Yeah, I know this has been out for a year and, as an event, has been covered to death not only by reviewers but by Marvel themselves. However, I am making an effort at reading current comics as opposed to trade-waiting for everything, so I felt the need to familiarize myself with the events of Civil War so I could understand Secret Invasion (not to mention all the series that were drastically changed).

Few things are as daunting to a comics newbie as an “event.” Why, you ask? Because every single comic book event promises to be a cataclysmic, universe-altering moment in which not only “everything will change” and “nothing will be the same” (if you take a shot every time Dan DiDio or Joe Quesada say that you will die, I guarantee it), but your own faith in God will be shattered and then rebuilt. Also, every event comes with about eleventy-seven tie-ins that are nothing but a nuisance.

**spoilers after the jump**

In 2006, Joe Q decided it was high time that the heroes of the Marvel universe should fight not an array of supervillains (as they had in Secret War a few years back), but each other. So, he hired modern comics master Mark Millar to start a, um, civil war over reactions to the Superhero Registration Act, the latest name for that age-old concept. For 7 issues, lines would be drawn, heroes would take sides, switch sides, and in general just lack the smack down on people who used to be their best friends. The result is, sadly, a mixed bag.

It all starts when the New Warriors fight a group of supervillains to get on TV. One of the villains, Nitro, explodes and takes out a large chunk of Connecticut. This spurs a public outcry complete with a figurehead mother of a dead child who is an obvious allusion to Cindy Sheehan. The government puts the Superhero Registration Act on the fast track through Congress, but they need some of America’s finest heroes on their side to make things easier. And few are bigger than Iron Man.

Yes, Tony Stark immediately falls behind the Pro-Registration line, which is fine because you can plainly see that the needless deaths in Connecticut have hurt him deeply. After all, this is the man who has often been wary of where Stark Industries weapons were being sent and became Secretary of Defense to ensure his stuff wasn’t being abused. It’s only natural that he would feel a sense of guilt or at least empathy over the situation, and having the man who reformed the Avengers on your side is a big plus for the government.

However, Tony may have been the most powerful member of the New Avengers, but it’s obvious who the leader is. S.H.I.E.L.D. wastes no time trying to get Captain America on their side, cause having Steve Rogers on the Pro-Registration side would inspire more heroes to register than even Tony Stark. However, the Cap sees the whole thing as a punishment for people who have, for the most part, devoted their lives to making America- and the world- a better place. So now each side has a figurehead, and the lines are drawn.

From here on out, it’s pretty much about the fighting. Captain America and his Secret Avengers throw down with Iron Man and his Mighty Avengers, and a well-prepared Tony defeats Steve rather quickly. But this thing wouldn’t be done in just two issues, so Cap escapes to fight another day. But the most shocking thing about this early fight is a crazed clone of Thor who kills Goliath. What should have been a brief spat between ideologies suddenly escalates into all-out war.

While the fighting is the big draw, Millar does throw in some interesting character studies. Spider-Man, the character who has guarded his identity more than perhaps any other character in comics, unmasks in support of the Act. This is nice on two points: 1) his aforementioned attention to secrecy and 2) it shows how deep and trusting his relationship with Tony Stark has become. Tony has become sort of a father figure for Peter, and it’s rally only because of him that Peter comes forward. Also, Invisible Woman’s defection from Tony’s side to the Secret Avengers brings a lot of their marital strife to the fore. Probably the most interesting dynamic is that between Steve Rogers and Frank Castle, the Punisher. Castle kills some supervillains who offer Anti-Registration forces their services, which sends Cap off the handle. He pummels the crap out of the Punisher, who refuses to lift a finger against Rogers because he is good. The juxtaposition of the two men who go about their quest to rid the world of oppression and evil in polar opposite ways is an incredibly interesting one, and one I wish lasted more than like 5 panels.

Maybe if you spent more time punching instead of brooding you'd still be alive.

