Volume 50: Civil War

Civil War

Author: Mark Millar  |  Illustrator: Steve McNiven

"What are they trying to do? Turn us into civil servants?"

When a small team of rookie 'heroes' publicly screw up in a very major way, on camera, no less, the people they're supposed to be protecting start to feel nervous, and a large percentage of public opinion regarding all costumed heroes begins to shift.

The argument that police officers undergo years of training and psychological testing before they're allowed to hit the streets, whereas all a superhero has to do to qualify as a defender of public interests is to put on tights and they're good to go, understandably begins to upset a lot of people.

In some ways a mandatory registration of heroes makes a kind of sense, making them accountable for their actions may make them more sympathetic champions, but any kind of mass unmasking will thrust the families of each person into the limelight, making innocents a prime target for evildoers. Hard choices have to be made. Is the comfort of many worth the danger it poses to a select few?

The events in Civil War are some of the most logical reasons Marvel has ever had for a large number of costumed heroes being gathered together in the same place at the same time. And as with any such gathering, there'll be a difference of opinion about the underlying cause. The proposed reforms split the costumed community down the middle. On one side are people who want to go on the government payroll, who want the security and respect that legitimacy brings. On the other are people who value their personal life and feel that it's a grave error to mix their two states of being. They believe that their autonomy and freedom of choice is under threat.

It inevitably ends up in a giant punch-up, but heroes do actually die this time, and Millar manages to at least make the clash serve a dual purpose, one that leads to a devastating result for the community at large and worse for one individual in particular (Volume 51).

I was on board will it all until a single event made it feel forced. The event in question is something that I believe simply wouldn't happen. Maybe the person at the centre of it got swept up in the moment, but considering their painful past it's unlikely such a decision would be made without due consideration. Shortly thereafter people began switching sides and it started feeling silly.

The book collects together Civil War #1–7.

Verdict:

Volume 49: Doctor Strange: The Oath

Doctor Strange: The Oath

Author: Brian K Vaughan | Illustrator: Marcos Martin

"…[H]e stayed at my side right up to the bitter end of my former life."

The best thing about Doctor Stephen Strange is that he resembles Vincent Price in his prime, in a cloak. But the best thing about Brian K Vaughan's Stephen Strange is how well he's written, which is something that applies to the book as a whole.

Vaughan even manages to wrangle a situation that calls for a recap of the Sorcerer Supreme's origin, getting new readers up to speed quickly and effortlessly. He creates further situations that actually call for exposition, and when there's a reason for such it can even mask its use, like it does herein. In terms of enjoyment had, I was grinning like the proverbial cream-covered cat by the halfway mark.

Like it states in the book's introduction, the 'Doctor' side of Strange is often forgotten about, but here it plays a key role in the narrative. He may not be a world-class surgeon any longer, but the Hippocratic Oath is still something that Strange believes in. His desire to heal someone close to him sparks off a kind of supernatural murder mystery that has the Doctor in the Sherlock role - he even has a Watson, and a great addition to the book the person is!

The comparison made between Strange's past and present, a connecting line from his days as an arrogant surgeon to a less arrogant but still brutally direct in speech and tone Master of the Arts, is the anchor that keeps him somewhat relatable, despite his fantastical abilities and seemingly endless store of arcane knowledge; in short, the flawed human side of the self-important Strange is ever present, and even he sometimes leaps before he looks.

At first I felt that Martin's artwork was a little too cartoony for my tastes, but over time the complementary nature of his pictures and Vaughan's text worked their magic on me. And while many of the previous volumes in TUGNC are more hard-hitting and more elaborately illustrated, The Oath is one of my personal favourites so far because of how much fun I had reading it.

The book collects together Doctor Strange: The Oath #1-5.

Verdict:

Volume 48: Marvel Zombies (2006)

Marvel Zombies

Author: Robert Kirkman | Illustrator: Sean Phillips

"Whoever makes the kill gets double rations."

A post-apocalyptic, alternate world spin-off from a story that appeared in Ultimate Fantastic Four (#21-23).

I don't believe that putting zombies into something automatically makes it better; more often than not it makes it worse.

The zombie metaphor has been done to death (no pun intended) and outside of the early George A. Romero films it's mostly been done badly. Marvel Zombies sets a new low, even for Marvel.

It's written by Robert Kirkman, the guy that writes The Walking Dead. I've not read TWD. But it’s been selling well, so I'm assuming it’s a lot better than MZ. And I sincerely hope it's better than TWD TV series.

The plot is as thin as something I'd write. The heroes/villains are hungry. There's some gore. They eat. They get hungry. There's gore. They eat. They get hungry, etc. Yawn.

The book collects together Marvel Zombies #1-5.

Verdict:

Volume 47: Fantastic Four: The End

Fantastic Four: The End

Author + Illustrator: Alan Davis

"No, Victor... please! They're just children!"

I know I'm enjoying a book when it feels like a twenty-minute read. FF's The End felt like a two-hour slog. It started out fine, actually it started out with a lot of potential, but, with the exception of one brief scene, it delivered instead too many cooks and not enough broth.

I don't want to detract from the achievement of Alan Davis, to write and draw a six-issue miniseries alone is an enviable accomplishment, but when the emotional heart of a story is compromised by having characters featured who are there for no reason other than to be seen, if they aren't included for a reason that's unique to them, then it feels like a wasted opportunity. If the books in the collection thus far have taught me anything, it's that I hate crossovers for the sake of crossovers, a feeling that The End compounds.

