August 27, 2007

Warbound Mini-Series Coming from Pak & Kirk

This news from Comic Book Resources from the Toronto Comic book convention this past weekend:

"On Saturday at Fan Expo Canada 2007, a show billed as the second largest of its kind in North America, it was announced that Greg Pak would continue the "World War Hulk" saga with a "Warbound" mini-series.
CBR News spoke with the artist on the project, Leonard Kirk, who also attended the conference in Toronto.

"I am obviously very excited, but to be honest, you guys probably know more about it than I do. I just call the call about it on Thursday," laughed Kirk.

The mini-series follows the exploits of the surviving members of Hulk's team of Sakaarian gladiators, who accompanied Green Scar back to Earth in "World War Hulk."

Warbound currently consists of Hulk, Arch-E-5912, Brood, Elloe Kaifi, Hiroim, Korg and Miek.

Kirk wouldn't spill who would be around at the end of "World War Hulk" and the start of the "Warbound" series.

"I only know of a couple [of the characters] and I don't know who I am allowed to say," admitted Kirk. "I know very little specifically about what is happening with the story. We [he and Pak] talked about some of the characters and very briefly about the plot, but I haven't seen the first script yet."

When asked if Hulk was one of the surviving members, Kirk said simply, "No clue."

Kirk, who admitted he is a huge fan of the Incredible Hulk, is no stranger to the Jade Giant as he penciled a segment of "What If: Planet Hulk" and is serving as a fill-in artist on "Incredible Hulk" #111.

"I have always been a fan of the Hulk. Hulk is actually one of the characters I always wanted to draw," said Kirk.

As for the "Warbound" spin-off, Kirk says it is always exciting to have toys in your sandbox that haven't been played with a whole lot yet.

"That's always fun to be there at the beginning of something. I am really looking forward to it because it's the kind of series that I can basically play around with the characters a lot more, the characters are established but not as solidly established as some of the others," explained Kirk. "I guess the technical term is, I can 'goof around' with them a lot more."

The Marvel exclusive artist said he was actually scheduled to draw another book but when this opportunity came up, he jumped at the chance.

"I was lined up and ready to go on another project and now that I am not doing it, I don't know if I am allowed to say anything about it. I was really looking forward to it and then [Hulk editor] Mark [Paniccia] called me up about the 'Warbound' series and I had to decide between the two and I picked 'Warbound.'"

Kirk, who acknowledged he hadn't met Pak face-to-face until this weekend, said, "Greg is a great a guy to work with and I have heard a lot of good things about him from other artists."