Marvel Civil War #1, what do you think?

[Richards]

how much is it. I been trying to remember to hit a comic shop and get it.

It's $3.99 an issue, and it looks like it's a 7-issue miniseries.

Johnathan

 

[F5]

I was a little put off by Cap going rogue, too, but I can see what they're getting at. It's making a point that this is not Nick Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D; Fury's organization would never have forced the issue with Cap the way the new folks did.
Without getting too far into Verbotten territory, I see the entire civil war storyline as an exploration of how much civil liberty people are willing to sacrifice for security. The US is a highly divided place, politically, and I think this storyline is designed to strike a chord with that. I'll reserve judgement on how well they do with that angle.
They're putting out a supplemental book called "Civil War: Frontlines" or something like that...it's the main story told through the eyes of reporters in the Marvel universe. It looks promising, I hope.

 

[horacethegrey]

Avengers Disassembled was mean-spirited trash, a throwback to an era of comics best forgotten.

New Avengers is well-written, but putting the likes of Spider-Man, Luke Cage, and Wolverine in their ranks is moronic, and in Spidey and Wolvie's case it's basically a shameless sales gimmick.

Avengers Disassembled pretty much proved to me how much of a complete hack Brian Michael Bendis is. Just so you know, I wasn't opposed to a revamping of the Avengers lineup, but the way Bendis wrote off such great characters like Hawkeye, Wasp, Vision, and Scarlet Witch left such a sour taste in my mouth. It was indicative of the lack of respect Bendis (and Joe Q as well) has for the history of the team.

I'd have to agree with Luke Cage being an odd man out on the team, and I definitely believe Wolverine was just included to boost sales. However, I think Spidey inclusion was a long time coming. Now that he's a member of the biggest team in the MU, it's nice to see a change of perspective from his point of view, and how he deals with it.

 

[Silver Moon]

It's $3.99 an issue, and it looks like it's a 7-issue miniseries.

They are ALL now 6 and 7 issue series, as that is the optimum size for a trade paperback.

 

[Staffan]

SHIELD gunning for Cap because he disagrees with a law that hasn't been approved yet is forced storytelling at best. And Captain America wouldn't really be against registration, since it's not unlike soldiers registering, then going into reserve. Every male in Swiss is considered a reserve soldier, and can be drafted in case of war.

I didn't see it so much as refusing to go along with the law, as refusing to be the one enforcing it. I expect that if the law passed, Cap would happily have registered (well, it's not like he isn't known to SHIELD anyway), but he wouldn't help in hunting down those who didn't.

Also, I find it annoying that Sue Richards is speaking out in favor of the law, saying "well, we never had a problem being public" when the FF demonstrated that government secrecy is not an adequate protection from super-powered villains who want to hurt their dependents, only something like three issues ago. Short version: Child-protection service shows up, and starts talking about the Baxter Building and the Richards family being an unsafe place to raise children. Reed and Sue appears to go along with their demands, and hold a press conference saying "Effective immediately, our children have been taken to a secure and super-secret location to keep them safe." The very same day, that location is bombed by multiple missiles... but of course, it was just a hoax to demonstrate to the CPS that removing the kids wouldn't make them safer.

 

[RustyHalo]

Without getting too far into Verbotten territory, I see the entire civil war storyline as an exploration of how much civil liberty people are willing to sacrifice for security. The US is a highly divided place, politically, and I think this storyline is designed to strike a chord with that. I'll reserve judgement on how well they do with that angle.

Although I'm more of a DC fan, I must admit that Marvel's Civil War project has me intrigued.

I heard Quesada & Millar interviewed on public radio about the storyline, and they didn't reveal many spoilers. They made a convincing case for how comics, at their best, often mirror larger social dilemmas. I'd add that much of so-called "speculative fiction" (e.g., science fiction) has simliar aspirations. Civil War is exploring the tensions inherent in trying to protect both liberty and security, and doing so within a fictional milieu that includes superhumans.

Of course, Quesada and Millar know who butters their toast. Civil War is a mass-market product. By design (they said as much), it's unlikely to offend either end of the political spectrum. Some people would fault it for that very reason alone -- as simple-minded and simplistic "mush." I would recognize it for what it is: a comic book geared to sell several hundred thousand copies. Knowing what it is, I can still choose to enjoy it (I plan to buy the trade paperback that will collect the entire miniseries).

As for others in this thread who have pointed out that Captain America going rogue has been done before -- that Marvel has "been there, done that" -- I politely submit that they miss the point. Fiction has always "been there, done that!" Pundits have long noted that, stripped to their bare bones, in ALL of fiction and myth there's only about three stories that ever get told! It's the storyteller and the "little" differences that make a story worth reading or watching or hearing or believing. One could choose to fault Civil War for bad storytelling, but one ought not fault it for re-telling a story that already been told. Every story has been told before.

