Marvel Comics's Civil War

Hey everyone and welcome to my blog. My name is Dave Wiley (I wanted to get that out there because I think if you're going to start one of these things and give out opinions then you should own them) and I'm a 22 year old college bum. I'm starting this primarily because I'm also an eternal man-child, comic nerd and I wanted a place where I could express my opinions about my chosen passion without feeling like I'm writing too much. This isn't to say that I won't touch on issues other than comics later on, but for now it's just going to be comics. My first topic for discussion: Marvel's Civil War.Now for those of you who don't know, Civil War was a massive comic event spanning throughout the Marvel Comics Universe. It centered around the question of Superhero Registration: Should heroes need to register with and be trained by the government to protect and serve? When Superhero Registration became law after a battle between heroes and villains went awry causing a tragedy, the heroes of the Marvel Universe had to choose between registering like good citizens or defying the law in favor of their own freedom. Those who chose to register fell behind the leadership of Iron Man and those who rebelled followed Captain America's lead (yes, Captain America was defying the American government for freedom). Eventually the two sides would clash with each other and the entire issue would be explored in many directions with none-too-subtle allusions to the question of sacrificing freedom for security in today's world (I mean just imagine if the Dept. of Homeland Security had x-ray vision).

*SPOILER ALERT*

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And so the heroes fought, arrested and killed each other over this new law. Other major developments happened in the course of it. First after forty plus years of having a secret identity, Spider-Man unmasked on live TV to make a statement about the benefits of registration... which he later took back as he switched to Cap's side after realizing the harsh treatment captured heroes were receiving (so good call on that unmasking Pete). Bill Foster AKA Goliath AKA Black Goliath (yeah... because he's black) was killed in the first major battle between heroes by a clone of none other than the Norse god of thunder Thor (I didn't know gods had DNA). The New Avengers after only twenty five issues of being new split into two even newer groups. Aunt May was shot and put into a coma (yup, real good call on that unmasking Pete). The formerly dead hero Captain Marvel returned from the dead (take that cancer). Eventually, Iron Man and the Registration Act won out after Captain America saw that the fighting wasn't helping him prove that the country can be both free and secure and was probably doing more harm than good so he turned himself in. This paved the way for the future of the Marvel Universe where heroes now work for the government and will be placed in every one of the 50 states as super police (looks like I've got to get rid of all my bootleg copies of The Wash). And in a tragic finale, Captain America was shot and killed (yes, really killed) while being lead to his own trial.

That's a lot of change to take from one event and considering comic book fans aren't always the most accepting lot (just ask the NFL Superpro) this didn't go down well with some people. After Civil War ended the comic book community erupted (so... posted on a lot of message boards) into complaints about how the event was taking Marvel into a poor direction, trying to incorporate too much realism, was poorly written, contained inaccurate characterizations, borrowed five bucks and never paid me back, blah, blah, blah, blah... Basically some people just didn't like it at all for many, many reasons. But there were just as many people who did like it and since I'm one of them I thought I'd defend good ole Civil War. Actually, nah strike that, I'm going to tell you what I think of Civil War piece by piece.

Spider-Man: So a lot of people have been pissed about what's been going on with Spidey ever since the clone saga (if not longer). Recently, though, things seem to be coming to a head. Longtime Amazing Spider-Man writer J. Michael Straczynski is a writer who just when fans think he couldn't piss them off anymore, he comes up with a new idea and does. Under his pen Spider-Man's powers became mystic and Gwen Stacy got down with the Green Goblin. In this time Parker also became an Avenger and got a cushy new lifestyle in Tony Stark's mansion with his supermodel wife. To many these changes went against everything the tortured, impoverished, loney, teenage Spider-Man used to represent. Peter Parker no longer seemed like the everyman people loved him to be. Then in Civil War he unmasked which caused the uproar of: "NO SECRET IDENTITY?!?! WHAT THE F***?!?!"

