The New Avengers, Vol. 5: Civil War

The New Avengers (2004)

by Brian Michael Bendis, Howard Chaykin (Penciller), Pasqual Ferry (Penciller)

Collects New Avengers (2004) #21-25. The Avengers are about to go to war over their beliefs in the super hero Civil War, and the shake-up will shock you. See the affects as Civil War tears the greatest super hero team ever apart!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Fiction, Comic Book

108 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 14, 2007

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bendis' New Avengers companion to Mark Millar's huge summer event Civil War is integrated work with a very standalone feel as we get the war's point of view from Captain America (an OK read), Luke Cage (superb), Spider-Woman (very very good), The Sentry (quite good) and Iron-Man (quite good). The comic books in this volume try and expand more on the core of each character but are also key pieces in the New Avengers cannon especially the Luke Cage and Spider-Woman episodes. 8 out of 12 Fur Star work.

2022 read; 2011 read

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

There. I did it. I’ve finally read all of Marvel’s Civil War volumes. If there’s a Civil War: Aunt May’s Oat Cakes volume or a Civil War: H.E.R.B.I.E. - Sexbot book out there, I don’t want to know about it.

Okay, maybe I’d read the latter volume.

You do realize that there’s a Civil War II event?

Shaddup!!!

This one’s a grab bag of stories about different heroes and how they’re affected by the Superhuman Registration Act (SRA, so I don’t have to type the whole damned thing out again). All the stories are written by Brian Michael Bendis. The art is variable. Howard Chaykin = yuck!

Captain America

Cap’s seriously thinking of falling back on his comic book drawing skills, when he’s ambushed by a swarm of agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (SHIELD from now on because I just won’t type those periods again. Just, no.). Cap has already taken a stand on the SRA and just said nope to not only registering heroes but going after his friends who won’t register.



So after he kicks the crap out of a bunch of SHIELD agents, he’s on the run.

It’s still early in the event, so who’s with him?

Anyone?



Yay! The Falcon!

Anyone else?

No, so Cap pays a visit to Hank Pym, hoping to enlist him, but Pym, says “I’m with Tony” and gets a shield to the face for his troubles.



Heh.

Luke Cage

I’ve read and reviewed this issue recently (Luke Cage: Avenger), but basically everyone’s favorite punk-ass, Tony Stark has been imbued with even more megalomania than normal and he gets pushy with Luke, but Luke puts his family first.

Spider-Woman

Jessica Drew isn’t buying into jerk-face Tony Stark’s Kool-Aid and she’s brought to a SHIELD helicarrier in her undies and asked to re-consider.



Jessica gets rescued by H.Y.D.R.A.?!? Hail Hydra!



Will Jessica escape the Civil War madness and return to H.Y.D.R.A. Hail Hydra! ?



Is barbequed HYDRA agent back on the menu?

The Sentry

Basically, Marvel’s uber-super-duper hero is getting cold feet about the Civil War thingy and he flies away to the Moon.



But the Moon is/was the home of the Inhumans and they aren’t very welcoming at first but they serve up a feast, but the food is pretty lousy. Apparently, the Terrigen mist hasn’t given anyone the power of a chef or something.



Iron Man

Iron Man deals with a disgruntled employee (Stark Industry’s Vision plan sucks)…



…and Maria Hill can’t seem to fill Nick Fury’s overstuffed boxers.



Bottom line: Only the Luke Cage and Iron Man stories stand out. The rest are for Bendis/Civil War junkies and/or completists. Like me…

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

As Bendis is wont to do during these big events, he's turned the book into an anthology series this volume with a bunch of stand alone stories focusing on each member of the Avengers. The stories are a mixed bag with the Luke Cage and Iron Man stories standing out.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The New Avengers are not friends anymore.

This occurs during one of the biggest events of all time. Civil War! In doing so this is jut a bunch of stories, different ones, all in one collection. Got a story of Spider-woman and what she's been up to. Luke Cage is settling down and fighting back against the orders of the government. Cap and Falcon working together to finally decide on saying "No" to Shield. And the end story is closer to the end of Civil War time where Tony is attacked by one of his employees for using a weapon he created on Captain America.

Good: The Luke Cage story and Tony one are actually pretty great. The art in both is top notch, the fights are wonderful, and also you feel the emotional weight of the Civil War. I really dug the reaction for each character in here to the overall "War".