One caller near the end of the radio show -- a diehard comic fanboy -- noted that Marvel had a storyline in the McCarthy red-baiting era that treated similar themes: national security vs. personal liberty.

I look forward to reading Civil War.

 

[Klaus]

Surely, all stories have been told before. Heck, all Superman stories have been told at least twice (to quote the supermanhomepage). But SHIELD gunning for Cap for absolutely no reason at all is bad storytelling and faulty reasoning, at least.

I hope Civil War doesn't screw up with Whedon's Astonishing, though.

 

[stevelabny]

Avengers Disassembled pretty much proved to me how much of a complete hack Brian Michael Bendis is. Just so you know, I wasn't opposed to a revamping of the Avengers lineup, but the way Bendis wrote off such great characters like Hawkeye, Wasp, Vision, and Scarlet Witch left such a sour taste in my mouth. It was indicative of the lack of respect Bendis (and Joe Q as well) has for the history of the team.

Well, as much as I despise Disassembled, and NewAvengers, and love mocking Bendis for how bad it is, you can't really call him a hack. His B&W detective stuff (Jinx, Torso) was great, his Daredevil was pretty good, Powers v1 was good, and Alias was amazing. Just about any time you give Bendis ONE character (preferably without a long past, although he did handle DD ok) he seems to be fine. But his writing style is absolutely NOT made for team books. He loses too many characters in the background and the stories go on forever with nothing happening.

A part of that is also at the fauly of the editorial policy to make all storylines 6 issues so they fit nicely into TPBs, and I don't think all of the bad ideas of this Avengers roster are Bendis' fault either. Quesada is a totally clueless nimrod who seems to only like the Marvel Universe from the 60s-early 70s who wants to forget/ignore everything that happened between then and when he took over.

I'm not sure why Cage is getting the hate, as he is the one who would fit in best with the "real" Avengers, and he has had some great interactions with Spidey. Cage has been around long enough to be respected, filled in with the Fantastic Four, and his Avengers status ties nicely in with him getting married and having a kid. Of course it might have made more sense if Iron Fist would have joined the Avengers at the same time. But whatever.

I agree that if done well, Spider-man COULD be an Avenger, but the way theyve turned all his solo books into Spidey and the New Avengers and the way he's completely fallen under Stark's wing are nonsense.

But Wolverine? No. Spider-Woman? I don't know what's worse, her being on the same team as Spider-Man, or her hanging around Jessica Jones. Can we say unneccessarily distracting? And Sentry? I'm sure he would have made a great Avenger if only he ever had a writer who knew how to juggle an entire cast of characters. But he's been mostly left out in the cold.

Whenever Avengers Classic or West Coast Avengers or whatever they want to call another Avengers book happens, it will be 2 years too late. But seeing the REAL Avengers back in action will make me happy.

 

[Silver Moon]

Have to agree with your comments 100% Steve on New Avengers. I am a huge Avengers fan, with original copies of all but around 50 issues that I have in reprint. But New Anengers isn't my cup of tea. I pick up issues when I'm at comic cons and can get them for a buck but no way am I paying full cover for this. And I think that Cage does work VERY WELL with the team, but like you, would have liked to have also seen Iron Fist join simultaneously. Then again, I'm one of the few people I know who loved the short lived Heroes for Hire book.

 

[Felon]

I'm not sure why Cage is getting the hate, as he is the one who would fit in best with the "real" Avengers, and he has had some great interactions with Spidey. Cage has been around long enough to be respected, filled in with the Fantastic Four, and his Avengers status ties nicely in with him getting married and having a kid. Of course it might have made more sense if Iron Fist would have joined the Avengers at the same time. But whatever.

It's not hate for Cage, just pining for the days when there was some superhero in the Marvel Universe who hasn't actually been an Avenger. Have they recruited Captain Ultra and Stuntmaster yet?

Part of Spidey's image was that he wasn't one of the glamorous heroes. He may be one of the most popular to us in the real world, but in the MU he's considered a second-tier crimefighter--a bit of a loser. He's the underdog. Cage and Iron Fist were much the same; sort of the grubby low-rent gumshoes of the spandex crowd. They're nobody's first choice to go tackle cosmic menaces.

Every decade or so we get some writer for the JLA or Avengers that think they're revolutionizing the elite superteam by ditching the A-list heroes and bringing in the second-stringers. That goes all the way back to Avengers #16. It starts off novel, then sales dip until eventually somebody gets the genius idea to bring the dream team back. Personally, I long for the day when they decide to just keep the dream team.