Hulk Comic - Publication History

Publication History

After starring for many years in the Marvel UK flagship title, The Mighty World of Marvel, the Hulk was given his own weekly book. Explaining the thinking behind the comic Dez Skinn said: “I was wanting an adventure anthology title more than a super-hero one. Super-heroes had never been big sellers in the UK, we had plenty of legends of the past to spin fantasies about. So I went that route, picking existing Marvel characters who weren’t really cut from the super-hero cloth.”

Like many titles published by the company under Dez Skinn, Hulk Comic featured new material produced by British creators such as Steve Dillon, David Lloyd and Steve Parkhouse—along with a smattering of American reprints drawn from the Lee/Kirby Marvel back-catalogue.Once Skinn was replaced by Paul Neary, however, the title's original output dwindled, being supplanted by an increasing number of reprints.

The title included new Hulk material drawn by Dave Gibbons and Steve Dillon. This material was significant in that it portrayed the inarticulate, wandering Hulk of the 1970s television series. Once the title began featuring American reprints, it chose to display the Marvel Universe Hulk as depicted by Sal Buscema.

Other original work included Nick Fury also drawn by Steve Dillon and a new Black Knight strip which also featured Captain Britain. These original stories were mostly restricted to the first 20 issues of the title, before tailing off to make way for U.S. reprints, with the Black Knight strip running through most further issues until the title's cancellation. Nevertheless, Hulk Comic is particularly significant for launching the character of Night Raven by Steve Parkhouse and David Lloyd. Night Raven is one of several Marvel UK characters to eventually made the jump to the mainstream (US) Marvel Universe.

The title lasted 63 issues before merging with Marvel UK's Spider-Man weekly title.