NightBeetle
Turbo Justice!!!!
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Pak Smashes The Hulks Into "Chaos War"
During the recently completed "Fall of the Hulks" and "World War Hulks" storylines, the Hulk family came together first to fight one another, then to battle a conspiracy of a cadre of insidious super geniuses. Now that the family is together, the "Incredible Hulk" title will become "Incredible Hulks" and writer Greg Pak will uses the series to test the familial bonds of the gamma powered clan with two big storylines. The first is "Dark Son," a six part, bi-weekly story that kicks off in September's "Incredible Hulks" #612 and features art work by Brian Ching, Tom Raney, and Barry Kitson. Then in December, Pak and artist Paul Pelletier kick off another new storyline that sends the gamma powered goliaths to the front lines of the "Chaos War."
CBR News spoke with Pak about both tales and the dynamic between his ensemble cast of characters.
The transformation of the Hulk's title from a solo book to an ensemble team title brings with it a whole new dynamic, and it's one that has Pak particularly excited. "The great thing about the Hulks is that everybody on the team is an insane powerhouse. They are the strongest there is. There's no team that has as much brute physical force as this group.
That doesn't make them the ideal team to send out against certain kinds of dangers and threats, but there are certain threats that only this team can handle," Pak told CBR News. "The challenge of that, of course, is that the Hulks have always been driven by anger. So there is this undercurrent of pure rage [Laughs] just beneath the skin for many of these characters. When you have that much sheer physical power, any expression of anger can be incredibly dangerous, and it's all amped by the fact that just about everyone on this team has some sort of family relationship to everyone else.
"As I've said before, nobody can save you from your anger like members of your family, but also nobody can drive you crazier. So the family connection and those feelings of anger really pump the drama and the stakes up to the highest level. It's an insane amount of fun to write this," Pak exclaimed. "It's also exciting, because the relationships between these characters are growing in some very interesting and surprising ways issue to issue. There is going to be a lot of character development going on, as well a massive amount of Hulk smashing over these next few issues. We're at a great point for new readers to jump on the series because some crazy stuff is starting to develop with this family of Hulks."
"Incredible Hulks" won't just feature the new dynamic of the Hulk family, however. Bruce Banner and his savage alter ego will also be interacting with each other in some new and interesting ways. "At the end of issue #611, which is in stores now and concludes our portion of the 'World War Hulks' storyline, Banner and the Hulk come to a type of understanding. There's something go on with the Hulk and Banner that is different from what we've seen in the past. The dynamic between them has shifted," Pak explained. "The interesting thing, too, is from #601 on, when Banner was not able to turn into the Hulk because of what the Red Hulk had done to him in #600, Banner became a little Hulk-like himself in his attitudes.
He became considerably more hardcore and ruthless in the way he was able to take charge and do what he thought had to be done. Of course there are distinctions there, but that also opens up interesting dynamics. Banner was able to get to places and and make things happen on his own, so it will be interesting to see how and he and the Hulk perceive their different roles."
The "Dark Son" storyline involves the Hulk's other half-alien son, Hiro-Kala, returning to Earth to confront both his father and his brother Skaar. Issue #612 sets that arc into motion with sequences that unfold both on Earth and on the planet Kai. "I'm really happy with the way #612 has come together We also have two amazing artists working on this issue in Tom Raney and Brian Ching. Tom is doing the Earth side of the story and Brian is doing the Kai sections of the story. The Kai sides of the story are co-written by Scott Reed who has been writing the Hiro-Kala centric back-ups in recent issues of 'Incredible Hulk.'
Scott also wrote the Hiro-Kala centric storyline in the 'Son of Hulk' books," Pak revealed. "This issue has also been a huge amount of fun to write because it features some pretty intense scenes between Red She-Hulk and Bruce Banner. And what Hulk fans aren't interested in finding out what's going with those two characters? The relationship between those two characters has been the central romance of the Hulk's run."It's currently unclear if any of the other characters in the Hulk family are aware of Hiro-Kala's existence, and his journey to Earth in "Dark Son" is handled in a way where readers don't have to know much about him either. "If you don't know anything about Hiro-Kala, don't worry because everything will be explained in issue #612.
It's a perfect jumping on point and everything will be set up and established for you," Pak stated. "The coming of Hiro-Kala will open up a whole new can of worms for all of these characters. Bruce Banner is finally face to face again with his first wife, and he has his son from another woman with him. Then, with Hiro-Kala, another kid showing up, what's that going to be like? Then, on an even deeper level, there's this whole question for the Hulk and for Banner about how they're going to react when they discover what Hiro-Kala is really after and what he's willing to do. We've already seen him deal with a son on what's ultimately been a redemptive journey with Skaar, who came to Earth hellbent on killing the Hulk as payback for what he had thought the Hulk had done; leaving him on Sakaar to be born in fire and raised by monsters.
"So it will be interesting to see what happens with Hiro-Kala, because he's a different creature from Skaar," Pak continued. "Both Skaar and the Hulk are going to have to confront that fact in ways they may or may not be prepared for."
The members of the Hulk family that survive their confrontation with Hiro-Kala will take center stage in the storyline that kicks off in December's "Incredible Hulks" #618 with a tale that spins out of the developments of the "Chaos War" miniseries by Pak and his "Incredible Hercules" writing partner Fred Van Lente.
"The 'Chaos War' storyline is basically the invasion of the Chaos King, who long time 'Incredible Hercules' readers know as Mikaboshi, the Japanese god of Darkness and Chaos. We're basically revealing that he's Chaos itself. In almost every creation story across cultures, there's talk about chaos and darkness, this entropy that existed before the creator created. The Chaos King is the embodiment of that. His deepest desire is to return everything to that fundamental state of chaos and darkness," Pak remarked. "He's a primal and insanely powerful threat, and he's going to do things in the opening salvos of the 'Chaos War' that are going to create a whole new second front in that war.
The Hulks are going to be at the forefront of that second front. That is a story that will play out in the 'Incredible Hulks' tie-in issues, #618-620."
The titular team of "Incredible Hulks" get involved in the Chaos War at the behest of former Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Stephen Strange. Longtime Hulk fans know that Strange and the Green Goliath have a deep and complicated history, first as teammates in the original line up of "The Defenders" and years later Strange was part of the "Illuminati" that exiled the Hulk into outer space causing him to crash land on the planet of Sakaar. The duo's last interaction came in "World War Hulk" where the jade giant came back to Earth for revenge upon those responsible for his outer space exile.
