Much apologies for the late article this week, but in the wake of Civil War #7′s release, talking about anything else would feel a little like missing out. Anticipation was high as I rang in copy after copy of the biggest thing to shake up the Marvel Universe in a good long while. Solicitations have shown that this event really does change everything and yes, nothing will ever be the same.
At least until the next retcon, but that’s a rather pessimistic view point.
On my break, I snatched up my own copy and rant to the back room for an uninterrupted reading spree. I had ten minutes to gorge myself on this shocking conclusion and digest the information about the fate of my favorite heroes. What I learned shocked, but didn’t feel surprising. If anything, I think the issue taught me that gray is a truely depressing color.
WARNING: Spoilers to follow; visuals will be poor as my scanner died on me, so please pick up your copy (Marvel always says that late shipping books still sell fantastically so I know you got one!) and read along!
When heroes fight other heroes, no one really wins. When the good guys disagree on what is ‘good’, it forces a separation in morality that weakens both arguements. If you’re pro-registration, than you have to be against Captain America and if you’re anti-registration, you must take a stand against Iron Man. Both of these guys are essentially heroes who have fought and bled and worked hard to keep the Marvel Universe safe. Neither is worse or better than the other, but when they stand on opposite sides, someone has to win. Contentions that fall between black and white morality wind up gray and essentially, both viewpoints get rather dirty. Watching the opening scenes of battle in Civil War #7 gets very confusing and not because of the artwork. It’s hard to tell who you should be following as villains fight for the heroes against other heroes who are punching and kicking their friends and comrades in the face. It’s just battle and it quickly becomes pointless.
As this all spills out into New York City, Captain America and Iron Man are pitted once again against one another. Iron Man is taken to the ground and before Cap can ‘finish this’, he is jumped by American servicemen, policemen, a fireman, an FBI agent. All people we know and respect in our universe and know for a fact that the Marvel U takes seriously. Mark Millar works best I believe in moments, single pannels or pages in which the artist is given a picture to depict that says about a million things all at once. Seeing Captain America wrestled by the very people he has always tried to protect, people he respects out of service and duty, is a striking image that has lasted with me long after I put the book down. This is it, folks, the moment the Civil War is officially ended. These are ordinary heroes dogpiling an American symbol to keep him from making a huge mistake and forcing him to do one thing no one seems to have done since the War began: look behind them.
Turning around, Captain America is brought to tears by the devistation that this battle to end all battles has wreaked on the city. And honestly, it’s hard not to tear up with him. Picking your political side in all this aside, these are people who really do only want to do good. To be heroic, be marked by courage and daring for noble and sometimes self-sacrificing causes. Neither side wants to hurt anyone and here is Cap forced to face the one thing he didn’t want to do. Captain America, the standard and symbol for everything inspired about America the country and people, is set aside. Steve Rogers, the man as fallible as any other, turns himself in. And the war is over.
This colors everything in a new light. Who can you look to as a hero anymore, knowing that no one can be counted on to do right no matter what? Who is smart enough to see the entire picture and the details all at once? People who cloned their friend and ally and created a murderous machine are now lauded by the public. People you could have counted on as standards to look up to now sit in jail for trying to do the right thing and protect our liberties. It is said that Benajamin Franklin once said that, “Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power”, or the more memorable (though misattributed) “He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither”. Debating the need or lawfulness of vigilantism isn’t what’s at stake here, what I believe the anti-registration rebellion was based around was the idea that if the country restricts its heroes, there is a loss of freedom in the act. The superheroes are now governmentally controlled and are now beholden to something more than liberty and justice. They can be sent and told to do things that they might not agree with. Who deserves to be in prison and who deserves a second chance is now no longer up to the individual. Villains who have murdered in violence and evil are now charged with protecting the innocent.
Kind of ironic how the Punisher’s costume is essentially black and white. And how it’s the Punisher himself who, after Steve Rogers turns himself in, is there to take up Captain America’s cowl off the battlefield.