Bad: This has some really bad art in the cap and falcon story. The Sentry story is boring. I can't stand the spider-woman story. It was dull and not interesting with a shit ton of exposition.

Overall this is the weakest collection so far as it doesn't feel connected as well as previous titles. However, I did love two of the stories so with that I'd go 2.5 overall when balancing it all out.

[˙⋆✮ Anny ✮⋆˙ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reallyyy don't know?!? The stories in this are just snippets from different characters' stories. I enjoyed the Luke Cage and Iron Man issues and Spider Woman was interesting too, I didn't really care for the others (especially the Sentry issue, I had no idea what was going on and skimmed over it).

It was nice to get some more insight to Cap's perspective and if I wasn't loyalty-bound to Tony I'd probably be team Cap too. (Because well, he's right. But his methods are over the top. But then, so are Tony's. Argh I'm just mad that they almost killed each other because they refused to talk like normal, reasonable adults would.)

The art varies from amazing to holy-crap-why-did-they-publish-this. (I'm not saying I could do better, but I'm also not a comic artist.)

So all in all this was alright, but you don't need it to understand and enjoy the main event.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each issue in this is about a different character. It takes place at the very beginning of the Civil War event. The first issue is about Captain America's issues and how he recruits Falcon. The second issue is about the recruitment of Luke Cage. The third issue is about Spider-Woman's arrest and how she was then recruited to the anti-reg side. The fourth issue was about Sentry and the Inhumans. The final issue was about Tony Stark being attacked by an employee.

Really nothing special about this, but it filled in some small gaps (that weren't really necessary, but I guess it helps to know everything you can about this event). The artwork was good in some issues and absolutely atrocious in others. Average addition to the Civil War storyline and very skippable.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another great one and ties into the Civil war event so well and like every issue has another POV character and I love how Bendis does that and it all feels so natural.

It starts with Cap and him talking about his stance and how Super heroes are supposed to be better than corporate stooges and his conflict and him forming a team of resistance and like taking the fight to them but the next ch. with Luke Cage is my favorite one and its one of those issues that define him and I love how Bendis makes him sound so cool throughout.

Then there is the issue with Spider-woman and like her dividing loyalties and the last stand of Hydra and what she does plus an issue with Sentry and as he meets the Inhumans we see his thought process and like how he goes about this whole thing and about the war and you can see he is pretty easy to control hinting at big things to come.

Plus the last issue with Tony is the best and what happens when he is taken hostage and also begins the start of Hill and Tony's friendship and how it shapes the landscape of the war.

I love how this volume pretty much tells the costs of war and the dividing loyalties and showcases so many different POV and like lives it on the reader to decide whose right and Bendis is a master at that plus such cool art!! A must read!

[Brian Poole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some major cracks in New Avengers formed here and it would be a long time before the franchise overcame them. At least from a structural standpoint, these issues had an advantage to future event cross-overs. As a series of character-focused vignettes set during Civil War

This stretch of New Avengers suffered from the same glaring flaw as Civil War, but did a far less elegant job of managing it. Marvel wanted the buzz of basing a major cross-over on events with real world resonance, but then almost comprehensively refused to deal with the issues raised in a fair or realistic way. At least in Civil War itself, Mark Millar made a half-hearted effort to present the logic of the pro-registration side. But in New Avengers, Brian Michael Bendis didn’t even bother, blatantly casting the pro-registration faction as villains, while the rebellious heroes who refused to register were outlaw saints. Even that set-up might have worked, except Bendis’s insufferable approach to dialogue and characterization included frequent accusations of “selling out,” corporate condemnations and outright insults to the concept of the legal process and a country’s right to insist on respect for its laws. Because apparently he wrote the series in an alternate dimension where New Avengers was about a flower power collective whose anti-establishment rambles were published by a scrappy, indie co-operative and not a superhero series published by the largest comic book company in the world. Cage’s self-righteousness was especially grating, while the “Everything is Tony’s Fault” ethos wore out its welcome on arrival.