The highlight of the work comes in issue #1. She-Hulk speaks with Reed about how and why Marvel's first family aren't side by side like they used to be. Drifting apart from friends and family as years go by is something that most people can relate to (if you can't, then consider yourself very lucky). The exchange gives us a brief glimpse into the psyche of the man. How the conversation ends gives us another important glimpse, but we never get a satisfying follow-up, we never see the full picture and the story suffers as a result.

Thereafter we get literally dozens of heroes and villains thrown into the mix, many for no justifiable reason; the Kree, Ulton the asswipe, the Skrull, the Shi'ar, the Avengers, the Inhumans, Utau, and many more, all make an appearance. Even Chekhov would suffer exhaustion while trying to cull the irrelevant elements.

The book collects together Fantastic Four: The End #1-6.

Verdict:

Volumes 45+46: The Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk (Parts 1+2)

The Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk (Parts 1+2)

Author: Greg Pak  |  Illustrators: Carlo Pagulayan / Aaron Lopresti / Michael Avon Oeming / Alex Nino / Marshall Rogers

"I didn't come here for a whisper. I wanna hear you scream."

The best Hulk stories are the ones that don’t rely on the "Hulk Smash!" clichés as an excuse to litter the page with the detritus of teenage dreams involving explosive violence and bloody carnage.

Planet Hulk avoids that for a while, but eventually crumbles like a cookie in Hulk's hand, and there’s so much "Finally. Hulk knows who to smash," that my brain almost seeped out of my ears trying to get away from what my eyes were forcing it to assimilate. It’s a great shame because the first half of Book I (Vol 45) is bursting with promise, and even delivers upon some of it from time to time.

Prior to the story's beginnings Hulk's world is shaken by the realisation (or confirmation) that his 'friends' each brandish a back-stabbing knife and share a collective fear of his condition. But instead of putting extra effort into helping him cope, they take the cowardly way out and remove him from their space. Stranded now on a world torn apart by a tyrannical ruler, the bulging green menace is forced to rely on his wits and his...er...people skills.

For reasons I won't go into, Hulk is thrust into the role of reluctant leader, which doesn't sit well with him because he's not ever been what your boss at work would call a team player. There's a large cast of characters woven around his situation, and they exist in a world that's well-fleshed out with its own history and culture.

The book's strengths lie in the perspectives, both literal (art direction) and in how to view a hero/villain depending on which side of the fence you happen to lie. In war the enemy is always the villain, but both sides are an enemy. Hulk is a monster but he's our monster. His goals are sympathetic to our goals and they're noble because we are noble. Does that make him more like us or make us more like him?

When those kinds of questions are raised the story excels. Unfortunately, the chaos overshadows them and by Book II (Vol 46), when everything turns to shit for the characters, the story suffers. There's a deeply emotional moment that knocked me for six, but overall by the end of the chaos I felt physically drained by the experience when I should've been more emotionally drained.

The book collects together The Incredible Hulk Vol. 2 #92–105; Giant-Size Hulk Vol. 2 #1; and 'Mastermind Excello' from Amazing Fantasy #15.

Verdict:

Volume 44: Captain America: Winter Soldier

Captain America: Winter Soldier

Author: Ed Brubaker  |  Illustrator: Steve Epting

"...[H]e's a Cold War myth that's turnin' out to be true."

Winter Soldier is one of the more well-known Captain America story arcs, but the issues included in the book can only tell a part of the story. If you haven't read the build-up, then you'll just have to accept that prior to the events herein some shit went down that ended with a man named Aleksander Lukin, an ex-General of the KGB, coming into possession of a Cosmic Cube (one of the many, it seems like Marvel create a new one as and when they need it).

Some knowledge of Steve's one-time partner, Bucky Barnes, will also be helpful. Bucky was killed in action during WWII, and Steve never fully got over it. The youth was his partner but also someone he felt responsible for, so alongside the loss of a friend is a feeling of failure to himself, his confidant and his country. When it's suggested that the Winter Soldier might have a connection to the event that killed Bucky, Steve's emotions are put through a wringer.

The book bounces around in time, showing events from yesterday or yesteryear, etc, that when assembled like a four-dimensional jigsaw result in a series of cause and effect scenarios that weigh heavily on Steve's conscience. His feelings are a confused mix of hope, fear, denial and anguish - states of being that artist Steve Epting captures wonderfully in his framing, expressions and lighting. In fact, Brubaker's script allows many of the weighty moments to draw their power from being shown more than told; he must have known Epting was very much up to the task.

A personal favourite moment of mine is when Steve goes for a rooftop run. High above the city, distanced from the everyday bustle, he seeks to clear his head by going through the motions, leaping and rolling as only a superhero (or super-soldier) can do. He seems to be aware that his weakness is party to guilt and loss, to friendship lost, and perhaps even a little nostalgia for a time that only he remembers. He knows that running from the problem isn't going to make it go away, but the feeling of familiarity that accompanies such actions is a kind of comfort in itself.

To get back on track, despite the leaps of faith needed by the reader, the nonsense science (and the damn Cube), Winter Soldier is a human story, a turn of events that prove even heroes aren't so different from the rest of us after all.

The book collects together Captain America (Vol 5) #8-9 and #11-14.

Verdict: