Civil War Journal – Week Twelve

Civil War crosses into twelve books this week, and most of them hold up well – see which ones are winning this war!

Welcome back to Civil War Journal, Bam Smack Pow’s weekly recap column of all things Civil War II. In the week where Marvel announced the series will be delayed and also extended by an issue, the War moves into a dozen books. See the Marvel Universe say goodbye to the Hulk while more heroes fight each other.

More from Comics

• X-Men: 6 reasons why Marvel’s mutants are the best superhero team
• Harley Quinn renewed for a fifth season on Max (and it’s well-deserved)
• Marvel Comics announces seven important X-Men comic books
• The X-Men were betrayed by Captain America in Uncanny Avengers
• Spider-Man: Miles and Peter team-up for their first ongoing series

Previously: Captain Marvel has been using the prophecy of Inhuman Ulysses to prevent disasters, but this hasn’t kept everyone safe – War Machine and the Hulk have been killed in missions based on these predictions, and She-Hulk was put in a coma. Hawkeye was charged with Hulk’s murder but acquitted as a justifiable homicide. Also, Captain Marvel arrested a banker with no criminal record and hasn’t been able to produce the evidence linking her to the foretold terrorist attack. It’s inspired a group of heroes to take the fight to her.

What happened? Mockingbird tries to work an investigation on a cruise ship full of cosplayers, but she’s distracted by all the news coverage of her ex-husband’s murder trial.

Was it good? It was an amazing blend of humor, action, sex, and cosplay, and it’s going to be Pick Of The Week in tomorrow’s column, but it’s not really making the Civil War II story any better.

Recommendation: Everyone should be reading this book, but if you’re using this column to try to navigate the summer crossover, this one won’t make the necessary list.

What happened? Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. try to arrest Old Man Logan because Ulysses predicted that he and teen clone Gabby would fly through the air, and then he’d kill her. Wolverine believes in free will; Captain America knows Old Man Logan killed all his friends in his original timeline. So Laura and Steve fight while Logan and Gabby escape – on jetpacks. And when S.H.I.E.L.D. tries to apprehend him, he goes feral and appears to have killed poor Gabby.

Was it good? Yes, very. It was inevitable that the tie-ins would start bringing in the trope that trying to prevent the prophecy would make the prophecy come true (have we learned nothing from Oedipus?), and this book works that trope very well.

Recommendation: Yes, this maintains its status on the top tier. Most of the tie-ins for solo character titles are going to try this trope, and All-New Wolverine does it better than anyone.

What happened? Storm and Medusa fight about politics and the need to make your best predictions to safeguard your subjects, and the Inhuman queen counters the mutant’s use of espionage by sending a spy of her own. Magneto’s team fights Storm’s, but it’s mostly a distraction as Magneto and new recruit Rachel Grey prepare to attack New Attilan itself.

Was it good? The good news is that any of your favorite mutants is probably going to get a panel in this issue, but most of them only get one. It’s tough to juggle a cast this big, and Cullen Bunn is doing it well, but the inclusion of so many characters seems to water down some of the intensity of the action.

Recommendation: The war between mutants and Inhumans is entertaining but doesn’t seem to be affecting the parent miniseries and pretty skippable for most readers.

What happened? Ulysses breaks out of his cell to try to prevent the vision of the monorail disaster, but the Inhuman chef catches him. Meanwhile, Karnak has traveled to the site of the accident to watch with grim secret motivation.

Was it good? Yes, this is the best depiction of the Inhumans out of any tie-in here, celebrating how weird they are and the cultural traditions that set them apart from mutants.

Recommendation: Pick it up, and do it digitally, because the amazing visual storytelling just isn’t going to translate to print.

What happened? Sam Wilson remembers a time when he was arrested because local police let racial biases confuse them during a fight between this Avenger and a white villain. The only explicit tie-in to Civil War II is that U.S.Agent picks Captain Marvel’s side opposite Sam Wilson, but the comic maintains strong thematic ties to the main story. Privatized security forces stand off against angry Black New Yorkers, and Sam understands that the public nature of this conflict is going to affect people’s predictions about race and violence.

Was it good? Amazing. Nick Spencer writes clever, unflinching political commentary, and even though this text has drifted away from the Inhumans and Hulks and hero fighting hero, it’s adapted the themes to illustrate some of the most important social justice issues we face today.

Recommendation: Get this book.

What happened? Spider-Woman investigates twenty of Ulysses’s predictions, and all 20 came true, so she determines that this is actionable intel (even though that’s not quite how statistics work). But as she’s trying to warn Captain Marvel not to go overboard with this, she sees a news report that her ex-boyfriend has murdered the Hulk.

Was it good? This is a solid book that doesn’t get enough attention. Keeping the character aggressively neutral is a good choice for a tie-in.

Recommendation: It doesn’t clear the top tier mark, largely because the main story and other tie-ins have their own ways of repeatedly invalidating the predictions.

What happened? This issue fleshes out some of the events in the last issue of Civil War II, with Captain Marvel feeling sick about the lack of evidence to support her arrest of Alison Green. Blue Marvel disagrees with her, but when America Chavez gets angry enough about it to punch her, he comes to her aid. In the scuffle, Thanos breaks free from his cell in the Triskelion.

