Civil War #1-7

Civil War #1-7

Originally released in 2006

Written by Mark Millar

Art by Steve McNiven

Civil War is one of those comics that I'd seen snippets of, but I hadn't read through the full thing.  Almost immediately, I ran into the same problem that I ran into with The Ultimates - almost everyone is an awful person.  The New Warriors, who kick off the incident by starting a supervillain brawl in the middle of a populated area, are glory-hungry losers who are more concerned with appearances and ratings rather than saving lives.  Iron Man takes a flying leap into "fascist dictator" with his plans to create a prison in a hell dimension in order to arrest his friends and allies, while Captain America comes across as stubborn and unreasonable, unwilling to accept even the slightest compromise. (this and The Ultimates were both written by Mark Millar, so maybe I just don't like Mark Millar's work)

Even random citizens come across as being awful, awful people, between the people pictured above claiming that the genocidal Sentinels are good guys who are keeping an eye on those awful, awful X-Men (who are helping out with recovery efforts after the New Warriors' fight goes horribly wrong) and people at a club calling the Human Torch a "baby killer" because... he's a superhero, and the New Warriors were superheroes, so all superheroes are baby killers, apparently?  I get that, in the aftermath of a tragedy, people are going to be irrational, lashing out at anyone who they can possibly blame, but it doesn't paint a good picture of Marvel's Earth.

Making it even worse is that, from what I've read, the intended viewpoint here is that Iron Man's side is in the right, turning it into a story of the "haves" vs. the "have-nots" where we're expected to root for the "haves".  The people supporting the superhuman registration act that arises in the aftermath of the New Warriors disaster are almost entirely rich, well-connected people whose identities are already public, so they have nothing to lose, while the anti-registration side is largely lower or middle class who have friends, allies, and loved ones that will inevitably be targeted once their identities become public.

Not helping matters is how some of the events of this story become so much worse with hindsight, such as SHIELD shooting a black teenager for stopping a robbery less than 24 hours after the registration act becomes law, or how Iron Man justifies a Thor clone killing Goliath (one of his former employees and long-time friends) by saying that Thor behaved exactly as a police officer would. (with Goliath being an unarmed black man - to add insult to injury, Goliath is buried in chains for no apparent reason)

This story also starts a domino effect that damaged the Spider-Man brand for years to come, or decades at the rate this is going - to demonstrate how committed he is to the idea of superhero registration, Spider-Man unmasks on television and states his name, despite previously stating how it would be a bad idea and that Aunt May and Mary Jane would immediately become targets.  After the death of Goliath, Peter has second thoughts about registration and quits, and surprising absolutely nobody, Aunt May and Mary Jane immediately become targets, with Aunt May being shot, Peter being forced to make a deal with the devil to save her at the cost of his marriage, and editorial doing its best to act like Peter and Mary Jane were never a popular relationship (despite massive fan outcry against the decision to split them up) ever since.

Reed Richards, one of the major figures of the pro-registration side, also isn't written well here, with him coming across as robotic and completely uncaring about the world around him.  Shortly after being called a baby killer, Johnny Storm (his teammate, friend, and brother-in-law) is attacked and hospitalized, and Black Panther shows more concern for Johnny than Reed does.  Even when he's writing an apology letter to Sue when all is said and done, he comes across as robotic and detached when trying to be heartfelt.

Then there's Maria Hill, who is willing and eager to arrest every single superhero that she comes across, even before the registration act is passed.  She meets with Captain America to discuss the proposed registration act (which, she specifically states, won't become a law for at least a month) and immediately orders an army of SHIELD troops to shoot him when he isn't comfortable with the idea of arresting his friends or blindly and unquestioningly obeying orders from the government. (with Hill claiming that Steve's not following the law seconds after stating that it's not a law yet)  The closest thing that she gets to comeuppance is that she's demoted from being the commander of SHIELD to being the deputy commander.

The story is well-drawn and paced, with the seven issues going by quickly and having some amazing artwork, while spreading out the panels to let the bigger moments have pages all to themselves. (though the artwork can be gratuitously fan-servicey at times, like an infamous shot where the pro-registration heroes are discussing how Captain America sided against the idea of registration while the focus of the panel is She-Hulk's butt, taking away from the seriousness of the conversation)  The moment where Hercules faces off with the Thor clone and avenges Goliath's death was a highlight.

My main problem is that it's difficult to root for anyone when everyone seems difficult to like.  I found myself sympathizing with Captain America's side, since by the end of the story, Iron Man and SHIELD have turned New York into a fascistic police state, but Captain America offers no real alternatives to registration and comes across as being unwilling or unable to talk things out and try to find a solution.  Spider-Man comes across as fickle and impulsive - maybe his mindset is made clearer in his solo series, but in the main Civil War storyline, he switches sides every other issue and does something that he's argued against for years (revealing his identity and putting the lives of his loved ones at risk) because Iron Man has a talk with him off-screen.

Even Iron Man, who's supposedly in the right throughout all of this, has to keep telling himself "we're doing the right thing" as he's herding some of his oldest friends into Negative Zone prisons, recruiting homicidal lunatics to serve as enforcers, and not even considering how an act that could require superheroes to reveal their identities to the government could go wrong when shapeshifters, spies, hypnotists, and all kinds of other supervillains who could get access to that information exist.  I get that they're trying to have a more mature, nuanced take on the idea of superheroes and having power without oversight, but it falls into the same sort of trap that the Ultimates did, where "more mature" becomes "almost everyone is an awful human being," and that kind of cynicism doesn't appeal to me.