I think post Civil War Spider-Man has a lot of promise. I mean, now that he's gone underground to continue to fight the registration he's a misunderstood hero once more. Just like in the old days he'll save people's lives and then be chased by the cops for it. No more fine mansion living. It's back to seedy apartments for Parker. Also, Aunt May's coma is going to cause him to blame himself for unmasking and all of this will almost certainly cause further strain on his marriage to Mary Jane (huh, it's kind of sadistic that we get off on this dude's suffering). The way I see it in a couple of years he'll be in a place where we'll remember why he inspires us and we can forget all about the totem b.s.

Iron Man: Iron Man fan's were pissed because Civil War didn't exactly cast their hero in the best of lights. At best he came off as a reluctant traitor and at worst he was Tony Snow. Many fans argued that he was better than this. That Marvel was just looking for a bad guy and totally ruined Tony Stark's characterization by making it him. Well, I hate to break it to you Iron Man fans, but Stark has always been kind of a jerk. First off the guy was a war profiteer who made super things like mines that crippled and killed third world children (Iron Man Vol. 4 #1). Even after becoming Iron Man he was never the most moral of heroes. As an alcoholic he operated his advanced death armor drunk (Iron Man Vol. 1 #168) and almost killed some innocents by mistake. As an Avenger he dated his good friend Hank Pym's ex wife Wasp as Tony Stark without bothering to tell her that he was also Iron Man (Avengers Vol.1 #224, nice going sleezeball). And during the period where he didn't want anyone else to have his technology because "it was too dangerous" (said the monopoly man), he did really great things like attack a supervillain prison thereby releasing inmates and also attack fellow heroes like Stingray and Darkhawk. Now, I do believe that, at the end of the day, Stark has good intentions. But he's also a selfish, egomaniacal control freak and I have no doubt that he's the kind of person who will tur on his friends when he thinks that he's right.

Captain Marvel's Return: This was kind of ridiculous, I'll give the critics that. I mean, how many people REALLY remember Captain Marvel in the first place? He died in 1982 and most of his hero career fell in the 1970's. And when he died it was almost poetic. It was the saga of a warrior being forced to die in bed, helpless. Now they pluck him out of time and bring him back from the dead in the middle of Civil War? Why? He didn't even contribute much to the storyline of Civil War. He just came back and then showed up in one panel of Civil War #7. There seems to be no reason or context for it and yet they did it. Oh well, he's back. Let's see what they do with him.

The Death of Captain America: Alright, this also kind of made me upset. Not because it happened, though. A lot of people were outraged they'd ever kill Captain America in the first place. Me, I thought it was written well. It shocked me and he died doing what he always did: Saving lives. What mad me a little red faced was how they made it into a gimmick. First there was all the media hype surrounding it (which caused me to have to wait for my copy since, after it hit the news, yuppies from all around came to get the issue so they could reconnect with their bleak childhood). Then to make matters worse they ended up pulling the gag of giving Cap's shield to Steven Colbert of The Colbert Report. Now don't get me wrong, love the Colbert Report, but what's next are we giving Thor's hammer to Larry the Cable Guy (F*** blue collar comedy)? Basically, they took a character I cared a lot about, killed him, and made his death into a joke (and not even a very good one, more like a "that's what she said" joke). Poorly handled.

Overall: I liked Civil War because it delivered. A lot of major comic events hype up how nothing's going to be the same after, but Civil War was one of the first to make good on it. I know change can be hard to deal with but sometimes it bring about new and interesting things and so far it has. I can't remember another period of time where Marvel has had me really paying attention to everything that's going on. Also, the fact is that Civil War was both relevent to real life issues while still keeping the fantastical world of superheroes intact (there are still cyborgs and if there are still cyborgs then things haven't gotten too real). Finally, the Marvel Universe made a comeback. For the past two decades it's almost felt like the X-Men were the center of everything. Civil War was an event that had so little to do with them they were barely even in it. And characters who we hadn't seen in years came crawling out of the wood work. I'm glad their back. Trust me, good things will come from this.