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Civil War #1
Book Released: 03 May 2006
Review posted: 08 May 2006
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Steve McNiven
Publisher: Marvel Comics
5.00 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Adam White
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Civil War is upon us and, unlike Marvel’s more recent crossovers (like the perpetually $#!%%y House of
M), this one lives up to its name and delivers. Yes, you read that right, true believer — I liked a Marvel
crossover event.
Mark Millar utilizes the “crossover event” form to its fullest extent, finally giving all of these Marvel
characters a reason to be together that actually impacts everyone’s status quo. While past crossovers have taken
places in alternate realities and fallen prey to other bogus, lazy devices that prevented any real change, Civil War
#1 starts with a bang (literally) and begins a quickly moving downward spiral, the likes of which these heroes have never
Mark Millar utilizes the “crossover event” form to its fullest extent, finally giving
all of these Marvel characters a reason to be together that actually impacts everyone’s status quo.
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truly faced head on. Millar allows each of the numerous characters their own personalities and never suffers the
“crossover sameness” problem other writers have stumbled upon when writing these events. Millar skips all the things
you can assume happened on your own, focusing on the characters themselves and their reactions to the new registration
legislation. Tony Stark and Reed Richards (who I now refer to as Traitor 1 and Traitor 2) continue championing registration,
while Captain America declares himself for the opposite side in about as big a way as he possibly can — the scene
with Cap on the SHIELD Helicarrier alone is worth the price of the book. I finished reading Civil War #1 and had a
genuine excitement that was the same feeling I had as a kid seeing my favorite characters cross over for the first time and,
to me, that is the only way to measure the true success of one of these event things. The only slight complaint I had of the
issue was the fact that Marvel released the opening scene as a preview beforehand, and it took away some of the impact
when reading the issue.
I have followed Steve McNiven since he was an understudy at Crossgen, all through his magnificent run on
I finished reading Civil War #1 and had a genuine excitement that was the same feeling I
had as a kid seeing my favorite characters cross over for the first time.
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Meridian (which I still miss, by the way), and have tried to follow his Marvel work but my hatred of New
Avengers has hampered that somewhat. However, McNiven has outdone himself on Civil War and produced the work of
his career thus far. McNiven’s Cap and Iron Man are fantastic, which is good considering they are the central
characters of the story, and he makes everyone from Speedball to Uatu look the best they have in years (if not ever). The
art was as exciting as the story and gave the series the high-quality cinematic feel that makes an event and event. McNiven
is top notch, and I can’t wait to see where the future takes him.
If you have ever loved any Marvel characters at any point in your life, you need to read Civil War. This series
will truly impact the lives and stories of every character in the Marvel Universe for a long time to come and give the Marvel
books as a whole a much-needed, long-overdue overhaul. I am a big supporter of well-written, wide-reaching change that
positively affects storytelling possibilities, and Civil War fits that bill in a way no other series has in a long
time. Yes, some of you may point to Infinite Crisis, but that series was poorly executed and filled with trite fan
service that made absolutely no sense whatsoever (although some of the OYL books are good). Civil War left me on the
edge of my seat and made me excited to be a Marvel fan. Go read this and see how crossovers should be done.
I would also like to mention Joe Quesada’s greeting to “new readers”
Civil War left me on the edge of my seat and made me excited to be a Marvel fan.
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at the end of the book, in which he mentions several trades that would interest potential fans. Civil War has been getting a lot of media coverage and could clue people in to the fact that comics aren’t for kids anymore and win them over with a great story and art. While Joe offers up the usual suspects in his reading suggestions, he also champions Dan Slott’s She-Hulk, and I want to personally thank him for introducing one of my favorite books to new customers. Thank you, Joe.
Excelsior!
—CCdC—
Cover image used without explicit permission in accordance with the "Fair Use" provision of US copyright law.
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