Book Burn 2016 #2: Planet Hulk: Warzones! and Future Imperfect: Warzones!

Planet Hulk: Warzones! by Sam Humphries and Marc Lanning, et al.

Even if don't read comics, there's a good chance you've heard of the original Planet Hulk storyline (and if not, you can read my review), There was a direct-to-DVD animated feature based on the story, and ever since it became clear that the Marvel Cinematic Universe was here to stay there have been rumors that the story would get a live action adaptation.

But in spite of the name and the setting, Hulk isn't really the main character in Planet Hulk: Warzones! Instead, a rugged and scarred gladiator Steve Rogers takes center stage. The many strange, crazy realms of Battleworld include Greenland: a land ruled by tribes of green, red, and gray hulks. Rogers and his warbound partner Devil Dinosaur are offered the opportunity to free themselves from bondage and to save the life of Rogers's old partner Bucky if they will infiltrate the savage Greenland and assassinate the Red King. Doc Green - an intelligent and certainly more Machiavellian version of the Hulk - leads them through Greenland to the Red King's doorstep.

Planet Hulk: Warzones! surprised me. I expected it to be fun, and it is, but there are some unexpected layers to the story. Doc Green presents the idea of being Hulk as more than a physical condition to Rogers, but a philosophy; a conscious way of being. At the same time, Sam Humphries digs into the unexpected parallels and similarities between Hulk and Captain America. Toward the end of the series, I kept thinking of Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones's Marvel Boy, when they merged the two characters into one monosyllabic flag-clad brute. And at the same time, Humphries integrates bits and pieces of the original Planet Hulk story in clever ways.

Future Imperfect: Warzones! by Peter David and Greg Land, et al.

Like Planet Hulk: Warzones!, this was a Secret Wars mini based on a past Hulk story.

It also happened to be a series with a super-villain protagonist, so I reviewed it as part of my column It Takes A Villain over at Trouble With Comics. Rather than reviewing it here, I think a link to the column would suffice.