Blog From The Bench

For the longest time now, I’ve been thinking about using these blogs to write about comics, which, along with movies, are one of my three great loves. (The third is, of course, roller derby.) I know this is kind of presumptuous of me, because I’m not the only judge who's a comic reader, and that comics have very little to do with DVDs, but I’m going to give it a shot anyway.

Civil War is currently the big crossover event at Marvel Comics. A "crossover" is a huge, multi-part epic in which all the various heroes come together in a single story. The first three issues are out, and I picked them up this week. This time, the big event isn’t a world-threatening villain, but a political issue dividing all the superheroes down the middle, forcing them to duke it out with each other. It’s a simple enough concept, but one that promises lasting repercussions, as these things so often do.

I’m still not entirely sold on Mark Millar as a writer. I’ve enjoyed some of his work, while I’ve failed to see what the excitement is about with others. Civil War is equally hit and miss. Millar really knows how to put together a big, cinematic action set piece, aided of course by artists Steve McNiven, Dexter Vines, and Morry Hollowell. Unfortunately, the core concept driving these heroes to battle one another seems forced, as does the reality TV-inspired incident that kicks the whole thing off.

Speaking of “forced,” one of the most-talked-about elements in Civil War has been a life-changing decision made by good old Spider-Man. I have to admit, I wasn’t shocked at all by what happened (notice how spoiler-free I'm being), because in my heart of hearts I know it won’t last. There’s either a big fake-out coming at the end of Civil War, or a year from now a new writer will take over and re-write history (again!) so that Spider-Man will go back to being the same old Spidey we all know and love. This also applies to that hideous red and gold costume he’s currently wearing.

On the plus side, Millar has wisely made Captain America the emotional center of Civil War, and I’m really enjoying all of Cap’s scenes. It looks to me like Millar really “gets” Captain America. Like DC’s Superman, Captain America can be a tough character to write, because he’s always the staunch do-gooder. Millar makes it work, though, by giving Cap something to believe in and to fight for, even if that something is a controversial one.

So there you have it. Three issues in, I’d recommend Civil War more for the butt-kickin’ action than the credibility-stretching plot, but at least it’s a cut above a lot of limp, unnecessary crossovers we’ve seen in recent years.