We haven't had a Monster Monday in a long while here at Giant-Size Marvel, which is a tragedy, since most Mondays are truly horrific.
This black and white pinup by Jim Starlin and Ernie Chan appeared on the inside front cover of Rampaging Hulk #7. Last week, I took Marvel to task for having Alfredo Alcala destroy Walter Simonson's work in this same magazine. In this particular case, having a radically different inker works quite well. That's because Chan keeps all the Starlin elements intact (the facial expressions, the poses) intact while adding his own style. Chan did the same while inking John Buscema on Conan.
And what the heck--isn't it cool just to see Man-Thing and the Hulk chillin' in the Florida swamp? It beats trying to knock the snot out of each other--like they did in this Berni Wrightson cover.
Rampaging Hulk #7 (1978) also featured a brand new Man-Thing story by Steve Gerber and Jim Starlin. This was the first full length story since the Man-Thing series terminated in issue #22 (1975). The story is classic Gerber insanity, featuring women going wild in swamp, and Man-Thing fusing their hands together when the moment of fear arrives.
Jim Starlin's artwork, inked by Bob Wiacek, looked really nice in this black and white story. You have to appreciate the final panel where Manny slowly sinks down into the swamp. Was this the last Man-Thing story that Gerber ever wrote? I think so. Nuff said.
Gerber did at least one other Man-Thing story after this: "Elements of Terror", which ran in issues #1-12 of Marvel Comics Presents in 1988.