Hulk #[1 cartonné]
This hardcover album (cartonné) represents Arédit-Artima's ambitious January–April 1979 push to bring Marvel's full-color superhero publishing to French newsstands in a prestige format, at a moment when the French comics market had no equivalent large-format color Marvel product. By packaging the French debut of Doug Moench's Rampaging Hulk stories — in which Bruce Banner's alter ego is placed in a sprawling retroactive continuity alongside Thor, Namor, Hercules, Captain America, and the Executioner — alongside a color photo dossier on the concurrent Incredible Hulk television series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, this cartonné connected Marvel's print mythology to the pop-cultural phenomenon of the TV adaptation for an entirely new audience. The hardcover binding variant was itself a statement: Arédit was pitching superhero comics not just as disposable kiosk fare but as collectible library objects, a format philosophy that presaged the later album tradition in Franco-Belgian bandes dessinées. The breadth of indexed characters — Hulk, Thor, Namor, Hercule, Captain America, Conan, Red Sonja, Kamandi, Leader, Skurge — reflects how Arédit's 1979 cartonné line deliberately showcased the width of their newly acquired Marvel (and possibly DC) licensing portfolio in a single prestige object.
"L'incroyable Hulk" (1979) delivers a poignant and powerful tale from writer Doug Moench and artist Ron Wilson, with inks by Ricardo Villamonte and colors by Janice Cohen. When Bruce Banner meets Dawn Michaels, a journalist embedded in a local mine, their connection deepens amid a growing threat—its owner is secretly trafficking radioactive materials to terrorists. After Dawn’s tragic death, Hulk’s rage turns to grief, culminating in a solemn vow to honor her memory. The cover, a striking piece by Val Mayerik, captures the emotional weight of the story.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Arédit-Artima, headquartered in Tourcoing, launched its Artima Color Marvel Géant and Artima Color Marvel SuperStar collections simultaneously in the first quarter of 1979, marking a decisive upgrade from the publisher's earlier black-and-white pocket-format reprints. The albums were produced in large format (approximately 21 × 29 cm) with full French-language color translation, drawing on US source material from the Rampaging Hulk/Hulk! magazine series written principally by Doug Moench, with art by contributors including Ron Wilson and Ricardo Villamonte. Each title in the line was issued in both a standard brochure (soft-cover) edition and a version cartonnée (hardcover), with the cartonné typically sharing the same ISBN as its soft counterpart; the Hulk Géant #1 cartonné carries ISBN 2-7311-0158-X. The irregular quarterly release rhythm and the simultaneous launch of companion cartonnés for Thor, Captain America, Namor, and Conan le Barbare show that Arédit conceived the 1979 hardcover program as a coordinated line rather than a series of isolated experiments.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published April 1979 (dépôt légal 04/1979) by Arédit-Artima, Tourcoing, under the Artima Color Marvel Géant collection; ISBN 2-7311-0158-X.
- Hardcover (cartonné) variant of Hulk Géant #1 — the same content as the soft-cover edition but issued in a library-binding format, consistent with Arédit's practice of dual-format releases across its 1979 Marvel line.
- Primary source material drawn from the US Rampaging Hulk magazine (Curtis Magazines/Marvel, 1977–1978), a black-and-white mature-readers magazine that set Hulk stories in a retroactive pre-Avengers continuity alongside Thor, Namor, Hercules, and Captain America.
- Scenario credited to Doug Moench; interior art by Ron Wilson and Ricardo Villamonte, with quadrichrome (four-color) printing applied to material originally published in black-and-white in the US.
- The album included a color photo dossier on the Incredible Hulk TV series (CBS, 1977–1982), starring Bill Bixby as David Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk — directly linking the print publication to the show's French-market popularity.
- Launched as part of Arédit's coordinated 1979 cartonné program that simultaneously issued hardcover #1 albums for Thor le Fils d'Odin (January 1979), Captain America (January 1979), Gamma/La Naissance de Hulk (January 1979), and Namor (April 1979).
- The Hulk Géant series ran for 14 issues from April 1979 to October 1983, with the Hulk Géant Artima Color Géant format standardized at 68 pages and 21 × 29 cm.
- Characters indexed for this issue span multiple Marvel (and DC) franchises — Hulk/Bruce Banner, Thor, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Namor, Hercule, Skurge/Exécuteur, Leader/Samuel Sterns, Conan, Conan le Barbare, Red Sonja, and Kamandi — suggesting the cartonné may bundle content from more than one Arédit series or include gallery/pin-up material beyond the core Rampaging Hulk adaptation.
Cast · 15 characters
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Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Bruce Banner rencontre et tombe amoureuse de Dawn Michaels, une journaliste travaillant sous couverture dans une mine locale. Ils découvrent que le propriétaire de la mine produit des matières radioactives, qu'il a l'intention de vendre à des terroristes. Dawn est tuée et Hulk venge sa mort. Hulk enterre Dawn et promet de ne jamais l'oublier.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
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