Intro and Civil War #4 Review
September 28th 2006 13:05
From the ashes of Nerdblog comes... www.thecomicnerd.com! Due to the generous auspices of the fine folks at Orble, I now have my own domain with which to peddle my writings and rantings. To all new readers welcome, and to all my readers from Nerdblog, don't bother checking that one any more - I'm shifting everything over here.
I have yet to post my thoughts on Civil War #4, and no comic blog would be complete without them, really. Issues with timeliness aside, I've been enjoying this event so far. My only complaint has been that a few characters (notably Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, and Spider-Man) are acting somewhat at odds with my views on them, but no more so than I've seen in the past. Aside from that, the events have felt important, the pace is good, and Iron Man punched Captain America's jaw out of its socket. Big fighting good times.
Civil War #4 is where I think the scales have tipped for me. Before we had a situation where the sides were portrayed at least reasonably sanely. One side wants to register and train super-heroes, which isn't such a bad goal to my mind, but they've been a bit shady around the edges. The other side doesn't want to be registered, but they're lead by Cap and are therefore Correct, because Captain America is never wrong.
The situation's balanced? Well, not no more it ain't. The pro-registration side might as well all start wearing green and purple like the rest of Marvel's Silver Age villains. Let us run down their list of sins:
Cloning old friends: Remember how Thor showed up all badass at the end of the previous issue? Well, some of you may wish to retire to a cell padded with Lee/Ditko issues of Spider-Man, because he's a clone created by the pro-registration side. Now I don't have a problem with the logistics of this. Thor's a god? So what. It's Reed Richards. He's been breaking the laws of the universe at least once a month for 45 years. It's more a question of morality. The Reed I remember would have found a different way. A way involving a piece of Kirby-tech bigger than his friggin' house, no doubt, but a less morally ambiguous one.
Black Death: Okay, so I'll admit it here: I was wrong. It wasn't the Falcon who got blowed up by Thor. I thought they'd go with someone significant, someone who's actually appeared in the last 20 years. But no, poor old Bill Foster, the Black Goliath, got trotted out for this crossover only to get put down by the man good and proper. Like this.
Well, at least he got a cool panel to go out on. His last words? "Get ready for the shortest comeback in history, Thor!" Awesome.
I won't complain about Goliath's funeral, either. The symbolism of a giant black guy in chains being buried is way too cool to pass up, despite whether continuity says he should have shrunk to normal size or not. When in doubt, go with the cool image.
This all happened because good old Reed made a mistake, and his Thor clone wasn't quite the pacifist they were expecting. He's not the most remorseful guy about it, though - he seems more worried about his wife's reaction than the fact that Black Goliath is lying dead right next to him. Reed's been off all through the event, really. He's always been a bit too wrapped up in his work, sure, but never to the point where he ignores really important stuff. I'm currently halfway through the Lee/Kirby run, and the difference in personalities is really striking. They're definitely different people, whatever Marvel would have you think. Tony Stark doesn't express a shred of remorse either, but who knows what's going on with him. There could be an out for this behavior somewhere in here, but I don't think there is. I get the feeling these characters are being twisted to suit the needs of the story, which is the wrong way to go about these things.
Super-Villain Team-Up: Okay, if you had any doubts that Tony Stark was crackers before, feast your eyes on the fine gentlemen he's just recruited to his side.
Let us run down the heinous activities of the people above, shall we?
BULLSEYE: Among his many murders and felonies, he killed a busload of nuns. Nuns, I tells ya!
JACK O'LANTERN: I have no idea which Jack O'Lantern this is, so who knows. He has committed the unforgivable crime of not being memorable.
LADY DEATHSTRIKE: Well, she's tried to kill Wolverine on countless occasions, and she cut off Sunfire's legs, but she adheres to an honor code (because, you know, she's Japanese). Not actually a particularly bad choice.
SONGBIRD: I think that's here, anyways. She ain't so bad, and has pretty much been a goodish guy for about a decade.
TASKMASTER: He wears a skull. On his friggin' face! The guy has got to be evil.
VENOM: It's actually the Scorpion wearing Venom's costume, but anyway. He's been a two-bit crook for 40 years worth of comics, and he must have killed someone at some point. He's certainly tried it.
UMMM... PURPLE HOOD GUY: Who is this? That hood thing screams Silver Age Kirby villain, but I have no idea.
So actually, taken like that I have no idea how evil these guys are or not! (Boy can I argue a point!) My comics knowledge goes all hazy on me whenever I need specifics, sadly. But Bullseye has killed nuns, and Tony Stark wants him on the team. There are some screws loose somewhere.
So I hate the portrayal of some of the characters, and I hate how everything is skewed to make the anti-registration side look good. There are some things I like. Sue Storm has been portrayed really well, and her switching sides makes complete sense. Spider-Man is finally starting to get a clue. I'm loving the feel of the mini, that sense that anything can happen and it's going to stick. The Marvel Universe feels like a dangerous place at the moment. It just doesn't feel much like the Marvel Universe, which is a shame in the company's flagship event.
