Hulk #2

Writer – Mark Waid
Artist – Mark Bagley
Inker – Andrew Hennessy
Colours – Jason Keith

Bruce Banner is still in his child-like state as the issue opens, perhaps even a bit worse off than originally thought.  He mops floors at the local church, has a grandma and grandpa now and goes by the name Bobby because, why not?  With the state he is in, he does not know any different to say otherwise.  Currently, he is actually under watch by SHIELD operatives who have started to quietly infiltrate the town just in case someone tries to take advantage of him or he Hulks out.  Not a good thing for anyone at the moment.

A good second issue from the creative team of Mark Bagley and Mark Waid, not as strong as the first book was but still extremely entertaining, that follows the path laid out by the reboot dealing with Banner’s loss of mental faculties and exactly why somebody wants to kill him.  We also get an interesting return from one of his big bads and the continuing intrigue about the traitor at SHIELD who may or may not have been responsible for his current state.  There has been a lot of SHIELD presence in Marvel books lately, and sometimes it works and sometimes it is just an annoyance, but it is nice to see that for now, their appearances in this book ties into the story nicely.

4 out of 5

Avengers World #5

Writer – Jonathan Hickman and Nick Spencer
Artist – Stefano Caselli
Colours – Andres Mossa

Not a lot happens in this issue as Manifold finds his powers acting up and his connection to the universe not as strong as it should be.  What is a little funny is how Tony is actually in awe of Manifold, at least a little bit, because of what he can do.  Bruce Banner, who still has his mind at this point in time, is trying to come up with a way to penetrate the AIM barrier around Barbuda and when he gets the results the Avengers need, they are made irrelevant with Manifold’s return which happened to be another humourous moment in the book.  It was nice to see a little character development for one of the Avenger’s members who does not often get to be in the spotlight and hopefully that will continue for others down the road.

3.5 out of 5