Books : Civil War (Marvel Comics)

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Rating:

- Civil War, my reentry into comic book reading
I hadn't read comics since 1992. I heard the hype and picked this up and WOW, was I surprised! Most comics that I read never seemed to have any depth back then. I don't know if I just missed it because I was really immature back then. Possibly, but I doubt it...

The story ties in the issues we are confronting in the REAL world. Something our popular media would do well to consider. And this keeps the mature readers interested. The story of an incident creating a reactionary response is something we are too familiar with. And the continuing story of those reactionaries taking things TOO far is also timely.

Yes, some of the characters did things out of character. I wasn't crazy about Spidey doing what he did but now I wonder how he is going to handle the unavoidable change and its consequences. As to Iron Man? I love hating that embodiment of corporate/capitalist swine! And I am following him now. I like BIG stories now instead of one issue stories. Marvel should keep the big overarching plots going. (Is the Initiative going to survive? I hope not!) Looking forward to World War Hulk!

Artwork was great. But, visuals are secondary to writing with some kind of relevance to real life. All in all, I'm back into comics. I hope the mature storylines stick.

Rating:

- It is what it is for a good reason
Without going into spoilers, because some people still haven't read it yet; I'd like to point out what this really is, versus what people were expecting...

It is not a big heroes vs villains free-for-all with a happy ending in which the good guys win.

What it *IS* is a giant step into the next age of comics for Marvel, you can't continue from a 'happy ending' , you continue from turmoil. So, it wouldn't make sense for an "All is well" ending. Marvel was leading into a darker period, for a more mature audience all around, and they succeeded perfectly in that.

I highly suggest this for fans of almost any marvel series, but it's by no means a good standalone series, it wasn't meant to be. If you like anything Marvel puts out, odds are that you'll want thiS in order to better grasp how and why the Marvel world has changed so much.

All in all, a great collection with lots of twists and turns. I was very pleased, but I do want to emphasize that this is not a happy-ending, "Gee, I'm sure glad that's all over" type of story. And without spoiling anything, I suggest the prologue as well; just be prepared for one very harsh finish to the series. Remember, this was all designed to propell the various franchises into future story archs and to add more backstory and conflict for them to have; not as a standalone.

Rating:

- Marvel's Major Turning Point !
When I first heard about civil war in most of the issues of wizard magazine, I was actually pretty anticapated to see what it was all about and the whole tag-line of curtain changes for key marvel characters. The book begins with the new warriors filming a relatity t.v. show in stamford,connecuit, then a fight breaks out between the new warriors a two other villain which sadly results in the death of more 300 then people. Shortly after this the goverment comes up with the super-human resigration act, which demands that any super-hero must give their true identities to the goverment and literally become an agent. Of course in true fasion of any war, Ironman and most of marvel's heavy hitters on pro-registration, while Captain America and most of the not so popular marvel characters side on anti-registration. While what I've explain so far seems alot like a good concept, the end result is mostly a bunch of hits and misses. The first thing to put out and on a positive note is if your expecting some great action scences and really good art (courtsey of Steve McNiven) then this is definatly your kind of book! With heroes like Captain America and Ironman beating the the crap out of each other, this is where Steve's art work really shines, espically when it comes to most of the action scences in this i.e. Captian America riding a jet or Spider-Man escape from Stark Tower. But on the downside, and this really weaken the book the most is the character devlopment itself. Characters like Spider-Man and Ironman seem really off key. For example there's not alot going on in Peter Parker's mind when he decides to reveal his identity to the entire world on national television, and there also another point too! Why after countless years of guilt over the death of Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy's death that he makes such a stupid move like that!!! Also marratle problems between the Fantastic Four isn't really anything new here but for Reed Richards not too see something like this coming as well and not to confronte with his wife on this subject just makes him as boneheaded as Peter was. For a writer like Mark Millar to really aviod things like this and to have events just happen out of the blue with no reasoning is really disappointing for a writer of his calaber is just really upsetting, espcially for some who wrote the Utlimates and marvel knights Spider-man (both highly recommened by the way). Maybe if Marvel had a chance to really think out this concept and try to focus on the political discussion without entirely avioding for a beat'em up story then this could quite possiably be one of the best comic events that has ever occured, but unfortunetly that will only be a dream to most marvel as for what we get in civil war is what we get. But on that note I did find this to be a good read overall and do recommend it for it art and action, but also for the fact that this is an estential book for all those who wish to know whats happened to their favorite heroes so far. I would also like to highly recommend the compainion books for civil war, like amazing spider-man, new avengers, captain america vs ironman, and the road to civil war to gain more and much better details on civil wars key events like spider-man unmasking and why ironman is really pro-registration. Also on another note civil war did help make ironman more exciting. So until Joe Quesada and J.M. Straczynski kill Mary Jane (please don't for all that is holy for so many reasons!!!)I'll make mine Marvel! P.S. Rest In Peace Captain America.

Rating:

- Civil War: AKA Comrade Iron Man's glorious victory over the outdated symbol of Capitalist swine Captain America.
I hardly know where ro begin with the piece of flotsam known as "Civil War", except to say my review contains a ton of spoilers.

