I admit it! We’re completely doing Marvel’s bidding at the moment, but I think most of us are pretty excited about the upcoming Civil War, so here’s the countdown clock.
I haven’t looked forward to a Marvel event in a long while. So this is a unique time. Are you down for it?
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I’m looking forward to this – for a change all of the preludes have been pretty good – FF and ASM are decent (admittedly the former having seemingly very little to do with Civil War), and Illuminati did wonders for getting me excited about the event.
The one problem I do have is that Tony Stark’s stance on the superhero registration act is vastly different in ASM and Illuminati, and since he is billed as one of the key players here I’m not sure how this came about.
I totally forgot it started next week! I’m stoked for the X-men portion of it because now the regular capes can see how it feels.
I knew you were a marvel agent josh.lol Im looking forward to it too and 52.
I interpret Tony’s stance in Amazing Spider-man to be that even though he believes registration is inevitable he wants to prolong when it is going to happen as much as he can. He wants to make the transition as painless as it can be. Tony is trying to plead the superhero side of the issue to bring about a law that will not compromise the heroes.
He believes that the registration will happen. I haven’t decided whether or not he believes it SHOULD happen.
I think it is a smart way to write the character. He doesn’t know what the New Warriors are going to be doing in the near future. He is only guessing that the scenario is probable and he is acting how he believes is best for everyone, which is what a superhero does. He is also showing Peter how to go about saving the world out of costume.
So, should I be reading Amazing Spider-Man right now? I mean, I know it leads to Civil War, but is it actually good?
Also, if there were a 52 clock, I’d be all over that. I’m more excited for 52 than this.
Amazing Spiderman has been good lately. I mean I just jumped on it maybe right when the “Whose side are you on?” tag was put on it. Not for that reason though. Its worth reading and it should be worth reading through the run of Civil War. But according to Brian Bendis at the Q&A at the Pittsburgh Comicon, you can read Civil War all on its own and be content, but I would still pick up Amazing Spiderman and New Avengers at least.
Amazing Spider-Man is perfectly readable right now and It shows you Iron-Man’s awesome chess playing ability in getting Peter in his pocket. Actually, there are courtroom sequences that I think should have been saved for the actual Civil War books.
Anyway, before I clicked that link and looked at the checklist, I thought I was going to buy every single Civil War related book.
Aint no way in hell I’m getting 65 Civil War related books.
Makes me want to get Amazing. That’s a unique feeling.
Yeah Amazing Spider-man is one of my favorite titles at the moment, I’m surprised to say. i’m not sure wether that’s just because it’s leading into Civil war though.
I remember when I thought Straczynski was gonna be a comic book god, then I got bored. He wrote that awful story about how the Green Goblin had gotten Gwen Staci pregnant and I was done.
Agreed. That was too much for me. I dropped Amazing Spider-Man like a hot potato after that story.
I think I dropped the JMS ASM even faster, but yeah, I got the same feeling. Also, if you like JMS’ work, try to avoid almost anything he’s written as himself, or any speaking engagement. Huge windbag.
Man, I did love the first 8 issues of Rising Stars, when they came out in the late 80’s. Or was it in the mid 70’s? Either way, the 24 issues took about 72 years to come out.
Josh – how was Rising Stars as a whole? I just recently bought the HC that has all 24 issues in it on the advice of a friend (and the fact it was 50% off). But he was rather vague about it, just that he thought I would like it. I have read the first 2 issues so far and it seems great. I really, really liked JMS’ Supreme Power series and am a little bit lukewarm on Squadron Supreme so far.
BTW, I have not read any of his ASM or FF…
Rising Stars….first 8 were fantastic. 9-22 were much more scattershot, and the art was all over the place. Some issues were awful. It ended pretty good though.
It’s worth a read, definitely, if for no other reason than a good lesson in how comics can go wrong. It mostly suffered because the issues came out really sporadically due to contract disputes. It might read better all at once.
It’s not bad, but I would call it unfulfilled greatness. I’m not the biggest JMS fan though, so please take it with that bias.
I got the trade for that other book he was working on. Right now I can’t remember what it was called but I’d read a single issue and fallen in love with it. When I got the trade I read it and sold it almost immediately. Midnight something. I can’t even remember.
OOH and Supreme Power. What started off as such a fantastic book just became such a BORE. Jesus. I’ll stop myself now.
I though Supreme power was pretty great all the way until the end, the Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum minis were balls though. Nighthawk was excellent.
I’m still unsure about Squadron Supreme, I think the cast is too large to work well at the moment.
Midnight Nation.
Didn’t like it after 3-4 issues. Never really bothered with JMS after that, and it seems to be the pattern for most of you. I do think the start of Rising Stars was his finest time in comics.
He’s great, because I’ve seen him come online and defend his work against people’s accusations on the web in these long explainer posts. It takes a special kind of self confidence to need to do that. I wish he’d come here to defend himself.
