The following was originally posted on ComicCon.com:
THE PULSE: For those who missed Planet Hulk, can you summarize what happened to the Incredible Hulk these past months and what state of mind he's in right now?
GREG PAK: Warning -- "Planet Hulk" spoilers below!
A group of so called Marvel "heroes," including Mister Fantastic, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, and Black Bolt, decided the Hulk was a monster and shot him into space in a shuttle, exiling him to the savage alien planet of Sakaar where the Hulk was enslaved and forced to become a gladiator. At first consumed by rage and mistrustful of everything and everyone, the Hulk eventually bonded with his fellow gladiators -- and then the oppressed people of the planet. The Hulk turned rebel, fighting against the wicked Red King and ultimately becoming the planet's conquering emperor, taking the great woman warrior Caiera the Oldstrong as his queen. For the first time in recent memory, the Hulk had a place in the universe -- a world, a people, a queen, and even an unborn child. And then the puny humans' shuttle exploded, destroying a million souls, including the Hulk's queen and child.
Now the Hulk is returning to Earth. And he's going to teach those who exiled him who the monster in this story really is.
THE PULSE: Now that you have most of Planet Hulk behind you, looking back, what do you consider the biggest highs of creating this new chapter in the life of the Hulk?
PAK: Every issue was a high. This is probably the most satisfying comic book project I've worked on thus far. Right now, I'm still on a buzz from getting that last issue out the door. Penciler Carlo Pagulayan really outdid himself with that issue -- every panel is just gorgeous and evocative, and that last two page spread? Just amazing.
THE PULSE: If you were able, is there anything about this story you wish you could tweak now, seeing how it all turned out on the final pages?
PAK: So far in prepping for the hardcover, I've found just two corrections. This has really been a labor of love -- I think every person who worked on the book went above and beyond, making every page and every panel the best they could be.
As a writer, one thing I wish is that I'd made a bit of space to expand Elloe's story. She's the only one of Hulk's Warbound companions whom we never showed telling the others the story of her past. We definitely know her story and gave hints of it in scenes with her father, Lavin Skee, and her mother. But there's definitely more to explore there. Someday...
THE PULSE: Now that Hulk's headed towards earth with a mad on for the Illuminati, it seems as if this might divide the heroes like the Civil War .... I know you don't want to spoil everything, but who are a few of the heroes on the Jade Giant's side that people might be surprised to see thinking Hulk's in the right? Flip side, who are some of the opposition that folks might find it hard to believe would oppose him in this?
PAK: Sneaky, sneaky, Jen! You know I can't say too much, here. But I will say during the course of "Incredible Hulk" #106-109, teen genius and number one Hulk fan Amadeus Cho will try to recruit a number of heroes to fight on the Hulk's side. I won't say who joins him, but I will say that among the people he encounters are She-Hulk, Doc Samson, Namor, Hercules, Angel, Namora, S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander Gabe Jones, and the Scorpion. Who says yes and who says no? Find out starting with "Incredible Hulk" #106 on May 2!
THE PULSE: It seems as if the events in the Incredible Hulk right now have been very purposely thought out and considered, even before anything unfolds on the page. How long has it taken you to template the events that you wanted to play out in this story?
PAK: We've been planning for this story for almost two years, when I first started working on "Planet Hulk." What goes up must come down -- we always knew that as "Planet Hulk" wrapped, "World War Hulk" would begin. So I've been hammering out this storyline with the help of editor Mark Paniccia and the input of a slew of other Marvel editors and writers over the course of many, many months.
THE PULSE: What have been some of the biggest challenges with making sure everything unfolded in the way you wanted on the printed page? How tough was it to get this all to play out?
PAK: Once we nailed the outline down, I was good to go. A good outline makes everything clear -- so from the beginning, we knew our themes, our key plot points, and the main thrust and purpose of each issue within our larger epic. Of course, there were a million challenges along the way, but it's relatively easy to handle small problems when you understand how everything fits together in the big picture.
THE PULSE: It seems as if Warbound might just be the tip of the iceberg for the future of the Hulk .... how far down the line are your plans for this series?
PAK: I can't reveal too much -- I'll just say that the Warbound and the themes and world of "Planet Hulk" won't be forgotten.
THE PULSE: Many comic fans are excited that Gary Frank is returning to the pages of The Incredible Hulk. How does it feel to have him bringing your words to life?
PAK: Gary Frank is incredible. Like all the artists on "Planet Hulk," he's a demon for detail and has done an incredible job cramming a huge amount of information into each panel while keeping the images clean and gorgeous and dynamic. And he draws a mean Jen Walters -- and an even meaner She-Hulk -- check out "Incredible Hulk" #106 for more!
THE PULSE: How much input have the artists you've worked with recently had in the presentation of the story? How open are you to their feedback?
PAK: Having been trained as a film director, I tend to have a very strong sense of what I'm looking for in terms of visual storytelling and I probably load up my comic scripts with more visual details than another writer might. But just as I'm always eager to work collaboratively with my cinematographer on a film set, I'm always thrilled when my pencilers bring that extra something or find a better way of depicting a scene than I could ever have imagined on my own. Aaron Lopresti and I used to trade emails all the time during "Planet Hulk" -- Aaron's also trained as a filmmaker, actually, and has a great sense of story.
He'd catch all my mistakes and often add a panel or two to make sure we were telling the story clearly, which was awesome. In the case of "World War Hulk," John Romita, Jr. has opened up the script in a number of key places, turning what were small panels on a multi-panel page into giant full page splashes. He's a legend for good reason -- he knows better than just about anyone on the planet how to make those big moments blow off the page.
THE PULSE: How do you think working on this type of epic comic book story has changed the way you view the creative process behind the comic books in general?
PAK: It's confirmed to me the enormous value of having a strong editor. Mark Paniccia's been my partner in crime throughout the entire process -- "Planet Hulk" would not be the book it is without his constant guidance, support, and creative input. It's a been a kick every step of the way in no small part due to the fact that every time I had one of my big crazy ideas, Mark could see how it fit into our story and themes and encouraged me to go for it. For months, the highlight of my week was huddling with Mark in dark corners of the Marvel office cackling over the next insane thing we were going to do. I'll also say that Assistant Editor Nate Cosby played a huge role as well -- he coordinated all of the corrections we'd make to the balloons along the way, challenged me to make things better and clearer, and always gave me every opportunity to nail down every line of dialogue to all of our satisfaction. That kind of support and respect makes a huge difference.
THE PULSE: What have you enjoyed the most about working on a story of this scope?
PAK: There's a huge amount of pleasure in seeing things pay off that we seeded over twelve issues ago. The slow burn is awesome.
THE PULSE: What other projects are you working on?
PAK: I'm writing the last issue of my "Battlestar Galactica" run for Dynamite, which has been a heck of a ride. The first trade should be hitting stores soon, actually -- check in with www.pakbuzz.com for publication dates. And I'm about to start two new projects for Marvel, which I can't talk about just yet, alas. I'll just say that one of them may be the most challenging project I've ever undertaken and the other is a crazy fever dream come true. How's that for a teaser?
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