February 21st, 2007 at 8:54 pm
This proves to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that this generation of comicbook creators have no clue when it comes to the ideals Captain America stands for. They were not content until they destroyed the one true standard they had. The fight for freedom is messy and should never be taken lightly. Today America has lost its standing, but in our fiction we should be reminded of the ideals of freedom. We now fight in a war of confusion where on a small few families bear the sacrifice. In fiction one can show the better sides of our ideals and remind what they stand for.
Now Marvel is no better than the fly by night stories that have come and gone that just tear down idealism. The complaint has been that these characters have acted out of character, and from the sound of it I will stand by that. I am 34, but my parents were born in the mid-thirties to forties. I have an uncle I never knew that died in Vietnam. My father was in Lebanon before it was blown to kingdom come and protected the U.S. portion of West Germany. I live in an in-between of the ideals of generations. Our fiction helps define our current trends of views. I am saddened by how little our creators seem to understand about the idealism of a generation or two gone by.
When the side that kills and clones wins and is held up, Marvel has finally been destroyed and replaced by a pale shadow of its former glory.
Thank you for the spoilers
February 21st, 2007 at 9:05 pm
i was considering buying this in trade, seeing as i don’t buy much marvel, but having read the many spoilers i’ve concluded i wouldn’t like this book. sadly as this new status quo goes into effect i don’t think i’ll be trying any new marvel books for a while. but that probably will change.
February 21st, 2007 at 9:16 pm
I flipped through this book in the store tonight and was pretty disgusted by the whole thing. If that was Marvel’s intent, then they succeeded 100%. They also succeeded in turning half of their characters into horrible human beings and the super villains they always fought against. After Astonishing X-men is finished, I’m done reading comic books and I look forward to the day that the current crop of creators and Joe Quesada are gone from the field, or if not, the company itself goes under due to their sheer stupidity as to how to handle these characters. Unfortunately, I doubt either of these things will happen.
February 21st, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Am I alone in liking this series?? I thought it was highly entertaining and incredibly well done. While the Marvel Universe isn’t radically altered in a “Cap’s dead and Iron Man ate the Avengers” way, it’s a big enough shift to keep things interesting…
February 21st, 2007 at 9:46 pm
The complaint has been that these characters have acted out of character, and from the sound of it I will stand by that.
And I’ve been reading these characters for longer than you’ve been alive, and I have no problems whatsoever with the characterization that has taken place within Civil War. Not to say that my viewpoint is more valid, but I’ve at least read the storie rather than forming a judgment based on the opinions of others.
Frankly, I’m stunned by some of the reactions I’ve seen, particularly those who try to paint Captain America’s decision as cowardice or a betrayal of ideals. I don’t see any other way to read it than as the realization that his actions had been betraying his ideals, and that eventual victory could only be acheived by standing down. The key phrase here is his response when Spider-Man says they were winning the fight. “But losing the argument” he says, and therein is the reason for standing down, because the true victory could not come from beating the pro-registration forces in a fight, but by showing that the security they offer is an illusion, and that can only come about by letting them have their victory for awhile. I’m more excited by the new status quo that has been established than I have been after any big event since the original Crisis.
When the side that kills and clones wins and is held up, Marvel has finally been destroyed and replaced by a pale shadow of its former glory.
Hard to see how the fact that the pro-reg side won the public battle is an indication that they are being held up as the better side. But considering how your whole post seems to revolve around the notion that fiction should not be a reflection of the real world, perhaps you believe that the winning side must always be the better side.
also succeeded in turning half of their characters into horrible human beings and the super villains they always fought against.
Care to elaborate on this? Want to provide a list of the half of characters who have been turned into horrible human beings? Or are you just making a blanket statement that anyone who was pro-reg is a horrible human being, because if that’s the case, you really need to provide some evidence supporting the statement.
February 21st, 2007 at 9:47 pm
I liked it. I’m curious to see what Brubaker does with Cap and I’m really digging the New Avengers. But what’s the deal with people being pissed off and saying they’re done with comics, etc? So you don’t like this one thing – there are plenty of other books out there. I’m sure in a few months things will be back to “normal”, if you’re into reading comics that never change. But giving up on the whole medium because of this one storyline? No fan of comics would do that.
February 22nd, 2007 at 2:32 am
No offence to Dweeze, but unless you’re in your sixties, you haven’t been reading these comics for longer than I’ve been alive, and I disagree with you completely. So there. Also, I don’t think Barry needs to provide much in the way of justification for his view: we all know what the examples are by this time, surely.
