RULK REPORT : Marvel’s “Hulk Week” presents Q & A with writer Jeff Parker!

In celebration of The Incredible Hulk’s 50th Anniversary (as well as General Ross’s), Marvel is launching a “Hulk Week” string of interviews featuring creators involved with the smashing goliath.  Today Marvel’s Tim Stevens interviews acclaimed Red Hulk writer Jeff Parker (found HERE)!

Without further ado, here is the interview:

Marvel.com: The Hulk is celebrating his 50th birthday this year. Can you recall your first exposure to the character?

Jeff Parker: Hulk just seemed to be always there. Kids can relate to him easily, that wanting to lash out and affect everything around them. I think that’s still how we relate to him years later.

Marvel.com: Looking back over the years, do you have a favorite era or incarnation of the Hulk?

Jeff Parker: I like early Hulk, when he’s a bit sinister and you don’t get the idea he’s dumb, he’s just being quiet deliberately.

Marvel.com: Do you draw on any depiction or characterization of The Hulk and General Ross for your work?

Jeff Parker: Yes, that early Hulk I just mentioned. That seems a good intersection point for the two men. Thinking and angry!

Marvel.com: How do you view Ross’s place in the Hulk’s history?

Jeff Parker: Ross still doesn’t like Banner; they just aren’t the kind of people who would ever be friends. But he definitely understands him as The Hulk now that he’s been living through the situation. He always thought that incredible power would be the key to control, but it’s very far from it.

Marvel.com: Looking specifically at your book, you are in the midst of the “Mayan Rule” arc. What does anyone looking to pick up the book right now need to know to be able to jump right in?

Jeff Parker: You need to know that longtime Hulk pal Rick Jones was turned into A-Bomb, the next incarnation of The Abomination, and that these Mayan figures tricked him into releasing them from an underground prison. You also might want to know that Alpha Flight are Canadian [heroes], but you don’t need much more background than that.

Marvel.com: How do you see this arc, and your run to date, changing Ross? What kind of personal evolution, if any, is he going through?

Jeff Parker: He always saw himself as the front line for humanity, keeping back the freaks and super weirdoes. And now he’s starting to see himself as one of them, even if he can’t get along with many of his fellow powered folk.

Marvel.com: If, somehow, the Red Hulk survives “Mayan Rule” where are you hoping to take him next?

Jeff Parker: Classified!