Wizard's early look at part three of Greg Pak's mean, green Hulk epic!
By Jim Gibbons
Posted 6/10/2008
When you head into your comic shop tomorrow, you might not realize that science has recently found a way to condense PURE AWESOMENESS into the 24 pages of a comic book, but it's true! It'll be filed under Skaar: Son of Hulk, sitting idly on the shelf waiting to rock your world to its core!
I'm so thrilled about this book, I'm not even sure how to begin raving about it.
Let me begin by saying that I've been a massive, huge, Hulk-sized fan of everything Greg Pak has masterfully done with the Jade Giant. I jumped on right at the beginning of "Planet Hulk" and have been gobbling up every inch of gamma-charged glory Pak's put out ever since with rapt attention. As much as I loved "Planet Hulk" and it's follow-up with "World War Hulk," I don't think I was initially as excited for either as much as I was for this third installment where the Hulk's son has a whole planet to rampage over. My expectations were extremely high going in and Skaar was everything I had hoped it would be!
Part "end of the world" epic, part Mad Max-meets-Conan the Barbarian, Skaar: Son of Hulk is the tale of the Marvel Universe's most genetically inclined monster who may be best understood by his book's own description, "Humans would call you a monster...too angry...too strong...too beautiful for their puny planet...but this world is yours." That bit of dialogue also sums up the bottom line of why I think the third act of Pak's Hulk epic will outshine the earlier two: Skaar is Hulk on a world with no holds barred! As fantastic and enjoyable as "Planet Hulk" and "World War Hulk" were, in the back of every reader's head, we knew there were limits. We knew Hulk would never stay on Sakaar forever, and we knew he wouldn't end up killing the Illuminati on Earth. Much as events can change things and bring a character through an amazingly satisfying journey (like the above two did), certain aspects of the status quo must be maintained, especially within the Marvel 616. But with Skaar, Pak's got a playground for his new monster that he can do anything with, and thus can continue to deliver nothing but the aforementioned "pure awesomeness" that this first issue delivers!
Seeing a Hulk smash is always more compelling—as Pak has proved—when he's got a darned good reason for it. In this introductory issue, Pak sets the scene for a young Skaar by showing how a parentless punishment machine can take his first steps toward being a truly worthy heir to his father's throne. It's not a completely unfamiliar tale, as a young boy witnesses injustice and rises against it, but Pak draws in reader's with that hint of familiarity to tell a completely original story in the mighty Marvel fashion!
All that praise and I haven't even mentioned Ron Garney's stellar art yet! If you fell back in love with Garney's work like I did after his run on Wolverine with Jason Aaron, then you're truly in for a treat with Skaar! Garney delvers the grit and the graphic goods for this otherwordly tale. If he hasn't won you over within the first few pages, you're likely crazy, because this book is just brilliant to look at!
If you're a new reader who grabs this book—and I highly recommend you do!—you're going to instantly fall in love with this fantastic setup for a premise with limitless possibility. It's a must-read that'll have you digging through big-issue bins trying to nab all the "Planet Hulk" and "World War Hulk" issues you can. And for you Hulk-heads out there who've been loving every minute of Pak's work, get ready for the next piece of big green goodness competing for your affection.
I could rave on and on about how satisfying and enjoyable this issue was as a die-hard Pak/Hulk fan, and wouldn't even come close to the joy Hulk fans and new readers alike are going to get from this book. It's a blast and I couldn't recommend it more highly! Seriously: check it out!
