If I wanted to read this plot arc, what would be a good starting point books wise? And what crossovers?
I’d say you could probably get by with the bare essentials of the event by picking up the Civil War and Civil War: Frontline books along with Amazing Spider-Man. You might also want to pick up Wolverine, as I have a feeling (especially given the latest issue) that, while Spidey will be used to “fight the war” in a sense, Wolverine will be used to “solve the crime” and figure out what really happened that started the snowball down the hill.
Actually, you would probably be fine just getting the two main Civil War books and using the Internet to fill in the gaps if you didn’t feel like buying any other books. They’re doing a pretty good job of keeping the important bits of the story self-contained with the crossovers just fleshing things out more. That said, I really don’t think you could get the complete picture without at least following Spider-Man’s book since he seems to be set up as the fulcrum of the event, so to speak.
I think they’re playing Reed as the brilliant scientist who is talked into the idea that he can apply the same method to politics. With bad consequences.
Even worse, is, if you have powers and fight crime, quitting isn’t an option for you?
Also, what’s up with Daredevil? Do we know who he is yet? If you guys have heard rumors from the web or if it’s been spoiled in some upcoming solicitation, I don’t want to know, but if it’s been revealed in some book I’m not reading, I’d like an update on who’s running around in the costume at this point.
You can logically figure it out, but it’s revealed in this weeks Daredevil.
Funk.
And I would like to add the whole issue is a big WTF.
The “problem” with the act (from the anti pov) is that you can’t NOT register if you have powers. In this weeks New Avengers, Jessica mentions that since she’s now a mom she has 0 interest in fighting crime, and as such shouldn’t need to register. According to the law, she does, and she would then be under SHIELD’s umbrella (minimally, forced to take the basic training, at worst, able to be press-ganged a la the National Guard/Reservists).
The other point really only pertains to those with secret identities, and that’s the danger to their friends/families. They’re only comfortable doing what they do because they don’t have to worry about bleedthrough into their public lives.
To that end, those without secret identites who are against the act tend to take up positions like “Freedom of choice” and Luke Cage’s “arresting me because I’m different is just like slavery” from the abovementioned New Avengers this week.
In the end, it’s kind of stupid, like overly strict gun control. Villains aren’t going to register, and they’re going to keep being villains. If the Vutlure doesn’t register and kills Aunt May out of spite at Peter being Spidey, what the fuck benefit does the Act have?
If Iron Man fights Crimson Dynamo and wrecks some buildings, he can’t be sued (one would think) because he’s acting under SHEILD approval. How many times has he been sued previously? How many times has Cap been sued when he wasn’t acting as an agent of SHIELD or the US Gov.?
It’s stupid. The problem is that comics require that the idea of innocents being collateral damage be ignored. Superman’s big battles wreck buildings but nobody ever gets hurt (or it’s never mentioned). Spidey and Green Goblin smash up cars and buildings and nobody is ever hurt unless it matters to the story (Gwen Stacy).
Serial killers have gone on murder sprees before (Carnage?) without any outcry. The whole lynchpin of this is that the New Warriors were part of a reality show (never mind how the New Warriors have been around for 10+ years and somehow Nitro blowing kills a bunch of them). If Nitro had blown up in a bank next to a school in a showdown with cops, would there be outrage? Of course not. The setup just makes little internal sense. All of a sudden we have to STOP putting aside all the stuff we were forced to for the sake of the premise.
Anyway, it’s all going to end up a big plot by Loki, which will get foiled once Thor wakes up from whatever daze he’s in (how exactly they either got Blake to go to Oklahoma OR got Thor on board once Blake got the hammer on his own, I dunno). He set the New Warriors up, yadda, yadda. Just like Acts of Vengance, he’s been pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Once it’s over, and it’s been revealed that half of the heroes have been played for fools, they’ll play with relationships and tension for a few months and things will revert back to norm.
It won’t involve Thanos, though. He’s involved in Annihliation, the other big summer event (in an IC format, with 4 minis leading into the main mini).
It’s more of an “if you’ve got powers or want to fight crime in costume” deal. It takes the Mutant Registration Act idea and expands it to include anyone with metahuman powers, regardless of whether it’s due to genetics or being bitten by radioactive spiders.
The proponents will harp on the fact that while you have to register, your identity is “only” given to the US Government and SHIELD. Stark and Parker didn’t have to reveal themselves, but did so as a move to gain public support for the legislation.
The opponents will remind people about how all it takes is some low-level government employee to accidentally lose a laptop with that information as if it was a list of veteran’s personal information to put the families of those who registered at risk.
Of course, there’s also the fact that the act creates a life-long draft for anyone with powers, even that mutant kid down the street whose only power is the ability to turn slightly green under a full moon.
