By Jim Beard
H.A.M.M.E.R. head honcho Norman Osborn's the kind of guy who gets what he wants, and he wants the Hulk off his playing field, permanently. It's all primed to blow in October 21's DARK REIGN: THE LIST - HULK and falls to long-time Hulk scribe Greg Pak to light the fuse.
"Norman might actually think his Hulk's problem's solved-after all, if Bruce Banner can't turn into the Hulk, where's the big threat?" he muses. "So at the beginning of our story, Norman messes with an old friend of the Hulk. And within a frighteningly short amount of time, he has more trouble on his hands than he ever could imagine.
"First, because the Hulk-less Banner has teamed up with his savage son Skaar, who's gamma-fueled strength and Sakaarian Old Power make him as big a problem as the Hulk himself might have been. But even more
importantly, Norman discovers that puny little Banner might just be the most dangerous Hulk there is..."
Pak's joined on the one-shot by artist Ben Oliver, himself seemingly gamma-fueled and ready to tackle such an, dare we say it, incredible chapter in Osborn's days of infamy.
"Ben's layouts and character renditions have a kind of graceful elegance that provides a brilliant contrast to the savage action that Skaar brings to the book," notes Pak. "I'm loving everything he's drawing; it's a perfect match for a story that's half battle-of-the-brains and half just wall-to-wall smashing."
The writer has crafted DARK REIGN: THE LIST - HULK to compliment not only the ongoing story of Osborn's Dark Reign but the rampaging saga of the Hulk. Faithful INCREDIBLE HULK readers will find the one-shot dovetails nicely with events therein.
"Anyone reading that book will be right at home picking up this one shot; anyone who's interested in a taste of what the ongoing book might be like could get a decent feel for it by picking up the one-shot," Pak promises. "As we revealed in INCREDIBLE HULK #601, Skaar's main interest in hanging around Banner is to get a shot at fighting and killing the Hulk, whom he regards as his true father and the dude he blames for all the blood and fire and horror he's experienced in his brief life. So he might be willing to tangle with Osborn and his minions if he thought Osborn might be close to killing Banner and ruining Skaar's chance to kill the Hulk or if he thought Osborn might be useful in some way to achieving his own goals. Skaar's the wildest of wild cards; its unclear how much Banner himself really knows is going on inside that kid's big skull."
The Marvel Universe and its fans have bore witness to Osborn's atrocities and audacious attacks on the Earth's do-gooders, but placing the Hulk on his List seems to reinforce the rumors of the man's psychological instability. What could he be thinking?
"Osborn's pretty much taken over the world," points out Pak. "He probably thinks he can do anything. And he might just be able to..."
Pak also gives fair warning to interested parties of the inclusion of a certain figure from the Hulk's recent past, one who'll punctuate the one-shot with a bittersweet note.
"Kate Waynesboro, one-time Bruce Banner paramour and present member of the Warbound, will play a big role in the book," he says. "And she and another Warbound member might just show up again some time in the near future.
"There's a major development in DARK REIGN: THE LIST - HULK that has the potential to have a massive impact on the INCREDIBLE HULK book and the very future of the Green Goliath himself."
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