Broken Frontier

We’re back with a giant reader Q&A edition of “Pak Talks Comics”!  Click here to submit your own questions for future columns and read on for the latest about Skaar, War Machine, Magneto, and Hercules!

Ian Hines:  I'm a big fan of your work (although I have been reading a lot of the Peter David Hulk Visionary comics), and I have a few questions for you that I hope you could answer.

1) What are your thoughts on the current Hulk comics being written by Jeph Loeb, mainly concerning how he has done taking up the mantle of writing after the conclusion of World War Hulk (which is a masterpiece in my opinion) and your reaction(s) to the treatment of the characters featured in it?

Greg Pak:  I’ve just re-read Jeph’s Hulk run at one sitting, and I had a swell time.  I think he’s doing a great job tapping into one of the glorious pleasures of the character, which is to indulge in some epic smashing with enormous good humor.  And it doesn’t hurt that the book’s been drawn by some crazy kids named Ed McGuinness, Frank Cho, and Art Adams.

IH:  2) Does Skaar get stronger as he gets angrier, and compared to the Hulk (gray or green) in a calm state, how strong would Skaar be comparably?

GP:  We’ve been purposefully vague about exactly how strong Skaar is and just what the triggers are for his strength.  I’ll just say that more will be revealed as the series progresses.  Although I’ll add that when Skaar’s channeling the Old Power of his Shadow Warrior ancestors, it’s pretty tough for even the strongest of Marvel’s heroes to beat him, as we’ll soon see when the Silver Surfer himself throws down with the Son of Hulk in “Skaar” #7, which hits stores on January 28.

    

IH:  3) When can we be expecting another Warbound story? I'm not asking anything about the specifics of what’s going on in it if you are writing it but rather when we will get to see them in action again?

GP:  Soon!  And yes!  And thanks for asking!

IH:  Thanks for making such great comics and telling great stories, I'll keep reading!

GP:  Thank you, sir!

Taimur Dar:  It's been hinted that Skaar will soon be coming to Earth and meeting his dad. Any chance of him meeting up with the Warbound? Do you still have plans for them in one of the books you write?

GP:  Hey, two Warbound questions in one sitting!  Yes, we will see the Warbound again.  And yes, that will happen in the pages of “Skaar.”  As to the rest, keep on reading!

TD:  Speaking of the Warbound, will we ever see Miek again?

GP: I won’t say just when, but in the fullness of time, I’d say the chances are good to excellent.

TD:  I know you confirmed not too long ago that you were brought on board as a consultant for the "Planet Hulk" animated film due for a Feb 2009 release. Is there anything about it you can reveal? Think there'll be some footage or more info unveiled soon, perhaps at NYCC '09?

GP:  Alas, I can’t reveal anything other than to say I was very pleased with what I saw as a consultant and await the final project with bated breath.

Patrick Carlos: I just wanted to tell you that Planet Hulk brought me back to the Hulk title after a long while. I loved it so much, I had a  life-size bust of the Green Scar commissioned.  Thanks for bringing me back to Hulk!

GP:  That is insanely cool.  You even got the Green Scar’s cheek scar!  Thanks so much for sharing it!

Gabriel Conner:  What are some of the most interesting War Machine stories you encountered when researching the book?

GP:  I really enjoyed the first few issues of the last ongoing in which Rhodey goes to war to free a Nelson Mandela-style character in Africa.  There was a great villain there named the Advisor who might be fun to bring back some day...  I’m also a fan of the non-canon “US War Machine” series by Chuck Austen, as close readers might deduce from my tapping characters like Parnell and Glenda for the new series.

We’re going in a different direction from “US War Machine” with Parnell and Glenda, but I tip my hat and give thanks to Austen for reminding me of how awesome those characters are.  And I love the Rhodey’s big moment in “Iron Man” #300 when he pulls the Iron Legion together to fight Ultimo.  Great stuff, and one of the reasons Bethany Cabe’s in the current book.

GC:  As a second question, how difficult is it to give Jim Rhodes a voice different from Tony when they’re both in armor?

GP:  Good question.  I think it’s related to the notion that Rhodey’s fundamentally a soldier while Tony’s fundamentally an inventor and superhero.  So Rhodey’s a bit more succinct, a bit more wry.  And he cusses more, which his mother doesn’t like.

Mark Burton:  In Battlestar Galactica, why don't the characters look more like the TV actors?

GP:  I’ll turn this question over to Joe Rybandt from Dynamite.

Joe Rybandt: This was contractual between the actors and Universal.  They had the right to say yes or no to their likeness being used, each and every time it was used. Now, this isn’t an issue for an action figure, where that can be accommodated in the production time, but for a monthly comic book series, it would become a scheduling nightmare, so we went as close as we could…

GP:  Thanks, Joe!

Jan Walenta:  First, I want to say I love the work you did on Planet Hulk and World War Hulk. And so far Skaar has been awesome. My question: How long do you see Skaar lasting as an ongoing  series? Why did you opt for an ongoing over a mini?

GP:  Marvel offered me the chance to write “Skaar” as an ongoing and I jumped on it because I had at least a year and a half of story in my head from the minute I conceived of the character. The first giant chapter of Skaar’s life concludes in issue #10 with a massive twist that reveals...  oh, you’re just gonna have to find out at the New York Comic-Con in February!  If you're a Marvel Universe fan, you won't want to miss the massive announcement we're making at the Marvel Mondo panel.

JW:  Also, does Skaar have his father’s “the stronger he gets madder he gets” to go along with the Oldpower?

