Welcome to this blog. It's called Welcome to the Mast, I'm The Mast. I talk comics here, I think you know it.
Today I'm going to be reviewing the thing I said in the title, but first I've got some updates for your mindhead.
1. Regarding interviews, I'm not going to announce future ones until I actually have them done. The reason for this is because I announce them, confirm them, and then for various reasons they take longer to do due to conflicting schedules. Still, the Vast Aire interview IS coming, I assure you.
2. Daredevil #506 doesn't come out until APRIL, so that means you will get an entire Daredevil summary/catch-up before I integrate the series into Thursday's Comics. It may be a review of the current arc or it may be an entire retrospective of his second volume. I'll see.
3. Recently there have been updates regarding the post-Siege Marvel universe. There will be THREE titles featuring variations of The Avengers. Those are: The Avengers, Secret Avengers and as of a few days ago, The New Avengers. All of this and possibly a 4th in Avengers Academy.
I know, I'm confused too. I don't see why they'd END The New Avengers and start it up again from #1 in June. Bendis has said that it isn't supposed to make sense yet, but it will. Regardless, I will be posting post-Siege/pre-Heroic Age recaps so that you can know where things stand if you choose this as your jumping on point. Most curiously I wonder if these teams will involve Daredevil. I sort of feel that with so many variations it won't feel as big for him to get the call-up. Still, we'll see and I'll deal with that in time.
Let's get on with the review that a lot of people have asked me for (People seem allergic to commenting, though)!
Civil War.
For all intents and purposes, not counting The Avengers: Disassembled, this is the storyline that started everything we're seeing right now.
Originally released in seven parts and now as a trade paperback, Civil War tells arguably the most meaningful story of division among the Marvel universe and sets the stage for the following arcs. Mark Millar really does well with Civil War and, accompanied my Steve McNiven's art, solidifies it as one of the more memorable Marvel stories in a long time.
In Stamford, Connecticut; the New Mutants are seen preparing to bust into a house and take down some supervillains who are hiding out inside. They're filming it for their reality show and plan for this to be their biggest show yet. As they set upon the house, all is going well until Nitro escapes. Namorita chases him down and corners him, this turns out to be the mistake that causes the dominoes to fall. Nitro knows he has nowhere to go and so, with the chilling last words: "You're playing with the big boys now.", he spontaneously explodes himself. The entire neighbourhood is levelled and destroyed, resulting in the deaths of 512 men, women and children (I think).
With public/mutant/superhero relations already at breaking point following the events of Secret War, this caused the government to have absolutely no doubt as to what consequences would arise, and the Superhuman Registration Act was proposed.
This act required all superheroes to register with the government and reveal their identities in order to receive proper training and to operate under the jurisdiction of said government. The titular Civil War begins at this point.
Now lead by the bullish and stand-offish Maria Hill, S.H.I.E.L.D. sent out a warning that if anyone had refused to register by midnight they would be hunted down and imprisoned. Some superheroes such as Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Mr. Marvel and Wonder Man all supported this idea. Others such as Captain America, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Cable, did not. In reply to Iron Man's argument that it was their duty to protect the American people, to give them something more than potentially irresponsible masked heroes, Captain America retorted that it was a violation of civil liberty and civil rights. I'm still not entirely sure which side I fall on, but more on that later.
Captain America and his underground group of supporters are resultantly made fugitives of the law and spend a majority of the time waging a guerrila war against the Pro-Reg heroes, with Iron Man and Captain America frequently coming to blows. Someone who registered, but had yet to reveal his identity, was Spidey. It's with Spidey that the tide of the Civil War began to get extremely choppy and turned into a rather dangerous undercurrent.
Spider-Man was considering fleeing the country due to not wanting to put his loved ones in jeopardy by revealing his identity. Eventually he was convinced by Mary Jane, Aunt May and others to do so. In one of the most shocking events in Marvel history, Spider-Man publically unveiled his identity on live television:
He fully joined Tony Stark and began campaigning for registration. Doubts began to form in his mind, however, when he is told of the plans for the prisoners (Storing them in the Negative Zone for their natural lives or until they register) and especially when the Pro-Reg heroes confronted Captain America's rebels. A fight breaks out after Cap attaches a scrambler device to Iron Man while pretending to shake his hand in agreement for amnesty, and Iron Man calls for back up.