I should say I only gave it one star because I had to. I should go on to say that this, along with DC's "Infinite Crisis" destroyed my love of comics (as I said in my review of that title). The problem with that book was DC turned their backs on decades of history; the problem with Marvel's Civil War is they turned their backs on their own characters and the fans for no reason other than to make a political statement.
First off, there are a number of misconceptions about this series. First and most importantly, the subtitle, "Whose side are you on?" This is irrelevant, because early on, it is clear Iron Man's side is going to win. Mark Millar himself said in an interview "It's basically an Iron Man story." And another thing, if I didn't know Millar was the main force behind this piece of trash, I would swear the head writer was Vince McMahon. One of the main things you learn in creating dramatic tension in a story of this type is that both sides must seem to have a legitimate chance of winning the conflict. I never felt Captain America's side had a chance. Just look at who his forces were:

Wolverine
Spider Man (who changed sides)
And every second stringer in the Marvel Universe.

Now let's look at Iron Man's pro-registration forces:

A Thor clone
The Sentry
Ms. Marvel
The original Captain Marvel (the one they swore NEVER to resurrect)
Most of Marvel's heavy-hitters.

As a result, not only does Iron Man's forces win, THEY DOMINATE THE WHOLE FIGHT!!!! I swear, I would not have been surprised if Millar resurrected the Beyonder and had HIM join Iron Man.

But the damage doesn't stop there. Along the way, we have a number of Marvel mainstays acting FAR in opposition to their usual natures and personalities (including Tony Stark and Spider Man) for reasons I did not buy for a second. There is NO WAY IN HELL Peter Parker would risk his family for at best some questionable ideology. Hello? The death of his uncle was what created Spider-Man the crime-fighter in the first place!

In short, this series was predictable (yeah, we all knew Aunt May or Mary Jane would end up hurt or dead -- yawn), tedious and bad on so many levels.

Just like the DC Universe is now a convoluted mess, the Marvel heroes are now government stooges. Reagan was right. "We're with the govenment, we're here to help you" is the scariest phrase in the English language.

Oh, and what of Captain America? Guess what? After his dishonor at the hands of Stark and co. HE DIES IN HIS OWN BOOK! I'm not sure if Marvel hated Captain America or just America. After all, they did to an American symbol of truth and justice what no World War II enemy could.

This book made me feel betrayed by childhood friends. So, since they've turned their backs on me, I plan to return the favor by boycotting Marvel comics in particular and comics in general.

That is how much I hated this book.

Rating:

- You Either like it or you don't
Alright, I'll start out by saying what this book is about. Ok. so a bunch of school kids are killed because of a group of super heroes neglegence, so understandably the public wants action. The government puts out the super hero registration act. Some heroes are for it, others are strongly against. Basically the rest is just their stratigizing and fighting against each other.

THE GOOD
This book has some great artwork! Even if you don't like the story, WOW!! Me like.
To say the least this book keeps you on your toes. You'll want to keep reading trust me. It has some pretty good cliff hangers. I myself read them as they came into the comic shops, I kept getting mad when I would finish a book and would have to wait till the next month.
Battles= Excellent! Still, with even some of the problems w/ the book we all (Marvel fans) will enjoy the battle sequences. My uncle and I both as life long comic readers enjoyed the battles.

THE BAD
The real problem with this book is that it made it very clear which side they wanted you to root for. They made heroes into bad guys and don't get me started on spider-man. I am a spidey fan and they made him into a naive, errand boy for tony stark! Tony Stark, Reed Richards and Peter Parker are all supposed to be geniuses and they make them all out to be idiots.
Now the book might still have been able to still win fans hearts if not for the fact that they made the ending into a major cop out. It was like they couldn't figure out how to end it. (Won't spoil it for you if you already don't know).

Now, I still like this book though even with the problems. Now even for those who read and hated this story arc, you have to realize that that the writers had a purpose when writing this. Well, a couple really.
1) To cause controversy in the marvel fan base. For the past few months marvel fans have been sharing their opinions about this story and talking non-stop about it. It has succeeded in causing in controversy.
2) To get folks to read Tony Stark's book. Come on, who has been keeping up to date with Iron Man? He was boring, now we might all hate him but he is interesting. We will want to read about all the things he is doing during and after this civil war.
3) To help make stories to come more interesting. We got world war hulk coming up and wouldn't it be a bit more fun if when the heroes have to team-up against the hulk they're all like,"Hey, you really screwed me over in the civil war, how do I know I can trust you?" It was a set up to cause unrest in the marvel community.

Now you the buyer might be wondering, should I buy this or not? Now here are the following people who would want to buy:
Completists, they got it out there and no matter what you got to have it
Fans of good art, excellent my friends!
Those who are mucho fans of the marvel universe characters. This does some pretty good justice to some of the characters. Daredevil had pretty good things going for him this time around.
And finally those who like stories of betrayal and mistrust.
Also, just so you know if you want to keep updated with the marvel universe it's a good idea to buy this anyway

Look, if you're not among that group you probably shouldn't buy this to enjoy it. The story is rough around the edges, but the art was great and this unlike some stories was not just a ploy to sell action figures. *cough cough* secret wars.
I liked this book, and I hope that you do. But really you either like or you don't.

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