Rampage (UK) #1 (Story 2)

Background

This is a six-page backup story in Rampage #1. The Hulk stars. Spider-Man doesn't appear.

Story 'Quiet Night Off'

Page 1: The Hulk is being chased by military helicopters firing rockets.

Page 2: The Hulk jumps into the middle of a camp-site, eats a pan full of baked beans, and falls asleep immediately, causing him to revert to puny Bruce Banner.

Page 3: By complete coincidence, a ship full of the nasty alien "Brood" has crash-landed nearby in the woods, they spend several panels expounding their back-story before visiting the camp and capturing Bruce and the campers.

Page 4: The Brood spend another six panels expounding their evil plans, before attempting to plant a Brood egg into Banner's chest.

Page 5: Banner becomes the Hulk, gamma radiation destroys the brood egg, and the Hulk begins to fight the aliens.

Page 6: The army helicopters return and launch missiles. The Brood are killed. The Hulk escapes. The campers also manage to escape. Mind you, there's no indication if the campers are carrying brood eggs or not... pick your own ending.

General Comments

This is great example of a story which contains far to much... and yet far too little.

In one sense, it's stuffed to overflowing with the Hulk, aliens, and army helicopters. It's weighted down with pages of dialogue and text. On the other hand, it contains nothing of substance.

Have you ever attended the performance of a grade-school play with an amateur-written script? One of those shows that goes on for three hours and features twenty songs... all of them full of bright costumes and dramatic gestures... and yet less inspirational than a single well-scripted haiku?

This is the same kind of thing. It's bloated and overburdened with action and drama, and is utterly without impact.

Overall Rating

I'd like to also offer a special mention for the letterer, whose font-choice made the Brood text almost illegible.

One web.