Civil War: X-Men Universe

Civil War: A Marvel Comics Event

by Peter David, Dennis Calero, Fabian Nicieza

Hot on the heels of both smash hits "House of M" and "Son of M," Quicksilver returns. But is he friend or foe? Complicating matters even more, the divisiveness of Civil War has spread to X-Factor. Its Jamies choice that may well decide whether X-Factor stays together or cracks apart. This volume collects "Cable & Deadpool" #30-#32, and "X-Factor" #8-#9. Older teens.

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

120 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2007

About the author

aka David Peters

Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hey, let’s smoosh two different X-Men related books together and sell it as a Civil War tie-in book. Cha-ching!

The cash grab ploy aside, this is a pretty entertaining collection. You have issues of X-Factor and Cable & Deadpool co-habiting in this volume.

X-Factor or “When Marvel cross over events collide and go boom.”

If anyone can make this crossover madness entertaining it’s Peter David with his trademark low key humor and deft characterization and bonus because it’s all centered on Jamie Madrox/Multiple Man, one of the more fun mutant characters. It seems that most of Earth’s mutants were depowered in the House of M crossover and nobody bothered to send a memo to X-Factor and they’re quite peeved. Plus, speedster Quicksilver’s been hanging around Mutant town (It’s somewhere around Chinatown and Little Italy, take the number 4 train and get off at Spring Street) and since his sister, The Scarlet Witch was responsible for the de-powering of mutants, people would like to speak with him. They have to catch him first, of course.

Plus much chatter about superhero registration.

Check out David’s work on X-Factor. It’s worth reading.

Cable & Deadpool/Deadpool & Cable or Badges are really, really cool.



With a bunch of unregistered superheroes at large, Deadpool sees an opportunity to show why he’s the Merc with a Mouth by going after the Great Lakes Avengers Champions, but that doesn’t go so well because a) he gets his ass handed to him by Squirrel Girl and, b) they were already registered. Deadpool gets his badge anyway and his next stop, Captain America and the renegade Avengers. Woo Hoo!



This one’s a lot of fun until, we get to the Cable part. He’s from the future and he goes around trying to convince anyone who will listen that registering superheroes is a bad idea.

To Captain America: Hey Cap, I’m from the future. Blah blah blah. Registering superheroes is a bad idea. Blah Blah Blah. Could lead to tyranny and a police state. Blah Blah Blah and if you go up against Deadpool, bring lots of duct tape.

To the President of the United States: Hey Mr. President, I’m from the future. Blah blah blah. Registering superheroes is a bad idea. Blah Blah Blah. Could lead to tyranny and a police state. Blah Blah Blah and why the hell did you give Deadpool a badge?



Finally, Deadpool and Cable, who are at odds on the superhero registration thing square off:

To Deadpool: Hey Deadpool, I’m from the future. Blah blah blah. Registering superheroes is a bad idea. Blah Blah Blah. Could lead to tyranny and a police state. Blah Blah Blah and I didn’t realize how fast you are, is that my own blood? And you get to eat your own tranq darts. Again.

You know it’s a super serious debate because Deadpool’s dialogue boxes briefly change from their normal yellow to white. Yep, serious.



Fabian Nicieza is one of the better writers who have taken the reins on Deadpool and these issues, Mr. Talky von Talkerson stuff aside, have lots of laughs.

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deadpool! I had less than zero expectations for Deadpool, but he turned out to be a breath of fresh air in the overwrought Civil War saga. His first-person narration—which is broken, so he's actually just mumbling to himself the entire time—is pointed, metafictional and very, very funny. I don't think I even cared about anything else that was in this collection; all stars are for Deadpool.

[Ivy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have to say I don't like Deadpool. He seems to betray his friends for money and he seems too weird. What powers does Layla have? I wonder what the ooutcome will be for the Civil War.

[Jim C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one more side companion collection to Marvel's Civil War. This one has two separate parts. We deal with X-Factor and also with Cable and Deadpool.

I have read several of these side companion collections and this one might be my least favorite. Part of that could be my fault as I know nothing about X-Factor so their contribution to this collection did nothing for me. That being said, I felt like the story was a major factor for my disappointment in the story. This story relied heavy on a previous event and it seemed like that event was more important for plot instead of the current situation and I had no idea what was this previous event. Also, I wasn't a fan of the artwork. Cable and Deadpool was better and that is because of Deadpool. I cannot help laugh with him being handled by Squirrel Girl or him thinking he is doing an internal monologue but really speaking out loud. He was the only saving grace to this collection. The artwork was much better for this part of the collection.

I am starting to get into the nitty gritty of this major event and it might be showing as I start reading about the lesser known members of this universe. That being said, a story should be able to carry itself with even the lesser known characters. This one did not and I am hoping the next collection that I read does.

[Eli · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess to be completely fair, this would be 2.25 stars.