And, on the matter Carroll raises: Marvel Comics is not “the whole medium”, and I’ll give up on them if I please, thanks. If Marvel wants me as a reader, they know how to reach me: make comics I enjoy. By all means, you go right ahead and enjoy ‘em if you like ‘em! I’ll be on hiatus, though, reading other things.
Thanks for the spoilers from me, too! And by the way, what was the “42″ thing all about?
February 22nd, 2007 at 2:39 am
Is this the 9/11 of the Marvel Universe? How will people look at heroes from now on?
Let’s hope nobody retcons this.
February 22nd, 2007 at 2:57 am
Okay, “in your sixties” might be stretching it a bit. Sounded good, though, didn’t it?
February 22nd, 2007 at 6:53 am
“but I’ve at least read the storie rather than forming a judgment based on the opinions of others”
Except for the last issue which I will get I have read this crap Dweeze, and you mixed in someone else’s response after breaking bit by bit part of mine. Just to help your understanding, I dislike the deconstrusction and to me destruction of heroes like Cap.
Plok said the rest best for me. I would just add that many like me bought this to see how the so called story would turn out, not because it was good to us. I guess we just need to be thankful for Whedon, maybe NOT killing Cap was what he helped make happen.
Yes, I want my comicbooks to be an escape from the maddness I watch on the news everyday. It does not mean I cannot appreciate the occasional reality drenched comic.
February 22nd, 2007 at 8:36 am
plok, the author put the word “spoiler” in the link. so if you’re being sarcastic about being thankful for them, get over yourself.
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:46 am
Get over this, if you please, Prem: I was *N*O*T* being sarcastic, I am VERY PLEASED to be able to read spoilers about this as I do not want to trek downtown to the comic shop just to read the damn thing on the stands and then not buy it. I was LOOKING for spoilers, which is why I’m here, and why I said “thank you” to the author.
Fair enough, all ’round?
February 22nd, 2007 at 10:26 am
Honestly, I’m disappointed by the series because the “idea” behind it was much better than the execution of it. I do like that, for now at least, the ending does set up a new status quo for the Marvel Universe but the journey to get to this point (bad characterization, lazy plot points like “Clor”, etc) wasn’t worth it.
And I have to agree that Millar missed the boat with Captain America big time. You’re talking about a guy who gave up his identity once because the government wanted him to answer to them. You’re talking about a soldier who, while never wanting to hurt innocents, would understand that people do get hurt in the fight for the greater good. And you’re talking about a person who has always believed in the ideals of America above laws that don’t uphold those ideals.
February 22nd, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Millar didn’t come up with the ending, Joss Whedon did. If you don’t like the ending, he’s the one to blame.
February 22nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Millar is still the one who wrote it, so he deserves the blame.
February 22nd, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Dweeze: perhaps you believe that the winning side must always be the better side.
Isn’t that one of the draws of superhero stories? That the side of good can be powerful and strong enough to overcome evil and injustice? If I want depressing, realistic stories about the horrors inherent in the human condition, I’m not going to look for them in a capes-and-tights book. I’ll watch the news.
February 22nd, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Great comic book series. Thanks, Mark!
February 22nd, 2007 at 5:52 pm
The big problem wasn’t the ending, it was everything leading up to it — I can easily see Cap deciding, in the end, the right thing to do is to stop his illegal actions because he realizes that they’ve become counterproductive to his mission of protecting people. I just can’t see it taking place the way Millar and friends set it up – with Stark cloning Thor, killing Bill Foster, Peter Parker unmasking, the secret detention center, Cap taking so damn long to figure out he should give up (he had nothing to gain from any confrontation with the pro-reg side, and really nothing to gain from banding the anti-registrants together — it’s not like he was going to try to overthrow the government, after all), etc. etc. None of the main characters acted in a manner I found believable.
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:06 am
Read it. Felt sick after reading it.
Maybe the whole Whedon ending should be pulled back. I have seen many a Whedon ending and this does not seem to be. He might have come up with an idea, and the final outcome is far from that idea.