Comic Browser: #1 - Smashtronaut…Part One #2 - Smashtronaut…Part Two #3 - Smashtronaut…Part Three #4 - Smashtronaut…Part Four #5 - Smashtronaut…Part Five #6 - Smashtronaut…Finale #7 - Hulk vs. Thor: Banner of War Part Three of Five #8 - Hulk vs. Thor: Banner of War Part Five of Five #9 - Hulk Planet…Part One #10 - Hulk Planet…Part Two #11 - Hulk Planet…Part Three #12 - Hulk Planet…Part Four #13 - Hulk Planet…Part Five #14 - Hulk Planet…Finale
Review: So it’s issue #2 and we’re coasting from the white hot riot that was issue #1. Hulk fights a lot of giant monsters to provide fuel for the starship through violence; this can’t go on for long as having Hulk fight imaginary foes will lose its dramatic qualities rather quickly. And the agents of AUTHORITY, introduced on page 1 to be knocked out on page two, looked kinda interesting so I hope they will come back eventually and do something. Inker Cliff Rathburn joins the team, giving the art a softer, more realistic look, though not to the detriment of the action scenes, the chief of which is the battle with giant Wolverine, who goes down rather easily despite the Hulk being the size of one it its fingers. And now there’s another Banner, so we’ll see….
Comments: So to make things clear: Hulk has been split into three interlocking entities: his body has been outfitted as a starship, Banner’s mind is the pilot, and Hulk’s mind is the engine, kicked into gear by escalating his anger. Nice touch: Giant-Size Wolverine looks like he did in his first appearance in INCREDIBLE HULK #180-181 when the Hulk first encountered him.
Starship Hulk enters the pocket universe and is immediately halted by members of the Alternate Universe Timeline Hazard Operations Response & Intervention Team Y.. (AUTHORITY) but Hulk crashes right through them, damaging their ship; this wakes up the sleeping Bruce Banner who is confused. Hulk has been seized by tentacles of blue light, attempting to drag him into a dimensional fissure. Without more power, Hulk will return to his Bruce Banner form and die. Bruce kicks the power up to Stage Two: a band of giant monsters for Hulk to fight in the engine room. Ship’s computer tells Bruce they are being scanned for gamma radiation and Bruce deduces the Avengers have found him. Bruce raises the power to Stage Three: a giant Wolverine. Hulk fights the monstrous Logan as Betty Banner (in Bruce’s mind) tells him the Hulk won’t win. Tiny Hulk breaks off one of giant Wolverine’s claws and jabs it through the giant’s heart. Then everything shakes as Starship Hulk is pulled into the fissure. He lands in a dark tech place and tries to fight his way through a flexible barrier trapping him. His captor is amazed that he has finally “caught one,” and an intelligent one at that. He then introduces himself as Dr. Bruce Banner….
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