Greg Pak (and friends) on the 'Planet Hulk' animated feature

During the premiere screening of the dual coast "Planet Hulk" event we were able to catch up with some cast and crew in Beverly Hills to chat about the animated feature based on the comic arc of the same name written by Greg Pak.

For those of you who missed the Q&A webcast including: Jeph Loeb, Greg Johnson, and Blair Butler here are the highlights:

Blair Butler moderated the event and asked the Marvel creators about how they determined what to keep in a less than 90-minute movie from the original comic, differences in the film adaptation, and what we can expect from the future of Marvel animated movies.

Supervising producer, Joshua Fine, noted that they wanted to tell a complete story with this project. The team focused squarely on the Hulk with a specific beginning, middle, and end in mind with distinguishable events put in along the way. For example, "when a child burns into ashes in the arms of Caiera was a powerful and memorable moment," Johnson said.

There are also a couple differences in the movie for fans of the original work with a surprise character fans will be surprised to see. Also, since the team wanted to tell a complete story, the ending isn't as dark as Pak's original script.

Greg Pak, was on the other coast that night at the New York event, but we were able to catch up with him to get his thoughts as well.

Pak: I was pulled on board as a consultant, so I was one of the lucky few to get to read the script pretty early in the game and throw in my two cents.  And I provided phonetic spellings for all the crazy alien names ("HE row eehm," for example).

Pak: I think fans of the comic will absolutely love the movie -- I sure did!  I was amazed by the job they did fitting the key beats of this enormous, sprawling comic book epic into an eighty minute movie.  Clearly every little detail couldn't make the cut.  But they totally understood the big emotional story and made every critical moment ring true.  And the action sequences and the soundtrack are just amazing.

Pak: We're going to find out exactly whom Bruce Banner's secretly working with and why.  We're going to see the next step in the relationship between Banner and his savage son Skaar.  And we're going to find out what happens when Bruce Banner and Doctor Doom finally go braino-a-braino.

And of course you're going to get absolutely incredible pencils by Paul Pelletier, inks by Danny Miki, and colors by Frank D'Armata.  These guys are at the top of their game and are nailing every big moment in this book.

Pak: Can't say too much for fear of spoilers, but we have a couple of twists at the end of "Fall of the Hulks" that will turn everything upside down -- and then "World War Hulks" hits in May with "Incredible Hulk" #609 and "Hulk" #22. 

Coming down the Marvel animated movie pipe we have more Wolverine and the X-Men, and Thor: Tales of Asgard. If you pick up Planet Hulk make sure to check out the wealth of bonus content with two commentary tracks, Astonishing X-Men "Gifted" motion comic, and previews to both of the previous animated projects just mentioned.

Overall, the other characters get pushed to the side in this movie since the main focus is on Hulk, which means you miss out on some cool stuff like Miek's story. But on the bright side you get tons of action and the most adult Marvel animated movie to date. I think the movie succeeds in telling a complete story that Hulk fans and casual fans can both enjoy. You can always fill in the gaps by picking up the "Planet Hulk" trade paperback and reading one of the best Hulk arcs to date.