Civil War #5 Review

Civil War - #5

Synopsis: Invisible Woman and The Human Torch escape SHIELD pursuit. Nighthawk and Stature defect from Captain America's rebels to join the pro-goverment side. Meanwhile, Ironman confronts Spiderman about his intentions. Ironman wants to talk it out and Spiderman throws him through a wall. Spiderman tries to escape but is foiled by the reinforced windows in Stark Tower. SHIELD agents burst in and despite Ironman's objection, they fire on Spiderman, shattering the (apparently not all that) reinforced windows and throwing Spiderman onto the street (100 floors) below.

Spiderman flees from SHIELD and is captured by The Jester and Jack O Lantern who are now working for SHIELD. Punisher then appears and shoots them both in the head, killing them. He takes Spiderman to Captain America for medical treatment as the rebels plan their next move.

Daredevil is captured and Ironman attempts to reason with him. Tony finally explains what the "50 state initiative" is. There will be superhero teams assigned to each of the 50 states to keep it safe. Daredevil gives him a silver dollar saying that this is the silver he deserves as he is Judas.

Review: Okay, I'll say this now, I dun like Civil War. This is just so you know where I'm coming from. It's an interesting idea, but the implementation has been terrible. :( I find that a lot of the people who DO like Civil War are those who just are in love with the idea.

Here is my problem with Civil War, it's likes a teenager who thinks he's smarter than all the other teenagers and is an adult b/c he uses bigger words. All the hype about Civil War has been how "adult" it is, how it's not a "typical" superhero story, how "smart" it is, etc...

Except that, the "adult" way to deal with the a situation where the government and the public support a cause you disagree with is to take legal action, or to negotiate, or talk, or resign your commission in protest, or use political means, or VOTE.

The "angry teenage boy" way to deal with this is to beat people up and form a "rebellion". DOWN WITH THE GOVERNMENT!!!!

I guess that's my biggest problem. Civil War is at it's very heart an angry, lonely teenage boy's fantasy. Nething the government does is wrong. It's evil. It doesn't matter WHY they might do it, the government must be defeated! Regular people are the enemy! Marvel is hoping that their fanbase will associate with Cap America b/c they're rebels... it doesn't matter what they're rebelling against. Rebels are good guys right?

It's like Smallville. Lex Luthor tries to do good, but he's portrayed in a negative light b/c he's Lex Luthor and we all KNOW he's evil right? So even tho he doesn't DO evil things, since we KNOW he's evil (in the comics) everything he does is evil.

Since we KNOW the government is evil, and superheroes are good, therefore actions dun matter, the sides have alrdy been drawn.

So far, Ironman has tried his best to TALK to every hero who disagrees with him. He offers negotiation, he offers a truce, he offers a chance to sit down and discuss things. When he let his guard down to talk to Captain America, Captain America sucker punched him! :O

And yet that's portrayed as being good b/c REBELS ARE COOL!!!!

I'm extremely annoyed by Daredevil's accusation that Ironman is a traitor. Other parts of the book also imply that Ironman is a traitor for betraying the heros to the regular people. I rly hate this idea of "superheroes vs regular people". I thought they were here to protect us. I thought they WERE regular people too!

It goes back to what I was saying, that this is catering to ppl who are prolly feel that they are unpopular and would like to see themselves as rebelling against the mainstream, as being unfairly persecuted and being "better" than "normal people". :
Personally, I disagree with the idea of superhero registration. I feel it's like forcing ppl to get a badge just to be a good samaritan. But, I would at least try to talk this out with Ironman and the ELECTED GOVERNMENT and see if we could reach a compromise.

I certainly wouldn't harm and KILL PEOPLE who I disagreed with!

The whole point was that the public was becoming scared of superheroes b/c of the power they wield. So to prove that they're not a threat, they... go to war with each other, levelling buildings, blowing up city blocks and killing each other with their superpowers.

*sigh*

Aside from my problem with the CONCEPT, the plot has been moving VERY slowly... Infinite Crisis, for better or for worse, was jam packed with plot and action. Lots of things were happening and every issue had 4 or 5 "OMG" moments. So far in Civil War, nothing much has been happening. It's all just been about how much ppl dislike Ironman. He tries to talk to somebody and they hit him in the face.

This issue was the worst b/c even less happened. Most of it is Spiderman trying to escape SHIELD. :|

And back to the whole "teenage boy" mentality, Punisher says that Spiderman's "on our side now". Um.. since when? Spiderman had a falling out with Ironman, he didn't say he'd join the rebels. It's such an "us vs them" mentality to assume that if somebody disagrees with your enemy, they must agree with you! Maybe Spiderman doesn't want to be on either side now? Maybe he doesn't totally agree with you?

And that's my biggest problem. Civil War claims to be adult and mature and NOT a comic book story, and yet when it comes down to it is very MUCH a comic book story of the most simplistic sort. It's "rebels vs government", and the issue is black and white, all heroes are grouped into nice neat little groups. You either are for freedom or you're for the EVIL GOVERNMENT!

I'm sorry... I believe in freedom too, and as I said, I would be against a registration, but I dun believe that violence solves political problems.

I guess I just would like to believe that Superheroes would set a better example and be able to solve their differences by talking. I mean... that's why they're HEROES right? The villains are the ones who want to fight, not the heroes.

Or maybe that's just the DC Universe.

Angelwings Rating: 2/5
Recommendation: Get it if you like Civil War, or the direction of the Marvel Universe, or are alrdy reading the arc, not recommended if you aren't alrdy into it