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!

The War of the Realms

Back when I was reading the comic series about Jane Foster as the Mighty Thor, the War of the Realms was coming to Midgard....veeeery slowly.  I thought the war would happen during that series, but it didn't (or more accurately, it started, but was raging across other realms).  But that series ended, and though I attempted a few issues of the next series, with Thor Odinson once again the Mighty Thor, I quickly lost interest and forgot about the whole thing (although I did end up reading the aftermath when a friend lent me Jane Foster: Valkyrie). But then a different friend brought The War of the Realms to me at work a few weeks ago; I finally gave it a read today.

The War of the Realms is that story of the war finally getting to Midgard.  Earth's mightiest heroes (who are all but gods themselves but in name) join forces with the gods from the other realms that have already been ravaged by Malekith.But Midgard will fall unless Thor can find a way to answer Malekith's challenge once and for all!

 The War of the Realms is really crazy and fun.  Asgardians join forces with the various defenders on Earth, pooling together their strength and ingenuity to fight off Malekith and his allies (giving you things like blind Daredevil operating the Bifrost after Heimdall was himself blinded, or Odin in an Ironman suit!).  I'm glad I finally read this story ark because I really enjoyed it! :)

Jane Foster Valkyrie: The Sacred and the Profane

The same friend who lent me Invisible Woman: Partners in Crime also lent me Jane Foster Valkyrie: The Sacred and the Profane.  I was quite excited to read this one because I'm a huge fan of the Jane Foster as Thor, Goddess of Thunder run that Marvel ran a few years ago.

After the War of the Realms leaves all of the Valkyrie dead, Jane Foster agrees to take on their mantle and become the last living Valkyrie.  But she is cautioned: being Valkyrie is not the same as being a hero, it's a job.

Aided by Undrjarn the All-Weapon (the remains of the War Thor's hammer), Jane Foster needs to learn just what it is to be Valkyrie.

I liked this story.  Jane is once again trying to balance her heroic duties with her mortal life.  She doesn't want to give up the normalcy of her mortality, so she hasn't told anyone that she is Valkyrie.  But that also comes with a price; she's late to her performance review at the hospital, and, as a result, demoted to morgue assistant.  Her new position is accompanied with less pay, so now she's avoiding her landlord, too.

She also keeps thinking like a superhero, thanks to having wielded both Thor's hammer and later the War Thor's hammer in the War of the Realms (which I unfortunately haven't read).  But being a Valkyrie is different.  Heimdall is the first to help her, telling her she has the eyes of the Valkyrie (which also shows her how close everyone's death is).  She also needs to learn how to trust the part of her that is Valkyrie (but she shies away from it because she's afraid it is changing her).

I loved Mister Horse.  Mister Horse was Brynhilde's winged horse, who was under control of Bullseye (he obtained Brynhilde's sword).  Once the sword was shattered by Jane (another fun moment - the sword was powerful, but only because Jane was seeing it as important - letting it and Brynhilde go allowed her to defeat it), Mister Horse just sort of stuck around with her, helping her ferry Heimdall to his chosen afterlife.

My one complaint was this story got a little monotonous.  Issue two had Jane learning to be a Valkyrie, then that was kind of repeated (though, to be fair, a bit different) in issue 5.  That being said though, I thought this story sets up beautifully for the next arc, which I can't wait to read! :)

Invisible Woman: Partners in Crime

A friend of mine lent me Invisible Woman: Partners in Crime awhile ago and I sort of forgot I had it.  But I saw it on my shelf today and decided to finally give it a read.

Partners in Crime is a fun spy-story with Invisible Woman.  Ten years ago, Invisible Woman worked part-time as a spy for SHIELD, partnered with Aidan Tintreach.  Fast forward to the present and she's brought into the CIA.  It seems that Agent Tintreach has gone missing, and his last message was "Stormy," the name he used to call Sue Storm Richards when they worked together.  While the CIA cautions Sue not to go looking for him because her actions may negatively affect a hostage situation happening in the same part of the world, Sue disagrees; if Aidan needs her help, she's determined to help him!

Aided by Nick Fury and Black Widow, Sue travels the globe for her ex-partner, learning he as she goes that he may not be the man she knew.

This is a super fun story!  I loved how Sue was able to use her powers for espionage, and also her rule of killing no one (plus the rationale for that at the end).  I hope Marvel tells more stories like this with Sue! :)

Cosmic Ghost Rider: Baby Thanos Must Die

A friend of mine lent this to me. It starts out with Frank Castle unhappy in Valhalla. Odin let's him return to the world of the living to whatever time he wishes since he feels he still has vengeance to deliver. He chooses to go back to when Thanos was a three year old. But he finds he cannot kill the innocent child. Instead he decides to raise Thanos in the hopes that he will make a better role model for the boy. However, the once-Punisher, now crazy Cosmic Ghost Rider may not be exactly the best father figure for the young boy....

This story is so ridiculous and fun! I laughed out loud when the Thanos Frank raised comes from the future to find him. Full of hilarious characters (like the Juggerduck), I loved this from start to finish! :D

Marvel Fairy Tales

A few years ago (I think it was right before I started this blog) I read both X-Men Fairy Tales and Spiderman Fairy Tales. I found out Marvel was also writing an Avengers Fairy Tales, so I was really excited, having enjoyed the other two. But Avengers Fairy Tales took years before it was collected into a graphic novel. I finally got it this past June when I was visiting Toronto. I thought I would read it right away, but as you can see it's taken me about six months before I finally did (I attempted to read it a few months back but put it aside in favour of school books).

I'm not a big reader of Marvel comics, so I don't really know who most of the people are, specifically the Avengers (I'm a bit more familiar with Spiderman and X-Men). But that didn't stop me from enjoying this collection. As with the other two volumes, these fairy tales are retold using the Marvel characters. Marvel Fairy Tales has two stories I've read before (one each from the Spiderman and X-Men fairy tales) and then the 4 new Avengers tales: Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland. All four stories were a lot of fun to read, and I really wish I'd gotten to them sooner!

I was going to say that I have now read all of the Marvel Fairy Tales, but Wikipedia notes that there may be a fourth collection forthcoming starring the Fantastic Four. I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for that one (and will hopefully get to it a bit sooner)!