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Comics : Rampage (UK) #10
This story is part of a Lookback Series: Filling Gaps
Background...
As an occasional visitor to the UK, there's not normally that much extra for me to pick up over there that I can't get from my regular US-fed comic shop. But there are a few bonus Spidey-books that are peculiar to the British Isles. There's the hardcover Spider-Man UK Annuals, and... the UK-only Spidey/Marvel magazines.The UK Spidey magazines are produced by Panini. First and foremost among those is Spectacular Spider-Man (UK Magazine), now up to issue one hundred and fifty-something. Then there's the very recent kid brother, the delightful Spider-Man & Friends (UK Magazine). But a while back, this offering popped up... "Rampage".
Rampage appears to be aimed at an audience perhaps a couple of years older than Spectacular Spider-Man (UK Magazine). There's a slightly grungy, deliberately-messy feel to Rampage, compared to the relatively clean and bright look of the Spectacular Mag.
While Rampage features the occasional Spider-Man story, that's only a small part of the line-up. Rampage also covers Movies, TV Shows, Computer Games, plus a bunch of other toys and gadgets. Rampage is definitely the more commercial of the magazines, with a good dose of advertisements, TV schedules, and promotional competitions.
The creative team from Rampage seems to cycle through the same basic list of UK creative talent that produces the Spidey stories for Spectacular Spider-Man (UK Magazine), so it's perhaps not surprising that the look and feel of the Spider-Man stories is very similar between them.
In Detail...
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Rampage (UK) #10
Summary: 10-Aug-2005 (Spider-Man Appears) |
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Staff Only Images Review Edit |
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| Jul 2005 : SM Guest : Rampage (UK) | |||||||||
I'm not gonna go into any real detail about what's in each issue of Rampage - mostly because it's such a melange that it's really hard to describe. It's sort of a "FHM meets Woman's Weekly for Pre-Teen Geeks". Computer gaming is a huge part of the focus, but Pokemon, Harry Potter, Starwars, Marvel, DC, Madagascar and the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie (Johnny Depp version) all get a mention in this issue. No mention of girls, and no pop music. At least that's a relief.
The Fantastic Four are the big focus on the Marvel side of things, since their (first) movie was hitting the cinemas right at the time this mag came out. There's a six page FF story in Rampage #10. The six page Spider-Man story gets second billing this time.
The Spidey story appears to be a "continued from last issue" affair. The reporters are standing in the rain above a manhole cover, where Spider-Man has gone down to look for the Lizard. The Vulture is also involved somehow - he attacked Doctor Connors just the day before, attempting to steal some new lab equipment. Well, I guess we'll just have to figure that out as we go along.
The Vulture is sneaking around incognito above ground, but decide to seek the Lizard to see if he's interested in an alliance of some sort. Hmm... I guess Toomes doesn't really know much about the Lizard. Our scaly-skinned friend doesn't go much for alliances, unless it's to eliminate the pink-skins.
Ah well, back into the sewers. Spidey finds Lizard and they fight for a bit. The Vulture turns up to help the Lizard destroy Spider-Man, but the Lizard turns and attacks the Vulture. Spider-Man takes advantage of the distraction to dose the Lizard with "the antidote" (which he picked up in the Doc's lab last issue, presumably).
Smash! Crash! The fight smashes through a wall... water floods in, the Vulture is swept away, but Spider-Man manages to rescue Doctor Connors, after the antidote has taken effect. And that's the end of that.
In General...
There really isn't much going on here. It's absolute textbook stuff right from "Chapter 6: How to write a Lizard story." Even if I had been following the story from the start, I'm not sure I could muster much interest. There's absolutely nothing new going on here. There's no cleverness in the script, and no originality in the plot. The artwork is perfectly serviceable, but it can't rescue a yawn of a story like this one.The Rampage magazine itself doesn't do much to impress me either. It's messy to the point of unattractive, and the content is shallow and trite. I'm not sure if the "game previews" are actually subtle paid advertisements, but in any case there's no depth in any of the reviews, they may as well just be advertisements.
Overall Rating... 
A story so small you could stick it in your eye and not even need to blink. A
very disappointing one and a half webs for this bland piece of filler.By The Editor (E-Mail)
Footnote...
One final note. At 8 3/4" x 11 3/4" in size, Rampage is larger than normal magazine. This incredibly awkward format is too big to fit in a standard magazine bag, and too big to even fit on a standard scanner. It will also take a heck of a battering on the news-stands too, so don't expect to find mint copies at your local newsagent.I'm not sure if this title is still running. I haven't seen one in a while.
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