Of course, as the series nears the end, it’s all about the lead up and the big fight. Captain America is the one who gets to spring the trap this time, and the result is a colossal ass kicking. The fight gets bigger and bigger, and then things come to an awful sudden halt. Rogers, realizing that the heroes are causing incredible damage to each other as well as the area, surrenders to Tony and S.H.I.E.L.D. and has his troops stand down. Holy fuck beans, Captain! Do you mean to tell me that when you fight, things and people are damaged, sometimes destroyed? Boy, I sure hope I can keep typing while I have a heart attack from the shock! Apparently that super soldier serum didn’t enhance his fucking cognitive reasoning skills, nor his eyesight. It’s the ultimate cop-out move to ensure that no one important was going to die before the next big event. Of course, the Captain would be murdered shortly after, which would have been a much better ending if it had been included here.

The ending’s not the only problem. When Peter eventually defects as the war begins to push Tony over his moral lines, Millar could have used it to show the breakdown of Tony and Peter’s friendship and how it affects them (or at least Peter). Instead, it’s just a badass moment of defiance. Also, the Cindy Sheehan lady acts like Cindy Sheehan, so you start out sympathizing with her cause she lost her son and by the end of it are like “what the FUCK are you still doing here?” It doesn’t help that Tony brings her everywhere to assure her that things are changing, and someone gets her into highly classified areas and near covert S.H.I.E.L.D. operations.

I think Tony was the one who really died in all of this.

Which brings us to the biggest fault of this story, Tony Stark. Now, I’m a comics neophyte and I’ve only read one or two Iron Man stories, but he was always one of my favorite heroes. He, like Batman, was special chiefly because of his intelligence; sure, Bats didn’t have a one-man army suit of armor, but he got by with his cunning. Here, however, my beloved Tony Stark is torn down completely but never rebuilt. I understand that he has always worked under a complex set of morals; in fact, that’s kind of what makes him interesting. However, he makes choices here that are completely unforgivable. Creating an unstable, murderous clone of Thor. Imprisoning heroes in the Negative Zone when they’ve done nothing wrong. Worst of all, he sends the Thunderbolts after Anti-Registration forces. He has gone from a complex character to a douchebag and an outright villain, and how any hero will ever trust him without a continuity overhaul is beyond me.

Civil War started wonderfully. It made sense for Iron Man to want to make sure innocents are not harmed, even at the cost of freedom, while Captain America obviously represented the side of freedom and the unknowns that come with it. However, as the story progresses all the intelligence is thrown out the window, to the point that the already anti-climactic ending is made all the more frustrating. It’s not a bad comic, especially for a recent event, but I think Marvel (and DC) are suffering from their nearly annual events. Stuff like Crisis on Infinite Earths and Kingdom Come or Secret Wars and Earth X came along once a decade rather than a new “everything you know will change” story ever 15 months. Okay, okay, Invasion! came out only a few years after Crisis, but that didn’t really have half the impact that Crisis did and didn’t really try to (it did introduce the metagene theory though, plus it’s just good fun). These events lose their impact that way since anything people don’t like is just gonna be retconned or eliminated by the next event, which promotes laziness in writers.

I have a feeling that if Millar had been given 10 or 12 issues instead of 7, he could have made a hell of a book, but he has to shoehorn all the big fights and drama into 7 issues, and depth is the first thing sacrificed to make it all fit. Really, the little things in this are what entertained me, such as Captain America ruefully noting that his illegal status is preventing him from playing catch with a young boy for the Make-A-Wish foundation. Stuff like that and the parallels between Cap and Punisher are what make this a decent read, rather than the action which strives to be epic but is crammed into too few panels. I wanted to love this comic, and I actually did at first, but the more unexplored subplots and simplified action I saw the more I tuned out. I’ve read precious little Millar (I flip through the Ultimates trades in my local book store because I’m holding out for the hardcovers, plus I’m reading Red Son), and this is easily the lowpoint of the stuff I’ve checked out so far. To be fair though, I’d accredit him for pretty much everything I liked about the story, as without him it’d probably have been just straight action and even simpler metaphors for current political affairs. Fun for a one-time read, but I can’t imagine it holding up for any revisits.

Grade: C