Alright, I'll admit it. I saw the cover for this comic and bought into Marvel's bullshit by paying to own it and I highly regret the decision but my $3.99 is gone and that's just how life is.

Sadly this was a let down for me, it filled in some minor plot holes from the main run of Civil War II and then gave a glimpse of what the future holds, which is unfortunately horrific but I'll get into that near the end.

The first six issues included centered on Ulysses and his training at the Tower of Wisdom. I personally feel that Ulysses is a very boring character and I don't really care for or about him or his training, and even less about him reaching divine status for no apparent reason. The story really breezed by and there was nothing too important or exciting about it, so while it wasn't garbage I'm not exactly sure why it was written at all.

The next comic was about Clint's trial for Bruce's murder, as well as the charged emotions and conspiracy surrounding it. The writer compels you to feel bad for Clint whether you want to or not, and while I still believe what he did was wrong, ill-judged and deserved punishment, I can't really hate him for it after reading about how guilty he feels.

Then came what I was actually hoping for from this collection, a story that centered around Bruce's family and friends and them coming together to support each other and hear his will. Reading it was definitely bittersweet and it doesn't give as much closure for his death as the Totally Awesome Hulk tie-ins in my opinion, but there's an advertisement for those at the end so readers understand to find them next. I really liked Bruce's suggestion about setting a timer for three minutes and doing nothing to calm down from rage before doing anything rash, I have anger problems of my own and will probably try that the next time something sets me off.

The last issue included here was awful, I was one of the people who felt pretty strongly about how Captain America being written as a Hydra agent is wrong and disrespectful to his Jewish creators and the people who found hope in him as the man fought Nazis. Listening to him go on about justice and morals is bad enough when he's himself since I usually cannot stand the man and how self-righteous he is, but being aware it was coming from the mouth of a character who is now absolute and utter scum made me want to vomit. The panels at the end of the Captain's view of the future that included very young children pledging allegiance to Hydra were some of the most heinous images I'd ever seen in a comic. I really have no clue how the creators of this issue and the entire Hydra Captain plot did not see how disgusting this is towards people who had and still have their lives threatened and oppressed by Nazis and groups affiliated with them like Hydra is in this fictional world.

My other large compliant with this volume is that Rhodey and his death are only mentioned one time. While Rhodey chose to put his life on the line fighting Thanos, he is still gone, and the least Marvel could do for murdering one of their few black heroes only to stir up drama and the emotions of white characters is to write something showing that those characters truly care. Correct me if I'm wrong but Bruce got multiple volumes of stories related to his friends and family's reactions to his death and so far I've seen nothing further about Rhodey. He may not have had as big of a part in the Marvel Universe as Hulk did, but he still meant something to people and deserved a proper send off.

In total Civil War II is an event I wish had never happened, but ironically I own this volume now thanks to my own foolishness and being willing to pay for any piece of media that appears to actually give a shit about Bruce.