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World War Hulk

Marvel's first panel of the 2007 New York Comic Con was held in a packed room, to a lively crowd of over 200 people. In attendance at the panel were: Jim McCann, Mark Paniccia, Bill Rosemann, Joe Quesada, Greg Pak, Frank Tieri and Cristos N. Gage

Before things kicked off, everyone was primping, drinking water and just waiting. Marketing maven Jim McCann was frantically calling someone and scratching his head like a monkey. Cristos and Bill were looking at some papers while Frank gazed around. Joe, looking very svelt, intro'd the panel and thanked everyone for coming out.

Joe Q. revealed the secret of WWH: there'll be no fighting, just eating. Hulk eats Earth. Believe it.

The World War Hulk Prologue: World Breaker gets things started in May. "It's a little book," Joe said. "If you haven't been reading 'Planet Hulk,' the prologue will give you a set up. It's written by Peter David, with art by Al Rio, Lee Weeks and

WWH itself is five issues, and there'll be "lots of hitting." WWH is about Hulk coming back to Earth. Duh!
There'll be four interconnecting covers, the last one is a still a mystery and shows who Hulk battles at the end of the series.

During the panel, it's described as the "Green sorbet of the MU, cleansing of the palate, with lots of punching;" a bit lighter than other Marvel stories of late.

Editor Mark Paniccia and company talk about INCREDIBLE HULK #106–#109. They show a slide of Iron Man, Black Bolt—the people who shot Hulk into space.
The question is posed of whether or not Hulk has any friends on Earth. The series will be rife with unexpected characters. Where do they stand--with or against Hulk?

Expect the return of Mastermind Excelo from Amazing Fantasy #15!

They start introing a few of the tie-in titles, announcing the books including World War Hulk: Gamma Corps, WWH: Young Avengers, WWH: X-Men and WWH: Front Line.

WWH: X-Men is three issues long. The crowd oohs and ahhs over the Ed McGuinness cover to WWH: X-Men #1. The book is by Chris Gage and Andrea Divito. The crowd is legitimately stoked. Even though Chris' name is misspelled. JIM! It's Gage, not Cage.
Anyway, Gage assured the crowd that all the X-Men will be in it--or as many as they'll let him use. More applause. This could be the break-out fan-favorite WWH book.

WWH Gamma Corps is, according to writer Frank Tieri, a villain book. Tieri's bringing back General Riker. He's back and he wants to save his wife's life and wants to bring down hulk. Tieri cursed a lot when describing the book and everyone got wrapped up in the enthusiasm. Maybe this will be the break-out book?

WWH: Front Line #1-#6 sees Paul Jenkins and Ramon Bachs return to the Front Line. They show the cover to the first issue and Mark Paniccia admits that he's afraid of toe hair. Front Line will again be a street level look at this event.
For more on Front Line, see our World War Hulk: Front Linestory.

Paniccia says that scripts for tie-ins have been coming in and they're exciting and great, bringing new nuances and emotional angles to the giant event.

Get more info on the official World War Hulk tie-in mini-series here.
But in addition to the tie-in mini's, several issues from ongoing series will slide into the giant event, including IRON MAN, HEROES FOR HIRE, GHOST RIDER, Avengers and more. Check out our World War Hulk checklist to see all the books.

Iron Man will focus on Tony's first big challenge as head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Hulk is targeting him, there's a new set of dynamics because Tony has big a defense system. Will Tony clean up his mess? Why does Hulk feel strongly about this? It's something that will be explored.

Heroes for Hire will feature some freaky stuff. 'Nuff said. Seriously.

There's some Champion action going on in GHOST RIDER. One of Hulk's former teammates in comes back.

And the rest? Well…too early to talk about.

That was followed up by a lively Q&A session that actually spilled over, ever so slightly, into the Civil War Fallout/Initiative panel.

Some highlights:
-Will Tony be disbanding S.H.I.E.L.D.? The short answer from Joe was "He is going to change the culture of S.H.I.E.L.D., not everyone will like it.
-Is the Sentry involved? Yes, every hero is.
-In Avengers Iluminatti #2, it was revealed that they all are in possession of an Infinity Gem. Will that be addressed in how they wouldn't just wish Hulk away? Yes!
-Without Thor around, who will stand the best chance against Hulk? Squirrel girl? Joe said, "That's the beauty of WWH--everyone will try, some will know that they are not at that level--but they will try to get to that level.
-There was talk of some tie-ins and WWH is only 35 tie-ins over 4 months. That's not very heavy on the wallet, especially compared to Civil War.
-It seems like the last few Hulk writers have had their own spin on the Hulk. Is there any core description, set of concepts boundaries that a Hulk writer gets to not cross? Joe said "Writers bring their own styles to the books. Different interpretations. Different editors have different voices as well. That's going to happen with any character. You have to allow creators a certain amount of leeway."

Dan slott showed up at 5:07, shoulders slumped, realizing he was totally late. He hung out in the front row. Coincidentally, he showed up just as Greg Pak began talking about She-Hulk and Marvel staff brought in copies of Wolverine #50 Comic Con variant. A wonderful arrival, indeed.
After two questions, Dan came on stage. He said he was late because he was scripting. All is forgiven!

There were several more questions, but you'll have to catch the video of the event, soon to be up on Marvel.com. And don't miss out on any New York Comic Con coverage.