiors.
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