Has Rob Williams Ever Read a Hulk Book?
Rob Williams draws Skaar: King of the Savage Land to a close and concludes a story that he really never seemed particularly interested in telling.
The basic premise of this limited series is an interesting one. Skaar, son of the Hulk, comes to find that the Savage Land is a place that he can truly belong while at the same time Ka-Zar, king of the Savage Land, begins to come to terms with the idea that he may not be at home in the Savage Land as he used to be. It's a very character-centric premise, focusing on two characters taking parallel journeys.
So did no one tell Rob Williams about this?
The story Williams seems far more interested in telling is a very Land of the Lost sort of story in the Savage Land with time-lost characters like Kid Colt and Phantom Eagle appearing where they can fight dinosaurs. The convoluted circumstances allowing this to take place shove aside any focus on Skaar and Ka-Zar for most of the limited series. In the first issue, Williams paid a little attention to that character-centric premise, and he does so again in this issue as if he just suddenly remembered what this limited series was actually supposed to be about. The result is that neither Skaar or Ka-Zar actually have a character arc in this story. They have a beginning and an awkward end with no real journey taking place in between.
That is bad enough to drag this limited series way down, but making it worse is that Williams really can't write Skaar. In fact, I find it hard to believe that William had ever read anything with Skaar in it before writing this. He has no feel at all for the character's voice, writing a Skaar that sounds like a mature and even educated adult. On top of that, the Warbound are completely nonexistent, and it really makes no sense that they would not appear rather prominently in this story. Why is Skaar the only one seemingly protecting the Sakaarians? So little of this reads like a natural sequel to Greg Pak's story in Incredible Hulks.
So Williams is clearly more interested in telling this other Savage Land story that has little to actually do with Skaar and Ka-Zar's character development. How is that story? It's a bit underwhelming and confusing. By trying to tell this other story at the same time as the premise's story, the pacing is totally thrown off and Williams rushes to cobble together a conclusion here. There is a big, chaotic battle after which things just seem to resolve themselves rather quickly.
The artwork of Brian Ching, which has really been the main selling point throughout this entire limited series, is solid in this issue but really seems rushed at several points. For whatever reason, the art looks like Ching was bumping up against his deadline with this final issue as facial details start to disappear and the art in general becomes less fine tuned.
With no upcoming Skaar appearances that I know of, the almost cliffhanger-like ending of this limited series doesn't sit well. It ends like a first chapter with a second nowhere in sight. It points to the Ka-Zar limited series that has already started, but I don't think that actually has anything to do with the events of this series. Not that I have read it. But that is why I haven't read it.
Skaar: King of the Savage Land doesn't deliver, and that is owed largely to Rob Williams being the wrong writer for this job. He comes off as someone who simply wanted to play in the Savage Land and not as someone who cared at all to continue Skaar's development as a character.