Whoa! (Civil War and "I'm Back")
Let me just say -
The last two months of the semester were a bit too intense for me. Especially with this "dissertation thing."
Reviews will start up again, now that I have a summer break. Except that I will be working over the summer in a small town with no comic store. I'll find a way.
A few thoughts on Marvel's Civil War:
JMS (J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5 and current writer on Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man) keeps insisting that "there is no right or wrong side" in this debacle. Yet he sends very mixed messages about this.
For example, he has said
in the first Spidey issue of mine that actually deals
straight-on with the topic, I went to considerable pains to spell out
exactly why the senators and others involved with this genuinely
believe they're right in doing so...and some of their points even Peter
can't argue with.
and late he claimed
And that was the job of the story, to make sure that both sides were
presented as honestly as possible, with each having legitimate reasons
for believing what they believe, not because they want to take over the
planet or advance some evil cause.
However, what do we make of this statement, made in the midst of defending "no right or wrong side" of the story?
there have been any number of Gallup
polls and others that ask straight up, "Would you be willing to
sacrifice some of your liberties in exchange for better national
security?" and the majority of those polls have, sadly in my view, come
back in the positive.
What do we make of this? It seems there is a right and wrong side after all. Given other statements made by JMS (such as his defense of Michael Moore as an accurate presenter of the unbiased truth) and Mark Millar's constant refrains of Bush hate, that Civil War will likely turn out to be yet another volley in the "current administration bad, liberals good" war of words.
Whatever. As recent track records show, DC puts out better mega-crossover anyway. Marvel seems best at small, intimate tales. But I should withhold final judgment until the whole thing has finally come out. But I don't hold up any hope.
The last two months of the semester were a bit too intense for me. Especially with this "dissertation thing."
Reviews will start up again, now that I have a summer break. Except that I will be working over the summer in a small town with no comic store. I'll find a way.
A few thoughts on Marvel's Civil War:
JMS (J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5 and current writer on Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man) keeps insisting that "there is no right or wrong side" in this debacle. Yet he sends very mixed messages about this.
For example, he has said
in the first Spidey issue of mine that actually deals
straight-on with the topic, I went to considerable pains to spell out
exactly why the senators and others involved with this genuinely
believe they're right in doing so...and some of their points even Peter
can't argue with.
and late he claimed
And that was the job of the story, to make sure that both sides were
presented as honestly as possible, with each having legitimate reasons
for believing what they believe, not because they want to take over the
planet or advance some evil cause.
However, what do we make of this statement, made in the midst of defending "no right or wrong side" of the story?
there have been any number of Gallup
polls and others that ask straight up, "Would you be willing to
sacrifice some of your liberties in exchange for better national
security?" and the majority of those polls have, sadly in my view, come
back in the positive.
What do we make of this? It seems there is a right and wrong side after all. Given other statements made by JMS (such as his defense of Michael Moore as an accurate presenter of the unbiased truth) and Mark Millar's constant refrains of Bush hate, that Civil War will likely turn out to be yet another volley in the "current administration bad, liberals good" war of words.
Whatever. As recent track records show, DC puts out better mega-crossover anyway. Marvel seems best at small, intimate tales. But I should withhold final judgment until the whole thing has finally come out. But I don't hold up any hope.
posted by John Phelan at
9:42 AM
7 Comments:
I discovered your blog a few weeks ago and read through a lot of the archives while waiting for a new post.
Because of Mark Millar's downright insults while talking about this book, I have decided to not buy Civil War at all. Or any tie-ins. Calling Americans stupid and demonzing people and institutions I believe in does not make me want to buy his product. "BushisHitlerBushisHitlerBushisHitler" has got to be the worst advertising campaign I have ever heard--and I consider everything the writer says during an interview about the book part of the advertising.
I also have to wonder why he left his socialized medicine paradise and came to America for treatment when his wife was on the line.
By
Anonymous, at 11:08 PM
*life not wife
By
Anonymous, at 10:57 AM
Welcome to the blog!
Anyway, Millar is a talented writer, but his outside political obnoxiousness an trashing of American grates on my nerves.
Plus "Hulk Straight!" has to be one of the worst moments in comics ever.
By
John Phelan, at 2:15 PM
Well, the pro-masks side seems to want to uphold the "tradition" of lone heroes, but if a law is passed how do they just get to ignore it? Seems alittle anti-democratic of them to say that they know better than the voters.
Regardless, did you see the last page of Moonknight 2? There's this stuff, mental analysis of some agent I guess,the subject is labeled with arrows and he's a racist, a rapists, a homopobe (sp?), and he's a Republican that supports Bush or something. I guess there's one book I won't buy anymore.
By
genie junkie, at 7:05 PM
I didn't notice that on the last page of MK #2 until you pointed it out to me. Hmmm...
I wonder if that's in the script, or something the artist added?
By
John Phelan, at 11:46 AM
I'm coming from the perspective that it seems logical that a Marvel universe would start giving a hairy eyeball to the non-mutant superheroes after so many years of harrassing the mutants with giant purple robots, neutralizer guns and "Mutant Registration" acts. It had to happen sooner or later.
However, I'm also leary of this Left-wing bias which has been in the medium so far. Having every other blogger praising these guys gets so old, so I found this blog to be a nice contrast. My fear is that Civil War will be yet the latest in a trend of comicbook publishers carrying water for the "US is Nazi Germany" crowd.
By
Anonymous, at 4:21 AM
If anything “Civil War” has convinced me that I will not only no longer be buying this title but ANY Marvel comic or spend any of my money on any MEG production. I’m not at all a fan of Mark Millar’s constant reinterpretations of Marx/Engle’s “The Communist Manifesto”.
By
Anonymous, at 2:03 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home