This collects two issues of X-Factor and then three issues of Cable & Deadpool, both of which may make little sense if you don't have extensive knowledge on the less popular X-Men. The X-Factor issues were lacking in plot and clarity, and the art offered no redemption. The Cable & Deadpool issues were slightly fun strictly because of Deadpool. The art was okay, but it was still a poorly conceived plot. This is not what I was looking for in a Civil War story, but maybe it's better in terms of its series.

Overall, this was just jammed together to have a go at the Civil War event, complete with a poorly thought-out plot, sub-par artwork, and weak cohesion and clarity. And Quicksilver is on the cover for very little justifiable reason. He's evidently a sort of villain in this, but he is given little attention. This was just not good. I probably wouldn't even recommend this for the Deadpool/Cable issues.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed some of the unique characters to come out in this installment. That being said, I'm getting a little bored of the Super Hero Registration Act as a means of pitting these characters against one another. I'm going to read one last Civil War GN but will probably move on from this theme after that. The dichotomy worked well for a couple of installments, but got a bit worn out after a while.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me acabo de dar cuenta gracias a la bonita wikipedia de que ya leí todos los capítulos que contienen este tomo. Los de X-Factor en el #8 de Panini, que poseo, y los de Deadpool/Cable de prestado en la edición española Masacre/Cable. En cuanto al contenido: los de X-Factor son muy buenos y los de Masacre/Cable no estaban mal, aunque se iba un poco al carajo porque sí. Cuando pueda me releo aunque sea los de X-Factor y ahí probablemente rerreseñe algún aspecto que me llame la atención.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing the great X-read of 2017 that has now stretched into 2018...

Okay. So I am way behind on reviewing these x-books that I have been reading. So I am going to just kind of ramble about all of them and copy/paste my thoughts. Which will make for a bit of a mess and I am sorry. Quick ramblings:

Cable and Deadpool continues to be surprisingly good though a little more scattered in these couple of volumes.
X-Men the Blood of Apocalypse was rushed in my opinion...
Phoenix Warsong was pretty decent. Melodramatic but not a bad story. (and when is a Phoenix story not melodramatic?)
New X-Men is a good series with some great characters that grow volume by volume.
Uncanny First Foursaken was not my cup of tea really.
Black Panther: The Bride was probably much better to BP readers. As part of an X-Men run, it can probably be skipped.
Wolverine Origins born in blood was not particularly memorable.
Astonishing X-Men will possibly get its own review as it is a reread and interesting as such...
Civil War was one of the first times in my life that I could say that the movie was better than the book. For the most part, it was really boring to me. The X-Men universe tie-ins were only slightly more interesting to me.
X-factor continues to be a delight.
Exiles continues to be great.

I need to get back to writing reviews of these as I finish them. Reading them in quick succession like this, I begin to forget what happened in individual books (which I suppose equally speaks to the books themselves and my memory...)

[Arturo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Iv become a fan of Peter David's X-Factor. From his run on the original X-Factor series and even more of a fan of Madrox, starting with ''Madrox:Multiple Issues" and this X-Factor series. It does a great job going for the noir feel. And here the series gets even better. The character of Jamie Madrox has gotten so great, that when he stands up against Cyclops, I get more of the feeling of what Civil War is capable of doing to everyone. With issues that are rightly justified on both sides. (and yet I don't have to see them fight, x-teams always fight anyway.)
Over on Cable and Deadpool, looks like its time for their yearly.. Or monthly.. fight amongst themselves. Civil War just gives them another reason.
While Deadpool's always entertaining, especially in the previous volumes. This story is just the worst. Cable is the only mutant (and a powerful one at that) that had joined Captain America's group. And yet that is hardly mentioned. This could have been another good companion to the main series. While Deadpool could have been out doing what he does best (a merc for hire). But they just spend it fighting with each other.
In the end this book deals with the ramifications of Civil War a lot better then Civil War: X-Men.
But the X-Factor story is better suited read in its own 'X-Factor: Life and Death Matters' book, since there's a lot of sub-plots going on.
X-Factor - 5stars
C&D - 2stars

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff. I have zero context for Deadpool and Cable, as this is my first ever series featuring either character, but it was interesting to see how Deadpool fit into the overall Civil War saga. I will say, at this point, as I wind down the Civil War trade paperbacks, they’re really reaching for storylines. I’m almost having trouble finding reason to care, but the humor and illustrations in this particular collection made up for an otherwise “meh” entry in the series.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

What's happening here is really interesting but also kind of not my speed. I enjoyed the Deadpool issues, bc it balanced the nonsense with the serious well. But the X-Factor issues were a bit slow and while I liked seeing their perspective, it also didn't feel like it's going to stick with me

[Kang · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 out of 5. Cable and Deadpool were definitely the highlight of this comic. The first half felt underdeveloped and unnecessary. Honestly this whole comic felt unnecessary in general. Also, why is quick silver on the cover if his barely featured?

