Newsarama’s Best Shots likes “X-Men: Phoenix – Warsong”

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Lucas Siegel has posted a review of “X-Men: Phoenix – Warsong” miniseries at Newsarama.com. Here’s an excerpt:

I hope Greg Pak has more in store for these and other team oriented characters. He seems to merge the two story telling styles better than most writers out there today, something I’ve also enjoyed about his work with that one big green guy. Bottom line- this story is worth the read. It builds on the characters of Emma Frost and the Stepford Cuckoos in a big way, and shows the latest status quo for The Phoenix. It’s a different style of story telling than we’re getting out of a lot of super-hero books, as well, and that’s refreshing. I’ll give this book a solid 800 out of 1000 Stepford Cuckoos. There’re only 3, you say? Read the book.

Click here to read the full review.
“X-Men: Phoenix – Warsong” #5 is on sale in comic book stores right now. Click here to find a store near you.

AvengersForever.com loves “Incredible Hulk” #103

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Nick Marino has posted a rave review of “Incredible Hulk” #103 at AvengersForever.com. Here’s an excerpt:

… the issue is reminiscent of Chris Claremont’s moving stories from Uncanny X-Men, mixing heavily between intrigue, fantasy locales, and introspective characterization. Greg Pak’s scenes are expertly timed to evoke the maximum emotional effect. And this could never be accomplished without the incredible art team of Aaron Lopresti, Sandu Florea, and Chris Sotomayor. These artists are in peak form as they create a stable system of storytelling by use of panel size, shadows, and color contrast.
…
The art and writing are superb in issue #103, and elevate the Planet Hulk saga from an exciting event to a must-read sci-fi epic.

Click here for the full review.

SilverBulletComicBooks.com interviews Greg Pak

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Steven G. Saunders of SilverBulletComicBooks.com has interviewed Greg Pak, writer of the “Battlestar Galactica” comic book series from Dynamite. An excerpt:

SGS: Who have been your favorite characters to write?
GP: I love writing Adama. Somehow his less-is-more terseness appeals to me. I particularly like writing his scenes with Roslin — there’s a quiet but wary understanding between them that lends itself to fun, subtle moments.
SGS: For those unfamiliar with this title, are there new characters in the Battlestar Galactica comic; and if there are, do any have pivotal roles?
GP: Our biggest “new” character is Zak, Adama’s dead son and Starbuck’s dead lover. Zak was introduced in the television miniseries and has a few big flashback scenes in the first season. But we brought him back in the flesh for the comic book series — but is it the real Zak, or a twisted Cylon trick?
SGS: Are there things with the Cylons that will be explored that haven’t been in the show?
GP: You bet. Issues #4-8 give us some glimpses into the “lives” of the original Cylon Centurions. And Issues #6-12 will explore the psyche of the Sharon Cylon in a major way.

Click here for the full article, which includes interviews with Rick Remender and Brandon Jerwa, writers of Dynamite’s Classic Battlestar Galactica and Zarek comics, respectively, and Joe Rybant, Dynamite’s Director of Marketing.

Why Mantlo Matters: An interview with David Yurkovich about the Bill Mantlo tribute book

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By Greg Pak
Comic book writer Bill Mantlo has long been one of my literary heroes. His legendary collaboration with Michael Golden on Marvel’s “Micronauts” blew my little mind when I was a kid. And when I started writing the “Planet Hulk” and “World War Hulk” storylines for Marvel, I found myself constantly referring back to Mantlo’s classic “Incredible Hulk” run. Sadly, Mantlo was hit by a car and suffered severe head trauma in the early 1990s. Now David Yurkovich, a comic creator and fan of Mantlo’s work, is publishing a tribute book entitled “Mantlo: A Life in Comics,” featuring interviews with Mantlo and his collaborators as well as several pieces of unpublished Mantlo work. The book is a non-profit venture, with proceeds going to Mantlo’s caregiver. Read on for the Pakbuzz interview with Yurkovich to learn more about Mantlo and view preview pages from the tribute book — and click here if you’re inspired to donate to the project.
Greg Pak: How did you make the leap from being a Bill Mantlo fan to taking on the enormous undertaking of producing this Bill Mantlo tribute book?
David Yurkovich: I first started reading Bill’s stories in the mid-1970s. Wasn’t actually collecting comics at the time, but comics were everywhere. My friends had them. I had them. And we’d swap comics or read them together. Probably the first strip of Bill’s that I was aware of was his work on Marvel Team-Up. After the release of Star Wars in 1977, I became a rabid Marvel fan. Initially I got sucked in by the monthly Star Wars comic, but soon became hooked on nearly every title being published at the House of Ideas. I soon noticed that a lot of my favorite comics were written by Mantlo. In my teen years, I wrote to Bill and sent in a bunch of sketches in hopes of drawing Micronauts. Of course these were just crude sketches, not sequential art, but I guess Bill was touched by the sentiment because he wrote back and told me to keep practicing.

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