Civil War Journal – Week Seven

Civil War II ties in to six books this week, including the start of the Kingpin crime miniseries and what looks like a goodbye to Bruce Banner.

Welcome back to Civil War Journal, Bam Smack Pow’s weekly recap column of all things Civil War II. Before somebody really important dies in next week’s Civil War II #3, Marvel is checking in with the Hulks, the Inhumans, the X-Men, a Captain America, Spider-Woman, and the criminal element.

Previously: Captain Marvel used new Inhuman Ulysses for his precognitive powers. Everyone loved it when she helped prevent The Celestial Destructor from destroying reality, but the heroes are divided in their comfort about using these poorly understood visions again.

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What happened? Karnak shows Ulysses around the tower and introduces him to a bizarre menagerie of Inhumans, finally scaring him badly enough to generate a vision of a terrible plane crash.

Was it good? Yes, a surprising improvement from the first issue. The creepy new Inhumans have grotesque powers in an array of body horror, and it sets a tone for this gang that Morrison did for mutants during his X-Men run. Readers can really understand why the average Joe in the Marvel Universe is uncomfortable with these guys around in a way that Medusa and Crystal just don’t communicate.

Recommendation: It’s not making my top-tier group yet, but oh, is it close.

What happened? Sam Wilson listens to the arguments from Iron Man and Captain Marvel. Turns out most of the heroes are avoiding these two because they remember how awful choosing sides was in the last Civil War. Sam likes Carol Danvers more as a person and loves her enthusiasm but knows that her predictive strategy amounts to profiling and hates that she still can’t really explain how she knows Ulysses is always right. He likes what Tony Stark has to say, but he finds the man insufferable and is insulted when Tony offers him a bribe. So in the end, he records a YouTube video: “My position on profiling the future? @#$& NO.”

Was it good? Yes, very. Nick Spencer is careful to offer balanced views of the argument, explaining why reasonable superheroes would follow one side or the other while clearly supporting Sam’s choice (because the losing side of Minority Report is going to be an impossible sell). Tony says that the best guess for how Ulysses’s power works is a probability algorithm, something that has been said in several of the tie-ins but is absolutely not what we’ve seen in Bendis’s Civil War II series.

Recommendation: Top-tier. This book covers ground on both sides of the battle and even validates some of the tie-ins by explaining that everyone has different theories of Inhuman predictive methods.

What happened? Jessica Drew wants no part of her best friend’s war with Iron Man, but Carol needs her to vet some of Ulysses’s visions. She’s sure the big ones come true, but she understands the shaky morality of using intel that’s not a hundred percent. Jessica reluctantly agrees to take the job.

Was it good? The issue was a delight, with the snappy dialogue Dennis Hopeless always puts into this book and the most creative panel usage Javier Rodriguez has done yet, and that’s a high bar. It’s reassuring to see Captain Marvel doubting herself when so many of the other books have had her unhappy but convinced she’s doing the right thing.

Recommendation: It doesn’t seem important enough to the main series to include. Even if Jessica finds damning evidence (which she could do by reading pretty much any of the tie-in books – throw a dart at your pull list, Detective Drew), the summer crossover is contingent on Captain Marvel staying on her own side of the battle line, so it can’t have an impact. But it promises to have great impact on Jessica’s book, regardless of what she finds, and this is a great book you all should be reading anyway.

What happened: Nightcrawler and Magneto’s Uncanny X-Men talk about how they are sure the humans will use Ulysses to condemn mutants, but Sabertooth doesn’t think prediction is such a bad idea and Psylocke defects when no one will listen to her point out the ridiculous logic of preemptively taking out the Inhumans because you predict they’ll preemptively take you out for predicting you’ll do what you are doing. Meanwhile, Ulysses’s intel helps Storm’s Extraordinary X-Men stop a Brood attack on Raleigh, North Carolina, and Gambit fights Fantomex on a reconnaissance mission to New Attilan.

Was it good? Again, it’s about the same level as the current X-books, which are feeling pretty flat these days. It’s good to see so many of the characters sharing an issue, but they’re mostly talking except for a 5-page fight scene between Fantomex and Gambit.

Recommendation: It’s the only place you’re going to see the X-Men in this summer event, but it’s not adding to the main story.

What happened: When Kingpin returned to New York after ruining San Francisco for Daredevil in Mark Waid’s run, he learned that the Avengers have been arresting criminals before they can commit crimes, and he met an Inhuman whose only power is that Ulysses can’t see him. Hawkeye gives him a particularly slimy intimidation speech after arresting Madame Masque for something she didn’t do yet. Later, Kingpin sets up a dinner to unite crime bosses in the city against predictive incarceration and survives an attempt on his life by killing the hitman, Bushwacker. Sam Wilson, Monica Rambeau, and Night Thrasher, operating on Ulysses’s intel, try to arrest Kingpin for this but don’t have any evidence to back them up and leave in defeat.

Was it good? Umm, the Kingpin’s insulting dialogue was fun in a Game Of Thrones way, and the street-level crime book is a welcome change of pace from the bombast of the superhero event. But the super villain party on the cover is nowhere to be found in the pages, and the casting of the Avengers as corrupt cops is so far out of line with what we’ve seen in the main series. Maybe this is where the main book is heading, but I doubt it. And as we saw earlier, Sam Wilson isn’t even on Captain Marvel’s side. Also, here is another instance of a tie-in that has as a central piece a man Ulysses can’t see, and if such men exist, Captain Marvel’s conviction that Ulysses predicts everything right is over, and we have peace again.

Recommendation: No. It might be a good crime book, but the heroes are so tone deaf from their other presentations and the book is so far out of sync with the main title. There are better crime books out there. Kingpin stories have been the gritty highlights of Daredevil for decades. Heck, the Kingpin story in the first Civil War was one of the brighter spots of that lousy event, and it was just reissued in trade. Maybe go there instead.

What happened: Bruce Banner has the flu for the first time since becoming the Hulk, proof that Amadeus Cho really did cure him, and he’s so happy about it. He mentors the young genius, and they bond, and it’s sweet. Absolutely nothing happens related to Inhumans, prophecy, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, or war. She-Hulk is in it, alive and well, and doesn’t even take a call from A-Force about Thanos at the end.

Was it good? Yes, it was sweet, and if Banner is going to die next week, this is a gentle, respectful sendoff. But as a Civil War II tie-in, it is baffling.

Recommendation: It’s an enjoyable read, but until we know more about Banner’s role in the summer crossover, it’s not recommended.

So where do we stand? Some of the tie-ins are getting better, and most of them have been interesting explorations of the roles of destiny and prediction in our lives, avoiding the silly details of the Inhuman predictions themselves. Writers still cannot agree how Ulysses’s power works, which seems pretty important and like it might be a plot point down the road in the main book. Kingpin thinks the heroes are going to use the predictions to wrongly imprison street-level baddies, but that hasn’t happened in Civil War II and doesn’t look like it’s going to. Totally Awesome Hulk is sure making it look like Bruce Banner isn’t going to make it out alive, but the announcement that Iron Man will be replaced after the summer puts even that death under suspicion. I’ve read worse crossover events, but this one is starting to sour, and there still a few months left.

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, Spider-Woman, Totally Awesome Hulk, The Ultimates

Not good: Civil War II: Kingpin

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