Kidnapped by a renegade secret agent named Hildebrandt, Bruce Banner and his wife Betty are horrified when their captor uses Bruce to create an army of Hulk clones, and Spider-Man must help a friend from being transformed. Original.
Daniel Fingeroth (/ˈfɪŋɡərɔːθ/) is an American comic book writer and editor, best known for a long stint as group editor of the Spider-Man books at Marvel Comics.
This was an interesting idea for a prose trilogy from Marvel, each volume of which came from different writers. Spider-Man faces off with Doctor Doom and each has a different partner or set of allies in each book. In this first one, Peter teams with the Hulk and the Black Cat, and Victor is supported by AIM and Hydra. And SHIELD is involved, as is... well, it's a fun time for all. Bruce Banner and his wife Betty are kidnapped and taken to Latveria and an army of Hulk clones... What's a poor web-slinger to do? Excelsior!
First, a caveat to potential readers-- this is the older Marvel Universe, not the new one. Mid 1990's before the reboot... This trilogy seems to promise a plethora of Marvel characters, and indeed, though this one featured the Hulk and Spiderman-- Black Cat made an appearance as well. I was shocked not to see Nick Fury-- as Spidey, Hulk, and Black Cat are recruited by a different Shield-like organization. So if you are looking for the new universe stuff, this isn't the one for you.
The plotting is interesting. We begin in Doom's palace and the story moves on from there. Hydra and AIM are both involved in a plot to replicate the Hulk (hasn't everyone tried this) and they manage to create a batch of Hulk replicants which includes Parker's friend, Flash Thompson. They kidnap the Hulk and Betty. (This is a period in which the Hulk pretty made stayed the Hulk all the time and had intelligence-- with the exception that the angrier and more out of control he gets - he gets not stronger, but weaker... Essentially, Bruce controls Hulk's persona and Hulk controls Banner-- so when he gets really ticked off, he turns back to Banner, with the Hulk's limited intelligence)
It is a good enough story-- Even the least astute of reader will determine the identity of the mole in the bad guy's organization, it's telegraphed that poorly to the reader--- Some of the artwork (black and white) is pretty good, while other pics are fairly mediocre. The story sets the reader up to continue the trilogy in volume 2, while resolving most of the most urgent matters. Spidey's smart-aleck remarks contain the comic book flavor we grew up reading. Hulks peculiar situation makes for more interesting reading and keeps the novel from bogging down in the middle.
A fine comic book read-- nothing earth shattering or extra joyous-- but fun enough to be worth the time to read.
In my experience, books based on super hero licenses aren't that great. Sure they can have an interesting premise on the back cover, but once actually read they rarely provide exactly what is promised. The same can mostly be said of this book. The premise is very exciting and no one can deny that the concept of Spider-man and the hulk teaming up is a good one. The execution, however, is lack luster for the most part.
Pros Hulks fighting Hulks (always a plus in my book)
The villains behind the plot are interesting and show a rare incite to how they think and the back-stabbing environment they spend their days in.
The hulk and Black Cat really steal the show in terms of stakes and emotional impact.
Cons The set up seems to take too long and is not a good attention grabber.
Spider-man really doesn't do much to help the plot. He's just kind of there.
The relevant action happens late into the book and is mostly underwhelming. (The biggest detractor)
Overall there really isn't much to be said about rampage. Since nothing can really change Spider-man, the Hulk or any other pre-established characters, there's no developement in any meaningful way. In the end Rampage is an inoffensive book with a few interesting scenes here and there, but should really only be read if you're a huge fan of Spider-man or the Hulk and have almost nothing else to read about them. I bought this book on amazon for about $3.00, so I guess for that little money its worth a read if you're really bored.
5 stars! Why? 1. The casting: the Hulk, Spider-Man , Black Cat SAFE for the good guy AIM, Hydra & Dr.Doom for the villains! solid roster with personality 2. Interaction between characters: the authors knows the characters perfectly, they succeeded to give they right personality to each of them they all reacted like they should 3. intrigue: Bad guys trying to create an army of Hulk. Nuff said! Ok you need to remember it's a superhero novel so even if some link are thin in the story it's still pretty good for the style.
Most marvel novel concentrate on the action with combat scene or trying to make the superheroes doing impossible feat one after another. This one make the opposite... You can nearly said combats have nothing particular and even repetitive but doing this permit the author to give more deep to the heroes what is missing from most novel. It's the reason for the 5 stars.
So if you like superheroes you will find this book very entertaining!
I found this book randomly in my room that I'm sure my mother had bought for me during my youth and I had never bothered to read it. I decided to give it a go. I was really into super hero's (who wasn't growing up) when I was young, but have gone away from them as I have gotten older and have had way too many Hollywood movies poured down my throat. I rarely watch any of the new movies now, but was glad I decided to read this book. While it is by no means a masterpiece of a novel, it did take me back to my view of super hero's I had while I was growing up which game a much satisfaction. I enjoyed this book enough to find the last two novels on Amazon. I recommend this book to anyone that wants an alternative to all of the super hero movies out there.
A book based in the Marvel universe. This book was exactly what I expected when I started reading it. It was an adventure with superheroes and supervillians. There was a nice pace to it with the right combination of Marvel characters. Beware if you are a casual reader. The Hulk is not his typical character that we know from the movies. It doesn't distract from reading the book but I thought I would give a warning. I will most certainly continue with this trilogy.
Pretty good comic book novel, featuring Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Black Cat, and my personal favorite comic book character, Doctor Doom. Longer review here: http://eyesandearsblog.blogspot.com/2...