There’s been a lot of buzz across the blogosphere (and Livejournal-Land) about Civil War #4. Most of it seems to be about the characterizations of the principle characters: Captain America, Iron Man, Reed Richards. However, I actually think the most interesting character discussion resulting from this issue wasn’t about those three at all.
The subject was the Invisible Woman.
(Please be warned, the following links/excerpts contain spoilers)
Point:
Over at Christians Read Comics Too!, the Mad Monk challenges the end of Civil War #4, insisting that Susan Richards would not leave her children.
Excerpt:
So it came as no surprise to The Mad Monk when she stopped Clor’s (The name for the Thor Clone) energy strike. It killed a giant, but to Sue it was just another obstacle to stop. She is power and fury incarnate there and is the only sane person around the Pro-Registartion side. Of all the crap coming out of Civil War, this was something that had been undigested and maintained that old Marvel quality.
What is unsettling is how she left the Baxter Building. There is no way that this strong mother would leave her children with Reed. Take into account that Reed is wacked out on evil scientist juice and it boggles the mind how they could have written this scene.
Counterpoint:
At My OTHER Comic Book Blog, Dawn addresses the Mad Monk’s point with her own counter argument: Sue would SO leave her children!.
Excerpt:
I beg to differ of course. Sue is leaving to join the resistance. That’s no envionment for kids. It’s dangerous and desperate and she needs to direct her energies to the fight. And this IS a fight that she would wage out of concern for her children. One has superhuman powers and the other may manifest them in the future. She has to leave and fight to try and secure a future where they won’t have to.
Both posts are well constructed, well argued and interesting, continued with meaningful discussion in the comments. They’re definitely worth a read.
October 2nd, 2006 at 7:21 am
Oh cool! Thanks for the link!
October 2nd, 2006 at 8:56 am
What kind of attitude is this that suggests that she’s ‘abandoning’ her kids by leaving them with their dad? What, Reed’s not capable of taking care of them? We’re talking about a man who can literally be everywhere at once. It’s not like she’s putting them in a cardboard box in front of the dog pound. Besides, if Reed is forced to spend more time with them, then a) that might restore some of his perspective (as has been suggested), and b) in any case, it will take up some of his time that he’d otherwise use to push registration, which makes good tactical sense.
But to suggest that the kids have been as good as chucked out on the street is silly and, and I thought long and hard before typing this word, sexist.
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:13 am
Okay, the sexist remark cannot go without remark. Working closely with the Mad Monk
, I can tell you that the feelings were far from sexist. Everyone that has disagreed has jumped to the defense of Reed. To do so one must say that Susan was either supporting her husband as a good guy or she is being said to be less than a competent woman. I first off know of no sane and good mother that would do what she did. Godd mothers fight to the death for their children, Sue is a good mother. The point of the Never Leave Blog post is about how the character of old would have chosen Agatha Harkness as the caretaker like in years past, BECAUSE Reed is not acting like the father he has always been. This is not the Reed Richards that gets lost in work, it is a cold and uncaring individual. An individual that the Monk thought Sue would not leave her kids with.
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:21 am
Why didn’t she leave them with someone else? Like a relative or family friend? I don’t honestly believe as a parent she would have left them in either situation.
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:38 am
Before I say anything else, I should admit that I haven’t read Civil War, and, in fact, haven’t read any Marvel comics in years.
But, like Reed Richards, I am the father of two. I’m frequently the only one in charge of the two of them, and, you know, they’re still alive and untraumatized. And I don’t think I’m that much better a father than Reed Richards. Okay, so maybe he’s acting a little weird these days. But if Sue of all people isn’t worried about him having custody of the kids, then I’m not either.
October 2nd, 2006 at 10:03 am
Well, I don’t have an opinion that doesn’t track in useless snark about Millar’s issues with women, so I’ll say this: if leaving Reed was an attempt to jolt him out of his self-absorption and get him to “fix” things, it looks like that attempt failed spectacularly.