(Mostly because of the traffic though.)
Chris – I’m with you. Supreme Power was awesome all the way through. Issues 1-18 were great. Dr. Spectrum was awful, but JMS didn’t write it. Nighthawk was great, although he didn’t write that one either. Hyperion was mediocre, and he did write that one.
Like I said before, I haven’t decided yet about Squadron Supreme. I don’t know if I like them as a super team as much as a bunch of separate super people with interlocking storylines.
At any rate, Gary Frank’s art is amazing. I don’t know why he never gets mentioned when people are listing the great current artists. His super-realistic style is outstanding.
Agreed. He reminds me of a slicker Steve Dillon sometimes.
Has anyone watched this?
http://www.marvel.com/video/Civil_War_Opening_Shot_WV.mov
Seems like the podcast department is doing double duty with their “video” marketing detail.
I admit, I didn’t even make it through this. When kids on an iMac can make better cgi animated videos than this, I think this is pretty silly.
Actually, according to wikipedia, civil war is 74 books.
The Road to Civil War (Seven issues)
Amazing Spider-Man #529-531 Mr. Parker goes to Washington
Civil War: Opening Shot Sketchbook (one-shot)
Fantastic Four #536-537 The Hammer Falls
New Avengers: The Illuminati (one-shot)
[edit]
Civil War (74 issues)
Civil War (seven-issue miniseries)
Civil War: Front Line (10-issue miniseries)
Civil War: X-Men (four-issue miniseries)
Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways (four-issue miniseries)
Amazing Spider-Man #532-538 The War at Home
Black Panther #18
Cable/Deadpool #30-32
Captain America #22-24
Daily Bugle: Civil War Edition (one-shot newspaper)
Fantastic Four #538-543
Heroes for Hire #1-3
Iron Man v4 #13-14
Marvel Spotlight: Millar/McNiven (one-shot)
Ms. Marvel #6-8
New Avengers #21-25 New Avengers: Disassembled
Punisher: War Journal #1-3
She-Hulk v2 #8
Thunderbolts #103-105
Wolverine #42-47 Vendetta
X-Factor #8-9
New Titles Post-Civil War
Ant-Man #1-
Punisher: War Journal #1-
Heroes for Hire #1-
Yes, but how many of those are necessary for the story? Quesada, Bendis, and Millar have said over and over that you really only need to read the seven-part main book to follow the story.
How can a sketchbook count?
Of those 74 books I think I will only be buying 21 books. Less if Civil War ends up sucking.
I think thats the thing:
– if you’re a casual reader, you pick up the 7 issue series, you probably picked up Identity Crisis as well and no other supporting books from DC
– if you’re a casual Marvel reader, and your curiousity is piqued, then you pick up the 7 issue mini and whatever other books/characters you think are interesting..
– if you’re an insane Marvel Zombie, like me, you buy all 74…hehe
no really, I was actually thinking this weekend that I was going to plan to pick up more than just the 7 issue mini series, now that its all laid out, my grand total will be:
The Road to Civil War = 5 books
Civil War = 51 books
now before you “bwahaha” me – I already buy alot of the titles that are crossed over, so really I’m only looking at like under 20 “new” books from the various minis.
I’ll probably buy a good portion of them. My interest is piqued.
I have read ASM 529-531. They were quite good, and I enjoyed them. Props to JMS! A rare thing from me.
All 74 books? That seems WAY too excessive. And after the mediocre spin-offs from House of M, I don’t think i’m ready to take that leap. I’ll probably pick up my usual books (FNSM/ASM, Daredevil, and maybe some of the CIVIL WAR SPECIFIC minis (like X-men)).
ASM 529-531 were fun issues. I miss these kind of issues. I personally loved Tony’s last line to the Titanium Man in #531…it seems like such an awesome, non-chalant way to brush off a threat.
And we have two days…
Whose side are YOU on?
Hey Look! They reset the clock! Smart Marvel, very smart.
I was just looking at what’s coming out tomorrow, and I’m wondering: am I missing something? There’s this huge event book with at least three tie-in miniseries and crossovers crossing over with crossovers… and this is the second week in a row when it looks like I’ll be buying maybe three books. None of which is a Civil War book. Because there aren’t any. Again.
Am I crazy? Is anything coming out next week? It seems a really odd choice to build up so much anticipation and then sort of trail off.
Yeah, looks like you’re right. Neither Captain America nor New Avengers look to have anything to do with Civil War this week.
Maybe we’re just spoiled by the instant gratification of the internet?
New Avengers is out this week?
According to that Civil War Page on the Marvel site, it says it is. Who knows how accurate that is. It was the handiest link.
Handier than the link on our own main page? 😉
It’s on this page. The link to our shipping list wasn’t.
Either way, it’s not really right that our page should be more accurate than Marvel’s own page.
Weak Marvel, weak.