Greg Pak's Hulk: Planet Hulk: Allegiance, part three

[an_idol_mind]

Previously in Planet Hulk

If you look at things in a certain way, Planet Hulk: Allegiance is the real end of the Planet Hulk saga. This issue deals with the fall of the Red King, and the next one deals with the coronation of the Hulk as the new ruler of Sakaar. The two-part Planet Hulk: Armageddon is really a prelude to the World War Hulk event.

All that aside, here’s the Hulk’s final strike against the Red King.

(7 pages from The Incredible Hulk #102)



First, we pick up where we left off, with the Hulk and company confronting the Spikes. It seems that these guys aren’t the mindless zombies we’ve believed them to be, as revealed through a chemming session with Miek:



With the Spikes at his side, the Hulk finally heads in against the Red King. First, though, he uses Miek’s chemming ability to make it clear to the tyrant why he’s about to get killed:





But if you thought the Red King might feel some remorse from being confronted with his past crimes, you’re wrong:



A toe-to-toe fight with the Hulk goes about as well as one might expect, and pretty soon the Red King is forced to take drastic measures. What follows is one of the more awesome moments in the history of the Hulk.





We’ve seen a lot of superheroes lose loved ones and lament, “Despite all my power, I couldn’t save them!” In the case of the Hulk, his power combined with his rage is enough to put an entire freaking planet back together.

As the Hulk comes out of the lava, Korg comments that he knew the Hulk could do it – his earlier statement that he couldn’t was just a way to get the Hulk mad, since the Hulk seems to work better when he’s furious. It’s funny that Korg learned something about the Hulk in a relatively short amount of time that most of the megalomaniacal villains who fight him never do – never tell the Hulk he can’t do something unless you want him to do exactly that thing.

Long story short, the Red King gets killed in battle and the people of Sakaar are liberated. While the celebrations go on, there’s still the little problem of starved insane Spikes rampaging through the wilds. The Hulk’s got that covered, too – by letting the Spike elders feed off him, he calms the Spikes outside down. This, combined with all of the Hulk’s other amazing feats, leads to Korg effectively making the Hulk the new king without the Hulk’s consent. Of course, he’s not exactly in much of a position to object at this point:



Thus ends the reign of the Red King, and thus begins the Hulk’s short reign as ruler of Sakaar.

Fun fact: this is at least the third alien planet that the Hulk has been named ruler of. The first two attempts went…poorly. But I’m sure the third time’s the charm. I mean, what could possibly go wrong from here on out?

Comments

[fearoftheunknown]

First comment here. Initially joined to rant about some Buffy Comic thing posted awhile back, but my rage eventually abated once I actually got accepted and then I just didn't care anymore.

But I do care about this. Your posting of Planet Hulk have been a consistent treat on my perusals of scansdaily. More than making me want to check it out, which is my standard reaction to a lot of the postings here, it's made me really appreciate the scope and nature of this series that seems to have passed us by. (Much like your posts on it. It's a real shame you don't get more comments on it.)

I've never been much interested in the Hulk, but this series really draws me in. I do think it's unfortunate Banner isn't involved more, but so it goes. I really like the dynamic I've seen play out in another run that was posted here (think it was whoever was in charge before the recent "Marvel NOW!" thing). As with that, it's unfortunate the comics industry is the way it is. This could have been a great ending, but nothing can ever end in comics-land. Nothing can ever change.

It's not like I'm against serialization. I think a constantly published universe could do great. I just don't think it's ever been.

But back to Planet Hulk, I pretty much love everything I've seen. The begrudging heroism of the Hulk, his interaction and mentoring of the others (especially Miek), the bizarre and fantastic nature of this world. The story and tone itself has everything I love: interesting and developed characters, a fantastical setting that get's examined and played with, some cynicism flavored with a good impossible accomplishment.

I'll have to get it as soon as I am able. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

EDIT: Ah, forgot to mention, the link to Allegiance, Part Two is broken. Says it can't be found. I just looked it up through the tags, and it's still there, so it's seems to be a weird hiccup in the posting system. This the url on that page:
http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/4260413.html.
The one in the link above is:
http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/%E2%80%9Dhttp://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/4260413.html%E2%80%9D

[an_idol_mind]

One of the reasons I'm posting Greg Pak's run on the Hulk is that it does represent a good ending for the character, where everything he does builds up to a satisfying conclusion. While the Hul is obviously not going to be put out to pasture anytime soon, Pak's run is an example of a story with a beginning, middle, and end, which is rare in comics.