Was it good? Yes. This book isn’t adding a ton to the Civil War II experience, but it’s striking a terrific balance between new material and the established scenes.

Recommendation: If you’re reading the main book, you’re getting what you need. But keep this one in mind – this is a great cast under a great creative team.

What happened? Iron Fist is in jail after the riot last issue, and when Power Man decides to plan a jail break, it triggers a vision for Ulysses, and Captain Marvel recruits a team of Deathlok, Mockingbird, Storm, Monica Rambeau, and Puck to put a stop to it.

Was it good? Prison shows aren’t my favorite, but this book dug into deep continuity to pull the emotional stakes of the issue to the fore.

Recommendation: I’d let this one slide if I was just trying to read about what Marvel has been up to this summer.

What happened? Hulk’s funeral is poorly attended, unless you count protestors who had been hurt in one of his rampages. Betty Ross, Rick Jones, and the Warbound track down Amadeus Cho, Thunderbolt Ross, She-Hulk, and Skaar to grieve with them. Finally, in a reading of the will, Bruce Banner leaves kitchen timers to the people he loves and begs them to think for three whole minutes before making a major decision. It’s a little piece of anger management, and it keeps them all from making a big mistake.

Was it good? It was as good as the Hulk usually is. It’s not bad, but I’m not going to remember it next week. Hulk fans will probably find it a touching tribute, but I’m not a Hulk fan.

Recommendation: Only pick this up if you’re a person who needs a little more time to say goodbye to Bruce Banner.

What happened? Clash suits up to talk to Robot Master Mendel Stromm, but it turns out he’s still a good guy and is just trying to catch the bad guy. After he and Spider-Man defeat the army of robots, Spider-Man reminds him that going off on his own was a reckless idea and a violation of his parole, so Clash snaps and returns to villainy on the last page, just like Ulysses predicted.

Was it good? It’s a standard Spider-Man story, not as good as Amazing Spider-Man is these days but funny and heroic.

Recommendation: If you want to see a bit where the person tries to prevent the prediction and instead just makes it happen, I’d recommend the aforementioned All-New Wolverine.

What happened? Hercules is driven mad by The Uprising Storm, and the Avengers try to subdue him on the way to bigger things in Civil War II. He snaps out of it when Captain America calls out, “Avengers Assemble!” But when the heroes finally invite him to join the bigger fight, he declines. It would be awesome to be on the team again, but he knows the mortals can’t see the members of the Storm, and he’s better off staying on the sidelines to take care of this one.

Was it good? Again, this is a fine chapter of Abnett’s Hercules title that is pretending to be a Civil War II book and got renamed to try to attract readers. It’s not bad, but if you weren’t digging it as Hercules, you’re not going to be digging it as Gods Of War.

Recommendation: Pass on this one unless you’re a Hercules reader. And if you are, hey, we should have coffee. We won’t need a big table, and I bet we’d all get along.

What happened? In the first story, criminals are afraid of Inhuman predictions spoiling their heist, but they don’t consider mundane threats like the Punisher, and he kills everyone. Turns out, he predicted they’d hit the target based on old-fashioned deduction. In the second story, Julie Power explains to the younger Power Pack kids that the arguments in the media about the Hulk’s death and predictive justice are complicated. In the Nick Fury serial, he fights Black Widow for five pages of silence.

Was it good? Nope. The Punisher story was revolting and unrelated to Choosing Sides about a Civil War at all, the Power Pack story wasn’t giving you anything you couldn’t get in one of a dozen tie-ins, and the Nick Fury story is as terrible as it has always been, only with fewer word balloons to clarify how trivial this exercise is.

Recommendation: Umm, beg Marvel to put the Damage Control story from issue one and the War Machine story from issue two into a collection and pretend like the rest of these pages have been blank.

The crossover feels pretty bloated at twelve tie-ins this week, but most of them were enjoyable, and three of them were in the top tier of recommendations. I’m not looking forward to even more time on this event with the delays and the bonus issue to the main series, but each individual week hasn’t been that bad.

Tie-In Round-Up:

Recommended: The main series, of course, with preludes from the zero issue and the Free Comic Book Day pages. Also The Accused, All-New Wolverine, Captain America: Sam Wilson, Captain Marvel, Civil War II: Ulysses, Ms. Marvel, and Uncanny Inhumans.

Good but not top tier: A-Force, All-New All-Different Avengers, Civil War II: Amazing Spider-Man, Civil War II: Choosing Sides (but only the Damage Control story and the Whitley/Sauvage eulogy for War Machine), Civil War II: Gods Of War, Civil War II: X-Men, Deadpool, The Fallen, International Iron Man, Invincible Iron Man, Mockingbird, Nova, New Avengers, Patsy Walker AKA: Hellcat, Power Man And Iron Fist, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Woman, Squadron Supreme, Totally Awesome Hulk, The Ultimates

Not good: Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., the bulk of Civil War II: Choosing Sides, Civil War II: Kingpin

Keep up with the Civil War Journal by following this link!