GP:  All will be revealed in the fullness of time. 

Scott Tilson: I've heard that you're a big fan of Marvel's MICRONAUTS comics.  I particularly love the Bill Mantlo/Michael Golden run. I thought it far surpassed being a mere toy tie-in series, with the diverse characters and the worlds they came from letting Mantlo and Golden to explore a wide range of science fiction ideas wrapped in great space opera/adventure.

GP:  Hear, hear. I’m a huge Bill Mantlo fan -- I also loved his “Incredible Hulk” run, which laid the groundwork for both “Planet Hulk” and “World War Hulk” in some interesting ways.  And thanks for bringing him up, because I’m always looking for a chance to plug David Yurkovich’s “Mantlo: A Life in Comics” tribute book, which you can download from Wowio.com.  Tragically, Mantlo suffered traumatic brain injury in a hit and run in the early 1990s.  All proceeds from “Mantlo: A Life in Comics” are donated to Mantlo’s daily care, so please check it out if you have the inclination.

ST: Have you ever considered pitching a SILVER SURFER series (or some other of Marvel's sci-fi characters) where you could explore in your own way classic and/or modern SF ideas brought to life in the alien cultures and their conflicts on each new alien world?

GP:  I’ve had a blast writing the Silver Surfer in both “Planet Hulk” and “Skaar” (and Surfer fans, definitely don’t miss “Skaar” #7 to #10, in which the Surfer plays a critical role). Although I have a pretty full plate right now, I’d love the chance to do more with the character some day.

Bastet Stalks:  My questions are in regard to the “Magneto Testament” series.  First, though, I have to say that this series is amazing, overwhelming, heart-breaking!  Words fail me.  Kudos also to Mr. DiGiandomenico and Mr. Simons for their hard work!  On to the questions: First, are we going to find out Magda's last name?  I don't believe it's been revealed in the comics before, but I'd like to know. 

GP:  Great question.  We considered it, but never found the right, organic place to reveal it in this mini. 

BS:  More importantly, are you going to explain how Magda survived the liquidation of the Gypsy families at Auschwitz?  Fans have speculated that Magneto, in his position as a Sonderkommando, was somehow able to arrange for her to be smuggled into the Jewish women's camp.  But it's just a theory, and I hope you'll address it.  Thanks for staying true to history, and at the same time writing a truly compelling story.

GP:  We absolutely will address this question in the last issue of “Magneto Testament.”  Things won’t play out the way you might expect, but everything that happens matches the actual history of the Gypsy Family Camp in Auschwitz.

Rivka Jacobs:  Thank you so much for all your hard work on MAGNETO TESTAMENT. It is a major achievement. I can't wait for the entire series to be collected in hardcover, in graphic novel form, so that a wider audience can read MAGNETO TESTAMENT.

I did research on issue #3, not "fault-finding" research, but back-up research to fill in the blanks. Everything checks out. It's eerie to me. I've never found any comic book that portrayed the Holocaust that was able to maintain historical accuracy so well as MAGNETO TESTAMENT. And this is a back-story about the super-hero/anti-hero/sometime-villain Magneto, first shown in glimpses some 20 years ago. But you kept the faith with the comic book continuity, and real-world history. It's an amazing achievement.

More importantly, this is a moving and heartfelt series that attempts to look at the Holocaust in a whole new way. It is in the X-Men Universe, and presupposes the philosophical debate underlying the X-Men mythos, regarding the nature of alienation, persecution, bigotry, and human violence. Chris Claremont first BRILLIANTLY understood this, and gave Magneto his history of a Jewish Holocaust survivor, but you have augmented, expanded, illuminated, added enormous depth to the philosophical and intellectual side of the X-MEN.

[edited for length]

Again, thanks for all your Marvel work. You've hooked me on HERCULES now. I started out as young as I can remember, reading Edith Hamilton's MYTHOLOGY books, before becoming hooked on comic books in 1959. If super heroes are the modern equivalent of the great heroes of myth, you've brought this round full-circle. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby laid the groundwork. But you, once again, have kept the continuity, kept the framework, kept the heart of the characters while at the same time bringing in a wealth of research and mythology and Jungian archetypes. Please keep up the good work!

Sorry to say, I never could get into HULK. I guess it's a girl thing -- I know of few female readers who are HULK fans. Maybe you could work on some angle that would be more attractive to female readers.

GP:  Thanks so much for your very kind words.  It’s been enormously important to everyone who’s worked on “Magneto Testament” to do the story justice.  As I noted in the introduction, we had to make some tough decisions here and there because at certain points the comics continuity contradicted itself or conflicted with actual historical events.  In the end, we did our best to remain true to the spirit of the comics continuity while adhering to historical fact to the absolute best of our abilities.

Thanks also for your kind words about “Incredible Hercules.” My co-writer Fred Van Lente and I have been having nothing but fun writing that book.  And since you’re a fan of the mythological aspects of the book, I’d recommend you keep an eye open in particular for “Incredible Hercules” #126, which features an all-myth story that tells, for the first time in Marvel Comics, the origin of Hercules!  That issue also features the “Search for Kirby” story in which Amadeus finds out just what happened to his beloved coyote pup -- with art by the brilliant Takeshi Miyazawa, who drew the very first Amadeus Cho story for me back in 2005.  And who knows -- it might just be a Hulk story you can enjoy as well!  See below for a sneak peek at some gorgeous Miyazawa pages.

   

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!

© 2009 Greg Pak.  All rights reserved.  For more about Greg Pak’s comics and films, visit http://www.pakbuzz.com/.