Civil War #3 - Mobile Edition

Marvel Comics
Civil War #3
By Hervé St.Louis
July 23, 2006 - 17:15

Marvel Comics
Writer(s): Mark Millar
Penciller(s): Steve McNiven
Inker(s): Dexter Vines, Mark Morales, Steve McNiven

Captain America and his fugitive allies continue to fight crime while getting new secret identities. However, as they go a rescue operation they fall prey to Iron Man’s brigade of heroes who support the forced registration of super humans. Can Captain America and his team escape the superior forces of their opponents, including their secret trump card?

Captain America and his allies having new secret identities doesn’t work and seems like a neat way to cover up for some of the outings of some of the cast. For example, I thought that Captain America’s identity was public knowledge in secret services and military circles, that Goliath never even had a secret to begin with and that Hercules had no alter ego. Worse, Daredevil, which should be in jail right now and whose face as Matt Murdock has been on every newspaper in the nation pretends he is an engineer from Long Island.

Details like this make Civil War look rushed and poorly planned. As good as the narrative is, Daredevil has been through a similar ordeal as the rest of the Marvel super heroes for a long time now and his inclusion in this story feels awkward. The other thing that bugs me about Civil War, is that it’s another attempt by Marvel to reignite the famous feud between Iron Man and Captain America. How many times will Iron Man beat Captain America to a pulp only to see at the last moment the errors of his ways? After saying “I apologize” to Captain America all those times, shouldn’t he be more careful about fighting him?

McNiven’s interior pages are beautiful and with the help of the colourist, well textured and cinematic feel. It feels like this a blockbuster on a wide screen. His work reminds me of Paul Smith’s Golden Age which was also a cinematic feat.

7/10

Last review:

Civil War #2