Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente and Paul Tobin ring in on joining up with the Hulk Family
By Kevin Mahadeo
Posted 9/2/08
If size matters, the Hulk family has the Marvel Universe dominated. So the need of a mega-sized issue for this mega-sized, gamma-irradiated family comes as no surprise.
Writers Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente and Paul Tobin join together to each pen a short story about one of the Hulk children in Hulk Family—Skaar, the daughter of Hulk and Thundra, and the Spectacular Scorpion, respectively. A fourth yet unnamed writer will pen a final story about She-Hulk, the Green Goliath's powerhouse cousin.
We opened up the family closets with each writer to take a peek inside at their upcoming stories.
GREG PAK
Greg, you'll be doing a Skaar, Son of Hulk, story for Hulk Family, who I guess the first official child of the Hulk.
PAK: Yeah! I'm excited about this book. I love these kind of projects because they let you do short little one-off stories that are just fun to do. We're so used to doing 22-page stories that are part of a longer arc, but sometimes it's just really fun to flex a slightly different set of muscles and do six or eight-page story that has a great beginning, middle, end and a little hook all within a few pages. It's funny though because sometimes those stories take as long as a full-length script because you really have to pack a lot into those pages to make it work properly. I've been having a blast on it and I think it's going to be a fun story for anybody who is interested in Skaar. We're going to be doing a revealing untold moment from his youth on the savage planet of Sakaar filling in a little gap in his history. It'll feature the first meeting between Skaar and the mysterious and shadowy Old Sam.
So, in a way, it's a prequel of sorts to the main story.
PAK: Yeah. It actually fits right into the continuity from the first issue. There's a little spot in the first issue where we see Skaar when he's one month old and he looks Mowgli-sized because he's growing fast on this planet. This is the story that happens right around that time. [In the first issue] we did a time dash, and this is a story that happens in that time dash. Also, for those who are keeping track, this story will follow on the heels of another little story that takes place during that same time frame that is going to be in the Savage World of Sakaar one-shot that comes out next month. You definitely won't have to have read one to enjoy the other, but put them both on your pull list! You won't be disappointed. [Laughs]
What do you think about the reaction for this character? He's been pretty popular.
PAK: It's been a ton of fun. I was blown-away. When I had this inspiration for creating this character in the wake of Planet Hulk and World War Hulk my editor Mark Panicia and Joe Quesada, editor-in-chief, really went for it. It's mind-blowing because this is a canon, in-continuity son of the Hulk. Eventually you'll see how this all hooks into stuff in a major way later on down the line, but a chance to launch this book with a brand new character is just a dream come true. And it's been fun meeting fans and conventions that enjoy the book. Joe said something about the book that I think is true in that the other nice thing about the book is that it scratches an itch that we haven't been able to scratch in the Marvel Universe in a while. To do this kind of sword and sorcery tale within the Marvel Universe is a pretty nifty opportunity.
What are the chances of seeing more of this character and more with the whole family in the future? Would this be something you're interested in continuing?
PAK: Oh, sure. It all depends on what the publishing plans are and all that, but I'd imagine if it's successful enough we'd continue to do these things. The nice thing about working in Mark Paniccia's office is that he's always got some crazy ideas up his sleeve about fun stuff to do like this. For example, that Hulk versus Hercules one-shot that Fred Van Lente and I wrote is a similar type of project—sort of a crazy notion and it gave us a chance to do a story that we wouldn't have been able to do in the main book because of the way that things were planned out and gave us a chance to shed some new light on both of those characters and drop a few nifty little nuggets that will be revealed to impact the main book's story later on. I'm a big fan of side-stories because they give you a chance to shed some cool light on the characters and to make some revelations early. As a matter of fact, one of our first reveals with Skaar happened in a similar project. The What if Planet Hulk book I did had three different stories in it, and one of those had an alternate future in it and we revealed Skaar in that story. So, you really don't know what's going to pop up in these kinds of stories. So, you don't want to miss them.
Well, can you give up a little hint as to some of the stuff that will be popping up in this issue?
PAK: Well, you're going to find out the origin of Skaar's loincloth. [Laughs]
Yes! The story we've been waiting for! [Laughs]
PAK: Exactly! Where did he get that jaunty loincloth and how did he know how to wear it with such pizzazz? We also get a glimpse of young Skaar's artistic abilities. So, how about that? And of course much slashing and smashing takes place. And who knows, somebody might eat somebody.
FRED VAN LENTE
So, we're going to talk about the Hulk Family, which you will be participating in. The book that is, not the actual family.
VAN LENTE: Yes. I shudder to think what kind of muscle structure you need to participate in the Hulk family. But I can give She-Hulk a run for her money.
[Laughs] Well, you're going to writing a story about Scorpion, who is a character you created. She appeared in Amazing Fantasy for the first time and has been popping up here and there in the Marvel U since—last time appearing during World War Hulk. What can you say about her and what she'll be going in this book?
