Stephanie Kay
Oct 13, 2007, 10:20 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=10174"_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/cwcst.jpg" align=left hspace=10 alt="Civil War: Choosing Sides"></a> Reviewer: Mike Sangregorio, darquehex@gmail.com
Nothing good comes from bureaucracy. It’s a rat cage of illogic from which no one emerges intact…
Writers: Marc Guggenheim, Robert Kirkman, Ed Brubaker & Matt Fraction, Mike Oeming, Ty Templeton, Jim McCann
Pencillers: Leinil Yu, Phil Hester, David Aja, Scott Kolins, Roger Langridge, Alex Chung
Inkers: Ande Parks, M3th
Colorists: Dave McCaig, Bill Crabtree, Matt Hollingsworth, Brian Reber, J. Brown, Rob Ruffolo
Letters: Joe Caramagna, David Lanphear
Editors: Tom Brevoort, Aubrey Sitterson, Warren Simons, Andy Schmidt, Molly Lazer, Nicole Boose
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (http://www.marvel.com)
If there had been anything in this issue worth spoiling, I’d warn you about it now.
This week fans saw a few of the harsher casualties of war, namely the six stories contained in the one-shot Civil War: Choosing Sides. In the wake of the main Civil War book’s much delayed shipping schedule, tie-in issues of other books whose stories grew out of developments in the main book were also pushed back and as a result Marvel graciously filled the gaps in their shipping schedule with, well, whatever it is that they could grab.
Regardless of whether or not you are a fan of the characters and creators showcased here, it is hard to argue that this handful of extraneous CW tales are anything but quickie primers for the first volley of books and stories spinning out of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s damn-near-perfect-crossover. The exception is the sixth and final “A New Light” story which is connected to the New Avengers/Guiding Light crossover that is taking place on November 1st. I don’t understand what this story is doing in this book, nor what this crossover is even doing existing, but hey if I wrote this issue I’d just have tried to resurrect Mar-Vell and Ben Reilly.
If you continue to be a fan of the House of Idea’s latest foray into mega-events then you have seen Captain America take on the United States Government and form the Secret Avengers (I love that name, anyone else with me on having it replace New Avengers?) , Peter Parker tell the world that he has “been Spider-Man since he was fifteen years old,” Thor seemingly return and kill Goliath and, this reviewer’s personal favorite, the Thunderbolts receive a serious reboot in an attempt to return the groundbreaking team to its former glory.
While Choosing Sides is short on Thor clones, it does serve up Venom’s recruitment into the T-Bolts, and answers to such burning (as in “it burns when I pee”) questions as “what has Howard the Duck been doing while the world goes to hell the way he always said it would?” He’s sitting pretty in Cleveland, attacking the bureaucracy involved in getting no-name superhumans to register with SHIELD. It’s fun for the whole family! In all honesty, a new story featuring Steve Gerber’s feisty fowl was the initial reason I had intended to pick this issue up, but it wasn’t even worth the cover price.
For fans of yellow slippers there is an Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction story that explains (kind of) why Danny Rand-Iron Fist-Daredevil is on the Secret Avengers and not Matt Murdock. Outside of plugging the DD title proper, this leads into the duo’s Immortal Iron Fist monthly that should drop any day now.
What’s that you say? How dare Marvel green-light another book starring that 1970s throwback while also canceling Robert Kirkman’s hilarious (albeit disjointed), romp through the world in Marvel Team-Up? For those of you who said this or something like it, you may want to give The Irredeemable Ant-Man a try. Me, though, I’m going to wait and hold out for a Darkhawk led League Of Losers 2099 ongoing.
Next up is Mike Oeming/Scot Kolins’ USAgent story. That good old boy, and all around schmuck, John Walker gets beat up by the often overused Purple Man. Then he gets sent to Canada by Iron Man to join Alpha Flight/Omega Flight. With Beta Ray Bill. It’s OK, take a minute. Let that sink in, and then draw your own conclusions.
The art for this issue is not a great example of any of these artists; strengths. I believe Kolins’ arc comes out on top, but what attracts the eye the most is Lenil Yu’s Venom. Why? Because it’s bad. Don’t worry about being crafty or considerate with your critiquing of the art. Instead try imagining the Marvel brain trust calling together every creator who wasn’t behind schedule or on a well-received Ultimate book (sorry Ultimate X-Men fans) and begged them to pad the shipping date.
Now, I know what some of you are saying. “That’s Venom! He’s gonna be in a movie, and Beyond! is awesome and OMG I want to read T-Bolts 110!” After I saw that last page of Civil War #4 I began buying up every T-Bolt appearance not written by Fabian Niciezia that I had missed since dropping the book after its centennial issue. This eight page story gives you nothing outside of one good picture of the man in black himself. What surprised me most was that when I went to my local comic shop, I was told no copies were left because all the copies that had been ordered were given to people who had bought Civil War proper.
