“Civil War” Is Over. Thoughts?

Author: Daniel Brooks February 21st, 2007

9 Responses to ““Civil War” Is Over. Thoughts?”

1. AF Duncan Says:
   February 22nd, 2007 at 6:39 am

   You’re preaching to the choir here, man. I only read the first issue and I couldn’t even enjoy it on an ironic level because it took itself so dead seriously. A real eye roller of a book. And I’m not saying that if something is serious it’s automatically not fun. My feeling is that when anyone sets out to do anything with an obvious thematic goal in mind — especially something as preachy, heavy-handed, and obvious as “Civil War” — it just isn’t going to be successful.

2. BitterCupOJoe Says:
   February 22nd, 2007 at 7:27 am

   My main thought is “wasted potential.” Seriously, handed right, this could have been a great story. But between contradictions between the main title and nearly every other supporting title, continuity glitches between the same, bizarre characterizations, and the complete inability of the writers to write both sides without making one of them act like villains, it was ultimately doomed.

   It’s a real shame, and Civil War along with Infinite Crisis have kind of turned me off of comics, at least from the big two. I spent part of yesterday going down my pull list and crossing out the ones that just are not that gripping to me anymore. It’s not worth sitting through a crappy story arc in the hopes that it’ll get better in a month or two, particularly when there’s no plans to change the writers out.

   I think, ultimately, when we point back to either the death (and hopefully the rebirth) of comics, it will be when companies started (badly) planning their schedules around major crossover events. They don’t tend to bring in new permanent readers, since they’re so badly executed that they immediately turn off most new folks that come in, and if the writing doesn’t stop them, it’s the sheer volume of books required to keep up. On the other hand, older, established readers like myself tend to go, “Wait, WTF am I doing reading all this crap?” at the end of them. My sub list got cut in half yesterday, and probably more when I take another glance at it. There’s still a few superhero titles left on there, but only a few. That kind of pisses me off.

3. somejerk Says:
   February 22nd, 2007 at 7:31 am

   While on some levels I enjoyed it more than Infinite Crisis, I have to say the pacing seemed off, but if this were an Elseworld story I think I might enjoy it more.

   I’m not buying the Intiative unless I hear great things, only thing I’m looking forward to is where Captian America is going to go from here.

4. Daniel Brooks Says:
   February 22nd, 2007 at 7:45 am

   Here’s the thing. Infinite Crisis, even though it crashed and burned in the end, was pretty strong for the first couple of issues. It had a sense of grandeur and cosmic fun that for some reason, only DC seems to be able to pull off with these mega-events (I enjoyed Infinity Gauntlet, but that was a long time ago…). Yeah, Superman and Superboy punching through the glass wall was silly, but in the realm of comics, it was kind of cool! Civil War, on the other hand, takes itself SO seriously (As Duncan said).

   I had a long talk with a Marvel comics legend (who will remain nameless), and he pointed out that the writers of Civil War screwed up royally because he feels that they actually reversed the positions everyone would take: superhero registration isn’t like putting people in concentration camps or taking away civil liberties; it’s a form of gun control. So then, wouldn’t Captain America (the liberal) be in favor of that, and Iron Man (the conservative) be against it?

   Either way, it went out with a huge whimper. And what’s left in its wake? Spider-Man outed himself — a huge #$%@ing mistake that will be retconned at some point — and a forgettable story that for some reason sold oodles.

5. Daniel Brooks Says:
   February 22nd, 2007 at 7:53 am

   >>It’s a real shame, and Civil War along with Infinite Crisis have kind of turned me off of comics, at least from the big two. I spent part of yesterday going down my pull list and crossing out the ones that just are not that gripping to me anymore. It’s not worth sitting through a crappy story arc in the hopes that it’ll get better in a month or two, particularly when there’s no plans to change the writers out.<<

   You know, you bring up a good point. There’s something very 90s about what’s going on. Remember when comics were slowly on teh rebound about 5 years ago, and they made a concerted effort NOT to have crossovers. It was pretty refreshing to not have a summer X-event, Spider-event, etc., and just read some great stories.

   The big event books get a lot of media attention, which is good. But they should only be done every few years, otherwise you get the problems you talked about. It’s clear that the “event” is in DC’s business model now. Identity Crisis became Countdown became Infinite Crisis became 52 became the new Countdown thing they have planned. This is not going to end well.

6. Daniel Brooks Says:
   February 22nd, 2007 at 8:00 am

   >>I’m not buying the Intiative unless I hear great things, only thing I’m looking forward to is where Captian America is going to go from here.<<

   Somejerk, you should pick up the Marc Guggenheim Wolverine-Civil War trade. It was really good.

7. Stephen Gerding Says:
   February 22nd, 2007 at 8:17 am

   I’m feeling pretty pissed right now that I ordered 3 Civil War TPBs last month. Goddamn you, Marvel!!!

8. AF Duncan Says:
   February 22nd, 2007 at 9:18 am

   DC and Marvel will keep doing big events like this as long as people keep buying them and talking about them incessantly. Both companies have been heading this way for a number of years now and I believe it’s what they’re going to remain doing until a couple can’t-miss hits tank really, really hard. These event crossovers make buckets of money, they seem to actually bring in new readers, and people are buying them like hotcakes, so, like any entertainment corporation they’ll stick with what makes them the most money until it dries up.

   This is pretty predictable of me, but for a really interesting recent crossover check out Morrison’s Seven Soldiers. It’s flawed, but there are a lot of great moments and as a revisionist crossover it’s a fascinating experiment.

9. Richard Says:
   February 23rd, 2007 at 11:48 am

   Talk about the most anticliamtic ending of a comic series ever.

   Can you imagine if Captain America had the same response in World War II. Yeah, Hitler is bad, but let’s quit for the real estate. Blah.

   http://1rightopinion-comics.blogspot.com/

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