Rampage Weekly #1

19 Oct 1977; Cover price 10p.
36 pages. B&W.
Marvel Comics International Ltd.

Cover (uncredited).

Free model of Concorde.

Contents:

.2 Now! From the Mighty Marvel House of Ideas Introduction.

.3 The Dynamic Defenders A Titan Walks Among Us! w: Roy Thomas; p: Ross Andru, i: Bill Everett, lettering by Artie Simek.

r: Marvel Feature (Marvel Comics) #03 (Jun 1972).

26 Score with Mobil advertisement.

27 Nova Nova w: Marv Wolfman; p: John Buscema, i: Joe Sinnott, lettering by Joe Rosen.

r: Nova (Marvel Comics) Vol.1 #01 (Sep 1976).

35 Next Week in Rampage (three eighths page) / 122 Different Stamps Free (one eighth page) advertisement. / Pranks for All (half page) advertisement.

36 It's the 1978 Mighty Marvel Annuals in-house advertisement.

Marvel do introductions like nobody else.

Ever since the DEFENDERS appeared as guest stars in MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL a couple years back all of British Marveldom has been clamouring for more, more, MORE of THE DYNAMIC DEFENDERS! Not being the type to turn a deaf ear for long, the madmen at Mighty Marvel have finally given in to demand and come up with the rip-roarin'est title yet--RAMPAGE!

Or given up, happened across the printing plates, and decided to fob off readers with reprints.

The job of a splash page is to grab the attention of readers, highlighting the best possible artwork. The splash page kicking off the Defenders story is weirdly posed, and both Doctor Strange and the Hulk seem to be suffering some facial malady. Sub-Mariner has developed a lot in the passing years, from indiscriminately killing people and throwing things around to actively attempting to save a space capsule and its inhabitants from certain death. There is some truly awful dialogue (since when does the phrase "Great balls of fire" emerge from the mouth of a sober General?), and plotting inanity.

Three regular men (well... sailors) against the Sub-Mariner? That sounds like a fair fight.

Jim Wilson looks terrifying as he threatens Namor. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he later turned out to be a super-villain capable of pulling Namor's ankle-wings off and ramming them down his gills. The threat works, for reasons which aren't clearly given.

There's a sequence in a television studio, where a show called The Astro Nuts is being filmed. It looks every bit as classy as the Generation X television movie. We get to see a young viewer watching, then the script throws a line in which deserves to be on a list of things a person should never, ever say: "In my day we had Howdy Doody. Now there was a kiddie show." Hey kid, I think your mom may have had a thing for Buffalo Bob... Sweet dreams.

Because the script has already run out of ideas, people start throwing pies at each other.

Xemnu, an alien from the show, starts hypnotizing people, so Doctor Strange blasts him with a bolt of energy. The alien turns out to be an actual alien who used the astronauts to get to Earth, but before we are bored to death with more back-story Namor turns up for a fight. It has been a few panels since he hit someone, and he's obviously bored. Then, because a proper narrative is too much trouble, the Hulk arrives to... smash, I suppose.

Things don't improve greatly with Nova.