Maybe that’s the point of this book, to trick people into buying what they think is Civil War #4.5, but honestly I don’t know. This issue provided a few quirky one-shots and a few tie-in stories, along with part of a daytime soap. If you want to be a completist, go ahead, but really, there is nothing you haven’t seen before. There are, though, worst things you could do than spend your money on that beautiful Lenil Yu cover.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/capfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/capfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/caphalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/capnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/capnone.jpg
Support Captain America and buy Civil War comics online now from X-WORLD and save! ( http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=21398)
Nothing good comes from bureaucracy. It’s a rat cage of illogic from which no one emerges intact…
Writers: Marc Guggenheim, Robert Kirkman, Ed Brubaker & Matt Fraction, Mike Oeming, Ty Templeton, Jim McCann
Pencillers: Leinil Yu, Phil Hester, David Aja, Scott Kolins, Roger Langridge, Alex Chung
Inkers: Ande Parks, M3th
Colorists: Dave McCaig, Bill Crabtree, Matt Hollingsworth, Brian Reber, J. Brown, Rob Ruffolo
Letters: Joe Caramagna, David Lanphear
Editors: Tom Brevoort, Aubrey Sitterson, Warren Simons, Andy Schmidt, Molly Lazer, Nicole Boose
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (http://www.marvel.com)
If there had been anything in this issue worth spoiling, I’d warn you about it now.
This week fans saw a few of the harsher casualties of war, namely the six stories contained in the one-shot Civil War: Choosing Sides. In the wake of the main Civil War book’s much delayed shipping schedule, tie-in issues of other books whose stories grew out of developments in the main book were also pushed back and as a result Marvel graciously filled the gaps in their shipping schedule with, well, whatever it is that they could grab.
Regardless of whether or not you are a fan of the characters and creators showcased here, it is hard to argue that this handful of extraneous CW tales are anything but quickie primers for the first volley of books and stories spinning out of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s damn-near-perfect-crossover. The exception is the sixth and final “A New Light” story which is connected to the New Avengers/Guiding Light crossover that is taking place on November 1st. I don’t understand what this story is doing in this book, nor what this crossover is even doing existing, but hey if I wrote this issue I’d just have tried to resurrect Mar-Vell and Ben Reilly.
If you continue to be a fan of the House of Idea’s latest foray into mega-events then you have seen Captain America take on the United States Government and form the Secret Avengers (I love that name, anyone else with me on having it replace New Avengers?) , Peter Parker tell the world that he has “been Spider-Man since he was fifteen years old,” Thor seemingly return and kill Goliath and, this reviewer’s personal favorite, the Thunderbolts receive a serious reboot in an attempt to return the groundbreaking team to its former glory.
While Choosing Sides is short on Thor clones, it does serve up Venom’s recruitment into the T-Bolts, and answers to such burning (as in “it burns when I pee”) questions as “what has Howard the Duck been doing while the world goes to hell the way he always said it would?” He’s sitting pretty in Cleveland, attacking the bureaucracy involved in getting no-name superhumans to register with SHIELD. It’s fun for the whole family! In all honesty, a new story featuring Steve Gerber’s feisty fowl was the initial reason I had intended to pick this issue up, but it wasn’t even worth the cover price.
For fans of yellow slippers there is an Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction story that explains (kind of) why Danny Rand-Iron Fist-Daredevil is on the Secret Avengers and not Matt Murdock. Outside of plugging the DD title proper, this leads into the duo’s Immortal Iron Fist monthly that should drop any day now.
What’s that you say? How dare Marvel green-light another book starring that 1970s throwback while also canceling Robert Kirkman’s hilarious (albeit disjointed), romp through the world in Marvel Team-Up? For those of you who said this or something like it, you may want to give The Irredeemable Ant-Man a try. Me, though, I’m going to wait and hold out for a Darkhawk led League Of Losers 2099 ongoing.
Next up is Mike Oeming/Scot Kolins’ USAgent story. That good old boy, and all around schmuck, John Walker gets beat up by the often overused Purple Man. Then he gets sent to Canada by Iron Man to join Alpha Flight/Omega Flight. With Beta Ray Bill. It’s OK, take a minute. Let that sink in, and then draw your own conclusions.
The art for this issue is not a great example of any of these artists; strengths. I believe Kolins’ arc comes out on top, but what attracts the eye the most is Lenil Yu’s Venom. Why? Because it’s bad. Don’t worry about being crafty or considerate with your critiquing of the art. Instead try imagining the Marvel brain trust calling together every creator who wasn’t behind schedule or on a well-received Ultimate book (sorry Ultimate X-Men fans) and begged them to pad the shipping date.
Now, I know what some of you are saying. “That’s Venom! He’s gonna be in a movie, and Beyond! is awesome and OMG I want to read T-Bolts 110!” After I saw that last page of Civil War #4 I began buying up every T-Bolt appearance not written by Fabian Niciezia that I had missed since dropping the book after its centennial issue. This eight page story gives you nothing outside of one good picture of the man in black himself. What surprised me most was that when I went to my local comic shop, I was told no copies were left because all the copies that had been ordered were given to people who had bought Civil War proper.
Maybe that’s the point of this book, to trick people into buying what they think is Civil War #4.5, but honestly I don’t know. This issue provided a few quirky one-shots and a few tie-in stories, along with part of a daytime soap. If you want to be a completist, go ahead, but really, there is nothing you haven’t seen before. There are, though, worst things you could do than spend your money on that beautiful Lenil Yu cover.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/capfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/capfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/caphalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/capnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/capnone.jpg
Support Captain America and buy Civil War comics online now from X-WORLD and save! ( http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=21398)