Marvel’s ‘Civil War’ in my Backyard

As many of you know, the upcoming Civil War storyline is going to be huge in the Marvel books this spring and summer. I was in my local comic shop today, where the guys in the store were abuzz about New Avengers: Illuminati. I picked up my copy and flipped to the back and saw the preview at the end of Civil War #1 which shows the beginning of what they are referring in the comics to as “The Stamford Massacre.”

(SPOILERS AHEAD FOR CIVIL WAR!)

Apparently, the event that kicks off Civil War is the blowing up of Stamford, Connecticut. As in, about 7 miles from the store I was in about 5 miles from my house…

Now I know that the “real” Stamford is fine and is not in danger of being blown up by the New Warriors, but apparently no one told that to the local news channel here, News Channel 12, who were “live on the scene” and covering the event and the affect it had on the locals of Stamford. Unfortunately, I missed the piece on the news (and they haven’t posted it on their site yet) but the guys in the store had just watched it and were getting a good laugh at the dismissive attitude the proprietor of the comic book store in Stamford had when interviewed. Apparently, with cameras in his face wanting to know what he thought of the disaster, he calmly replied “It’s just another one of these big events in comics…”

Now there are several thoughts I have to this event:

1) Why the heck is the news covering the story now, when Civil War #1 isn’t even out yet? Why isn’t this being covered, oh I don’t know, the WEEK THE BOOK COMES OUT? Sheesh.

2) We’ve seen disaster after disaster happen in comics over the years and unfortunately, we’ve even lived through some real life disasters, and yet the idea of destroying Stamford in the pages of Civil War #1 has got me somewhat upset, and I don’t even live there, rather I just drive through it to get to work or to go visit family. Maybe that makes it a good story device, a town I never even thought the comics would consider oddly is more powerful than something happening to NYC… again.

3) Now I didn’t see the news piece, but why on earth would a comic book store owner NOT take advantage of the moment to pimp both the story and his or her store, as well as comics. It’s just sad how this is another case of the industry not helping itself.

I don’t really have any other points to this post, other than how it struck me funny this afternoon.

Comments

  1. Comic book series reduces portion of Stamford to a hole in the ground

    By Brian Lockhart
    Staff Writer

    Published March 29 2006

    The flaming “Welcome To” sign lying in the rubble next to Spiderman and Iron Man made it clear he wasn’t looking at the smoldering ruins and bombed-out buildings of a generic comic book metropolis or a section of New York City, the traditional stomping ground of Marvel’s characters.

    It was Stamford.

    http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/scn-sa-civilwar1mar29,0,4987491.story?coll=stam-top-headlines

  2. GREAT CEASER’S GHOST!!!! They’re blowing up Stamford???? We must respond to our fellow Connecticuns…(what do you call a person from Connecticut anyway?) this shall be our finest hour!

    Or not. I mean, Xavier’s Mansion is in Westchester and all. And I’m sure it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle for the Avengers to hop onto Metro North.

    At least Shelton, CT, my hometown and the home of the Wiffle Ball Factory, is still ok.

  3. My wife is from Bethel and her mom lives in Danbury. Any chance of collateral damage?

  4. You’re not hoping for collateral damage, are you?

  5. See, at least Stanford got blown off the map. My good ol’ hometown of San Diego has been water logged thanks to Aquaman. Joy!

    As to why they’re not releasing press when the book comes OUT, they believe that by releasing early word, maybe a month or 4 in advance, the news about the book will circulate by word of mouth. Perhaps someone will be out hanging with friends, wherein one will go ‘So I read this thing about a Civil War…?’ and thus one can introduce another new comic reader by replying ‘Oh, lemme tell you how it’s going down…’ and thus, the industry benefits.

    BUT THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS. This sub-culture can only work if we release promotional material and media exposure relatively close to it’s release date (A week or two in advance). It’s a sad fact that they have no clue what they’re doing…Ah well.

  6. Has anyone been reading any of those “New Universe” Marvel titles? I had never heard of them until a couple of weeks ago when the new stories from that line came out. I was talking to one of the guys at the comic book store that I go to, which is Phantom of the Attic (mentioned in the Star Brand issue that came out at the beginning of March), and he told me that when the New Universe line ended the writers nuked my home town. They renamed Pittsburgh “The Pit.” I guess that is what happens when all of the superheroes congregate in New York City. Other towns need saving too! I suppose Pittsburgh could be under the jurisdiction of the Great Lakes Avengers. Good God we are doomed.

  7. hey don’t diss the GLA

  8. I live in Stamford and I think it’s a really neat event. I haven’t purchased a comic book in probably a good 10+ years, but now I’m buying the Civil War related comics just for this story-line. So far I’m impressed with the whole thing.

    I also posted about this at Ooine.com.