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ROUND 1, BATTLE 19
AGE OF APOCALYPSE #1
VS
CIVIL WAR #1
While the other Secret Wars books based on major events used their origins as a jumping off point, twisting the situations readers are familiar with, today’s battle focuses on books that don’t so much twist as follow their original thread. While that means there are less moments of, “ooh that’s a neat directionâ€, fans of the original stories will get pretty much exactly what they liked from the first incarnations. What’s interesting about this matchup is Age of Apocalypse and Civil War are pretty equally loved/reviled…though that’s probably accurate for every single large event. If you search long enough you’ll find some fucking wackjob that loved the Clone Saga or Heroes Reborn or Spider-Verse or Ultimatum or…fuck, there’ve been so many dumb events in comics.
Because sometimes they print fan fiction and call it legitimate.
Age of Apocalypse starts off classically in the middle of the story, while introducing a young Cypher to the raging battle between Magneto’s rebel X-Men and Apocalypse and his tyrannical generals. This way he can learn/explain the politics of the world to the reader, without it seeming too ham-fisted. Right now he’s a fairly boring “chosen one†character, and I agree when Havok asks, “what makes this kid so important?†But the book sets up the stakes, if not their reasons, quite well. It’s a smart move, which is why it’s used again and again in almost every medium. And it works for the most part in this issue, except for his incredibly insightful moments with the Summers brothers.
The child who just met them knows their deepest feelings. Maybe his mutant power is that of a Psych 101 student.
Fabian Nicieza and Gerardo Sandoval (and team) do a great job at bringing that AoA style to the new millennium, while holding back on some of the more EXTREME tendencies of their predecessors. Dark Beast specifically looks like a whole new character, rather than simply being a maniacal version of Hank McCoy. He’s also one of the more interesting characters here, highlighting the political machinations within Apocalypse’s regime. Anytime a story can complicate itself further than one side versus another side, it’s a good thing. Add to that Scott Summers being less than okay with how he has to enforce martial law these days, the book looks like it COULD be an exploration of good, evil, and everything in between.
Over in CivlWarlandia, America is divided into the Iron and the Blue, as Cap and Iron Man have been fighting for what appears to be decades. Our issue opens as they come face to face for the first time in years, to start negotiations. For the many detractors of the original Civil War, this might feel more of the same, but the update does a much better job at showing how both sides can be unreasonable and up their own ass. Numerous people point out how the war is no longer about the Registration Act, but has become to be about who has the bigger superhero dick (it’s obviously Hulk). The update seems consciously trying to tell a more thought out story, about the repercussions of war and the dangers of digging in your heel. Both Captain America and Iron Man come off as huge pricks, with their supporters on both sides telling them maybe it’s time to fucking chill out and bro-down like they used to. Another clear sign this version is aware of, if not in full conversation with, its past is this variant cover.
Sort of belittles the American Revolution…
While the lead up and failing negotiations may not seem like an exciting first issue, Charles Soule and Leinil Frances Yu (and team) do a good job at introducing the status quo of this specific land. The Iron is a slightly totalitarian area, where anyone with powers is kindly encouraged to join the police force. The Blue is sort-of a Wild West meets benevolent version of the Foot Clan’s hideout from the first Ninja Turtles movies. Anything goes, because fuck rules man. Except there’s hints of a violent task force, the Punishers, to handle anything too extreme. Without outright saying it, the book hints at Cap’s hypocrisies in his fight for freedom. It also gives us a pretty heartbreaking moment of Spider-Man seeing his wife and daughter for the first time in years, before having to go back to work. There’s no explanation why he lives in the Blue, and they’re stuck in the Iron, but we need not all answers right away impatient readers. The story will unfold in its own time, if we let it. Both books surprised me in their general lack of lameness, but the politics and character work in Civil War is just slightly more subtle than AoA, and the (final) battle there is more of a draw than your favorite characters with longer hair and raspier voices. Plus we get to see Spider-Man with Falcon wings, and that’s just the shit.-MG