Civil War #4 (Spoilerific of course)

[Venom65437]

To my not very big surprize, I thought it was a let down considering the hype.

A CLONE of Thor (How exactly you can clone a GOD, I don't know) kills... Goliath. All I can say is... WHO GIVES A DAMN? Seriously. Goliath. That's nobody. Does anyone miss him? Of course not.

What I did like.... we finally get to see Spider-Man stop being a dumbass. He's realizing he made a dumbass decision (that I still say he'd never make in the first place) and his switch appears to imminent.

I like Cap as much as the next guy... but seriously, he would not of gotten up after that beatdown Iron Man put on him, I mean, come on.

That's about all I have to say... I also thought it was a pretty fast read, which didn't exactly make me happy.

[Gray Lensman]

I only gave it a read-through in the store, but I'm not impressed here. This story isn't that well thought through.

The good news is that at least Thor's supposed presence is explained. The bad is that the explanation opens a lot of problems.

Tony Stark only ends up looking more and more like a complete scumbag the longer Civil War goes on. First, it turns out that he's been collecting cell samples from one of his oldest friends for years without telling him. Then he makes a clone of said friend behind his back. Oh, and Tony apparently has no problems with brainwashing and programming the clone to serve his own interests. And Marvel seriously wants us to believe he's being heroic?

Then again, I wouldn't want to be Tony when the real Thor comes back. Because I really see him wanting to badly hurt Stark when he comes back. Thor is not exactly known for being patient and forgiving...

However, that's not the problematic thing. The real concerning thing here is the idea that Tony's side can just clone and mentally program a super-army at need. If they can do that, though, why go to the measures they have? Why ally with Baron Zemo and give him a Thunderbolt army? Why recruit villains at all? Why even bother with registration when you can control the superhuman population with cloned gods? I'm really not sure the ramifications of this have been thought out.

And I agree... Goliath's death is a pointless waste. It reads to me like Millar needed Random Hero #8 to die to cause a reaction within both factions. Nice idea, except nobody has that much reason to care about him. I'm not even sure most of the heroes would care that much. Also, Tony ends up with blood on his hands, and really unforgivingly so. I'm not convinced that the Thor clone couldn't have stopped Goliath without using lethal force. Thor is considerably more powerful, for one thing. This is just one more thing that Stark needs to answer for, honestly.

Civil War has some nice ideas in it, and big things happen in it, but I fear the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

[Venom65437]

Hell it took Civil War for me to even remember who Goliath is!

I can't wait for this to end, Stark should get the big time ass whoopin he deserves, either by Cap, Thor, or Spidey.

[hector]

Oh my God....

I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT

I was obviously not appreciating this masterpiece correctly. But now I realize this is the finest piece of comic art since the last issue of All-Star Batman and Robin, The boy Wonder

Because there is simply no way this isn't the same type of self-parody All-Star Batman. Is impossible. And the proof is right there in the plot and the dialogue.

I frankly can't think there is a writer so incompetent as to bring back a sixth rate character, gives us absolutely no reason to give a crap about him and then proceed to kill him in the stupidest way since Hawkeye forgot the existance of Velcro. It is obviously a Decontructive Critic of events like Identity Crisis or Countdown, doing the exact opposite of them. Brilliant.

I'm trying to find a reason for Steve Rogers to call someone who has endured so much physical and psychological hardships for many years now and who chose to risk his life on a dialy basis a 'Pampered Punk™' but I haven't yet reached that level of enlightment. Though I'm sure is some sort of Karmic Zen Dialogue like "I'm the Goddamn Batman"

The High Point of the issue is definetely when Jan calls Tony someone with "a lot of foresight" despite showing nothing but
Monumental Stupidity ever since the series began. The theme continues through the ending when he continues to display Incredible Mental Acuity thinking that the best way to prevent further conflict and bring their former teammates without much bloodshed is by employing a team of Bloodthirsty psycopathic killers That's awesome.

The best and most depth in characterization is without a doubt. Which shows us that the best way to leave a husband is with a good dinner, a nice wine and a little [Censored]. Then she proceeds to leave her beloved family to hang with a bunch of muscular and handsome men in tights. Truly showing us her motherly way. This was coupled with the heart-wrenching scene of Ben watching her leave. I can't wait until he runs away to Canada and shows us the true meaning of heroism

Seeing how Millar always dazzle us with his incredible intertextual abilities such as basing his brilliant characterization of Ultimate Hulk in Freud's Structural Theory, I'm sure there is more depth here to the conflict between IM/CA but right now I'm blinded by the pure brilliance of this series.

Truly, you can't rush art like this. Delaying the whole line was the right choice if we're going to get more like this.

[Venom65437]

You are too funny Hector!

[The Spider]

"What, are you DENSE? Are you RETARDED or something? Who the hell do you THINK I am? I'm the goddamn THOR CLONE."

[The Spider]

PS: I think Millar actually praised ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER more than I've seen him really mention anything about ALL-STAR SUPERMAN. That... kind of explains it a bit.

And CIVIL WAR needs Trey Parker and Matt Stone:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq2_YKQGE_U

(NOTE: Basically Captain America movie w/ TEAM AMERICA theme--the song that you probably wouldn't want to play at work & anywhere where you could get in trouble and have to explain why you're listening to such language.)

[hector]

venom65437 said:

You are too funny Hector!

Only when given such beautiful material, V.