artimoff
06-21-2006, 08:21 PM
http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=23667
CIVIL WAR # 2
Written by: Mark Millar
Art by :Steve McNiven
Published by Marvel Comics
Reviewed by Buzz Maverik
Let's get the obvious out of the way: it looks beautiful...with what they're doing, they're doing a good job. I've often said that Mark Millar is one of the best writers in comics when he tries...but a lot of the time he doesn't seem to be trying. Here, he's trying.
And the other obvious thing: if this is news to you, then you probably won't care anyway so screw the spoiler warning: this is the issue where Spidey unmasks himself on television.
What's good about it: it's tight, like a good TV drama. I know Millar and Co. would want me to say feature film, but they aren't giving me the rush and impact that a good movie does.
Mr. Millar writes excellent dialogue here. Everyone is perfectly in the moment, focused, and true to his vision of them. Mr. McNiven provides us with some great sets and action (the super-paddy wagon scene reminded me of the superlative Russian film NIGHT WATCH).
On to the bad...Have Mark Millar and his bosses ever read any Marvel comics? Has the fact that "creator" has become the term for people who do what they do gone to their heads and convinced them they've actually originated any of these characters? This isn't a movie, guys. We're not walking in here for the first time, or seeing it in another medium. We know these characters. We've read their stories, good and bad.
Oh, the long time fan doesn't want change?
Wrong. We want change. We want to see the change happen. But major steps have been left out because everyone telling the stories is pretending they're doing movies (although it comes out like TV). And a few foreshadowing issues aren't enough. Reed Richards, for example, was not created by Grant Morrison in FANTASTIC FOUR 1-2-3-4, even though it was a great book and an interesting point of view. Suddenly, the character is reestablished as an almost autistic-savant. But Morrison wrote a good series portraying Richards this way and it’s now the default portrayal. How'd he get like that? He was never like that before.
We're supposed to accept a realistic reaction to a tragedy, but the characters behave like all-new people, which is hardly realistic at all. Tony Stark talking about the kids, the amateurs and the sociopaths getting weeded out? How exactly do you become a professional superhero? Is a sociopath a worse superhero than a drunk? Or has it been decided that Stark was no longer ever a drunk?
Spider-Man. Haven't read the ASM issue leading up to the unmasking decision, but I doubt like hell that it contained anything that didn't read like a contrived justification for something made inevitable by an editorial mandate. Cool your jets, I probably will read it but the LCS was sold out and, no, Hannibal, I won't give you my home address so you can send it to me.
The panel showing Aunt May and Mary Jane watching the unmasking on TV was in many ways the most troubling. Pete has a reckless streak, but I could not buy people who love him wanting this for him. It lacks credibility, and that's the key. We know this is fantasy. It's fiction. It's story telling (in some cases it's what passes for storytelling, anyway). But what's the key to good fantasy? It's more than just being published in comic book form and having the pretentious "a Marvel Comics event in seven parts" tagged on it. It's gotta be credible. I've gotta buy it. I could buy it if these were new characters and this was another universe, but Mr. Quesada, Mr. Millar, whomever have inherited these characters…just because they don't have an understanding of them doesn't mean we don't. (And remember, when they start bitching about long time fans or old fans, these guys have been doing this a long time. They are the old guard themselves now and want to keep doing what they've been doing for the last several years. Ya really want new and edgy? Get somebody new to do it!).
Dig this. Anybody can do the Bizzaro plotting. "We're taking the SIMPSONS in a whole new direction and doing what you don't expect!" Well, we all know what we don't expect. A smart Homer, an honor student Bart, a slutty Lisa, a party animal Flanders, a nice Burns, a Patty & Selma who love Homer, whatever. See, they did a sober Barney because they showed Barney getting sober.
Do it with any long running characters. It's the easiest thing in the world. Dagwood and Blondie get divorced. Everybody in DOONESBURY votes Republican. The fat dude on THE KING OF QUEENS becomes a model husband. Charlie Sheen hates hookers. Batman gets hit on the head and decides that dressing up like a rodent is kind of dumb after all.