The problem was that once the story dispatched the protective cover of “comic book logic” and installed a real world paradigm, the anti-registration side had no leg upon which to stand. In the real world, there is no conceivable way that governments around the world wouldn’t have passed laws regulating super-powered vigilantes who held themselves above police and military authorities long before. It would have happened in the ‘40s, shortly after those heroes first emerged. The entire Civil War story wouldn’t have happened, because by 2007, registration (or something like it) would have been settled law for more than six decades. The story aspired to be a thinly-veiled swipe at the post-9/11 security regime of the Bush administration, but its inability to reconcile its aims with the real world realities with which the story trafficked hobbled it in a way that was unsalvageable. The closest real world correlates to “law enforcement freelancers” that superheroes represent don’t get carte blanche. Private investigators are regulated by state law and are licensed only after significant training. Private security firms and bounty hunters are obliged to carry hefty liability insurance and to have up-to-date firearms permits. The “wild west” approach to superhero freedom is something that could ONLY exist in comic books.

That said, a few beats did work. The Spider-Woman issue was probably the most successful, since it used the fallout of the Civil War completely upending the heroine’s complicated espionage game as compelling plot fodder. The Cage issue had a couple of nice moments between Luke and his wife Jessica Jones, wringing some realistic domestic drama from the overblown umbrella story. And the Iron Man issue played with the dynamic between Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. commander Maria Hill in some entertaining ways.

While the writing mostly failed the series (and would be hobbled by what was set up here during the Initiative-set arcs that followed), fans could at least enjoy some strong work from an impressive roster of A-list artists: Howard Chaykin, Leinil Francis Yu, Olivier Coipel, Pasqual Ferry and Jim Cheung. They all turned in some strong stuff that was the true saving grace of this stretch of stories. Nothing here is really vital, but completists of either New Avengers or Civil War will be interested in this collection.

A version of this review originally appeared on www.thunderalleybcp.com

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each issue of this collection takes us a little deeper into the personal stories of five superheroes coping with the Superhero Registration Act. We get to see the reason why each hero chooses which side of the Civil War to fight on.

The Sentry and Iron Man issues are okay, a little choppy and rushed, but okay. The Sentry's story actually added more insight into why the Inhumans are at war with Earth than it did to the Civil War story. The Iron Man story just gives you one more reason to dislike Tony Stark, not that there aren't dozens of reasons to hate him already in this story-arc

The Captain America issue is terrible, with really awful artwork; everybody is talking through clenched teeth and all the characters are blocky and square... a very amateur looking comic. Falcon joins up with Cap in this one and we see the start of the anti-registration act side forming. But it is flat and shallow and really there is nothing positive about it.

The two issues that really stand out are Luke Cage and Spiderwoman. They are excellent! The Spiderwoman issue lends a very interesting feminist reading to the events of Civil War while the Luke Cage issue goes the furthest out of any chapter in the entire Civil War crossover in showing the human cost of this war. It nearly brought me to tears with its raw, emotional writing and dark artwork. In particular, it was the star of this collection.

You take the good,you take the bad, you take them both....

3/5

[Dani Wladdimiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

En este volumen recopilatorio veremos a los Vengadores, desunidos, desde un punto de vista más íntimo, para darnos más contexto que está viviendo cada uno. Así, ellos van expresando lo que sienten, quieren o desean de cada momento, como cuando Luke Cage debe separarse de su familia para dar frente a lo que cree justo por su barrio. También es muy valioso lo de Spider-woman, siento que le da una profundidad mayor a la trama, haciéndonos sentir que realmente está todo conectado, y haciendo vibrar el canon. Totalmente recomendando para ir leyendo en conjunto al hilo principal, aunque las otras historias se vuelvan más olvidables.

[Judah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nick Fury switches ethnicities and suddenly Jessica Jones doesn’t have a baby by him in between two consecutive issues. WTF???
That ret-con was so hard, I got whiplash

[Jim C · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating is 3.5 stars.

This is a collection that tells how the Civil War is affecting each Avenger. It is basically an anthology where each section is devoted to one particular Avenger. They all do connect and the reader does get to see that. This collection shows the affects on Captain America, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman, Sentry, and Iron Man.

I am the type of reader that when a book is being made into a movie I have to read the book first and then I have to read everything connected to it. That is why I am reading the whole Civil War event. That being said I am not the most knowledgeable Marvel fan and maybe that affected my rating as I can recognize Spider-Woman but I don't know her backstory. Also, I have no idea who Sentry was until I looked him up on the internet.

