"Civil War: Front Line, Book 1" is the first of two trade paperback volumes that collect this 11-issue mini-series that ties into the "Civil War" event that drew a great big line in the sand for Marvel's superheroes. The New Warriors were battling a group of supervillains in Stamford, Connecticut, when one of the bad guys, Nitro, exploded and killed over 600 people. In the wake of this disaster Congress passes the Superhuman Registration Act. Iron Man supports the SRA while Captain America, whose identity is already known, opposes registration and draws others to his side, with Spider-Man being the one stuck in the middle, originally siding with Tony Stark and then gong over to the other side. Marvel's "Civil War" is a major event because it is a concerted effort to make secret identities a thing of the past. Issues #1-6 of "Civil War: Front Line" are collected in this first of two volumes.
"Front Line" has two major plotlines. First, "Embedded" follows a pair of reporters as they cover the two sides of the war, with Ben Urich covering Iron Man's side and Sally Floyd investigating Captain America and his supporters. But before that happens Spider-Man visits Sally to talk about what the SRA would mean for his family if he reveals his identity because the government demands superheroes register their identities of go to jail. Then Iron Man reveals to the world that his name is Tony Stark and everything changes. By the time we get to issue #2 the world knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man, which enrages both J. Jonah Jameson and Norman Osborn, and Iron Man is bringing in the first superhero to refuse to be registered. Floyd has to go blindfolded to a secret location to interview those resisting registration while Urich is checking out what Mr. Fantastic has come up with for "prisoners," and the Civil War claims its first casualties as things start to get ugly.
Second, "The Accused" focuses on Speedball, the only one of the New Warriors to survive the Stamford disaster who has to deal not only with being arrested for what happened but also finds himself powerless and suffering from survivor's guilt. But Speedball refuses to say he is guilty and as an unregistered combatant no longer has any legal rights (parallels to the War on Terrorism are really big in this storyline), even though Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk) shows up as his lawyer. There are additional stories and sections in these comics as well, the most prominent of these is "Sleeper Cell," which has to do with how the Atlanteans become involved in this whole mess. Again, the parallels to contemporary events are painfully obvious but the last page you get for this storyline in Book 1 is going to make you think of Dallas in November 1963.
On the basis of the six issues reprinted here you would think that "Front Line" is an allegorical critique of the War on Terrorism, with all of the obvious parallels to the real world in the Marvel Universe. Obviously that is a key element in what is happening in this comic book, but what will prove to be more important is that this is about the story behind the story. It is just that there is more to that story that you can tell at this point and it is not until we get to the final issue that we learn what this mini-series is really about. In that regard it turns out to be not a minor addition to the "Civil War" saga but an important perspective on what Mark Millar and Steve McNiven were doing over on the main stage in the "Civil War" mini-series. Of course I do not want to give anything away, but if you were sitting on the fence in terms of which side you were on in this particular conflict then the end of the "Embedded" part of "Civil War: Front Line" is going to make it pretty clear that while one leader is wrong, the other is way more wrong. In contrast story of the "The Accused" becomes relative minor while "The Sleeper Cell" turns out to be a key piece of the big picture.
Paul Jenkins writes all of the stories in "Front Line," with "Embedded" being penciled by Ramon Bachs and inked by John Lucas, while Steve Lieber is the artist for "The Accused," and Lee Weeks pencils what Rob Campanella inks on "Sleeper Cell." Each issue ends on a poetic note, as the events of the Civil War are juxtaposed against the diverse texts as an anonymous poem circulated at the Poston War Relocation Camp during the summer of 1943, Plutarch writing about Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon, Wilfred Owen's poem "Futility," Billy Joel's lyrics for "Goodnight Saigon," a pair of letters written by two brothers on opposite sides of the U.S. Civil War, and an epigraph by A.E. Houseman commemorating the dead of the Somme offensive. So some history and literature is thrown in for some nice ironic effects. Civil War: Front Line, Book 1 (Bk. 1)
For those of you wondering about some of the many plot holes and loose ends left over from the main Civil War storyline, Civil War: Front Line fills in some of the gaps. Scripted by Paul Jenkins, Front Line follows many of the smaller details of the main events of Marvel's massive, universe shattering crossover. In this first TPB, we find pro-registration hero Iron Man revealing his identity to the public, and we see the aftermath of Spider-Man's revelation to the public that he is Peter Parker (in particular, that of J. Jonah Jameson and Norman "The Green Goblin" Osborne), as well as learning that Speedball was the only survivor of the New Warriors fiasco that jumpstarted the entire road to registration. This section in particular is where Front Line shines, as we see the former hero powerless, guilt-ridden, and fighting for his life. We also see the effects of the Civil War on embattled Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich, as well as seeing the events from his eyes. Yes, along with the great art throughout, Front Line is possibly even better than the main Civil War storyline; all of which makes it a more than worthy pick up for those who enjoyed the main storyline and are looking to fill in some of the gaps. - Marvel Comics - Comics - Marvel Civil War - Captain America'
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