Why I Heart Civil War

Why I Heart Civil War

Aug 02

I would like to claim that I had these thoughts as I bounded across the country with my buddy Bri in a U-Haul, cranking our favorite Jerky Boys routines and gawking at the splendor of our nation. Instead, I had them weeks ago. Fuck me.

I think Civil War may shake out to be the best big-ass mainstream comics crossover of all time. Here is why.

1) It is that rarest of things, at its heart–it is a CHARACTER-driven story. The plot mechanics aren’t even that innovative, as any regular comics reader knows. Governmental registration of heroes is a common trope that gets trotted out pretty frequently, especially by Marvel. But the central question of the crossover–to register, or not to register?–is completely character-motivated. Captain America will not register; Iron Man leads the pro-registration brigade. This says fundamental things about them as characters and is a decision made not because some strange outer space goon is terrorizing the planet, but because circumstances require introspection, the exploration of each hero’s values. Fan out into the tie-in books, and that character-driven storytelling continues. Amazing Spider-Man takes us inside Peter Parker’s brain as he unmasks and fights against the unregistered heroes. Wolverine follows Logan as he hunts down the man repsonsible for the Stamford explosion; in essence, he does the only thing that makes sense to him, which is to hunt down the bad guy and make them pay. These are all stories where action doesn’t define character; character defines action. Has that EVER happened in a crossover? Me think not.

2) Fundamentally, it’s still got a zing of zany Marvelness to it. Last issue, with that first big superhero conflagration–I loved it that Captain America wouldn’t even listen to Iron Man’s reasoning. He just put that wacky techno googaw on Iron Man’s hand and the fight was ON. It made me think of the classic early Marvel stories of the sixties and seventies, where some silly misunderstanding and lack of communication would lead to a battle between two heroes. That’s good shit.

So it’s got more depth than your average superhero crossover, but at the same time, it’s as bang-up goofy as the best of them. And that is why I heart it. HEART it.

More soon. I have pictures of Chewbacca in New Mexico from my drive that MUST be shared.