October 2nd, 2006 at 10:04 am
I’ll jump in here and say that I agree with the Monk. In the Marvel Universe – right now – Reed isn’t in his right mind. I think EVERYONE reading Civil War knows this and can agree that this isn’t the Reed we’ve read about in the past. Heck, this guy is different than he was just a year ago. I would take the Lavertia take over Reed as a better father than the one we have running around in Civil War.
Now, having read Fantastic Four for as long as I have I will not say I’m an expert on Reed and Sue. I do know that Reed is a good father. I’m not disputing that. At any point in the last twenty years, Reed would be a good father to leave the children with, but the problem were facing is the Reed in Civil War. That is not a good father model. So, Sue leaving the kids with him right now – horrible idea.
Now, as far as leaving the kids with someone else… there’s no one. The Inhumans have declared war (thanks to Quicksilver) on the world and Agatha… well, she’s dead (see Avengers Disassemble).
October 2nd, 2006 at 12:33 pm
But Chris, it’s only the people READING Civil War who think that Reed is not in his right mind – the characters involved in the story don’t act like he’s crazy, only like he’s making a choice that they don’t believe in. So why expect Sue to act like he’s nuts? Clearly he’s not SUPPOSED to be nuts, he’s supposed to be coldly and clinically analyzing the situation and doing what’s best in his judgement.
You can blame poor writing all around for how the characters are acting, but IN STORY this is not supposed to be strange for Reed – instead its supposed to be a logical extension of how he’s always been.[*] And if that’s the case, then there’s no reason at all why Sue would be worried about leaving her son with his father – he’s the same man he’s always been, she’s just found something she cares strongly about and he’s on the opposite side, so she has to fight against him. Does it make sense? No – in the real world, people don’t change that drastically that quickly (and if they do, you get them counselling and medication), but this isn’t the real world, and so narrative laws (like a change of writer) take some level of precedence over the character’s personality. (IOW – it’s not that Sue is a bad mother, or that Reed is a bad father, its that they’re BOTH being written by a bad writer).
[*] – And, if by some chance it turns out that it’s mind control, or alien shapeshifters, or whatever that are making Reed and Tony act “out of character” and that’s an actual plot point in the story, then that would additionally be just bad writing. No one in story is acting like this is at all out of character for these two men, in fact, a lot of people have joined their side seemingly because they agree with the position they’re taking.
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:57 pm
“(IOW – it’s not that Sue is a bad mother, or that Reed is a bad father, its that they’re BOTH being written by a bad writer).”
THANK YOU! That was the funniest thing I read so far. Yes it is only the people reading CIVIL WAR that think this, but that is the point. Above the one defender of Reed has not read a Marvel Comic in years. As for Agatha being dead, well, I refuse to believe anything in Avengers Disassembled is real. Wanda warps reality and possibilities. Agatha is a strange creation, she could escape Bendis, I mean this bad story.
Civil War should be Continuity War. Sue has shown in the past that she takes the kids, Daddy or no, she takes the kids. Reed is not the Reed we know and love. Tony is a strange perversion of all his bad traits. This is a story that was concieved, then characters cast to play the parts. Not a story that comes from the characters, which is where the best ones come from, in my opinion.
Chow for Now.
October 2nd, 2006 at 7:08 pm
I gotta agree with Palladin and the Mad Monk but I have an aside. Whenever the Fantastic Four are in a situation in which they kids are in danger or they may be away for a long period of time they go to one source, the INHUMANS! They always have Medusa and the gang babysit the kids on the other side of the moon. You know, where they’ll be SAFE. From a WAR. Now that makes sense. Leaving them with Reed along with an out of character and untrue (only if you’ve ever read FF which apparently Millar has not) line about him not spending time with them is just so completely beneath and not the characters it makes me want to punch something. Marvel sure knows how to show a strong family huh?
What makes it worse is that we can all tell it’s obviously not the real Reed Richards she’s leavingthem with. Once again I’m on the side that actually read forty years of a happy marriage between two good characters and want it back.