Civil War Journal – Week Six

Civil War II only has two tie-ins this week, but they are both worth your time. We’re surprised, too.

Welcome back to Civil War Journal, Bam Smack Pow’s weekly recap column of all things Civil War II. While we eagerly await the big death in next month’s Civil War II #3, Marvel checks in with Captain Marvel and the Inhumans this week.

Previously: Captain Marvel saved the world by using Inhuman predictions to defeat The Celestial Destructor, but when she tried to get Ulysses to set a trap for Thanos, War Machine was killed and She-Hulk was put in a coma. Iron Man took matters into his own hands by kidnapping Ulysses out of the Inhuman city, New Attilan, and a Manhattan battle was averted when everyone experienced Ulysses’s new vision that the Hulk was going to kill the Avengers.

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What happened? Captain Marvel has a date with War Machine, neither of them realizing it’s their last. She defends her decision to use Inhuman predictions to prevent The Celestial Destructor’s cataclysm to a mixed response from Alpha Flight’s Board Of Governors, then she’s too late to save a small town massacred by Kree geneticist Dr. Minerva. Standing amidst her failure, she vows to use Ulysses to prevent this happening again.

Was it good? No slight to the other writers who have shaped this character, but the team of Ruth Fletchers Gage and Christos Gage has delivered the best Captain Marvel issue I have ever read. The character comes across with warmth, maturity, skill, and the capacity to lose. Her love scene with War Machine was tragic because we know he’s doomed, but it was romantic and funny and warm and empowered. Bendis made a great case for why Captain Marvel is so tired of near-miss apocalypses that she’d sign on for this awful plan to use Ulysses to shape strategy, but the Gages make a stronger case by showing how personally she takes it when she loses. I am excited to read this side of the bigger story, and I hope they stay on board after the War is over.

Recommendation: Get it. I promise, it makes you roll your eyes less at the absurdity of the premise in the main book.

What happened? The Inhumans are upset that Medusa takes them home from Tony Stark’s place without a fight, but she explains that fighting in the streets could cause unforeseen damage and would hurt the Inhumans’ reputation at a time where they need human support. Instead, she sets all of her Royal Council toward learning everything that Tony Stark loves and destroying it – leaking emails, blowing up private cars, using new Inhuman Mosaic to steal all his money. They’re careful not to harm any employees or the world economy. One man transgressed against them, and Medusa is a wise queen who will destroy that man, but only him. Unfortunately, Triton loses faith in her, talks to Maximus the Mad, and blows up Stark Tower against his queen’s orders.

Was it good? I don’t love the Inhumans titles, no matter how much Marvel tells me I do. But I loved this book. The revenge seems important to the story of Civil War II, and the book told it in a  way that blended a great heist movie with the complicated morality of Game Of Thrones.

Recommendation: Get it. If the destruction of Stark Tower doesn’t turn up in any of the other books, I will let you off the hook, but this is the first time the Inhumans have lived up to the hype.

Tie-In Round-Up:

Recommended: The main series, of course, with preludes from the zero issue and the Free Comic Book Day pages. Also Captain America: Sam Wilson, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel and Uncanny Inhumans.

Good but not top tier: Civil War II: Amazing Spider-Man, Civil War II: Choosing Sides (but only the Damage Control story), Civil War II: Gods Of War, Civil War II: Ulysses, Civil War II: X-Men, Deadpool, International Iron Man, Nova, New Avengers, Totally Awesome Hulk, The Ultimates

Not good: None yet, but Choosing Sides has potential to drop here soon.

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