Comic Book Club Preview: Greg Pak
August 14th brings us another edition of Comic Book Club, the live talk show where you can meet me, Justin, and Pete in person, and hang out with our comic book friends! Hooray! Before the show, I'm going to post up little chats I had with all of the guests. Last week, that was with Jesse Falcon, VP of Product Development at Marvel, and commedienne Heather Fink. Today, I'm talking with our final guest, Greg Pak, who writes a series you may have heard about called "World War Hulk." - Alex
PS: Hey Greg, how's it going?
GP: Pretty great, and thanks for the invite. I'm really looking forward to Tuesday!
PS: So tell me a little about yourself... I hear you write about some sort of Hulk guy?
GP: Yep, every day's Green Day 'round here. I'm a filmmaker turned comic book writer who's probably best known for the Planet Hulk and World War Hulk storylines. I also wrote the X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong and Warsong minis and Dynamite's Battlestar Galactica series and created Amadeus Cho, aka Mastermind Excello, the genius-kid-on-the-run who's currently making trouble in the pages of Incredible Hulk.
PS: Seriously though, WWH has been hugely popular; did you expect it to do so well?
GP: We were lucky to have the chance to set up the emotional dynamics propelling this story for over a year in the pages of Planet Hulk, so the timing was right. But it's always up to the fans to decide. That said, with an awesome character like the Hulk and stellar folks like editor Mark Paniccia, penciller John Romita, Jr., inker Klaus Janson, and colorist Christina Strain backing me up, confidence was always high.
PS: At the same time, you're writing the ongoing Hulk series... What's different about these two aspects of the story you're telling?
GP: World War Hulk is the giant epic smashfest; the Peter Jackson summer blockbuster, if you will. Incredible Hulk is a quirkier tale, exploring the story and themes with unexpected characters from a different angle; the Steven Soderbergh summer blockbuster, to belabor the analogy.
PS: Other than the Hulk, favorite character to write currently?
GP: Hercules and Amadeus Cho. Hotheaded Olympian Prince of Power teams up with smartalecky teen genius, and they drive each other CRAAAAZY! Seriously, I'm absolutely loving working with these characters in Incredible Hulk right now.
PS: Who would you like to write (any book) that you haven't gotten to write yet?
GP: Dr. Strange, Magneto, and Storm are high on my list of characters I'd like to work on more.
PS: Prove your comic geek cred: First comic book?
GP: The oldest one I still have is that big Marvel Treasury Spider-Man. But I remember some old Richie Rich book with a yellow cover... I think Dollar got a lot of dollars and built his own house or something?
PS: Favorite series/graphic novel/single issue of all time?
GP: Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind.
PS: The most annoying character in comics is...
GP: No such thing. Any character can be awesome, if you find the right hook.
PS: The most awesome character in comics is...
GP: The Hulk, natch.
PS: Anything else you want to plug?
GP: For the full scoop on what I'm up to, folks can check out www.pakbuzz.com. And I'm writing a semi-weekly column about comics for BrokenFrontier.com.
Check out Greg Pak, and much more, at Comic Book Club; August 14 @ 8:00pm; at The Peoples Improv Theater!