I don't know who this Buzz is, but I agree with everything he says in this review.
CIVIL WAR # 2
Written by: Mark Millar
Art by :Steve McNiven
Published by Marvel Comics
Reviewed by Buzz Maverik
Let's get the obvious out of the way: it looks beautiful...with what they're doing, they're doing a good job. I've often said that Mark Millar is one of the best writers in comics when he tries...but a lot of the time he doesn't seem to be trying. Here, he's trying.
And the other obvious thing: if this is news to you, then you probably won't care anyway so screw the spoiler warning: this is the issue where Spidey unmasks himself on television.
What's good about it: it's tight, like a good TV drama. I know Millar and Co. would want me to say feature film, but they aren't giving me the rush and impact that a good movie does.
Mr. Millar writes excellent dialogue here. Everyone is perfectly in the moment, focused, and true to his vision of them. Mr. McNiven provides us with some great sets and action (the super-paddy wagon scene reminded me of the superlative Russian film NIGHT WATCH).
On to the bad...Have Mark Millar and his bosses ever read any Marvel comics? Has the fact that "creator" has become the term for people who do what they do gone to their heads and convinced them they've actually originated any of these characters? This isn't a movie, guys. We're not walking in here for the first time, or seeing it in another medium. We know these characters. We've read their stories, good and bad.
Oh, the long time fan doesn't want change?
Wrong. We want change. We want to see the change happen. But major steps have been left out because everyone telling the stories is pretending they're doing movies (although it comes out like TV). And a few foreshadowing issues aren't enough. Reed Richards, for example, was not created by Grant Morrison in FANTASTIC FOUR 1-2-3-4, even though it was a great book and an interesting point of view. Suddenly, the character is reestablished as an almost autistic-savant. But Morrison wrote a good series portraying Richards this way and it’s now the default portrayal. How'd he get like that? He was never like that before.
We're supposed to accept a realistic reaction to a tragedy, but the characters behave like all-new people, which is hardly realistic at all. Tony Stark talking about the kids, the amateurs and the sociopaths getting weeded out? How exactly do you become a professional superhero? Is a sociopath a worse superhero than a drunk? Or has it been decided that Stark was no longer ever a drunk?
Spider-Man. Haven't read the ASM issue leading up to the unmasking decision, but I doubt like hell that it contained anything that didn't read like a contrived justification for something made inevitable by an editorial mandate. Cool your jets, I probably will read it but the LCS was sold out and, no, Hannibal, I won't give you my home address so you can send it to me.
The panel showing Aunt May and Mary Jane watching the unmasking on TV was in many ways the most troubling. Pete has a reckless streak, but I could not buy people who love him wanting this for him. It lacks credibility, and that's the key. We know this is fantasy. It's fiction. It's story telling (in some cases it's what passes for storytelling, anyway). But what's the key to good fantasy? It's more than just being published in comic book form and having the pretentious "a Marvel Comics event in seven parts" tagged on it. It's gotta be credible. I've gotta buy it. I could buy it if these were new characters and this was another universe, but Mr. Quesada, Mr. Millar, whomever have inherited these characters…just because they don't have an understanding of them doesn't mean we don't. (And remember, when they start bitching about long time fans or old fans, these guys have been doing this a long time. They are the old guard themselves now and want to keep doing what they've been doing for the last several years. Ya really want new and edgy? Get somebody new to do it!).
Dig this. Anybody can do the Bizzaro plotting. "We're taking the SIMPSONS in a whole new direction and doing what you don't expect!" Well, we all know what we don't expect. A smart Homer, an honor student Bart, a slutty Lisa, a party animal Flanders, a nice Burns, a Patty & Selma who love Homer, whatever. See, they did a sober Barney because they showed Barney getting sober.
Do it with any long running characters. It's the easiest thing in the world. Dagwood and Blondie get divorced. Everybody in DOONESBURY votes Republican. The fat dude on THE KING OF QUEENS becomes a model husband. Charlie Sheen hates hookers. Batman gets hit on the head and decides that dressing up like a rodent is kind of dumb after all.
I don't know who this Buzz is, but I agree with everything he says in this review.