Hulk: October 2009 Archives

Jim Starlin did a lot of work during the first year of Rampaging Hulk magazine, featuring work with Alex Nino and with Steve Gerber's Man-Thing.  He also painted a couple of covers which are really cool.

Rampaging Hulk #5 features the Hulk's on-again off-again ally, the Sub-Mariner, who never looked more regal than in this depiction by Starlin.  Ya gotta love the nasty expression on the Hulk's face as he looks upon Namor.  Unfortunately, Starlin did not draw the story inside.

Bonus:  here's a Marvel advertisement for this issue that appeared in other black and white magazines!

Starlin's third Hulk cover painting appeared on issue #7.  I like it the least of the three, perhaps because the Hulk isn't facing the viewer as in the other covers.  Nuff said.

While I've taken shots at some issues of Rampaging Hulk magazine, if there is any one issue that you must have in your collection--surely it is issue #4.

This beautiful cover painting by Jim Starlin is your first indication that it is very special.  The Hulk, held captive on a mystical cross, while a skeleton head spews magic in the foreground.  Starlin not only did the cover, but plotted and penciled the lead story inside.  Was it inked by Al Milgrom?  Steve Leialoha?  I say thee nay, true believers!

Alex Nino was the inker for this story.  I never would have thought that Nino's inks over Starlin would work, but the combination of the two was wonderful.  You can tell that the poses and faces are essentially Starlin, but the details and the world belong to Nino.  Look at this opening splash page.  That Hulk is unmistakably a Starlin Hulk through a Nino prism.  It's like...Starlin on acid.  As if he wasn't already cosmically aware!

In the story, a wizard named Chen K'an transports the Hulk to his world, which has been overrun by demon hordes.  He needs the Hulk attain a mystical object of power called the Star of Catalax, but he finds the "Hulk smash" persona quite irritating.  Chen K'an attempts to merge this personality along with Banner's, and winds up with a wise guy "Mr. Big" Grey Hulk persona.  Years before the Peter David arc in Las Vegas, it's great fun as you see this Hulk battle demon hordes.

Starlin's layouts provided the perfect avenue for Nino to showcase his style.  Take a look at this double page spread where the Hulk and Chen K'an fight the second wave of demons.

As far as I recall, this was Alex Nino's only collaboration with a notable Marvel artist?  Check out Man-Gods From Beyond the Stars if you want more Nino.  Nuff said.

Walter Simonson hooked me as a fan for life after I read Manhunter in those terrific super-giant 100 page Detective Comics back in the 1970s.  I followed him wherever he went afterwards.  He did a Doctor Fate special, a few issues of a Metal Men revival, and later some Star Wars stories at Marvel.

I was primed for Simonson to draw a major Marvel character.  Finally in 1977, I saw this ad for a new black and white magazine titled The Rampaging Hulk.  Simonson drew this fantastic pinup featuring the Hulk in action.  It was just plain cool.  The Hulk’s face really looks monstrous, a throwback to his early days, instead of the friendly jade jawed giant that was appearing in other Marvel titles.  I love Simonson’s lines that add shadow and depth to his drawings, and I really relished the opportunity to see a full Simonson story printed in black and white.

I dared to hope that Simonson would draw the Rampaging Hulk’s lead feature.  And indeed, he would, but when I bought the first issue and flipped to the splash page, it looked like this.

It is Simonson…inked by Alfredo Alcala.  I couldn’t fathom why the editor of this magazine (John Warner) picked Alcala as the inker.  If I had been the editor, I would have tried to snap up Terry Austin or Bob Wiacek for the job.  Had they not been available, I could think of a half dozen other inkers.  Alcala’s ink washes totally dominated Simonson’s work on this series—pretty much eradicating the artist’s original style.  You can still see elements of Simonson underneath: The Hulk’s flat Frankenstein style head, the pose of his body coming at the reader, and the spaceships flying in formation in the background.

I’ve never been a big Alcala fan anyway.  I always cringed whenever he worked on Tales of the Zombie and other Marvel magazines.

I remember thinking this was all a mistake made to meet a rushed deadline, and that by issue 2, Marvel would find a better inker.  Nope, there was Alcala in the second issue and the third one as well.  Simonson moved on after issue 3 and Keith Pollard took over.

To be fair, we can’t know how tight Simonson’s original pencils were to begin with.  I think I recall reading somewhere that he drew layouts. I will always look back at this as a tragically missed opportunity.  Nuff said.