Marvel’s Civil War

You ever get the feeling that you are walking a path alone? That everyone is going in one direction and you are like a salmon fighting to go upstream in the opposite direction? That is how I feel with regard to Marvel’s Civil War. Everyone is raving about this storyline. Everyone is frothing at the mouth about how evil the pro-registration side is and how evil the government is and how the anti-registration side is fighting the good fight.

I try to stay far away from politics since nothing good can ever come from discussing politics. But, I have to at least tell everyone where I stand before I comment further on this Civil War storyline. Now, let me be totally clear. I do not like Bush. I definitely do not like the Patriot Act. It is immensely intrusive and violated numerous civil liberties. I am not a Republican and I am not a Democrat. I am a Libertarian. I do not support the two part system. It is not a democracy. It is a duocracy. And with each passing year, the Democrats and the Republicans become more and more like each other. Both parties are basically the same thing and all they care about is keeping them in power and killing any threat of anything even remotely resembling a true democracy where there are multiple political parties.

I only mention this simply because I don’t want anyone thinking that I am not impressed with the Civil War storyline because I’m a Republican or a Bush supporter or a fan of the Patriot Act. I detest our two-party system. I don’t like Bush. I also detest the Patriot Act. All right, that is the first and last time that I will ever talk politics here at the Revolution. I meant no offense to anyone who has differing political views. I have nothing my love in mi corazón for everyone. Ok, now let’s tackle my problems with the Civil War storyline.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I think that Millar is delivering a very entertaining mini-series. That is plainly evident in my reviews of the first three issues. However, I have found the Civil War tie-ins to be very unimpressive. I also feel that the entire storyline could be so much more deep, complex and wonderfully engaging for the reader if Marvel actually took the time and effort to present both the pro-registration and the anti-registration sides with equal light.

However, Marvel has completely failed to do that. The pro-registration side is portrayed as evil villains to their very core. The writers do everything in their power to make sure that the readers hate the pro-registration side and love the anti-registration side. This takes seriously dampens the impact of this storyline. Whenever the villain is nothing but pure evil then the reader cannot identify, sympathize or understand the villain’s motivation. However, when a truly complex and well rounded villain is created like Magneto, the reader can sympathize with him. The reader can understand why Magneto does what he does. The reader may even find himself secretly rooting for Magneto at times as he battles the X-Men. That is the sign of an excellent and engaging story. Anytime a comic book can elicit those types of emotions and reactions from a reader then you know it is an incredibly well done comic.

Civil War totally whiffs on this. Nobody sympathizes with the pro-registration side. Nobody understands them and even can relate to them. Certainly, nobody is rooting for them in any form or manner. That is too bad. It makes Civil War are far less compelling and engaging read. Instead, it comes off as nothing more than Marvel preaching their political views to the masses and trying to get them to follow their beliefs. No matter what side of the political spectrum you are coming from, that style of story and that type of approach simply does not appeal to me. I already have my political beliefs and absolutely nobody will every get me to change them. Certainly not a comic book.

No, what I want out of a comic book is a deliciously complex story that challenges my beliefs. A story that makes me re-evaluate what I believe to be right and wrong. A story that makes me look at both sides and become unsure just who is the villain and who is the hero. Best of all, are stories where I am unable to decide just who is the hero and the villain, because both sides are both hero and villain at the same time. Civil War grossly fails in this endeavor. And this is the exact reason why Civil War will never be as great a storyline as it could have been. Marvel could have really done something special with Civil War. However, they took the easy way out and gave us a less challenging story to chew on.

I also have a problem with the various writers like JMS, Bendis, David and Jenkins drawing analogies between the Registration Act and things like slavery in America, segregation in the South, Hitler and Nazi Germany. That is simply ridiculous. Civil War and the Registration Act is a thinly veiled story designed to bash Bush and the Patriot Act. I will never agree that there is any comparison between the Super Hero Registration Act and the institution of Slavery in America or segregation in the South. There is absolutely no comparison morally or legally.

Nor will I ever agree that there is any comparison between the Super Hero Registration Act and Hitler and Nazi Germany. That is insane to even suggest that. Hitler and Nazi Germany was one of the most horrific occurrences in modern history. To compare that to the Super Hero Registration Act is sheer idiocy. That is the type of cheap parlor trick that writers engage in so they can easily invoke an emotional response from the reader getting them to hate the person being linked with Hitler and Nazi Germany.

Let’s not even get into the legal aspect of the Super Hero Registration Act. It doesn’t violate any of the seven constitutionally protected classes. And it doesn’t violate any personal privacy laws. It would be considered legal by our Supreme Court. So, now we simply have a moral versus immoral debate rather than a legal versus illegal debate.

The Super Hero Registration Act isn’t even as remotely invasive as the legislation that it is bashing: The Patriot Act. The Patriot Act is far more insidious and violates far more personal liberties. The Patriot Act is more terrifying to me than the Super Hero Registration Act. And there in lies the problem. Marvel is taking a piece of legislation that isn’t as bad as the Patriot Act and is trying to artificially inflate it to the level of Nazi Germany and slavery. And in doing so, Marvel robs the Civil War storyline of much of its credibility. It is a serious case of over reaching. And when writers over reach then their storyline begins to loose its impact on the reader. That is where I am right now with this Civil War storyline.

I was hoping that Civil War would present the reader with a highly difficult moral and legal dilemma that causes the reader to perform so soul searching in order to figure out which side are the heroes and which side are the villains. Instead, Civil War has turned into a platform for the writers to preach their beliefs and for all the decisions on who to hate and who to root for to be made by the writers instead of the readers.

So, of course, everyone and their mother are rooting for Captain America’s anti-registration side. Why shouldn’t they? They are clearly the heroes. You would have to be a total moron to want to root for the pro-registration side. They are made to look like totally despicable and slimy bastards. I don’t like the pro-registration side. Nobody does. And yet, people are acting like they made this choice for themselves and not because Marvel has force fed it to them. People make intelligent comments like “Tony Stark is a dick! He should die!” “The pro-registration are scumbags!” “I can’t wait to see Iron Man get his ass kicked!”

Wow, isn’t that some engaging and thought provoking discourse? That is exactly what you get when you make the story terribly slanted in one direction. You kill any and all debate. Nobody is debating who is right and who is wrong. Everyone is just talking about just how evil is Tony Stark and when will the pro-registration side get their butts kicked. I really had hopes for more interesting debates about Civil War back when Marvel promised to show both sides in the same light.

Another problem with making the pro-registration side look like complete scumbag jerks is that it ruins the characters on that side. Nobody is going to like them after Civil War is over. Nobody is going to want to buy their comic books! Iron Man? Ms. Marvel? Spider-Man? Thor? Mr. Fantastic? Nope, why would anyone want to purchase a comic with a character who has been made to look like a total evil jerk off? Hey Marvel, what a great way to promote those characters and the comic books that they are associated with.

The funny thing is that if Marvel had presented both the anti-registration and pro-registration sides in an equal light, I would still have eventually decided that the anti-registration side are the heroes. That is just my nature. I naturally gravitate toward the rebel and the under dog. However, Marvel never gave me that choice. They made it for me. And in doing so, they killed a lot of my interest in the Civil War storyline.