Reviewers: Robert Cammarata, Kevin Jones, Phil Hunn & Jason Grasso.

Editor: Stephanie Kay

Introduction by Stephanie Kay

Mark Millar has won over many admirers with his work on the major Marvel event Civil War. He has also ruffled many feathers in its alternative depictions of iconic characters and in-team disputes. But controversy and confliction sells, there's no doubt, and an eargly anticipated issue has arrived with further side-choosing and side swapping. Comixfan proudly spotlights the latest issue, along with a variety of reviewer-receptions.

Story Title: Civil War Part 5

Writer: Mark Millar
Penciller: Steve McNiven
Inker: Dexter Vines
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Colorist: Morry Hollowell
Production: Kate Levin
Assistant Editors: Molly Lazer & Aubrey Sitterson
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics

Reviewer #1: Robert Cammarata

Civil War # 5 returns this week to no doubt dominate the sales charts and divide the comic community in half in much of the same way as the heroes of its tale. If you loved this book or hated this book prior to this week’s issue I highly doubt your opinion has changed. Civil War #5 continues steady on its path to an eventual conclusion but takes the reader merely a baby step into that pivotal direction. It has its fair share of pros, but unfortunately like its leading controversial "antagonist" Tony Stark, this book continues to be infuriating, difficult to support and unjustifiably arrogant.

This issue sees detractors from both camps in the "war," some internal and physical battles waged and a few surprises to boot. However, with the hype being what it’s been and the sheer scope of this story, it’s clear to see how this issue has come up short. I mentioned battles and they are in here. However, this is a war. A war is constant, unforgiving and unavoidable. If we were talking about Civil War #4 I’d say this idea of war was right at the forefront with visceral violence coming from Millar’s words and McNiven’s pictures and the fall of a larger than life (literally) hero to top it all off. In the wake of this kind of drama and fallout I’m surprised with the amount of discussing, meeting and general restraint that most characters show in this issue. There are vague references here or there to some sort of plan of attack from both sides in the struggle and the word "final battle" pops up from time to time but it all seems very much abstract. I would have welcomed this type of plotting and this kind of a large-scale planning from earlier issues but this is a chapter 5 of 7. The time for discussion is over and full out pummeling should be commencing. Both sides spent much of this issue in their trenches prepping for war when in a chapter 5 of 7 many should be out in "no man’s land" taking the fight to the other. I get that issue 4 had a very wide scale fight and that the next issue probably should offer a bit of relief but this book is very rapidly winding down and like I mentioned, in a war there is no time for relief. War is constant and the bulk of the players (not SHIELD rent-a-cops or cameos of heroes) should be constantly engaged in this warfare. Captain America remarks at one point, "Quiet, Cage. I’m thinking." I’m afraid at this point in the story Steve, you shouldn’t have that luxury.

Now, don’t get me wrong as there is action in this story and the scenes featuring Spidey fighting for his life are written and particularly drawn to great effect. My complaint is with the whole scale of this action. The fight scene(s) featuring Spider-man filled most of the "war" quota of this issue but it should have been supported with similar phenomenon throughout. What might be at fault here is the basic layout of the comic. Pictures and scenes are drawn on a very big scale. This works in some cases, especially considering the scope of this event, but using large panels to depict talking heads scenes also takes up extra space when a smaller layout for these scenes would suffice. This type of large panel layout and emphasis on the almighty splash page limits the amount of content that can be conveyed in a single issue.

I think I’ve been spoiled by some of the great work Ed Brubaker has been producing for Marvel because the smaller panel layout he has his artists work with on books like Daredevil and Criminal really allow for intensity at times but also a lot more room to build a proper plot and flesh out characters and themes. At one point in Civil War #5 the reader is really beginning to sink their teeth into the story and then there is this really inappropriate and almost irrelevant double page spread of the superhero prison, which many readers are already familiar with, and the story’s space is all but over. That type of use of the splash page is a serious problem in many comics today. Splash pages are like exclamation points. Use them sparingly for emphasis but use them too much or at inopportune moments and they make your work look ridiculous. A two-page spread for that visual? Half a page tops in my book and that’s being generous.

Now that I’ve spent on some time on the bad I want to tackle the good, because believe it or not, it’s in here too. You cannot put the names Mark Millar and Steve McNiven on a title and not have some positives to "moan" about, if you will. Millar does a great job building tension throughout this issue. The confrontation between Tony and Peter is well written and marks a fairly consistent interpretation of Peter’s character. Most of the dialogue works well, again at establishing a particular tone or suspenseful feeling and Millar is successful throughout in making the reader sympathize deeply with the detractors’ unique situations. The art, as typical, is nothing short of gorgeous. McNiven uses a wide array of paneling techniques and positions to draw out the conflicts plaguing Spidey in this issue. Again, the reader feels true empathy for Peter and his plight. The art also does a phenomenal job of really crystallizing and illustrating the prescient emotions of each character in the depictions of their facial expressions. Faces are a difficult, yet essential part of any graphic story and McNiven and company have this art of the emotive face down to a science.

Possibly the strongest visual in the entire issue is a single page spread (used very appropriately) that reveals the return of a character. This image is absolutely breathtaking. However, due to some quite blatant hints over the course of the issue in both the writing and art this reveal is so in your face obvious that the beautiful page spread is almost relegated moot due to the failure of the reveal to be of any consequence. In a similar instance, and all the credit to him, Millar actually takes his first baby step to giving the now infamous Tony Stark a single, shred of humanity. Millar actually has a few lines of dialogue that actively seek to push forward Stark’s POV. Now, I think this is a worthwhile task and personally, in many ways, I can see the sequence of events since Stamford from Tony’s perspective. However, in the four issues prior, the sheer volume of time making the pro-reg forces’ actions deplorable and building up the anti-reg resistance makes this type of "balancing act" a bit hard to buy at this stage in the game.

I get the feeling another writer might be able to pull it off, but Millar is way too self-conscious in his writing to properly display the pro reg argument in any persuasive way. At one point, Reed (looking very remorseful in his facial expression thanks to McNiven) remarks, "Do you ever stop to think how much easier things would be if we hadn’t spliced Thor’s DNA with Hank Pym’s Cyber Tech? If we didn’t have this big final battle planned with all those thunderbolt lunatics? Hank wouldn’t be doped-up on anti-depressants and my darling Sue would never have left." First of all, super-smart, genius Reed is only now pondering if creating a practically omnipotent god-clone hybrid and working with sociopaths might have been a bad choice? In the words of a younger generation, DUH! Reed thinks of this now? Was he not sitting in on the meeting when these choices were made? And as for the anti-depressants line, it is hard to see things from the pro-reg standpoint when they are clearly written as being in the wrong; doubting themselves and resorting to drugs to numb the pain of their own idiotic and unethical actions. Could the pro reg have been represented fairly and balanced in this story? I think so. Have they been? Even the characters themselves seem to know the answer to this one.

And so there you have it. Clearly, Civil War #5 is not my favorite book of the year. However, with some work and the eventual culmination of Millar’s plot there is still some hope for this story.

Reviewer #2: Kevin Jones

Say what you will about Civil War, but there's no doubt that it's a hell of a lot of fun. This is really a big-budget action movie we're talking about. And in order for a big-budget action movie to be good, it's got to knock you out of your seat, which is exactly what this series has done so far. Mind you, nobody wants a movie like Armageddon on their hands, and that's why the writing has to be sharp and avoid insulting our intelligence at all costs. Whatever criticism you may have of Millar's writing style, it succeeds in this goal as well.

McNiven's art is as striking as ever, and always gives you something interesting to look at. Even his panels of people standing around doing nothing are dramatic. There's a sort of kinetic energy that keeps going throughout each issue, and that's a nice feat five issues in. But at the same time, he's able to pull off a couple of moment-to-moment panel transitions (is that a red dot on your shoulder?). I'm impressed with the way he's handled the sheer number of characters in this crossover (it makes me understand the delays.) Even with such a huge cast, each character is drawn with the same amount of care. If anything, I'd say the art is a little sterile at times, but that's nitpicking. The art here has given me a hankering to pick up some back issues of Marvel Knights 4.

So Spider-Man's finally changed sides. We all knew this months ago, right? Even Agent Hill knew. The big question is whether it was handled well, and I'm sure there will be vastly different opinions. I say yeah, it was handled right, but that doesn't stop me from needing to see more in Amazing Spider-Man next week. His confrontation with Iron Man is satisfying after all that's gone down so far. After that point...well, poor Spidey gets the same Millar treatment as in his Marvel Knights book. Mark Millar seems to think it's fun to beat up on this poor guy. Spider-Man does come across as a little inept in his escape, which I'm sure we can chalk up to having an incredibly bad day. It's making me a little anxious to see Spider-Man do something right in this series.

For the record, I'm pro-registration, and I'm glad that Iron Man says a few convincing words about his stance this time around. It seems like Millar has been trying a little too hard to make the anti-reg side more sympathetic. This makes me think that the whole thing is misdirection, and it'll be Tony's side which comes out on top. Reed expresses some regret over what's he's done, and it comes across quite smoothly from how he's portrayed in FF in the recent issue. He's talking like a man who's discovering that personal feelings might be more important than the most compelling facts. In other words, there's plenty of development on the pro-reg side for a change.

Now, I don't think Millar is a god. Some things don't come through with the same impact he thinks they have, like finding out who the ski-mask guy was. Was I the only one who yawned at that revelation? Sometimes characters do seem like they're being crammed into the plot heavy-handedly. I'm annoyed that Tony has gone from saying that 42 is permanent, to saying it's only temporary. And he says them both to the same person. It would've also been nice if the different artists trying to render that prison would have tried to make their renditions look similar, at least. Okay, sure, it's from a different angle, it's at a different stage of construction; but it feels inconsistent.

When all is said and done, the positives outweigh the negatives for me. I'm enjoying how so many characters are getting quality screen time. I like how you can understand the story completely just reading the core series, but it actually makes you want to read the tie-ins. Now it's time to gear up for the final battle, and I'm excited to see how it plays out. The most important goal for a project like this is to get people interested and make them want to find out what happens, and it's certainly worked on me.

Reviewer #3: Phil Hunn

Anybody else getting flashbacks to House Of M yet?

As the fifth chapter of Civil War’s central miniseries closes, we’re really still no nearer to getting any real resolution to any of the series’ plots than we were after Clone-Cyborg Thor beat the crap out of, and then killed, Goliath last issue. Instead the story plods along with only a couple of major plot developments listed in the twenty-two pages -- with the pro-registration side still being made to look like unrepentant Nazi thugs (Iron Man, particularly, is now looking like the world’s biggest tin-clad arsehole). Hell, this issue sees the anti-registration side being made to look even more like desperate Robin Hood types against the amoral and vicious tactics of Tony Stark’s crew than they were last time around. This issue brings the only real bit of possible ambiguity to Captain America’s not-so-merry band that’s been seen since the start of the series. And the fact that it’s only possible ambiguity works against the book spectacularly -- where’s the definitive statement? Where’s the one-two punch that says "there is an end in sight?" It’s not there.

This is not how the fifth chapter of a seven-issue miniseries should be going. There’s less sitting around and thumb-twiddling than there was in Bendis’ aforementioned mutant misfire, but still, the snail’s-pace plotting is not doing anybody any favours -- least of all the readers. At this point we should be seeing Captain America actively taking the fight to Iron Man’s cronies on some level other than piecemeal raids and table-based discussion, ready for something other than a rushed conclusion over the next couple of issues. The battering ram should be smashing down the walls of the castle by now, but all it’s actually doing is simply trundling leisurely towards its target while its operators sit on its edges and watch the world go by.

This is what we’ve experienced those heinous delays for? It’s a massive disappointment, to say the least. Fortunately, the artwork by Steve McNiven is still top-drawer stuff, with some dynamic action sequences. Unfortunately, those are rather spoiled by the over-abundance of splash pages -- again, at this point the art should be concerned less with Giant Freakin’ Exclamations and more with actually getting on and telling the story. In the time it takes to show some of those splash pages we could have been getting the plot shoved along, which this miniseries sorely needs. And I’m still smarting from Marvel’s idiotic decision to hang its entire comics schedule for months to come on McNiven not being late with his pages for this issue. He was. And now Marvel is in big trouble because of it.

Had he not had so many bloody great splash pages to draw, I think he might have made it, and people like my retailer wouldn’t be looking daggers at Marvel right now.

I want to say I’m impressed with a lot of this issue, I really do (Spider-Man’s parts of the story are very well-done, for instance). But the unpleasant reality of the situation is that I can’t, because it’s just not yanking the story forwards as much as it could do -- and walking in place at this stage is not a good idea.

Disappointing.

OVERALL:

Reviewer #4: Jason Grasso

Civil War #5 doesn't deliver any shocking revelations a la Thor's supposed return or Spider-Man's unmasking but it’s still a good read. It’s hampered by some serious storytelling flaws which prevent this from really being considered a great title. But there is a lot to like here, particularly Spider-Man’s obvious turn and Punisher’s entrance into the fray.

The issue opens with a dramatic escape by the Invisible Woman and Human Torch from S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and quickly cuts to a showdown at Stark Tower between Iron Man and Spider-Man. Both events are wonderfully illustrated by Steve McNiven (check out the shot of Iron Man getting tossed through the wall, and the whole sequence with Spidey by the window). Unfortunately both events are not logical lead-ins based on the events that ended last issue. (More on that later.) Soon Spidey is on the lam from S.H.I.E.L.D. and some of the new Thunderbolts. He gets some help from the Punisher, who carries the tattered Spidey back to Cap’s HQ and essentially chooses their side.

If you blink you will miss the akward revelation that Punisher was in fact the ski-masked man trailing the team in Civil War #4. Given how they built up this mysterious character, this was a really poor reveal. Wouldn't it have been more dramatic to show him saving Peter with the mask on and then have him pull it off to the heroes? His direct reference to the ski mask in his dialogue is such an obvious statement to the fans. You can't build up a mystery like that and reveal it as a passing point within a string of dialogue. That sort of misstep smacks of making-it-up-as-they-go-along syndrome.

The issue ends with a poorly set up sequence that actually works really nicely. Daredevil is captured and brought to the prison in the Negative Zone (called "42"). Stark finally seems to be giving the pro-registration side some just cause with their fifty-state initiative ("a federal force from coast to coast"). Daredevil isn’t buying it and his use of a silver dollar to hit Tony with a Judas reference is nicely done, if not a bit over the top (sort of the point of comic books, though).

Unfortunately, the lead in to Daredevil’s capture doesn’t really make sense. In the last frame of the scenes at Cap’s HQ, you see Daredevil with the rest of the team. The very next frame takes place in Hell’s Kitchen, without any reference to time passing, and we see DD getting carted off by S.H.I.E.L.D. (There hasn’t been any intent by the creators to involve Matt Murdock in the mini series, instead keeping with Danny Rand’s cover for his exiled friend.) It might seem like ridiculous nitpicking but unfortunately there are enough flaws to knock the title down a few pegs.

It’s become nearly impossible to review a series like Civil War without taking into consideration so many of these outside variables. For one, the idea that the offshoots of this main title are not a necessary read and only provide extended entertainment is completely and utterly false. After every issue of the mini series, I feel like I missed something by not reading certain titles. Sure, I’ve known for months that Spider-Man and Iron Man had finally come to blows (over in Amazing Spider-Man) but I was left wondering if I missed something by not reading Fantastic Four. (Invisible Woman and Human Torch had just left the pro-registration side at the end of last issue but here they appear to have been with the anti-registration for some time.) The same can be said about this week’s New Avengers, which left me wondering if I was supposed to have been reading Iron Man to understand who that issue’s main antagonist was. (This is when Marvel’s abandonment of exposition boxes really comes back to bite them in the rear.)

And as much as Marvel wants to contend that it’s about the integrity and continuity of the project, the delays in this series (and subsequently of the connected titles) have had a major impact on the fulfillment of the story. Long delays create a heavier need for each individual issue to deliver a bigger impact, because of a longer wait and thus, longer hype. Marvel compounds this problem by their monthly solicits for more and more Civil War-related titles, continuing to imply how big this thing really is. I’m willing to be patient because I do like where this story is going but for me, the only logical resolution is a complete and long-lasting split in the Marvel Universe. Anything less is going to seem House of M-ish.

Perhaps unfairly, Civil War will ultimately be judged when all is said and done. That hasn’t stopped it from being an enjoyable read from issue to issue. McNiven’s art is top notch, not only the details of the art but his storyboarding seems right from out of the movies. Millar is clearly having fun pitting allies against each other, and has really spurred on a great debate among fans choosing sides (akin to the sort of science vs. faith buzz that the television show Lost enjoyed when it first started). But there too many holes. When you strive for greatness, you can’t look past the details.

OVERALL: