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Not So Civil

So... everyone read Civil War #5 yet?

If not, lemme save you the $2.99 and tell you that the Punisher is Mr. Ski Mask Guy and has thrown his lot in with the Cap side of things. Oh, and whoever's Daredevil this week still has that coin he was flipping around since issue #1 and gave it to Tony Stark to declare him a traitor. Yep, delayed issues, holding up books, throwing schedules and we get what amounts to a filler to "build tension" towards the next battle or big deal.

Now, I understand not every issue can be pulse pounding action. Not everyone can do an Infinite Crisis for me at least where every book I got had some sort of "Holy Crap!" moment. Sometimes you need to give a little exposition or build tension, like I said, in order to make the next big impact hit harder. But especially delayed, I know I'm not all that on the edge of my seat after this one. Thor shows up? Oh yeah. The fact he's a clone? Starting to lose me. This issue?  Really, the Punsher shows up.  Oh, and Tigra may be a traitor, but really... does Iron Man's "side" really need the assistance when they have the US Government, SHIELD, "Cape Killers" and intimate knowledge of their old friends and how their motives work?

Considering how well SHIELD's been doing these days, maybe they do.

But as a wonderful form of personal protest, go see this funny guy. He's reworked CW#5's dialogue and noticed the first thing I thought of the moment Spider-Man pretty much did what we all assumed he would do since Day One. Because if Iron Man has a shut down sequence for his own suit, why didn't he 'Cincula Tempest Mupon' the Iron Spidey suit?

B@N Confidential – Just Not Happy

Interesting.

So, my article for Blog@Newsarama turned out to be something I hadn't even thought of writing to begin with; I would up asking a more 'metaphilosophical' friend of mine without any elaboration if it was possible for humans to clone a god.  I mean, that seems a little above and beyond the call of duty, doesn't it?  As someone cooler than me said, 'If we cloned Jesus, could the clone feed the masses with just a loaf of bread and some fish?'  As Tony Stark himself would say, "Oh, come on!"

No.  My friend without hesitation answered, "Of course."  He believed that gods only have what will than humanity gives them (which is actually right according to Merriam-Webster; 'require human worship' being in the definition of a god).  We got to talking and I thought that was such a cool thing to think about, so much more than the depress-o-rama of the issue itself, I thought I'd give Civil War a different type of introspection.  I mean, we all know characterization is out in left field and Millar doesn't seem to be getting any point across besides 'Hey, I wanted this scene because I thought it would look cool' (apparently, that's why we get a giant black man in chains and tarps being lowered into a grave.  He saw a picture of an elephant being buried and thought it looked interesting.  Good going there, guy.)  but what about the higher idea, so to speak, about mankind overeaching by creating a god in their own image?

This isn't their friend.  This isn't a part of a greater mythology of an ancient culture.  This is a weapon.

Yeah, I probably should have written a little more but I figured less would be more in this case and people would jump in with what they think.  And the masses have spoken!   Everything from being turned off from the Fantastic Four and Iron Man characters to Millar crapping on the book to people wanting things fixed to people wanting things not to be fixed to none of this matters.

It's hard to see the greater picture when you're so mired down by the colors.

Cup O’ Nothin’

The picture of the Scarlet Witch sold me on looking at the New Joe Fridays (Week 9) article at NEWSARAMA, but it once again left a empty feeling in the comic stomach. While there were somethings that Joe did say (mind you, it was all info the rest of NEWSARMA told you in their Wizard World Chicago reports), there was just as much enthusiasm and vigor about what he couldn't say it's hard to really separate the two. The man couldn't even comment on his opinion about the attendance to the con! They didn't ask for a blow by blow of the numbers here, but it was still artfully dodged.

On:

Loeb/Turner Wolverine Project: Man I wish I could say more about this, but you’ll just have to wait.

Mike Carey Ultimate event: And I shall remain vague for now.

Brian Bendis Ultimate event “Ultimate Invasion”: You’re just going to have to wait and see.

New Thor series: Well, so much more will be clear after Civil War #4.

(And no, I don't give him this one even though he's technically right and we should wait until the Civil War thing blows over to see what Thor we get, but come on! Either we're thinking about it, or we're not. Something. )

Safe to say that we can see more teenage superheroes and sidekicks, or at least see them play a bigger role?: I’m really jazzed about the idea but you’ll have to wait until Civil War is over. Oh, how the Marvel Universe will change!

Sure, there was some info on basic titles (more than happy to tell you about the free video game tie-in book!) but either word is leaking out too fast, they have too many thing on their plate or.... Joe Quesada is jerking us around and loving it.

And then a new roster of New Avengers in issue #27?: Man, I love when we do the disinformation thing

Ah.

Hawkeye’s return in New Avengers #26?: Hawkeye’s dead, I made sure of that. What in god’s name makes you think he’s alive? Heck, if I see him in Avengers I’m going to have Bendis kill him all over again but not before Speedball gets an arrow between the eyes in Frontline.

Sometimes, I think hanging out with fans gets him a little cranky, but that's just me. I understand his job's a hard one and that it's rather cool of him to talk to people like NEWSARAMA and get some insider info on what's going on at Marvel but, it's just the amount of info we're given.

If you're not ready, Marvel, don't talk about it. Just saying 'We don't have anything ready to say on that yet.' instead the same old 'You’re just going to have to wait and see.' seems like semantics I know, but even a little change in context is good for the soul. Something that sounds less like your mother talking about what you're getting for Christmas and more statement on what the office can say.

I used to tune in with some regularity to the Cup o' Joe, but it's unsatisfying.

Guess I'm going to have to wait and see.