By Jim Beard
When the Hulk rocketed away from the scorched and radioactive wasteland of the planet Sakaar at the end of "Planet Hulk" he left virtually nothing behind—or so he thought. His adopted world teetering on the brink of obliteration, his proxy people decimated, his beloved alien bride and precious unborn child thought dead, the mighty mass of rage known as the Hulk slashed any fragile, remaining ties to Sakaar to pursue vengeance back on Earth, certain that the barbarous, dying planet held no future for him, no legacy.
Boy, was he wrong.
Enter Skaar, Son of Hulk. But who is Skaar? What's his connection to the Hulk? And why exactly does he matter, existing untold light years from Earth? Hulk-ified scribe Greg Pak, late of "Planet Hulk" and WORLD WAR HULK clued us into the latest and greatest chapter in all things Green and a return to the Hulk's bloody cosmic crucible.
"Skaar's a savage hero on a savage world," explains Pak. "We'll root for him as he struggles for survival the same way we root for the great predators in nature documentaries—the animal inside of us can't get enough of that visceral fight for life and death. But we'll also root for him as this wild child slashes his way towards self-discovery—will he be an animal or a man, a monster or a hero? All of us in our supposedly civilized world make moral choices every day that define who we are—Skaar's story will resonate with our own, but with vastly higher stakes. And swords. And monsters. And Fillian warlords and Imperial princess and deadly Wildebots and secret cities and the terrible truths of Prophet Rock. Dontcha dare miss it!"
But wait—who is Skaar? How dare he claim any intimate connection with the Hulk? "He's the Hulk's son! And his mother was Caiera the Oldstrong, one of the most powerful mortals on Sakaar!" Pak screams, clearly relishing his power as guiding force over All Things Hulk. "And he was abandoned as a scalded embryo in radioactive seas after the incineration of his mother by a nuclear explosion! And have you checked out that insane cover from Carlo Pagulayan? This is the book I've been itching to dig my teeth into for months now, the much-ballyhooed super-secret third part of the trilogy that began with 'Planet Hulk' and WORLD WAR HULK. And it will be awesome.
"Look, the Hulk thinks his unborn child died in the explosion that killed Caiera and incinerated Crown City. Skaar only knows that his father left him to burn in the radioactive seas. Could make for an interesting family reunion some day."
In far advance of such a reunion, Pak's long trudged hip-deep in Hulk-ness, leading the Mean Green Smashing Machine through paces that'd make lesser characters cower and quake. SKAAR, SON OF HULK marks a monumental milestone in this super-saga, one the writer does not take for granted despite having cast several threats of violence towards his editors should they have foolishly considered anyone else for the job.
"I was lucky enough to nab the 'Planet Hulk' job and then worm my way into the WORLD WAR HULK gig," says Pak, with abject humility. "After that, they would have had to use a crowbar to separate me from the SON OF HULK book. I think it helped that I came up with the idea.
"I can remember pitching it to Marvel E.I.C. Joe Quesada at a holiday party a couple years back. Fellow Marvel scribe Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa happened to walk by while Joe and I were excitedly talking through the science of how a half-Hulk, half-alien embryo could survive the incineration of his alien mother and thrive in the radioactive soup after a nuclear explosion—I remember Roberto laughing out loud and saying something like, 'This is what comics is all about.'"
Pak continues, noting that the new project impacts him as "an absolute gift," and allowing him to "not just tell a great story, but to create an entire world." Clearly, it's of prime importance to the writer, not only for inspiration's sake but also as means to engage the reader on a heightened level of fantasy and escapism that most mediums outside of comics simply fail to deliver.
"'Planet Hulk' was that kind of gift for me," explains Pak. "We were able to create an entirely new milieu for epic, mythic adventure along with a slew of new supporting characters and complications and challenges for the Hulk. WORLD WAR HULK let us build on that mythos right here on planet Earth, continuing to expand the themes and supporting cast in surprising ways, which has been insanely fun.
"But you never know just how a given project will be received, so I'm hugely grateful to the readers and reviewers and retailers who have raved about the books and made it possible for us to continue exploring these stories and characters with a slew of new comics, including WORLD WAR HULK: WARBOUND, SKAAR, SON OF HULK, the INCREDIBLE HERC book I'm co-writing with Fred Van Lente, Jeph Loeb's Red Hulk story and Dwayne McDuffie's DAMAGE CONTROL."
Gamma-radiated editor Mark Paniccia echoes Pak's enthusiasm, the two of them pointing out they knew fans would embrace the sprawling saga even as far back as their first outline for "Planet Hulk." "It was one of those stories that just seemed to spew forth from Greg's mind like water from a broken fire hydrant," he says. "There was no stopping it. But I think the best thing has been readers coming up to us and saying that this was the first time they read the Hulk and that they were hooked."
Readers content with the knowledge of Skaar as the son of the Hulk and assuming that's all they need as a window on this new series are in for a few pointed surprises. Pak is holding more than a few cards close to the vest, sword-sharp cards that promise to shock and thrill, a kind of nuclear option to storytelling. "One of the Hulk's greatest enemies will play a major and very surprising role in SON OF HULK," sayeth the scribe, gently teasing with carrot yet priming stick for a major cerebral whacking.
Realizing that much more may be hazardous to your state of mental health, reflect on what we have learned here and ask once more: Who is Skaar and what's his relationship with the Hulk? Is there anything remotely human about the Son of the Hulk?
"He's half Sakaarian Shadow and half Hulk," chuckles Pak. "Does that Hulk half contain anything 'human'? Guess we're all gonna have to read the book to find out!"
SON OF HULK smashes and crashes onto the Green scene with a spray of hot blood and the metallic clash of swords and shields when it launches in March 2008! Be there, if you dare!
