Civil War #4 was a little rough for most of us. There was Clone-Thor (although it is now referred to as a cyborg, go figure), the red-shirt death of Goliath, Sue leaving Reed for the anti-registration side and then there was the unveiling of new all-evil Thunderbolts. There were a lot of angry voices out there in the blogosphere, but for me Civil War #4 was “The ‘Meh’ Issue.”
Civil War #5, on the other hand, was “The ‘Fuck Yeah!’ Issue.”
(Psst! This is where the spoilers start.)
The first “Fuck Yeah!” comes as Spider-Man tells Iron Man just where he can stick his we-need-to follow-this-rule-no-matter-what douchebaggery.
Of course, I was hoping Spidey would at that point proceed to beat the shit out out the Iron Sell Out, but at least he did knock him through a wall before making his escape. That’s another “Fuck Yeah!” for the scoreboard.
And then there was the ultimate highpoint for me. Spider-Man, already severely wounded, is getting beat up by too third-tier villains (Jack O’ Lantern and the Jester) whom I have never read in a comic before, when he is saved by the ultimate badass/psycho of the Marvel Universe: The Punisher.
(I’d just like to take a moment to say I totally called that the ski-mask guy was none other than Frank Castle. I knew it! Although, I was afraid he would have been on the pro-registration side but it’s good to see him working with the good guys… uh, I mean, working with the resistance.)
Seeing those white boots and black tights was cool, but seeing him burst in on Captain America’s hideout, holding the bloody and broken Spider-Man made me yell out, you guessed it, “FUCK YEAH!”
The final moment of pure awesomeness comes as Daredevil is being ushered to his jail cell in the Negative Zone. Iron Douche somehow thinks he can convince Matt to join the sell-outs, even offering him the leadership position of his own super hero team. Daredevil, the supreme badass he is, has a gift for Tony: a silver dollar. When Stark asks what it means, Matt remarks that Tony now has thirty-one pieces of silver. DAMN! I didn’t know Daredevil had fire powers, cause Tony just got burned! And with a Biblical reference. Fuck yeah!
Of course, not everything was explicative and affirmations. There were plenty of awkward moments in the story.
Firstly, anyone who is not reading Amazing Spider-Man (which is more of a Civil War companion book than Frontline) would not understand the sudden confrontation between Spider-Man and Iron Man. This is going to suck for anyone waiting for the trade.
What is the deal with Tigra? Is working with the Punisher so bad that she would narc on her team mates and switch sides? Is Tirga the new Sue Richards? Now I understand why the other heroes didn’t want to work with the guy. He’s crazy. But it just doesn’t make sense for Tigra to betray the entire team over it, even before Cap decided on working with Castle in the first place. Or maybe she’s just ordering pizza.
I really hate how the phrase “final battle” is being used. Maybe it’s supposed to be somewhat metatextual, but it just reminds me of describing the plot structure of Star Wars when I was ten.
Another weird part is the explanation of the Fifty States Initiative. A superteam for every state, funded by taxpayer money? Firstly, this pretty much gives it away that the registration side looses because there is no way Marvel is going to add fifty more teams to the Marvel Universe. Although, I’d like to see who would get stuck on the Alabama or North Dakota teams.
Overall I really liked this issue. It was fun where the others were awkward. Or maybe I’m just too much of a Punisher fan-boy to know better. I’m looking forward to the next issue and Punisher War Journal now that Frank is back in the picture.