Even though I am not affluent with all these characters I did enjoy the stories. The Luke Cage story was amazing and worth buying this book just for that one. Like I said I did not know Sentry but I liked this story as it explores how these heroes feel about this war. This was explored in the other stories as well. I was a little disappointed with the Iron Man and Captain stories as I was expecting more from them. Also, I wasn't a fan of the artwork in a couple of the stories.

Overall, this was a nice collection that delves into the feelings of the war instead of the action side of it. This isn't an integral collection if you want to skip it but I do suggest reading the Luke Cage story.

[Gavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as individual issues, and they all tell one person's story in the midst of Civil War. Great stuff.

[Kang · Rating 4 out of 5]

The luke cage, spider woman, and Ironman portions stood out to me. Especially the Luke cage section, I felt that was the best and most impactful. I learned new lore about spider woman. I didn’t expect her to be connected to hydra, and seeing iron almost get killed by a disgruntled employee was different. The rest of the book was okay. The Captain American and Sentry could have had better entries.

[Brandon Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tells events up to and once the Super Hero act is passed. We see different points of View and thoughts from Captain America, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, Spider-Woman and more. Some are amazing like Luke and Jessica, others are alright with Caps feeling the weakest.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talk about uneven. At times fun & interesting, at other times boring, this Civil War tie-in features a different artist for each issue collected in it. At least the Good outweighs the Bad.

High points

Issue 21 (Howard Chaykin on art duties): Captain America & Falcon meet up and try & recruit Hank Pym to their side, not knowing he's already joined up with Iron Man's team.
Funniest line in the book (by Falcon, to Pym): "C'mon Hank. Get your costume, grab some ants and let's go!" (or something along those lines)

Issue 22 (Leinil Yu on art duties): Luke Cage does NOT register with the authorities and squares off against SHIELD troopers, while Jessica Jones escapes to Canada with their child. Basically a story about your "regular guy" standing up to The Man.

Issue 25 (Jim Cheung on art duties): A disgruntled (former?) employee of Tony Stark breaks into Avengers tower with plans to kill Tony and disintegrate Avengers Tower in the process, by using an antimatter generator. Maria Hill saves the day.

Low points (accompanied by some ranting)

Issue 23 (Olivier Coipel on art duties): A tangled mess featuring Jessica Drew, one of Bendis' favourite super-heroes of all-time. Cloak & dagger (no, NOT the C-list superheroes) stuff involving SHIELD, a Nick Fury robot, Hydra, and more... Bendis wants us to care about Jessica as much as he does. Sorry dude, that won't happen (especially with this story). Besides, after having read Secret Invasion, and knowing what Jessica really is (Shhh! it's a secret), this whole story is moot and one ginormous red herring.

Issue 24 (Pasqual Ferry on art duties): Featuring THE SENTRY!!! Newsflash: I could care less about the *&%$ Sentry and his "issues". Moreover, the plot of this story is terrible: He flies off to the Moon and visits the Inhumans (who, by the way, are NOT happy to see him). Iron Man somehow shows up, apologises to the Inhumans for the Sentry, and brings back the poor, confused Superman rip-off back to Earth.
Oh, and since everything anybody (mostly Bendis, I know) writes about the Sentry is a ret-con, it turns out he had a "thing" with Crystal The Elemental (it's not enough that she was involved with Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four and had a child with Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) of the Avengers??) Bad! Bad issue! Shoo!

[Ryan McNie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. The second issue is so good it pushes the quality up.

New Avenger volume 5 takes a slightly different approach to those that have preceeded it. Rather than a single story that is told throughout several issues these are rather more stand alone spinning off from the crossover event Civil War. Each focuses on a single member of the team and showcases their views on the superhero registration act as well as how they end up falling on the side of the conflict that they fall on. As a result, some issues are better than others (though Luke Cage's is the phenomenal stand out issue).

An interesting addition to this New Avengers run that helps to support the events unfolding in this action packed Marvel era.

[Holden Attradies · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the Civil War event and have enjoyed pretty much all of the tie in stuff I've read, but this was pretty damn disappointing. Maybe it was because I had such high expectations with this series having so many of the major players in the events.

