Civil War #2 - Marvel Comics

CIVIL WAR No. 2, August 2006

Actually outselling its first issue following "reorders”, Mark Millar’s script for the second part to this “Marvel Comics” crossover storyline is arguably a little more sedentary in nature than its preceding edition, thanks largely to the Scottish author’s focus upon the reasoning behind just why the likes of Iron Man and Mister Fantastic position themselves in direct opposition to Captain America’s disapproving stance on the Superhuman Registration Act. In fact, many of this best-selling book’s 253,868 strong audience in June 2006 probably remember this publication more for its depiction of Spider-Man revealing “his secret identity as Peter Parker to the entire world, during a meeting at Congress” than for its notable action sequences involving a clearly out-gunned Eli Bradley, and Steve Roger’s outrageous rescue of the Young Avengers from right under the noses of a heavily-armed S.H.I.E.L.D. transportation unit.

However, just because this twenty-two page periodical doesn’t provide a plethora of pulse-pounding punch-ups doesn’t mean for a second that it isn’t a thoroughly riveting read, with Tony Stark and Reed Richards’ fanaticism as to them being wholly in the right proving one of this comic’s most mesmerising attributes. The Golden Avenger in particular is penned as being especially devious with those super-heroes closest to him, one minute earnestly promising his fellow team-mates She-Hulk and Tigra that Cap is entirely wrong in his opposition to the Government’s legislation, and then in the next confiding to Happy Hogan that he has some serious doubts as to whether he’s “doing the right thing here” when the act becomes law.

Such two-faced haughtiness really does grate upon the nerves, and ultimately seems to show the industrial tycoon as little more than a master manipulator, who even when he himself isn’t entirely convinced by his actions, is perfectly happy for the likes of an impressionable young Peter Parker to unmask himself before his entire rogues’ gallery, simply to help the egotistical Stark appear supremely confident in front of the world’s press; “See the Registration Act gives us a choice: We can continue the trend that Captain America advocates and have people with powers completely unchecked or super heroes can go legitimate and earn back a little public trust.”

Adding enormously to this comic’s success is Steve McNiven’s pencilling, which really does a first-rate job of physically showing the emotions running through this book’s considerably-sized cast. The Canadian’s ability to illustrate an increasingly doubtful Sue Richards’ body language as she sceptically listens to her husband manically wax lyrical about revolutionizing “every meta-human in America” is specifically well-drawn, with Invisible Woman’s concerns about Reed’s viewpoint being obvious in each and every panel.

Writer: Mark Millar, Penciler: Steve McNiven, and Inker: Dexter Vines