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I have a large collection of graphic novels as well as individual comics and if there is one thing I can't stand is when the comic book portion isn't the entire book. I don't mind cover art or interviews with the writers when it is the last few pages of the book but this comic is roughly 1/3 comic, then it is interviews, scripts etc that frankly I'm not interested in. These things are considered extra's but in this book they take up the majoity. The civil war story line is huge and it would have been a better book if they added the whole story in.Had I known this is how the book was done I would have never purchased it.
thought it would be much better than what it was hyped up to be, for some reason i got the story all wrong but when i read it it made perfect sense, was kind of weak to me, hopefully i'll be looking forward to better things from marvel as in the secret invasion, planet/world war hulk/ and this new dark reign event that i have to check out, the civil war story was very average, nothing over the top besides a certain figure dying, not a big name, just someone minor. For a major event like this in comics i would think the story would be over the top, im ashamed of mark millar and now curious about his future work, don't know much about him just from this civil war book but that's more than enough.
The action is spectacular. This book is very good. However the ending does feel a bit rushed, they should have added the Death of Captain America storyline to the end of Civil War. The plot is well formed and the story is captivating. As the heroes are split between registering and rebelling, friendships are lost, and even some families are torn apart. It helps if you read the Spiderman and Fantastic Four Civil war stories because they help add depth. Civil War Frontline is also an important read so that you understand Iron Man more.
Christmas Special. I also liked the focus on Iron Man and Captain America (especially the latter), although every other character felt a bit hard done by (including Mr. I'm pretty impressed by the core concept of Civil War - it is both ambitious and timely. I get the impression that if I dedicated myself to reading the seventeen-thousand other comic books in the continuity, it might be a richer experience, but it'd leave me a lot poorer. Fantastic, who got just enough page time to look like a total knob). Unfortunately, as a stand-alone title or a miniseries, Civil War doesn't have much more depth than a What If. Plus, with Secret Invasion and Secret Crisis on Infinite Ultimatums coming out, why bother. If Marvel really wants to give its megaseries 'events' a shelf life, they'll have to publish better than this.
The colors and inks are fantastic, and that's certainly a good thing with so many characters popping in and out at random. This is what he became known for, with his run on The Authority and Ultimates. The action scenes are nice too. That was a strong point for his "widescreen," post-modern superhero stories. The final issue, perhaps the worst, throws in random characters from other Civil War stories, be it Namor or Captain Marvel or whomever, without any clear explanation as to what they're doing there and why. For all the plot's faults (more on that later), it's Millar's awful, awful characterization that really brings the book down. And this of course is on top of Millar's awful dialogue.And then there's the plot.
Every character is a complete jerk who only speaks in sarcastic quips, and blindly follows whatever 'side' they've chosen. The Captain America here is the one he created from the Ultimates, a crazed militant jerk, not the noble hero we read in, say, Brubaker's current run.And every character is similar. Iron Man manipulates everyone around him; Peter Parker outs himself ().; Hank Pym is a villain; Sue Storm. well, ok, the art is nice in some parts, but not nearly enough to make up for it.
Let's get this out of the way: Millar writes some good action scenes. Like most everything else about this book, it's awful. Besides the fact that it's a ridiculous allegory for modern times, the pacing really throws everything off, with each conflict escalating and escalating until it's just numbing after a while. Throw in a needless death or two, a CLONE, a couple of deus ex machinas, and perhaps the most unsatisfying, illogical ending I've ever read, and there you have it: Civil War.The art is perhaps the best thing about this, but it is somewhat overrated. Characters chose their sides seemingly at random, and blindly duke it out with their best friends. But make no mistake; the dialogue is awful, the characterizations are completely off, the plot is full of laughably lame devices, and the art. One of the many glaring issues with Civil War is that he brings the same sensibilities to the Marvel Universe - and it's awful. But look closer at the non-action scenes, and you'll find ridiculously hyperbolic expressions that could only match Millar's over-the-top dialogue.
oh man, I don't even want to go there. The Punisher especially is laughable. Cover up the word balloons for a minute, and just look at it; some of it is seriously ridiculous, especially for a comic that claims to be so grounded in the 'real world.' It's hard to be objective in reviewing Civil War, because my memory of it is also laced with the crippling delays, and the other trash that writers like JMS and Bendis were putting out at the time. Highly recommended for you to avoid.
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