Rampage (UK) #5 (Story 1)

Background

"Rampage" was a UK teen pop-culture magazine published by Panini Magazines from late 2004 to early 2007.

The content was predominantly a garish mix of enthusiastic product marketing for toys, movies, and video games. But each issue also featured new Marvel stories written and illustrated by UK creators. Spider-Man frequently appeared in the stories, as well as being referenced in much of the filler material.

Spider-Man doesn't appear in either of the stories this issue, but I'm going to review them both anyhow. The first is a six-pager starring X-Men vs. Sentinels in "Weapon X-Treme".

Story 'Weapon X-Treme'

Last issue's X-Men story featured Magneto as a magnetic weapon – see Rampage (UK) #4 (Story 1).

But now for something completely different – a magnetic weapon created by Magneto. This one fell from the sky when Magneto's asteroid base "Avalon" was destroyed, and is now sitting whole and unscratched on the snow. The X-Men must destroy it before it falls into enemy hands!

When our heroes arrive, they are attacked by a government anti-mutant team which is supported by a Sentinel robot. The anti-mutant feds are out to capture the powerful magnetic weapon and use it against mutants!

The two teams fight. The sentinel is destroyed. The leader of the government soldiers is revealed as a cyborg.

The head of the squad hops onto the magnetic cannon which is conveniently pointed right at where the mutant X-Men are standing. He pulls the trigger and BOOM! Booby-Trap! One dead government soldier.

The X-Men leave. The soldiers dump the remains of their former cyborg leader into the frozen sea, where it settles along-side the Sentinel's metallic chassis. Turns out they hate cyborgs as much as they hate muties.

General Comments

Now, you may say to me – "But Mr. SpiderFan Editor, an asteroid is a small rocky body orbiting the sun, not orbiting Earth. Surely Avalon would have been a moon if its debris fell to Earth?"

To which, I would say "You're quite right!"

Then you might add "And Mr. Editor, a piece of electronics would surely burn up in the atmosphere or be destroyed on impact! At the very least it would be crushed metal at the bottom of a smoldering crater!"

I would then reply "You're clearly unqualified to write comic books, my friend. A basic lack of scientific training is an essential prerequisite for writing for Marvel UK!"

Overall Rating

Other than the sheer scientific impossibility of "asteroid" debris landing unharmed right-side-up on our planet, the rest of the story is perfectly sound.

There's a lot packed into these six pages, including some creative characterization of the guest villains.

Three-and-a-half webs from me.