Broken Frontier

It’s Reader Q&A time!  To submit your own questions for future columns, click here.  Otherwise, read on -- and be sure to check out the script-to-page commentary and art at the bottom of the page from our special guest, “Planet Hulk” artist Aaron Lopresti!

Jerry Martin:  First off, I must say THANK YOU for personalizing/signing our copy of the  “Planet Hulk” hardcover , for my son, Trevor, 8 years old.  We couldn't make it to Wizard World Texas 2007 this year, so a friend took our book for me.  My son was happy to see that you did a sketch inside of his book, along with your signature.  You made his day on that.  Also, “Planet Hulk,” with the way it was written, drew me into the books -- I didn't even read Hulk until “Planet Hulk.”  My son and I would sit down each month and read the comic together.  Thanks for a great read.  

Greg Pak:  Thanks for all the kind words, Jerry!  Glad you enjoyed “Planet Hulk” -- and glad your son enjoyed the sketch.  And let me take a minute to give you a big thumbs up for reading the comics with your son.  As I recall, Marvel marked most of the “Planet Hulk” issues with “Rated A,” which according to Marvel.com means they’re appropriate for kids 9 and above.  There’s probably not much in “Planet Hulk” that a smart 8 year old couldn’t grasp or handle, but having a parent reading along to explain and guide is clearly the best (and most fun!) way for a younger kid to enjoy the stories.

JM: Now to my question...  Have you considered on making an actual novel based on Planet Hulk?  I believe it would make a classic and fine read.  I know I'd be one of the first to pick up a copy.

GP:  A “Planet Hulk” novel is a great idea, but for the near future, I’m lucky enough to have my hands full expanding the “Planet Hulk” universe in comics form.  First up is the “Warbound” miniseries that’s hitting comic book stores right now -- it follows the Hulk’s Warbound companions from “Planet Hulk” as they confront a deadly threat right here on Planet Earth.  (The next issue arrives on January 16.)  And in the spring, keep your eyes open for “Skaar: Son of Hulk,” which follows the son of the Hulk and Caiera the Oldstrong as he struggles to survive and conquer on the savage planet of Sakaar.

WARNING:  “WORLD WAR HULK SPOILERS AHEAD!

Mohammad Zaki:   How strong is Hercules compared to the Hulk in World War Hulk?

GP:  In “Incredible Hulk” #107, Herc delivered a few monumental blows to the Green Goliath but then pretty much got pounded into the ground. Now it’s possible that Herc heroically let Hulk pummel him to make a point -- that not everyone on Earth was out to fight the Hulk.  Which could mean that Hulk and Herc never did fully establish who’s the strongest.  But by the end of “World War Hulk,” the Hulk grew so insanely powerful that I’d be hard pressed to imagine even the Lion of Olympus standing up to him for long. 

Shameless plug -- if you’re curious about what Hercules is up to these days, dontcha dare miss “Incredible Hercules” #113, written by yours truly and the brilliant Fred Van Lente, hitting comic book stores on January 16.

MZ: Since Thor has the Odinforce and is more powerful than his father, is he stronger than the Green Scar?

GP:  All I can say is that if I were Thor, I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the Sentry’s place during the climactic battle in “World War Hulk” #5.

MZ:  Also, has the Hulk been depowered to his original power levels, because he is Red Hulk now?

GP:  My lips are sealed.  But my guess is that all will be revealed in the pages of Jeph Loeb’s and Ed McGuinness’s “Hulk” monthly, the first issue of which hit comic stores on January 9.

Sheldon Hingst:  I took your "Writing Comics from Start to Finish" Workshop in Toronto in August and you had some material on your laptop you were going to show us. Since they couldn't get a projector we didn't get a chance to see it. Any chance of posting or seeing this material?

GP:  Thanks for coming to the workshop, Sheldon, and I’d love to share some of those images with you.  The idea was to give a practical example of how a comic book page comes together step by step.  I’d picked out a page from “Incredible Hulk” #96, penciled by the lovely and talented Aaron Lopresti. 

The story context is that the Hulk’s group of rebels and refugees on the savage planet of Sakaar have been infiltrated by a spy.  After calling in his report to the wicked Imperial forces who employed him, the spy realizes his bosses are going to bomb the whole area.  As he scrambles to escape, the Hulk’s off-panel voice asks him, “Why are you running?”

The next page looked like this in script form:

Penciller Aaron Lopresti and I traded dozens of emails during our time together on “Incredible Hulk,” constantly talking through the best way to render pages and panels. We’re both trained as filmmakers, which probably gave us a good foundation for collaboration.  And I think the book felt special to both of us -- Aaron really loved drawing the Hulk and I really loved writing him.  In this case, Aaron asked about framing for the page -- there are multiple things going on in the foreground, midground, and background, and he wanted to make sure the storytelling was clear.  I sent him the following ridiculous sketch to give him a rough idea of the layout I envisioned (and for what it’s worth, I promise that the sketch I did in Trevor’s “Planet Hulk” hardcover is much nicer than this):

The text on Badmouth’s back reads “Alas, we hardly knew ye!”  Aaron diplomatically deferred comment on the quality of the sketch and the joke and delivered the following layout:

Which he quickly followed with:

Here’s what Aaron has to say about his thinking process:

“After reading this page of script I really felt like there were a couple of separate things going on here that demanded more than one panel.   At first I had a small panel at the top so I could show the bombs exploding around the characters and set up the environment a little before the big pay off with the splash panel.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the importance of emphasizing the Hulk's one line and the attitude behind it.  I also wanted readers to get a sense of the bad guy's fear knowing that he was about to die.  I added the three panels of the bomb(s) dropping because it was necessary to show for clarity.  I used a multiple panel sequence to stretch out the moment and the drama.

“Finally I adjusted the Hulk and Korg's poses to reflect a slight vulnerability to the explosions around them because on this planet, the Hulk feels pain and can be hurt.  All in all I feel it properly conveys the script, tells the story and still has the impact of a splash page.”

Here’s the final page, inked and colored:

Like moviemaking, comic book production is a genuinely collaborative art.  And like a great cinematographer, Aaron doesn’t just make pretty pictures -- he takes great pains to nail both the moment-by-moment storytelling and the emotional context of every scene. That’s the kind of penciller writers love -- they make us look better in every way.

For more about Aaron’s work, be sure to visit his website, www.aaronlopresti.com.

Thanks for reading -- we’ll be back soon with another thrilling installment of “Pak Talks Comics.”  Please click here to submit your questions for our Reader Q&A section and see you next time!

© 2008 Greg Pak.  All rights reserved.  For more about Greg Pak’s comics and films, visit www.pakbuzz.com.