VAN LENTE: Scorpion is a genetically engineered assassin, in essence. She was created by AIM to survive and cause chemical and biological attacks, but she was flipped by SHIELD and now works for them. So, she lives in the shadows and comes out every once in a while in various forms. She fought Mac Gargan for the right to the name in Spider-Man Family. That's one of my favorite stories with her. Leonard Kirk, who co-created her with me, drew that story, so that was pretty awesome. But yeah, she last appeared in Incredible Hulk during World War Hulk and she's been sent after the Hulk by SHIELD in a storyline in Heroes for Hire which amped up her natural stinging arm—part of her physiology is that she can absorb toxins and release them through her hand, hence the codename Scorpion. So, she was sent against the Hulk and nearly took him out but was outwitted by another character I'm associated with, Amadeus Cho. So, the Scorpion story in Hulk Family takes place directly after.
So, it's straight away sequel of sorts.
VAN LENTE: Yeah. Exactly. As was established in the World War Hulk storyline, Cho has hacked into every file about the Hulk that SHIELD has and in one of those files discovered some information that was hinted at in Peter David's most recent run on Hulk—in which Scorpion also appeared—about who Scorpion's biological father is, which she does not know but Amadeus says has found out or at least theorized. This leads her to go after the convoy that is transporting Bruce Banner from Manhattan at the end of World War Hulk to the base in the desert he's been kept at in Jeph Loeb's series.
Like you said, Peter David's story was the first one that hinted toward the Hulk being her father. Was this a thread that you had thought about yourself or is this something you liked and are running with?
VAN LENTE: It wasn't something that I came up with, but the fans got really excited about it, and I’m certainly one to be swayed by popular opinion. I did have a specific Marvel Universe character in mind for the Scorpion's father but I'd rather not say just because I may end up using it. We'll see. On the other hand, maybe Banner is her father. We'll just have to see. The character who I was thinking of is actually getting a new series starting in January. I'll just hint that loudly. It's already been announced, so I'll leave you to figure out that one.
Now comes piecing together the puzzle. Well, once this special wraps up, what happens with the character? Will we be seeing more of her?
VAN LENTE: She's actually going to appear in two unannounced projects, both of which are kind of unique. One is sort of similar to Hulk Family and one is really unusual that I'm really excited about doing.
Hmm... One project related to Hulk Family, but not that. Hulk Family: First Class?
VAN LENTE: [Laughs] Uhhh... No. First Class is reserved for X-Men and X-Men derivates. You will see The Hellfire Club: First Class before you see Hulk.
Well then the obvious choice has to be Hulk Family and Power Pack. The family relations in title are obvious.
VAN LENTE: [Laughs] Nope. Sorry. It's not all ages.
Well, I'm still petitioning for Hulk Family and Power Pack. It needs to happen.
VAN LENTE: Why not, right? Two great families that go great together.
PAUL TOBIN
First off, can you give a little background for new peeps on Hulk and Thundra's daughter?
TOBIN: She exists on a future Earth, one where the war between the sexes has become actual war, full scale battle with each gender existing as a separate tribe. Thundra has long been the leader of the tribe of women, but she's canny enough to know that she won't live forever and that having someone to inherit her mantle and have the ability to toss tanks would be a very good thing. After a quick bit of time travel, she has a semi-romantic encounter with the Hulk—if you count throwing mountains at each other as romance, as of course we all do—and then after taking some cells from the inside of his mouth, she time travels back to her future world, and after a bit of scientific wizardy and the requisite nine months she gives birth to a daughter. Zoom forward twenty years, and we find that this daughter has inherited her mother's smarts and battle savvy, plus, yeah, she can toss those tanks.
I guess if you're going to find a worthy male donor on a planet full of war, Hulk's the best choice, huh?
TOBIN: Dashing. Debonair. An elite fashion sense. No student loans to pay off. The guy's got it all. Plus, he's the Strongest One There Is, and not overly complicated. So if you happen to need to trick him into giving up a cell sample, it can be done.
Interesting thing to note, she seems not to have a name?
TOBIN: Oh, but she does have a name. It's all over in the story. It's not like it's a secret or anything. I swear.
A name in the story that we don't know yet. [Laughs] Well, what can we expect from your story, which has that name all over?
TOBIN: A look into her personality and how she's seen by the rest of her tribe when she's the only one who has a father. It was an interesting decision of Thundra's to bring a male into the process of creating her daughter, and there are ramifications to bear. There's also a look at just how new babies are being created by the two tribes. Plus, there's some fighting. And name-calling. And buildings get punched. Seriously.
Wouldn't be a Hulk story without punching and hitting. Finally, who do you think is the coolest Hulk child—Skaar, The Nameless One, or Scorpion? Please feel free to trash talk.
TOBIN: Hot dang! I can trash talk? Then here goes. Hey, 1975 Pittsburgh Steelers! You suck! The Vikings totally rule and should have won the Super Bowl. Replay! Replay! Whew. I feel better. Now then, who's the coolest of the Hulk's children? Easy. It's the Not-At-All-Secretly-Named daughter that I'm writing. Or, wait, maybe it's Skaar because Greg Pak has created such an over-arcing mythos where Skaar can really play. Maybe it's Scorpion because Fred Van Lente is just such a fun writer, and Carmilla is a character with a lot of depth, and plus she's really very smart, and it's nice for a guy like me to say nice things about women because every snub is one step closer to that future world with that War of the Sexes. Nobody wants that.