This is where things take a tragic turn for the worst. Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic had cloned Thor from a single strand of hair that Stark had kept since the first meeting of The Avengers. Using the Thor clone to subdue the rebels in battle turns out to turn the tide in their favour, but quickly gets out of hand as Clor (Clone/Thor, dubbed by fans but later known as Ragnarok) begins brutalising his opponents, eventually killing Goliath by blasting him through the chest.
Spidey has generally seen more than enough at this point and through a series of events in The Amazing Spider-Man (You can buy the tie-ins for each character in trade paperback form), decided to rebel against registration. Unfortunately, with his identity out, he now has to worry about Stark AND his family. He sends Aunt May and M.J. away into hiding. Sadly, the information of his identity falls into the hands of an imprisoned person...the worst person possible...
The Kingpin orders a hit on Spidey/Parker and, in the event that he isn't home, anyone who is. More on this later...
Meanwhile, the Civil War rages on with the Marvel universe split right down the middle. The X-Men, still shaking from the events of House of M, choose to remain neutral while Sue, Johnny and Ben from the Fantastic Four choose to side with Captain America.
The story revolves around both sides and their members dealing with the consequences of their actions. It's a nicely balanced cat and mouse game with the rebels trying to simultaneously fight back and stay out of the law's hands. Friendships are broken and beliefs are all questioned throughout the story.
The story ends in a climactic battle in New York City, erupting after even more rebels were freed from the Negative Zone prison. Iron Man and Captain America face off one more time before Cap eventually surrenders. After seeing the damage surrounding them he realises that they're all endangering the people they were supposed to be protecting and that it's not worth the fight.
Tony Stark enters into the post-Civil War world as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and begins his 50-State Initiative (A super-powered team for each state), but not unscathed. Ties have been severed and things haven't really been the same since, especially considering Steve gets assassinated on the way to his court hearing.
It's a real gripping story about how the beliefs held tear even the closest bonds apart, and the dangers of what can happen when citizens exchange freedom for security through fear (An obvious political allegory).
Peter Parker returns to the motel in which M.J. and Aunt May are waiting for him. They embrace and the happiness is short lived. His spider-sense goes crazy and he tackles M.J. to the ground in time to dodge the rifle bullet intended for him, courtesy of The Kingpin. He saves one, but loses the other. Aunt May is seen with a bullet wound and dangling at death's door. This occurs in The Amazing Spider-Man #538, the final Civil War tie-in.
It's a tragic end to what was a bittersweet ending as it is. Spidey only ever wanted to do the right thing and in a way, he came off worse than anyone.
There are tie-ins for Iron Man, Captain America and others, but none are really as weighty or impactful as Spidey's.
What follows are the controversial One More Day and Brand New Day Spider-Man arcs. Click the links if you wanna know how it goes. In general, the mini-arc The Initiative followed and that was succeeded by the next BIG arc entitled Secret Invasion. The latter is the arc that really, truly caused Dark Reign (Which I've already done a retrospective on) and will be reviewed soon.
All things considered, Civil War is a pretty intense story. It's far from original, but it's truly powerful if you have any investment in these characters. In many ways, it's Spider-Man's tragedy, but it did force changes on the M.U. and its characters that are still felt today. Spider-Man has since become an even bigger part of the Marvel universe since, joining The New Avengers and even becoming an actual member of The Avengers in their upcoming reformation.
If you want all seven single issues, eBay is good. As a trade paperback, it's not that expensive to buy or find, really. You can grab it from Amazon or any good, varied bookstore probably. I have both, simply because it's easier to read a trade than to keep getting the single issues out. You don't NEED the tie-ins, it works well like that, so I'd definitely recommend picking it up. It's riveting.
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Thanks for reading this, guys and girls. I appreciate your time, attention and any feedback I get. Drop me a comment to give me your opinions! What do YOU feel? Who would YOU side with? If powered individuals existed, do you think they could be trusted to go unregistered and untabbed, knowing that many individuals do their best, or would you be a vocal supported of forced registration and training?
Stay tuned for Thursday's Comics, all two of them, and I'll catch you then!
Until next time, peace!
-The Mast
