Secret Wars: Planet Hulk #2 - Review

Written by Sam Humphries. Art by Marc Laming.
Published by Marvel Comics; June 24th, 2015.
Worth Your 3.99?: Yep. This book continues to be pure, entertaining fun.
Rating: 4/5.

You wanted more Gladiator Steve Rogers riding a red t-rex through a land filled with Hulks? You GOT more Gladiator Steve Roger riding a red t-rex through a land filled with Hulks!

THE GOOD
Another solid, fun issue by Humphries. We catch up with Steve and Devil Dinosaur resting in Greenland. They're in the middle of a long journey and it's fair to let them take a rest, but upon waking up they find a hulk nearby picking at a Gamma Grub. The Hulk has not torn Steve apart, much to his surprise. And that's when we get the good news... this is Doc Green! For any fan's of Gerry Duggan's recent run of Hulk, this is exciting because Doc Green is 616's Hulk/Bruce Banner. Admittedly, I miss his beard, but I'll take what I can get.

The rest of the story is fairly simple, Doc Green outlines the travel plan for how they're going to get to the Mud Kingdom so Steve can kill the Red King and rescue Bucky. This is clearly driving the story forward, although it's light on much plot development. What we do get, however, is some nice character development, something Humphries does well. Doc calls out Steve on what his plan is after rescuing Bucky. Fighting for "justice" is not such a simple thing on the Battleworld and Doc poses some questions Steve clearly hasn't thought through before.

Doc Green's ramblings are the most interesting part of this issue. He starts quoting Hemingway (which is amazing just on it's own) but attributes it, snidely, to Doom. It's clear that Doc Green sees through all the pretense that Doom has put around the world. What isn't clear though, is whether he remembers the world before. We've seen that most people on Battleworld have no memory and I think it's safe to assume he doesn't, so I'm curious to see if his rantings about Doom become a bigger thing somewhere down the line for our version of Hulk.

There's also a very interesting flashback for Steve to how he and Bucky became soldiers in his reality. In a world at war, it appears that Sam Wilson was the original Captain America and is seeking recruits for a Super Soldier plan. A simple, but fun twist.

Also good: the art by Laming issue continues to be great. It's the kind of comic book art that you almost forget (in a good way). It's fun and exciting, but it's so clean that you can just get lost in the story and not even think about it. Then you can go admire it afterwards.

THE BAD
Not much bad, mainly that the book felt too short! Like a few of the other Secret Wars books that have entered issue #2, it felt like a little bit of filler story-wise. The thing is, Humphries writing is so entertaining that I didn't care. I'm hoping next issue will drive us further into the actual journey while still giving us that fun banter that we got here between Doc Green and Gladiator Steve Rogers.

PREDICTIONS
Will Devil Dinosaur be okay? Yes, I think he'll survive and show up just in time to join Steve in his battle with the Red King. Come on, it wouldn't be Gladiator Steve Rogers without a red T-Rex.

With the revelation that this is our Doc Green, I'm wondering how he's going to play into the larger Secret Wars story. For the first time, I'm wondering if each of these tie-in books will eventually lead into the characters from them rising up against Doom in some massive crazy battle. Wouldn't that be awesome?! The answer is yes, yes it would.

UNBOXING: Marvel Collector Corps - April 2015

Today was marvelous day for the mail in my household (see what I did there?). Finally recieved the first box in this bi-monthly subscription box. Curious what was inside? Here we go...

Here's the outside of the box. The inside is lined with red outlines of characters and panels. It's... a really cool box. I will not task myself with finding a reason to keep it. (What's in that other package? It's unrelated but I'll get into that later.)

First thing you see upon opening is a patch with Ultron's face and a pin with Captain America. The patch I could take or leave. But I really like the pin. It's very simple, but the image the picked of Cap feels very classic. It reminds me of my dad's old Merry Marvel Marching Society stuff.

Here's the big guy. The reason most people are here: the Hulkbuster Funko Toy. Standing almost double the size of a normal Funko, it's pretty damn cool. It's got some damn fine detail and that goofy Funko smile. The head actually bobbles to add to that goofiness. This is going to probably the prize of the Funko toys that I have for a while to come.

And up above is the rest of the pack. an Ultron toy in the upcoming "Dorbz" line of toys. It's sort of like they've brought the Scottie Young Marvel kids to life. It's good looking, but I'd never have bought one myself. This actually doesn't bode great for the Collector Corps going forward. The "stylized vinyl collectible" sort of implied it was going to be a classic style Funko toy. I'm not angry that it's not because it was never explicitly promised, though it was implied. Since the Hulkbuster was a bonus for the first month, it'll be interesting to see if it's really worth it after this month. The t-shirt is cool. I got a Hulk vs. Ultron fight. It'll worm it's way into my rotation. The variant print of Guardians of the Galaxy Team Up #1 was a cool addition (always like getting comic variants), although it wasn't in a bag or board and was slightly damaged upon arrival, lowering it's collectibility. 

Overall, was it worth the $35 (after shipping and tax)? I'd say yes. The Hulkbuster and the t-shirt pretty much get it there with the other stuff being bonuses. Will it be the same in two months for Ant-Man? Only time will tell...

Oh and what was that other thing? Oh, just a Spider-Gwen sweatshirt from CoyotePop.