I wanted to mention the formerly long forgotten Marvel Comic Magazine The Rampaging Hulk not because a collection of reprints from the Magazine will be released today in the Marvel Essentials line, but because The Rampaging Hulk was essentially a mature themes title based upon the tremendous Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno television series as it asks the following question: what if the villians of the classic comic appeared in serious dramatic adventure tales of The Hulk TV series? Yes, I know the TV series had its campy moments, but it  was serious overall. Perhaps the best TV show episode that resembled the Rampaging Hulk would be the Hulk vs. Hulk episode "The First."

Marvel always toyed in the 1970's with the notion that they could reach an adult audience with black and white magazines that would sit on the self next to Popular Mechanic and Playboy and would catch the eye of a hip young male who would bring the magazine home. This attempt at catching an older audience that had grown out of the kiddie audience had some successes (Savage Sword of Conan, Master of Kung Fu) and it had it failures (Tales of the Zombie, Tomb of Dracula Magazine). Ultimately, it was a failure because by the 1980's, only Savage Sword of Conan was still in print) While there was interest for comics in the adult audience, the adult audience just didn't connect with the expensive magazines. Then, in the late 1980's, publishers realized the could write standard size comic books for adults and eliminated forever the need for comic magazines. (Yes, Heavy Metal still sells...but I think that is the only magazine format comic left) 
                                                
When the CBS television series about the Hulk proved to be a hit, Marvel wanted to write adult themed tales for the older audience that was discovering the Hulk through their kids viewing habits. This was a unique and novel approach since most adult audience magazines were horror, fantasy  or movie themed. Again, circa 1978, an adult themed comic book was out of the question so magazine format was selected. 

It bombed.

It only lasted a year and a half before disappearing forever. This is not to say the writing wasn't amazing. It was. Those "kiddie" comic writers could really show amazing talent when the reigns were taken off. Since the magazine was a bomb, it basically fell off the face of comics history. It wasn't collected by collectors during the 1980's and it wasn't considered a valuable book. The storylines were ignored in all of the Hulk comic books or ANY comic book. (BTW The Batman knock-off Moon Knight was provided with several solo stories in the Hulk Magazine and they were phenomenal. Curiously, these stories are also ignored in all of Moon Knight's books. These stories truly captured a grittiness that would be forthcoming in the 'real' Batman tales over at DC)

This is not to say that Rampaging Hulk was completely ignored in Hulk circles. The name Ramaging Hulk would be used again in titles and storylines, but the magazine itself was basically ignored. Now, today, 27 years after the book was cancelled, it is coming back in a Marvel Essentials reprint volume. (BTW - The Moon Knight tales were reprinted in MK's Marvel Essentials book) This is a great volume that fans of the TV series will enjoy as it essentialy re-creates the serious world of the television series with the villians and adventures of the classic comic series. A weird mix that was brilliant