Right off the bat, I want to lay it out there. Carlo Pagulayan should have been the regular artist on
Skaar: Son of Hulk. Don't get me wrong, I love Ron Garney, but his work on Skaar has been very gritty. It makes it look rushed. Pagulayan's art really slows things down here and lets our eyes feast on some great looking art.
I think the main purpose of this issue is to help outline the whole Skaar mythos to date as well as define the world of Sakaar for the uninitiated. On the whole, it worked well. The "present day" story art was handled by Pagulayan, while the story telling flashback sequences were handled by various other artists. This worked well since it kept any possible confusion to a bare minimum.
Pak's writing seemed more on par with his work during Planet Hulk. You can really tell that Sakaar is his baby. He created this world and its various cultures and it's easy to see that the words just flow from his finger tips.
The story here shows us the different motives that drive the various characters that surround Skaar while they guide him towards "Prophet Rock" to face his true calling and acquire his mother's "Oldstrong Power".
My opinion is that this is a redeeming issue to those who might have felt that the first 3 issues of Skaar were a bit of a disappointment. We get more of a foundation for the story that is to come. As I mentioned, slowing things down a bit so we can get a better grasp on what's going on.
I thoroughly enjoyed the issue and didn't mind the visual recap of Planet Hulk found at the back end of the comic. It was a good refresher.
I'll give this one a solid 4 stars, but I only hope that this issue hasn't raised the bar too high for the next few issues of Skaar.