From The ComicBookBin.com
Civil War: The Return #1
By Al Kratina
Feb 8, 2007 - 4:53:32 PM
Civil War: The Return #1
Marvel Comics
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Pencils: Tom Raney
Inker: Scott Hanna
Variant Cover by Ed McGuinness and Dave McCaig
Any
good comic book event is comprised of a single story, the main thrust
that drives the event, and the dozens of separate plot threads that
follow the weft and the weave of the main plot, spinning together to
form a grand tapestry. It's a noble enterprise, and one that is no
doubt rewarding financially as well as creatively. And it's probably
all the more financially rewarding if you sweep up all the stray lost
threads and try to knit them into something else you can sell, like
turning barber shop sweepings into a hair necklace. Such is the case
with
Civil War: The Return, which is a bunch of nothing spun
into comic book form.
The
Return features two stories, one detailing the return of Captain
Marvel from beyond the grave, and the other dealing with The Sentry's
final decision regarding the registration act. Both are written by
Paul Jenkins, and neither elaborates on or advances the
Civil War
storyline much further. As for the first story, it's well told, in
its way, but it feels inconsequential in terms of the storyline, all
the more so because it's essentially an ad for the upcoming
Captain
Marvel ongoing series. Jenkins has an earlier incarnation of
Marvel appearing in the present through some sort of time rift in the
Negative Zone. Informed of his future self's death from cancer, he
becomes the warden of File 42, where anti-registration superheroes
are held, all the while struggling with the paradoxical implications
of his future/past/present death, not the least of which is how
difficult it is to explain his current situation in a sentence. As
the prison's security systems fail, Jenkins has Marvel musing on
metaphysical issues, but while interesting ideas are explored,
nothing is accomplished or settled by the end.
The second
story has the Sentry fighting the Absorbing Man, before deciding to
register. I was under the distinct impression that he had already
registered, so the end of the story seemed a little anti-climactic to
me. As well, the way Absorbing Man is written, with his dialogue all
phonetic transcriptions of what upper middle class people think
dockworkers sound like, seems a little childish. Again, the need for
this story to be told isn't evident. It feels like filler, but it's
not really filling anything out, like I've just bought some of the
bubble plastic wrap in a box without the electronics inside.
Tom
Raney's pencils are effective, but don't stand out. The Sentry looks
a little, shall we say, delicate, and some of Raney's more dynamic
poses have a tendency to swell the character's faces, like
superheroes with botulism. Creel, The Absorbing Man, looks
frightening in the second story, but the layouts are standard and
there's nothing really to distinguish the pencils from the industry
standard. Despite some of the quality work that has been done with
the characters and themes of Marvel's
Civil War,
The Return
doesn't do anything to advance the story, choosing instead to try and
make something out of nothing, and wasting a lot of time in the
process.
Rating: 4 on 10
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