Side Dishes

Well, my curiosity got the better of me and I took the plunge. Along with Infinite Crisis #7 and a few other titles, I bought Civil War #1.

SPOILERS follow, of course.

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The issue did have its moments. Johnny Storm getting beaten up outside the nightclub was one. The Baxter Building meeting felt a little creepy too. However, overall it felt rather familiar, mostly because the Stamford incident was strongly reminiscent of Kingdom Come's Kansas catastrophe -- right down to both being captured on TV.

Even so, I found myself wondering why something like this hadn't happened in the Marvel Universe before. Surely Galactus has caused major property damage and/or loss of life. What about that big dust-up between Count Nefaria and the Avengers in the '7os? What about Godzilla? Maybe the difference is the political climate.

Maybe the difference is in the details. Here the New Warriors were reckless, acting without thinking of the potential for civilian casualties, and without coordinating with the authorities, including other super-groups. Still, reactions on all sides seem a little disproportionate. Nitro -- the villain, right? -- willfully caused the explosion, which has to count for something. I understand that the Warriors should have called the Avengers, but the way the tragedy is set up, it sounds like a ratings chase turned horribly wrong, which doesn't seem to warrant sweeping federal legislation. It just doesn't have the impact that something involving the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, or the Avengers would, and in terms of story, that's where Civil War #1 starts to lose me.

Goliath's mentioning the Hulk, Wolverine, and something in Philadelphia also doesn't do much for someone like me who's not really aware of the latter two events. I only know about the Hulk because it happened in Fantastic Four a few months back. (Besides, aren't people used to the Hulk's carnage by now?) It might have been better to show those events in a prologue to the book, instead of assuming either that Civil War readers would have read about them already, or that dialogue alone would do the trick.

Speaking of dialogue (ha ha), some of it just falls flat. Both Goliath and Daredevil mention "the straw that broke the camel's back," and the minister's line about "careless super-people" didn't ring true at all. The distraught mother made some good points, but otherwise she was straight out of Jaws -- except, of course, for her line about "the blood of my little Damien." That reminded me of another classic '70s film.

(Really, "Damien?" Not Toby, or Brad, or Conner? Well, maybe not Conner....)

I did like the Captain America fighter-jet sequence, though. Sadly, it wasn't enough for me to continue with this miniseries. Like I said, the proof of its effectiveness will be measured in the regular books, which is where I'll be following it from here on out.

P.S. Infinite Crisis #7 was OK, I guess. I didn't like some plot points, and it was basically two big fight scenes. The art seemed kind of rushed, mostly due to four different pencillers and six inkers. Reading it felt like being on an out-of-control train desperately trying to lose speed as it pulled into the station. On the whole, I'm not sorry I read it, but I'm glad it's over.

Now I can recover from crossover fatigue.

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