This volume is a bunch of separate one off stories chronological the going abouts of different New Avengers during the Civil War. None of the stories really jumped out at me and it left me just kind of wishing I had re-read Civil War instead of this.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time reading Bendis is some time. No one quite has his penchant for dialogue. This is an anthology of single issues that feature about as wide as a selection as you can imagine. They each tie into Civil War. The issue focused on SpiderWoman is particularly strong, as it features incredible artwork by Olivier Coipel, who I haven’t seen in a while. The last issue is also great. It’s illustrated by another superstar I haven’t seen from in a minute, Jim Cheung, and it helps set up Iron Man Director of Shield.

[Maddsurgeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't like this as much as the other Civil War stuff I just read, but it's passable. Bendis' writing is good, but I like his X-Men stuff better than his Avengers stuff. And Chaykin drawing the Avengers is just... weird.

I do really like #22, which centers on Luke Cage resisting the Superhuman Registration Act in Harlem, and #25, which gets inside Tony Stark's head a bit, but the rest of it I could take or leave.

Recommended if you're a die-hard Avengers fan, I guess.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

2nd Reading, Feb '13: There are some good moments in here, but it's clear all the really important stuff is going on in other books. And this book isn't helped by some wildly inconsistent art. You could safely skip this volume in the Civil War series, and if you're reading New Avengers, just read the main Civil War book instead.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Civil War concept is a fascinating idea, but I'm not a huge fan of the execution. I don't think a lot of the issues are explored in enough depth, and a lot of the heroes range from mildly to wildly out of character.

Also, some of the art is really not good. In particular, I thought that the illustrations for issue 21 were downright ugly.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you don't read this graphic novel, you won't miss anything that's absolutely vital to knowing or understanding what happened in the Civil War thread. That being said, it's a solid read, providing yet more perspectives and bits featuring different characters and their reactions/struggles with the Superhero Registration Act.

[Bryan Pope]

In this TPB there were only 2 stories that I cared for. Issues #22 and #23. The other 3 stories felt lacking in a few ways that just had me wanting to turn the page to look at the art (and sometimes not). No more than 3 out of 5 for this set.

[Nicole Westen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent, but I don't like the shift between volume 4 and this volume. It was too abrupt and there wasn't enough cohesion. It was like someone wanted to do a Civil War insert and this was it. There is some continuity, but it doesn't feel like it has good flow.

[Andrew Obrigewitsch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is just a collection of stories about how individual characters see the civil war, it was honestly not a vital part of the story.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprints New Avengers (1) #21-25 (August 2006-December 2006).  With the initiation of the Superhero Registration Act following the destruction in Stamford, Connecticut, the Avengers must choose sides.  While Captain America takes a stand against the Superhero Registration Act, Iron Man supports the cause.  Captain America, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman, Falcon, and others find themselves on the run while heroes like the Sentry must decides where loyalties lie.

Written by Brian Michael Bendis, New Avengers Volume 5:  Civil War is a superhero tie in book with the massive Civil War event series.  Following New Avengers Volume 4:  The Collective, the series features art by Howard Chaykin, Leinil Yu, Olivier Coipel, Pasqual Ferry, and Jim Cheung.  Issues in this collection were also collected in New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis:  The Complete Collection—Volume 2 and Luke Cage:  Avenger.

This is really where Marvel kind of went off the rails in my opinion.  I didn’t love some of the series before (like House of M), but Civil War really screwed things up and took a lot of fun out of the series.  This collection also demonstrates the problem with big event stories and took a lot of momentum out of New Avengers.

The series is essentially a bunch of short stories.  In the past, many event series (but not all) were happening in the background of continuing series and propelling the events in the comics.  At this point on, it feels like the event series were the primary story and the comics were secondary.  The issues in this collection read like long back-up stories, and the collection as a whole doesn’t have much cohesion issue to issue and doesn’t really build up the event series.  I have always believed that the comics should make you want to read the event series…and not the event series should make you want to read the comics (especially if it is an already established comic and storyline).

The Civil War storyline itself is problematic.  While the realism of the story is legitimate, I sometimes feel that comics are escapism.  Realism wouldn’t have people running around dressed like birds etc.  Creating the Civil War storyline was like creating the Authority…it warped comics’ core ideas in many ways.  How would you expect superheroes to protect the world if they really existed, and is that idea fun and fun to read?  Plus, you could argue much of the basic concept of a registration is just regurgitated Mutant Registration Act from the 1980s and 1990s which X-Men handled much better.