Well, realistically, you don’t have to register if you aren’t going to use your powers publically. If you’re willing to, say, just stop being Spider-man, you don’t have to register, because Spider-man will just disappear from the world. It may still be illegal, but the goal of the law–to stop unregistered superheroes from being superheros–will still be met, and it’s not like they’ll come looking for you anyway.
This has been kinda inconsistently written throughout the series and the tie-ins.
Luke Cage was just sitting at home when SHIELD came busting through his door at the stroke of 12 and in Civil War #3, Iron man did set a trap for Cap’s secret Avengers.
I really hope they don’t do away with the entire development with some ludicrous macguffin like mind-control or an evil mastermind’s conspiracy. Flaws aside, the whole concept does seem to be able to shake up the Marvel universe the way decimation never could and Infinite Crisis seems to do. It’ll be nice for writers to explore these characters in a post-civil war world, provided of course, there’s a probably written resolution to this entire arc, however implausible the set-up actually is.
I really hope they don’t do away with the entire development with some ludicrous macguffin like mind-control or an evil mastermind’s conspiracy.
This is the current hot fanboy argument. Is there someone behind this?
I may never read a Marvel book again if there is. There has been no hint of some evil foozle behind the scenes. If they were to introduce one now from left field, it would totally diminish the impact of everything that has come before. And, it’s just poor writing to introduce the “killer” in the third act.
I have only recently returned to comics after a multi-year layoff. I will have no qualms returning to it.
Funk.
Would you drop a whole medium just because the dominant company writes a horrible storyline? Or just Marvel comics?
Well, in this week’s Frontline, some people seem to be gearing up to find the source of a conspiracy.
As in this week’s Wolverine. It’s becoming clear that, if the whole Nitro event wasn’t orchestrated (but I’m betting it was) that the situation was at least aggressively taken advantage of.
They’re really trying to work a lot of the real world reaction to 9/11 and such into Civil War, so it’ll be interesting if they pursue the angle that yeah, there was someone behind this all - but it wasn’t Loki or some evil mind-controling alien, but a well-meaning government of the united states.
This isn’t to say that I subscribe to any of the rumblings on the internet about 9/11 and I don’t want to open up that can of wriggling worms here. I’m just bringing it up because that’s the sort of thing I think they’re working towards with Civil War.
Yes, you can avoid registration if you had a secret identity (see Firestar). But you have to live the rest of your life in fear of either accidentally having the secret come out (even if you never used your powers, what if someone who knows sells you out?), or witnessing a crime/emergency and having to decide “Do I help and risk outing myself, or do I let it happen?”, or whatever.
This is Mark Millar after all. I’ve yet to see him depict an exercise of governmental authority as appropriate or justified.
After all, if you can’t trust anarchists, who can you trust?
Ok, fine, then my bigget problem is that no one knows what this retarded registration act means. When this first kicked off in another thread I wrote a long complaint about how completely implausible the registration act was, for exactly the reasons everyone’s brought up: “What about the kid that turns slightly green in a full moon?”, that sort of thing. The responses were where I came away with the idea that you only had to register if you wanted to be a superhero and fight crime, that anyone who just wanted to be left alone could. So like, you’ve got some powers, but you’re not a hero, you’re safe. Baby trapped in a burning building, go ahead and save them, a normal human would too. Bank robbery down the street, you’d probably better let that one go, that’d be more vigilante of you to get involved.
So then we get to this thread and I complain about how the act is actually very reasonable but no one’s portraying it as such, and everyone says it’s really as bad as I first thought. Not blaming you guys here, I don’t remember who said what, but the fact that there is no consensus, or that the consensus changes so completely, means the whole thing kinda sucks.
Would you drop a whole medium just because the dominant company writes a horrible storyline? Or just Marvel comics?
I would drop my Marvel titles - specifically everything that is/was touched by Civil War, which would leave me (of the titles I get) with Powers (Icon is Marvel) and Sqadron Supreme.
…there was someone behind this all - but it wasn’t Loki or some evil mind-controling alien, but a well-meaning government of the united states.
This is really where I hope they’re going with this. Having some foozle in the background pulling strings making this happen (with no clues as to it’s existance in the core Civil War book) is really poor form. Any book on writing, and any writing teacher will tell you that you don’t introduce the bad guy in the last act. And Millar et al should know better, and have proven themselves to be better than a cheap trick.
Funk.
Problem that I see immediately is that most comic writers are gigantic liberals. They, consciously or subconsciously, want the reg act to be viewed as the wrong choice, and therefore can’t really get into the mindset of “how the other half lives” to have those characters convincingly justify the act.
Again, see Mark Millar.
I’m predicting foozle. Loki was an excellent call. I just pulled Thanos out of my ass because of my fondness for the Infinity Gauntlet series, and Fin Fang Foom from Nextwave.
I’d LIKE there to be no foozle, but the unconvincing writing tells me that they don’t have it in 'em.