By the power of Grayskull!
I have yet to post my thoughts on Civil War #4, and no comic blog would be complete without them, really. Issues with timeliness aside, I've been enjoying this event so far. My only complaint has been that a few characters (notably Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, and Spider-Man) are acting somewhat at odds with my views on them, but no more so than I've seen in the past. Aside from that, the events have felt important, the pace is good, and Iron Man punched Captain America's jaw out of its socket. Big fighting good times.
Civil War #4 is where I think the scales have tipped for me. Before we had a situation where the sides were portrayed at least reasonably sanely. One side wants to register and train super-heroes, which isn't such a bad goal to my mind, but they've been a bit shady around the edges. The other side doesn't want to be registered, but they're lead by Cap and are therefore Correct, because Captain America is never wrong.
The situation's balanced? Well, not no more it ain't. The pro-registration side might as well all start wearing green and purple like the rest of Marvel's Silver Age villains. Let us run down their list of sins:
Cloning old friends: Remember how Thor showed up all badass at the end of the previous issue? Well, some of you may wish to retire to a cell padded with Lee/Ditko issues of Spider-Man, because he's a clone created by the pro-registration side. Now I don't have a problem with the logistics of this. Thor's a god? So what. It's Reed Richards. He's been breaking the laws of the universe at least once a month for 45 years. It's more a question of morality. The Reed I remember would have found a different way. A way involving a piece of Kirby-tech bigger than his friggin' house, no doubt, but a less morally ambiguous one.
Black Death: Okay, so I'll admit it here: I was wrong. It wasn't the Falcon who got blowed up by Thor. I thought they'd go with someone significant, someone who's actually appeared in the last 20 years. But no, poor old Bill Foster, the Black Goliath, got trotted out for this crossover only to get put down by the man good and proper. Like this.
Verily, thou art smoked, homes!
Well, at least he got a cool panel to go out on. His last words? "Get ready for the shortest comeback in history, Thor!" Awesome.
I won't complain about Goliath's funeral, either. The symbolism of a giant black guy in chains being buried is way too cool to pass up, despite whether continuity says he should have shrunk to normal size or not. When in doubt, go with the cool image.
This all happened because good old Reed made a mistake, and his Thor clone wasn't quite the pacifist they were expecting. He's not the most remorseful guy about it, though - he seems more worried about his wife's reaction than the fact that Black Goliath is lying dead right next to him. Reed's been off all through the event, really. He's always been a bit too wrapped up in his work, sure, but never to the point where he ignores really important stuff. I'm currently halfway through the Lee/Kirby run, and the difference in personalities is really striking. They're definitely different people, whatever Marvel would have you think. Tony Stark doesn't express a shred of remorse either, but who knows what's going on with him. There could be an out for this behavior somewhere in here, but I don't think there is. I get the feeling these characters are being twisted to suit the needs of the story, which is the wrong way to go about these things.
Super-Villain Team-Up: Okay, if you had any doubts that Tony Stark was crackers before, feast your eyes on the fine gentlemen he's just recruited to his side.
Baddies! Baddie baddie yum yum!
Let us run down the heinous activities of the people above, shall we?
BULLSEYE: Among his many murders and felonies, he killed a busload of nuns. Nuns, I tells ya!
JACK O'LANTERN: I have no idea which Jack O'Lantern this is, so who knows. He has committed the unforgivable crime of not being memorable.
LADY DEATHSTRIKE: Well, she's tried to kill Wolverine on countless occasions, and she cut off Sunfire's legs, but she adheres to an honor code (because, you know, she's Japanese). Not actually a particularly bad choice.
SONGBIRD: I think that's here, anyways. She ain't so bad, and has pretty much been a goodish guy for about a decade.
TASKMASTER: He wears a skull. On his friggin' face! The guy has got to be evil.
VENOM: It's actually the Scorpion wearing Venom's costume, but anyway. He's been a two-bit crook for 40 years worth of comics, and he must have killed someone at some point. He's certainly tried it.
UMMM... PURPLE HOOD GUY: Who is this? That hood thing screams Silver Age Kirby villain, but I have no idea.
So actually, taken like that I have no idea how evil these guys are or not! (Boy can I argue a point!) My comics knowledge goes all hazy on me whenever I need specifics, sadly. But Bullseye has killed nuns, and Tony Stark wants him on the team. There are some screws loose somewhere.
So I hate the portrayal of some of the characters, and I hate how everything is skewed to make the anti-registration side look good. There are some things I like. Sue Storm has been portrayed really well, and her switching sides makes complete sense. Spider-Man is finally starting to get a clue. I'm loving the feel of the mini, that sense that anything can happen and it's going to stick. The Marvel Universe feels like a dangerous place at the moment. It just doesn't feel much like the Marvel Universe, which is a shame in the company's flagship event.
| 36 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