You could literally skip New Avengers 5:  Civil War and just read Civil War without missing much.  That is a problem.  If you are trying to build readership, it seems smart to have stand-alone stories that really feel connected (which these feel secondary), but also aren’t necessary for enjoying the event series…you should want to read both, but you shouldn’t have to while enjoying each title.  New Avengers 5:  Civil War isn’t very enjoyable as a solo comic…a trend that continues as more and more event series rise.  New Avengers 5:  Civil War is followed by New Avengers 6:  Revolution.

[Brandt · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I decided to get familiar with the original Marvel "event" Civil War after reading the Captain America/Iron Man crossover trade paperback. So far, apart from Reginald Hudlin's Black Panther crossover this has been a fairly "meh" experience, as the crossover I started with may have delivered some false hopes given how Ed Brubaker was able to seamlessly take the Civil War story arc and fit it into his Death of Captain America story arc. Experience tells me that these sorts of successes during a publisher "event" are outliers, with editorial (in this case Marvel editorial) having a ham-fisted approach toward getting everything to fit in an attempt to sell more books.

In some ways, the fact that Civil War: New Avengers is so pedestrian is a little more disappointing than a usual comic crossover, since it was written by Brian Michael Bendis, who at the time was kind of "Mr. Marvel." In this case however, it seems like the entire volume is merely here to flesh out things that Mark Millar seems to not have had time for when writing Civil War. How did Captain America get that underground of army together to face off against Tony Stark anyway? If you were dying to know the answer to that in gory detail, this is the book for you. If you want to see how Tony reacts, you're in luck. But it just doesn't feel that important to me. If Cap putting together an underground Avengers was so important to the plot of Civil War, Brubaker should have handled it right? But smartly, Brubaker effectively ceded Captain America's involvement in the Civil War to Millar and Bendis, focusing on the characters that were going to carry Captain America going forward. I felt like that maybe Bendis would have been more motivated to write some good stories to supplement Civil War, since I'm almost certain that he probably had Millar's ear for the entire "event." Instead we kind of get New Avengers Presents and it really doesn't lend much to the main story, and yet isn't far enough away, like Black Panther to allow for effective storytelling.

In the end, this collection isn't as tired as something like The Black Vortex but it doesn't stand out either. Recommended for completists who feel like the need to read every issue of a comic crossover, even though we should have learned to know better by now.

[Sr. Lado Brillante · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este arco es un tie-in de Civil War donde Bendis se hace acompañar de diferentes dibujantes para darle diferentes matices a cada historia dependiendo del personaje en quién se enfoque.
Howard Chaykin hace una historia del Capitan America que se siente vieja y mal dibujada. Chaykin podrá ser una leyenda, pero dibuja al Steve Rogers más feo que he visto. Y mientras menos hablemos de su Hank Pym, mejor. Lo bueno es que de aqui en adelante todo mejora.
Pasqual Ferry hace a Sentry con los Inhumans y es glorioso, sci-fi como Ferry lo puede hacer.
Olivier Coipel dibuja a Spider-Woman en otra aventura con Hydra, no aporta nada a la trama en general, pero Coipel demuestra porque es bueno esperar por él. Leinil Francis Yu es el encargado de la historia de Luke Cage, que de alguna forma da un vistazo al siguiente arco y lo que será, ritmo frenetico, no siempre claro, pero llevando la acción hacia adelante. Y cierra Jim Cheung con Iron Man, que es la cara más segura de aqui. Cheung dibujando el Helicarrier, no hay mucho más que decir. La historia sirve para das una visión más amplia a lo que pasará con él después de Civil War.
Como tal este arco no avanza la trama que previamente estaba manejando Bendis con los Avengers, pero son historias bien ilustradas que permiten ampliar el universo de Civil War.
Recomendable.

[Astrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Civil War is one of my favourite Marvel storylines. While I can't hope to read all of the tie-ins, my investment in the Avengers made this one a must.

