Civil War: The Initiative #1
© N/A

Mania Grade: B+
Issue: 1
Authors: Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis, Marc Silvestri
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $4.99

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"Civil War: The Initiative"

Civil War: The Initiative sets up the next four months of stories within the Marvel Universe.  The war has ended, Tony Stark has taken over as director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the 50-state initiative has begun.  But, a few loose ends remain.  Alpha Flight is still taking a dirt nap after facing Michael Pointer, the host of the entity Xorn, who controlled the collective energy signatures of all of the mutants that died at the end of House of M.  Several unregistered superhumans remain at large.  And, Stark still has to rebuild the Avengers – The Mighty Avengers, that is.  Warren Ellis also treats us to a brief interlude that shows the Thunderbolts doing their job – catching wayward superheroes and doing so in a very nasty manner. 

This issue stands less as a cohesive story and more as a series of vignettes to set the stage for the future of the Marvel Universe.  Most of the story rightfully focuses on Stark, which, typical of Brian Michael Bendis, uses dialogue balloons and terse, chatty conversations generously.  I hardly count myself among Bendis’s greatest fans, but he writes well enough.  This issue allows Stark some welcome breathing room after Civil War, but it fails to provide the reader much insight beyond his desire to move his brave new world forward.  This week’s Civil War: The Confession – also by Bendis – offers the reader a more personal look at Stark in the aftermath of both the war and Captain America’s death.  And, for those concerned about Ms. Marvel’s assertion that Steve Rogers survived the shooting, I can assure you that he remains quite dead. 

Marc Silvestri’s art looks like it usually does – left over from the 1990s boom, with lots of detail lines, exaggerated proportions, and not a woman alive without breast enlargement surgery.  Silvestri’s hyper-stylized art and that of others like him has done little to legitimize comics as a medium.  This is the kind of stuff that belongs on t-shirts and posters and little else.  Still, he draws with more restraint than he did on Hunter-Killer.   

Other than the mediocre art, Civil War: The Initiative works well enough.  But, it best serves those that read several Marvel Universe titles and want a primer for forthcoming stories. 

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at comicscape@mania.com.