Son of Hulk: Dark Son Rising

Son of Hulk (Collected Editions) #3

by Paul Jenkins, Dan Panosian (Contributor)

After the recent cataclysmic events, the Son of Hulk is abandoned, wandering aimless and alone. Can he find his way in the savage, hopeless universe that promises only his destruction? And have any of his allies survived to stand by his side. Join us as new writer Paul Jenkins (Wolverine: Origin, Incredible Hulk) takes the reigns for this surprising new story! Collects Skaar: Son of Hulk #13-17.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Science Fiction

152 pages, Hardcover

First published June 23, 2010

About the author

Paul Jenkins is a British comic book writer. He has had much success crossing over into the American comic book market. Primarily working for Marvel Comics, he has had a big part shaping the characters of the company over the past decade.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um…He’s the Hulk! He smashes sh*t.

As someone who has a Hulk profile picture for, like, ever, I have some sort of weird obligation to actually review Hulk books from time to time. It’s been awhile, so I offer up this one up as a mea culpa.

Hulk had two sons (that I’m aware of), one, Skaar is the fun, smash-y one; the other Hiro-Kala is the morbid, broody one. Guess which one is featured in this volume?



So what the hell’s this book about?

For starters, Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds (That’s his title. It’s trademarked and everything, bro, and it’s imprinted on his business cards, which are the size of our moon.) ate Planet Hulk, whose real name is Sakaar (pronounced “suck-car”), which, the pronunciation key is now a moot point, because the planet is gone and soon to be crapped out near the Andromeda Galaxy.

So, former slave Hiro-Kala, a random assortment of Sakaarians and some bug dudes hop into a stone rocket ship.

So how does a stone Rocket ship work, Jeff?

I’ll be damned if I know, Random Goodreader. It’s probably some sort of Flintstones tech.



Hiro-Kala imbued with something called the “Old Power” goes from slave to messiah and “the life bringer, and the World Breaker” (i.e. the evil, alien Jesus) and he’s pretty pissed at Galactus.

So get ready for plenty of mixed religious metaphors.

The gang lands on the planet Giausar (pronounced “gee-a-user”), which was originally colonized a long, long time ago by a race of Shadow People, who see Hiro-Kala as some sort of prophesized messiah.



Suckers.

Hiro-Kala has his own agenda, which is to awaken the “shadow” power stuff and lure Galactus back so he’ll eat the planet and get “shadow” poisoned.



So basically, this was a volume length set-up to punk Galactus?

Yes, yes it was.

Next stop for Hiro-Kala: He’s making an inter-galactic b-line straight for Earth and Team Hulk. Get ready for a throw down with his brother over the time Skaar ate the last slice of pizza and he’ll finally have that father-son talk with Hulk-Daddy.



Bottom Line: I love me some Hulk, but when you start creating books about the extended Hulk family even my interest starts to wane. Still this is kind of fun in a vapid, crazy, space opera kind of way.

[J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this--I thought Skaar was pretty annoying, but it seemed like Hiro-Kala might have more potential. But reading this is like watching a three-year-old pitch a temper tantrum at Wal-Mart. It's just awkward to watch. There's no character development, and never any reason to care about anything that happens. The last-act twist is too late and doesn't make sense. Also, there's a huge plot gap between the end of chapter 4 and the end of chapter 5. (I was never able to make sense of that.) Anyway, it's only five issues, and it was a chore. Hopefully this character is handled better in other settings.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really wanted to like this, but this was not that great. This was more sci-fi than Hulk.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. So I’ve read Planet Hulk and I’ve read the first 2 volumes of this run. I have no idea where the hell this other “son of Hulk” came from. I know about Skaar and how he came to be but I don’t know if I missed something or they just never explained where the hell this Hiro-Kala came from. That part was a real head scratcher. As far as the story goes, it was ok I guess. The Hiro character has discovered what the old power really is and has taken it upon himself to do something about it. His plan was a pretty solid one and got the job done. I just want to know how the hell he came to be.

[Alexandre · Rating 1 out of 5]

tedious reading omg ...

[Eligos Vespillo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paul Jenkins returning to the Hulkverse to flesh out the OTHER forgotten son of Hulk on a cosmic scale should have been a reciepe for success. Instead, Jenkins writes a an unfeeling, unsympathetic messiah character with nonsense levels of power as he does disgusting genocidal things for reasons still confusing after the series ends.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was dark and bloody and it had Galactus so I'm not complaining. :)

[Joe Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paul Jenkins - writer
Andres Guinaldo - artist

3/5

[Holden Attradies · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just don't think I'm into macho-Bullshit enough to "get" this.