Civil War II: Choosing Sides #4

[superboyprime]

Comments

[informationgeek]

What the hell is that artwork for the first story? It looks like it was done in markers but not finished. Also, it looks like someone resembling Punisher dumping pink slushie into the mouth of a guy resembling Dr. Octopus.

[laughing_tree]

It looks great.

[informationgeek]

To each their own then! :)

[leoboiko]

I'm having a blast with Marvel's trend towards expressionist, non-photorrealist artwork, but every time – every time – that some creative, out-of-the-box, stylish artwork gets posted here, someone complains that their legs are deformed or something. And s_d is an unusually open-minded fan community! I'm worried that the reception among average comic-book fans must be even worse, and it will end up killing this wonderful experimentation.

[mrstatham]

Typically I find that the only instance in which people complain about anatomy is when even the style can't really justify the placement/arrangement or outright lack of limbs. That, to me, seems fair enough.

[coldfury]

First off, let me say that I absolutely loved this Power Pack story. The fact that it is the first actual Power Pack story in continuity in eons floored me, I didn't realized it'd been that long since the team proper showed up anywhere. Though I was a bit dismayed, this seemed to de-age Julie a bit from her Runaway appearances, I thought she was a bit older there.

Overall though, this series has been a profound disappointment. I have faithfully picked up every issue of this story, waiting to see someone, anyone, choose a side, and have yet to see this series fulfill it's titular promise. That seems like a severe editorial oversight. The only long form story in this title, starring Nick Fury, is incoherent, and only serves to showcase that he is not Ultimate Nick Fury, nor is he MCU Nick Fury, and he's not even Classic Nick Fury. He's the worst possible Nick Fury. And that might even include Hasslehoff Fury.

At this point I'll stick through it to the end, but as much as I've been enjoying the the more thoughtful and deliberate pace Civil War II has taken compared to the original, this tie has been a disappointing cash grab that I cannot recommend, notwithstanding this Power Pack story.

[veleda_k]

I enjoyed the Kate Bishop story, though that may have been mostly about being happy to see those characters together again. Nothing else has really stood out.

[coldfury]

That's true, that one wasn't bad, it just didn't do anything particularly important.

Some of the vignettes have been entertaining, but the lack of any narrative purpose, and the failing to live up to the promise of the title have sucked most of the enjoyment out of the series.

[balbanes]

Yeah, I seem to remember Julie being in (approximately) her early 20s in Avengers Academy. Here Katie is around 12 and Jack looks about 15, which would make Julie around 17.

Oh well.

[cainofdreaming]

Someone really needs to tell Franklin to keep his fingers out of the timestream. Heck, next thing you know we'll have a Captain America who is his actual biological age.

[icon_uk]

I don't think she was that old in AA, didn't she need to be explained as legally being an emancipated minor?

And since Alex is two and a half years older than her, and he definitely wasn't in his mid 20's, I think she has to be younger.

[balbanes]

Hmm. Reptil was established as 16 when AA started-- he had this whole angst about not having kissed a girl before the Finesse hookups. Age everyone up a year before the new students arrive; I think I remember Mettle mentioning he was 17 around then. And Julie was introduced as being older than the original group, since she joined as a teacher's assistant rather than a student. So I put her around 20-22.

OTOH, Julie did date Karolina Dean for a while, and they met when Karolina was not yet 18 (as Chase is implied to be the only legal adult in the Runaways). So maybe Julie is 18 or even 17, to make their relationship less statutory?

EDIT: Just read the panel where Pietro introduces her to the group, and he says that Julie is "barely older" than them, and is a TA due to her years of PP experience. So I'll revise to 18-19. Still a bit older than this Julie, but not by much.

[kates]

If it helps, she was explicitly said to be 17 in that Loners miniseries set sometime in the 2000s after Runaways. So yeah, I'd have pegged 18-19ish as well.

[icon_uk]

I picked this issue up for the Power Pack story, and it is the only reason I didn't put it back on the shelf.

Even the Power Pack story, delighted though I was to see them, seemed to have little to actually do with the themes of Civil War, it was a brief discussion about the most basic arguments as to which side was right. Now that would be fine as a couple of pages in a tangentially linked larger story, but this was all we got.

[halloweenjack]

I'm just enchanted that they got John Allison to do it. I mean, Marvel has been employing indie cartoonists for a while now--I mean, they got Kate Beaton to draw a story, and Kate Leth is writing Hellcat--but it's still nice to see.

[beeyo]

So...they just straight up lifted the "One batch, two batch" from Daredevil?

[freezer]

Either I'm late to the party or I'm forgetting something: Where is Alex?

[long_silence]

Secret Wars ended with Molecule Man giving God Doom's omnipotent powers to Reed when Victor admitted that Richards would have done a better job as God.

So Reed and Molecule Man are out recreating the Multiverse. Reed brought his family with him (except for Johnny and Ben) and decided to bring Alex and the rest of the Future Foundation as well.

It's a good thing that the FF were the legal guardians of Bentley, the Moloid and Uhari children otherwise that would be kidnapping.

[wizardru]

What I wasn't clear on was if all the others KNEW that they were alive and out there. Do they? Is this a 'until they get back' sort of thing or a 'for friends not here' kind of thing?

[bradygirl_12]

Never read the bottom half of the Internet.