In his “2007 in Review” column at ComicCritique, Adam McGovern has named Greg Pak the Writer of the Year — and has some very nice things to say about “Hulk” and “Hercules” editor Mark Paniccia. Here’s the blurb:

Pak was the one in 2007 to pick up the Grant Morrison banner and prove that crossovers can be art. In the main World War Hulk mini the relentless momentum of Pak’s narrative and the punishing physicality of John Romita Jr.’s bravura visuals conveyed anxieties run amok and real-life war-weariness raised to a hysterical pitch. Pak’s regular Incredible Hulk book was an even more fascinating narrative of the War’s underground factions and captive bystanders, conveying the human cost and psychic shockwaves of conflicts real and fantastic like few other comics of our war-torn decade. The other “fronts” in tie-in titles were almost all as interesting — especially the deranged displaced-persons/profiteer melodrama in Zeb Wells’ Heroes for Hire — and the ramifying followup books shaded the narrative across the genre spectrum, from the sober and humane postwar elegy of Pak’s Aftersmash one-shot to the inventive suspense and moral ambiguity of his lost-platoon Warbound mini to the offbeat insurrection comedy (!) of the Incredible Herc ongoing (!!), an on-the-road (and on-the-run) adventure with Hercules and Amadeus Cho alone against SHIELD in a battle where what’s most at risk is heroism itself (this last one a real-life dream-teamup between Pak and rising auteur Fred Van Lente as co-writer). Every precinct of what I think of as the Paniccia Comics Group — that most original and oddball corner of Marvel’s overall cosmos, under editor Mark Paniccia’s wise dominion — gave its all for the kind of epic that will hopefully become a trend; call it event-garde.

Click here to read the whole column

The fine folks at Jaded Expressions Magazine have interviewed Greg Pak again — this time about “Incredible Hercules,” Amadeus Cho, and the Warbound. An excerpt:

JXM: Speaking of another jolly giant – Hercules – what are your plans for him? Will he undergo a massive makeover like the Hulk?
Greg: Hercules is one of Marvel’s niftiest characters because he’s not just some strong dude who calls himself Hercules. He’s actually Hercules, the Lion of Olympus, son of Zeus, slayer of the Hydra, scourer of the Augean stables, etcetera etcetera. The character doesn’t need a makeover – he’s been one of the most popular heroes of myth and legend for thousands of years. But Fred and I are getting back to the roots of the character by tapping into insane, thrilling, and sometimes deeply disturbing myths that make up his history. He’s a hero of enormous good humour and fundamentally decent impulses – who’s nonetheless lost himself to rage and madness and committed some of the most horrific atrocities imaginable. That combination of fun, heroism, and dark danger makes for great drama and great comics.

Click here for the full interview.