Marvel has a new mini-series out called Civil War. No, not one of the depressing kind:
The Marvel Universe is changing. In the wake of a tragedy, Capitol Hill proposes the Super Hero Registration Act, requiring all costumed heroes to unmask themselves before before the government. Divided, the nation’s greatest champions must each decide how to react – a decision that will alter the course of their lives forever.
The underlying themes are about the trade-off between security and liberty, in a post-9/11 sort of world. It seemed interesting, and I was curious as to how Marvel would handle it.
I don’t buy a lot of comic books. I love them, but they’ve gotten pricey since I was a kid, and there are just too many story-lines going on at any one time to follow everything without buying everything. I have a kind of obsession with completing sets of things, so finding myself in the middle of a series can get expensive quick. To avoid that, I tend to stick to short runs, mini-series(es?), and graphic novels/trade paperbacks. And Civil War seemed like a safe bet – 7 parts at $3.99 each isn’t cheap, but it’s a lot easier than following the many X-men story-lines. Here’s what’s out right now:
- Astonishing X-Men
- Cable & Deadpool
- Decimation: X-Men the Day After
- Essential X-Men
- Excalibur Classic
- Exiles
- New X-Men
- NYX: Wannabe
- Sentinel
- Storm
- Uncanny X-Men
- Uncanny X-Men – The New Age
- X-23: Innocence Lost
- X-Factor
- X-Men
- X-Men: Apocalypse/Dracula
- X-Men: Blood of Apocalypse
- X-Men Fairy Tales
- X-Men: Firestar
- X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse
- X-Men: The End – Men and X-Men
- X-Men Unlimited
- X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl
And that’s not to mention the crossovers. (In the interest of fairness, some of the titles listed above are reprints or trade paperbacks collecting old material. And I’m already following two them: Astonishing, because it’s by Joss Whedon and the Apocalypse/Dracula mini-series, because who doesn’t love that concept?)
So seeing this cover:
…I thought, “nice art, characters I like, and only 7 parts.” Safe, right?
Ha.
At the back of the comic, once you’re hooked, they have a handy check-list for the series:
- Civil War #1-7
- Amazing Spider-Man #529-538
- Black Panther #18
- Cable/Deadpool #30-32
- Captain America #22-24
- Civil War Opening Shot Sketchbook
- Civil War: Front Line #1-10
- Civil War: X-Men #1-4
- Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #1-4
- Fantastic Four #536-543
- Heroes for Hire #1-3
- Iron Man #13-14
- Marvel Spotlight: Millar/McNiven
- Ms. Marvel #6-8
- New Avengers #21-25
- New Avengers Illuminati Special
- Punisher: War Journal #1-3
- She-Hulk #8
- Thunderbolts #103-105
- Wolverine #42-47
- X-Factor #8-9
By my count, that’s 81 comics. Let’s compare that to the big Marvel series from my youth, Secret Wars:
- Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12
- Amazing Spider-Man #249-252
- Avengers #240-243
- Captain America #292
- Incredible Hulk #294 – 295
- Iron Man #181 – 182
- Fantastic Four #265
- Marvel Team-Up #141
- The Thing #10
- Uncanny X-Men #178-181
That’s 32 books for an epic comic event featuring dozens of heroes and villains in awesome match-ups. The Thing human again? Colossus cheating on Shadowcat? Doctor Doom with the power of the Beyonder? And let’s not forget Spidey’s new costume, shall we? And the toys! Awesome.
What’s sad is that even if I were to buy all 81 issues, that wouldn’t seal the deal: they’ve been leading up to this issue since 2003’s Secret War (no relation), so I’d have to look for all the issues I’ve missed, not to mention the Secret War issues, and its related crossovers, including The Pulse and the whole New Avengers series.
So let’s hope that I can either be satisfied with the 7 main issues in the series, or make some room on my credit card. And that Neil Gaiman’s new run of the Eternals due out next month doesn’t have any crossovers.
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