Radiant Comics

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got five new comics plus an action figure!

And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

“Hulk: Skaar – Son of Hulk” and “Hulk: Planet Skaar” by Greg Pak, Ron Garney, Butch Guice, Ron Lim, and others.

I wanted to read some Greg Pak written Hulk, since I’ve liked his Hercules, but found the plethora of Hulk titles too confusing to wade though. So I settled on some cheesy titled “Son of Hulk” books. They were cheap too. And by the way, exactly when did Marvel turn into Silver Age DC? Just like there was Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, Superman Red, and Superman Blue we now have Hulk, She-Hulk, Son of Hulk, Red Hulk, Green Hulk, Grey Hulk, and plenty of others. I’m just sayin’.

The first book was a continuation of the “Planet Hulk” story. Skaar, who is the Hulk’s son (he grew up fast) was left behind, unknown to the Hulk, on Sakaar (Planet Hulk). It’s a mean and vicious planet filled with mean and vicious people. Well, some of them are and the rest are out of luck. Hulk jr. has nothing on his mind but killing those that have wronged him and his dead momma. So he tries to do that.

The plot is more complicated than that and there are some underlying themes about violence not solving things but nothing ever seems to become of them. The plot isn’t bad but it’s kind of loosey-goosey. By the time we get to Earth, about half way through the second book, the plot just falls apart. It was still a fun story but pretty directionless.

The first book has the better art. Garney and Guice do a nice job with the pencils but unfortunately the book isn’t inked. Sometimes that works fine and sometimes it doesn’t. Here it didn’t. The drawing was still good but Garney’s pencils tended to be sketchy at times and that messed with the story telling. Parts of the drawing that an inker would finish and emphasize were left sketchy. That left the storytelling unfocused at times. It wasn’t horrible but it was distracting and could have been easily fixed.

The artwork in the second volume at least was inked so the storytelling was better. I’m not a huge fan of Ron Lim’s art but he did a solid job as he usually does when he isn’t rushed. The coloring and lettering are solid throughout the two volumes.

So no these books weren’t great but they were what I was looking for. A fun Hulk-like distraction. I can’t recommend them as great comics but if you’re in the mood for a Hulk story they’re worth checking out.