ADVANCED REVIEW: Hulk vs. Thor: Banner of War Alpha (Spoiler-Free)

Look, let’s dispense with any pretense: Hulk vs. Thor: Banner of War Alpha is a comic in which Marvel’s mightiest fight. A lot. Like, a LOT-a lot.

Which is all well and good in principle – after all, Marvel has a proud history of its heroes whompin’ on each other that stretches back over eighty years, to the first clash between the original Human Torch and Sub-Mariner. Over the decades, classic Misunderstanding Fights between two heroes have become a feature, not a bug of the Marvel Universe, especially in the years since Civil War. Misunderstanding Fights usually come from either a) one hero mistaking another for a villain, or b) a massive difference in opinion that can only be resolved with fisticuffs.

Banner of War Alpha is at least a little different, in one major way: it doesn’t really give much rationale for Thor and Ol’ Jade Jaws to collide. Hulk is on the run after being framed for seventeen deaths and much destruction in El Paso (alluded to in the first issue of the current Hulk volume). Thor finds him, out in the vastness of space. One Rainbow Bridge ride later, and the two are going at it like barroom drunks on payday.

But that’s it.

As I read this comic, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Donny Cates (writer of both Hulk and Thor’s individual titles) to reveal a grander plan. Something more than just fighting. But I was destined to be disappointed. Cates leans with utmost heaviness into his more bombastic tendencies as a writer, which would have been fine had he had some kind of deeper master plot hidden beneath all the bang-pow. If you’re looking for more than just that, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

As for the art, Martin Coccolo’s style is quite minimalist similar to Ryan Ottley’s over in the main Hulk title, and will probably be a letdown for anyone enchanted by Gary Frank’s eye-popping cover art and expecting to get that or something similar within. Coccolo is a fine draftsman, but the choice made to put him on a book that would require the sale of big, widescreen action moments feels ill-advised, as he can’t pull it off with the panache needed. Images meant to hit full-force land with a thud instead, as his page compositions tend not to lend themselves accordingly.

It’s unfortunate that Banner of War is such a middling, lightweight affair, given that it’s intended to be a celebration of six decades of its title characters. Was there nothing more Cates could think to do other than have them just fight? Such a disappointing, missed opportunity. Given their decades of rich history, Hulk and Thor quite simply deserve better.