The art for #21 is incredibly disappointing, and does not match the tone or gravitas of the story. Nevertheless, it is a paramount issue, as this is how the resistance comes to be. Disheartened and sleep-deprived, Steve ruminates about what his life has become. His closest friend is the face of the SHRA, he has no home to go to and no clue who he can trust. Now a fugitive, he feels betrayed by the government and the citizens he fights for. It's clear the events of Civil War #1-3 have taken a toll on him, as his thoughts turn very dark and alarming ("You shouldn't even be here," "You should have died sixty years ago," "They should have left you in that block of ice," "They should have left you as a memory"). After escaping the cape-killers sent to arrest him, he wakes up in one of Fury's secret hideouts to find Sam Wilson already there. (The fact Steve doesn't hear the cape-killers sneak up on him, passes out and has no recollection of making it to Fury's place speaks volumes of his physical and emotional distress.) Cap and Falcon decide they're going to fight, and set out to mobilize a resistance movement. Their attempt to recruit the already-registered Henry Pym doesn't go over well, but they manage to evade arrest. The sloppy art is doubly disappointing considering how fascinating and pivotal the story is.

I really enjoyed issue #22. Despite Tony and Carol's pitch, Luke and Jessica remain steadfast in their opposition to the SHRA; once again, we're reminded how this law has managed to tear old friendships apart. Jessica leaves the country with their baby just before the act becomes law, while Luke stays to face the consequences of failing to comply with the act. Chaos ensues when the cape-killers show up to arrest him, and many ordinary people living in the neighbourhood come to Luke's defense. It's not long before Captain America and the Falcon show up accompanied by Daredevil. Together they inform SHIELD "the revolution is coming" before making their escape.

I've grown very fond of Jessica Drew since the beginning of New Avengers, and so I loved #23. After a Fury LMD is sent to her apartment, Jess reveals just enough for Maria Hill to implicate her a traitor. In SHIELD custody, she learns Tony has spilled her secrets to Hill. Shortly after she's brought in, HYDRA breaks her out. She is taken to HYDRA Island, where she is offered a chance to overthrow Madame Hydra to take her place. Instead, Jess elects to kick some ass and escapes the island. Once back in NY, her search of Nick Fury leads her to Cap and his team, and she pleads to join them. My one gripe with this issue is the unnecessary sexualization of her character. This is an issue that plagues most of the female characters, unfortunately, and I'm disappointed the genre has yet to move past this. There was absolutely no reason for Jessica to spend half of this issue in her underwear. None.

Issue #24 is the least captivating of the collection, in my opinion, though it's still solid. I very much enjoyed Bob's inauguration into the Avengers, and I do think he's an interesting character. Compared to the other issues collected here, though, this one is less memorable. The important piece here, of course, is that Tony manages to recruit the Sentry to the pro-registration side. Bob is reluctant, as he doesn't want to fight friends and believes the only way to end the conflict is to kill Cap. Tony, on his end, insists that he can put a stop to all of it, that he is willing to spend years to convince Cap to see that he must accept the SHRA. Really, I think Tony is working hardest to convince himself, here. There are visible cracks in his assurance when he confides in Bob that he believes he might not live through the war, and that heroes like Bob must see it through.

To be honest, I wanted more from #25. It was an enjoyable read, but I expected it to focus on Tony, rather than the actions of a never before seen SI employee. While Tony is one of the starring characters of Civil War, I feel we have not spent enough time in his head. The end of issue #24 did give insight into his motivations, and I personally can certainly see where he's coming from, but I want more. I suppose he does have his own series, and I do plan on reading up on that and hope I will find what I'm looking for there. In this issue of NA, we meet Kenny, an SI employee as brilliant as Tony and handpicked by him straight out of college. Kenny, who also invented the cape-killer armour, fundamentally disagrees with the way his tech is being used. He manages to infiltrate Stark Tower with ease, shoots Jarvis, and manages to power down Iron Man with a simple command. (Honestly, I find little sense in that; why would a random SI employee have enough information/means to surpass Tony's own tech, that he manufactures independently of SI?) Kenny is a fanatic, and he decides he has to kill Tony to end the civil war and get revenge. He plans on accomplishing this with a antimatter generator that's going to take out Stark Tower. Thankfully, he is stopped by Maria Hill. (Although, I find it a bit silly she stops this powerful device with a small gadget that explodes on it. Makes little sense to me.) Hours later, she and Tony discuss what happened, and she confesses that she's aware she is unqualified as Director and never even wanted the job. Their conversation concludes with her stating Tony is the guy for the job. I do appreciate that this issue showcased a different side of Hill, and acknowledged that she's been put in a crappy spot to begin with.