There are some amazing stories being told in the Marvel Comic book universe these days, so I thought I'd give a big overview of the Earth stuff. There's some awesome space stuff, too, but I won't get in to that.

So first, Reed Richards (the stretchy guy from the Fantasic Four), Dr. Strange (a sorcerer), Iron Man, and Black Bolt (king of the Inhumans, his merest whisper can destroy mountains), got together and decided it was best for the world and for the Incredible Hulk if they tricked him into getting on a spaceship and then sent him to an empty planet where he could be at peace. But the ship veered off course, and the Hulk ended up overthrowing a planetary emperor, getting married, and bringing a new age of peace to his new world and to himself. One problem, though.... The ship he was sent there in blew up and destroyed the entire planet. With his wife dead, and only a few close friends able to escape with him on another ship, the Hulk headed back to Earth for revenge. A pretty justified revenge.

While all this was going, a group of superpowered heroes called The New Warriors attacked some supervillians. During the fight, one of the bad guys used his explosive power to blow up the whole area, killing 600 innocents that just happened to live in the neighborhood. So Iron Man proposed a new Superhuman Registration Act, which required people with powers to register and work for the government so that they would be properly trained and not allow super bad guys to blow up towns. Supposedly you could just retire and not use your powers if you decided not to sign up, but like most such programs in real life, new politico Iron Man pretty much forced you to join up, or go to a new superhuman jail set up in an alternate dimension (which may or may not have caused the big space excitement I referred to earlier). This set a bunch of superheroes who wanted to remain independent against those that signed up, with Captain America dying as a result.

So in the midst of the fallout from the superhero civil war, the Hulk has returned and is ticked off. He already took out Black Bolt and Iron Man and is working on Reed Richards. Here's what's interesting to me, though. The New Warriors had the best of intentions when they attacked some bad guys. It turned out badly and a lot of people died, and thus the New Warriors were villified by the public and by douchebags like Iron Man. Well it turns Iron Man's idea of sending the Hulk into space had unexpected results. Instead of fighting the Hulk, Iron Man should be begging his forgiveness, the same way he expected the New Warriors to atone for when their good intentions turned awry. I wonder if the comics will actually explore this theme of hypocrisy? Anyway, there's been a lot of compelling storytelling and some super badass fights. So if you ever thought about reading comics again, check out World War Hulk.