A Gathering of Doom!
THE RAMPAGING HULK — Issue no. 8, January 1978
Book: The Rampaging Hulk
Issue No.: 8
Published: January 26, 1978
Title: “A Gathering of Doom!”
Cover Price: $1
Format: Digital scan
As I understand it, The Rampaging Hulk magazine (note: comic books are, of course, magazines, but in the late 1970s, a “Marvel magazine” generally referred to a black-and-white magazine with double the pages of Marvel’s standard comic books of the era) was dedicated to telling Hulk stories set in the 1960s. I think the idea was to fill in gaps in Hulk’s past when he didn’t have a solo book? I feel like there should be a little more context divulged in the book itself. And maybe there was some in the fan-mail pages — that’s where editorial notes often end up. Unfortunately, the only scan of this issue of Rampaging I could find skipped the fan-mail pages. I’m sure I am one of the few people who care about getting all the non-story pages (fan-mail, editorial, ads, etc.) in scans and reprints. But, dang it, that stuff is important for historical context.
Anyway, the 32-page “A” story here stars Hulk (naturally), along with an alien woman called Bereet and occasional Hulk sidekick Rick Jones. They’re trying to stop an invasion by Krylorians, a race of shape-shifting aliens. Here, they kind of seem like second-rate Skrulls, though the Krylorians can do more than just simple shape-shifting. One Krylorian transforms to look like Iron Man, and in his transformed shape he can fly and shoot energy blasts in a similar manner to the real Iron Man.
The gimmick here is that the Krylorian invasion brings together a group of old-school Avengers (Thor, Iron Man, Wasp, and Ant-Man) before they were officially a team. That’s basically the cliffhanger for the story. Before that, there’s a lot of Hulk action — at one point an entire mountain collapses on Hulk and he survives basically unscathed, a fun reminder that Hulk is one of the toughest guys in the Marvel universe. We even get a few scenes with Hulk’s not-rampaging alter ego, Bruce Banner.
While reading it, I was sure the 19-page “B” story, starring Ulysses Bloodstone, was continued from the previous issue of Rampaging Hulk. I was close — according to the handy Fandom.com Marvel wiki, it is continued from a Bloodstone story in Rampaging no. 6. Having not read Rampaging no. 6, and not being familiar with Ulysses Bloodstone, I found this story mostly baffling. It’s also weird (thanks to often weird writer Steve Gerber), but there’s a lot going on, and it’s filled with a bunch of Bloodstone lore that I don’t have any affinity for. Oh, and also, Ulysses Bloodstone dies at the end of the story. (Spoiler.) So I’m not really sure what the point is.
So this isn’t the best Marvel magazine I’ve read, but (as I often say about Marvel magazines) it delivers a lot of bang for the (literal, at least in 1978) buck. Aside from the stories and fan-mail pages (that I didn’t get to read), it also includes a five-page “gallery of (Hulk) villains” and a short introductory article from the book’s editor, David Kraft.
Week Four Wrap-up
This is a big wrap-up — aside from wrapping up my coverage of the books Marvel published the fourth week of 1978, this also wraps up January. And since I did things out of order, this also (basically) wraps up the whole first half of 1978!
For week four, I read twelve books — ten 35-cent comics, a 60-cent What If, and a one-dollar Rampaging Hulk magazine. Total cover price for all of those books is $5.10. Adjusted for 2023 inflation, that’s about 24 bucks.
It’s safe to say my favorite January 1978 book is Godzilla, King of the Monsters no. 9. I love that book in general, and issue no. 9 is particularly good. In fact, I’m going to put that one in my top-five-of-the-first-half-of-1978 list. So, my complete top five for January – June 1978 list is…
Whew!
In case I haven’t mentioned it lately, this project has turned out so much more fun than I ever expected it would be. I’ve learned a lot about some of my favorite Marvel characters, and, even better, I now have some new favorite Marvel characters. If you’re reading this, I hope you’re having fun, too! And I thank you for accompanying me on my four-color journey back to 1978.
Next time — On to Marvel’s books of July 1978!
I remember Bereet from the newsstand comic series! With Sal Buscema art, no doubt. Not enough of her or the Shaper of Worlds out there these days, I say.