Hulk vs Thor: Banner of War

The same friend who lent me Dark Knights of Steel, Volume 1 lent me Hulk vs Thor: Banner of War.  I wasn't really expecting much from it, but wow was this a wild ride!

After a tragedy in El Pasco, Bruce Banner removed himself from the world, trying to stop anyone else from getting hurt. He separated his body and consciousness into three: Hulk's body was acting like a space ship, taking them out away from everyone. Hulk's psyche was powering the engines by fighting ever increasing (simulated) threats, and Banner himself was the captain of the spaceship. Unfortunately Thor gets wind of where Banner is, and tries to bring him back to face justice, resulting in an all-out brawl between the two! Unfortunately Hulk's powers/madness are contagious; is even the God of Thunder safe?

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did. One of the things that I really enjoyed was that Odin's ghost is currently inhabiting Mjolnir; after hitting Hulk, his spirit is able to enter the control room to talk to (and fight) Banner himself! The two of them ultimately work together to end the fight after Thor is infected; Mjolnir-wielding Hulk was a very unexpected but fun touch to the end of this story, too!

I'll admit that I didn't follow the story super well at times (I basically had to describe some of what happened as "space magic," even though I know it wasn't really magic at play at all). But it was really crazy, a lot of fun, and definitely worth the read!

Library Book: Superman Brainiac

I don't normally read Superman books (with a couple of exceptions like the Superman Batman series) but I saw Superman Brainiac while at work last night.  I was intrigued by the premise so I took it out.

Brainiac is an alien who is collecting knowledge.  He shows up to a planet with sentient life, steals a city then destroys the planet.  He did this to Krypton and when one of his probes encounters Superman, he's on his way to Earth to do the same.

But Superman knows he's coming, and rather than wait Superman decides to take the fight to Brainiac.

There isn't a whole lot else going on in this story (well, there's some stuff with Supergirl facing her fears and believing in herself, and some character building stuff that probably goes with the larger overarching story) but it was a really good read.  The art was excellent as well.  So if you're looking for a quick read, particularly something that you can read without knowing a whole lot about Superman, this is definitely for you!