"Planet Hulk" by Greg Pak

            This is a review of the prose novelization of the book “Planet Hulk” by Greg Pak. Note this is not a review of the graphic novel comic book event “Planet Hulk.” The graphic novel has also been reviewed in a separate post, as well as a separate post comparing and contrasting the graphic novel and prose novel.

            Okay, if you know nothing about the Hulk and did not read my review of the graphic novel, let’s go over the Hulk’s origin briefly. Doctor Robert Bruce Banner created a gamma bomb. During a demonstration, young Rick Jones entered the test site. Bruce was able to protect Rick, but was caught in the explosion. Bruce somehow absorbed the gamma rays and survived. But there is a side effect. If Bruce gets too angry, scared, or stressed, he turns into a rampaging, witless being called the Hulk.

            Okay, got that? Good, let’s get on to the ACTUAL book. Hulk lost control and destroyed Las Vegas. Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four), Tony Stark (Iron Man), Stephen Strange (Doctor Strange) and Black Bolt (King of the Inhumans) decided enough was enough. Something had to be done. So this group (called the Illuminati) found a planet ideal for the Hulk. Vegetation, but no life. Nothing for Hulk to smash or get hurt. So the Illuminati lured Hulk into a spaceship under the false pretext of fixing a rogue satellite, and sent him on his way to the planet. What they didn’t account for was a wormhole, which sent Hulk in a completely different location, the planet Sakaar. Sakaar is rule by a young tyrant called the Red King, the Emperor. Upon Hulk’s arrival, he is discovered. He is weak from his transport from space and from remaining in Hulk form for the entire ordeal. He is easily overpowered, and tagged with an obedience disk (which zaps you with electricity if the owner presses the button on the remote) and sent into slavery. Hulk is bought and forced into an arena. He trades blows with the Red King, and is injured. Unnoticed at the time is his blood actually grows vegetation (it takes a while). This earns him the name “Green Scar.” Green Scar forms a bond with other slaves forced into the arena, Korg, Miek, Brood, and Hiroim, becoming the Warbound. The rules of the arena battles is if a fighter wins three rounds in the arena, they are free and are automatically a citizen of Sakaar. So, yeah, the Warbound fight and win in the arena, but still the fight is not over. They plan to fight the Red King and free Sakaar from the despotic rule of the Tyrant. The Warbound is challenged by more enemies, particularly the Spikes, and make new allies, Elloe and Caiera. So the Warbound set off to Crown City to finally defeat the corrupt Red King, once and for all.

            Okay, that’s the main story of the book. Now it comes to the important part: my rating of the book. There are usually three parts to my rating, my thoughts, the accessibility to new or casual readers, and, of course, my numerical rating, and this is done as is usually done. Okay, my thoughts. I think my favorite section of the book was the arena segment at the start of the book. The battle with the Silver Surfer was rather exciting. After they were free, however, my interest went downhill. Had more of the book been about the arena, my score would probably be higher. Also, I must talk about the chapters. I felt more of a division between chapters might have made for a better read. The reader gets a total shift of characters in two or three pages, focusing on all completely different characters. Some of the Marvel prose novels I have reviewed have had short chapters, and that made for a more leisurely pace. I feel if Pak had done more chapter divisions and less mixing of narrative, it might have been a more enjoyable read and not focusing on five or six groups of characters in one chapter. So in general to relation of chapter length, the chapters were sometimes longer than needed because of the cramming of separate events in one chapter, yet in general were not too bad. For me, the pace was okay, no fifty page chapter that takes three hours to read occurred (and who wants to read like that? Okay, I know some of you do, but the lack of this makes it a lot easier for people who don’t usually like to read, but because of my review you want to read it, the number of pages per chapter probably won’t be overwhelming).

            Okay, now the ever important accessibility. Note I do not give a numerical score to accessibility, but I stress the importance of background knowledge I feel is needed to fully grasp the story. If you’ve never read or watched anything with the Hulk in it, I don’t feel prior exposure is essential to understanding the book. BUT! And it is a MAJOR BUT! The descriptions of the characters’ appearances are not well included, so imagining the characters is probably is a little difficult and you probably might not imagine the characters for you like Pak intended. So, FOR BEST RESULTS I feel that you should consider reading the graphic novel of “Planet Hulk” before reading the prose novel. I know, pain in the butt, you have to do extra reading, but I think it will help you a lot. I’m not saying you HAVE to read the graphic novel but I recommend it.

            All right, we’re here, my numerical score. Some of you may have read my review of the graphic novel, which is a separate post, as well as my comparison piece also a separate post. Now, you might see contradictions between the way I feel about the book, but remember I am reading these books at different time so my memory might be a little wonky and the presentations of the events due to the difference of words and pictures are often what this is based on. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so looking at an image and reading a description can make a HUGE difference. So if I contradict myself, you’ll have to forgive me. I feel different on different days and there has been a bit of time since I reviewed the graphic novel. But enough of that. Let’s just get on to the score. This book kept me relatively interested. Again, the chapter structure will have to detract from the score a bit. Oh, and my score is a one to ten, one being trash, ten being gold. On this scale I give it a seven. The effort was there, but the arena part not being long enough for me to enjoy took the score down. Now, you may wonder if I recommend the book. If you are a Hulk fan, this book is probably for you. If you’ve read the graphic novel of “Planet Hulk” and enjoyed it, if you’re reading this review, read my comparison piece to give you an idea of if this book is for you. And I know some people are not reading this post because they think this is the same post, which it is not, but oh well, what can you do? But I do give out a recommendation to it, but again, read my comparison piece first to get a firm grasp on my opinion.

            I must be boring you by now. But, if you have read this far without any skipping, you are THE BEST! (Note I say that a lot, but really, each time I mean it). And now check out my review of the graphic novel and my comparison piece, and you really are THE BEST! So I’ll say goodbye to this post, and leave you with three words (two being a proper name), Tim Cubbin… out!