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cable & Deadpool were great. X-Factor bored me to tears.

[matt murdock · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Jack Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

X-Factor: almost completely unrelated but undeniably creative and enjoyable.
Cable & Deadool: YMMV, but as a three issue arc it was enjoyable.

[Mario V · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Deadpool and Cable issues were the ones that really enhanced the story but overall an awesome read along for Millar’s “Civil War”.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only 3 stars for the X-Factor portion which is honestly more about Decimation than Civil War.

[Adriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give it 3.5 stars mostly because the title of this book is very misleading and i didn't like a third of it.
Only the first third deals X-force with an appearance by the X-men and it’s more related to M-Day than to the Civil War. There’s some talk about the Registration Act, but the big deal is made about Decimation Day. It’s rushed and disconnected and it deals with characters a casual reader will have almost no knowledge of. My review would be a lot lower if it weren’t for the last part of the book.
The last part is actually pretty fun. It’s DEADPOOL Civil War. It’s all about him and Cable choosing sides and fighting different characters from all over the Marvel Universe. Squirrel Girl is in there and she’s awesome against Deadpool. It’s a quick and enjoyable reminder of why Deadpool is such a popular character and a good change of perspective on what the Registration Act means for everyone.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I knew about Multiple Man thanks to X-Men: The Last Stand, this comic was my introduction to the X-Factor, a mutant detective agency in District X, also known as Mutant Town. One of the mutants, Layla, is very interesting; she knows about future events and humurously references Atlas Shrugged, a book she is seen reading. Quicksilver and the X-Men also make appearances amid the conflict caused by the Superhuman Registration Act. Meanwhile, Deadpool and Cable find themselves against each other; Deadpool has been hired by the president to hunt superhumans who are against registration while Cable is aiding those superhumans. Like always,Deadpool's antics are hilarious, and he breaks the fourth wall once again with references to Coolio being in the Daredevil film and Tobey Maguire playing Spider-Man. This was an interesting view of the effects of the Superhuman Registration Act.

[Dawn Livingston · Rating 1 out of 5]

I used to collect X-Men back in the 80's and early 90's when there was just one X-Men title. I started collecting a little after Kitty Pryde joined the team. I stopped when they started introducing multiple X-Men titles and things got a little too confusing and the stories were lousy. I also collected New Mutants, Excalibur, some West Coast Avengers.

I found out my library had lots of X-Men graphic novels so I decided to see if I could find anything that would make me want to start collecting X-Men again...

This one ain't it. Didn't like the story, the characters used or how they were portrayed, the artwork.

[Matthew Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

As some other reviews have said, all these four stars go directly to Deadpool. The beginning of the volume is somewhat boring. I lack interest in many of the mutants from X-Factor (and the ones I do find interesting didn't do ANYTHING in this one, i.e. Layla), and frankly, they didn't make any of the political issues interesting until Deadpool came in. Once Deadpool enters though the comic is clever, entertaining, and a lot of fun. So if you enjoy Deadpool (or have not read too much of him), feel free to pick this up, you will like it.

[Dusty Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have scored this higher if it had been an entirely Deadpool focused book. His section (which is over half of the book) is excellent. However, the entire X-Force section was hard to get through. If you're not entirely aware of events happening pre-Civil War (like me) it leaves you pretty much out in the cold as to what the heck is going on. It makes a lot of assumptions and the characters aren't very likeable. Deadpool's biting humor and commentary is a welcome relief. It's still curious that they'd chop him up to just being part of the X-men Universe and not his own deal.

[Hrishi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't laughed this hard while reading a comic book in ages. Deadpool is amazingly funny - much funnier here than he was during the House of M event. Some great one liners here.

This book would've scored 5 stars if all it had was Deadpool.

Alas, there is also the abysmally pointless (and unrelated) story from the pages of X-Factor which is just utterly bad! 5 stars for Deadpool, and no stars for the crapfest that is X-Factor? Sure...

[Annette Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this as a Civil War tie in so I haven't read about the events coming up to this
X Factor- the artwork is dated and clunky looking
Time for the comic relief when Deadpool decides to become a bounty hunter rounding up unregistered super heroes and in keeping with the Civil War theme, his pal Cable is trying to help the rebels which can only lead to one thing -conflict. The Deadpool story is worth the 3 stars, the x factor one.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having been disappointed by another X-Men Civil War book, I was not expecting much from this one. I was very happily surprised and ended up thoroughly enjoying it! I have to say though that is wasn't the X-Men who "saved the day" as far as my enjoyment goes, but the Deadpool/Cable escapades that were quite exciting and kept pushing me to read on.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

The X-Factor story is good, but there's enough ongoing plot for this snippet to be confusing in this context [6]. I find Deadpool grating, though this Cable & Deadpool snippet shows off Nicieza's strength in character stories [6].

Overall, this volume felt like a waste, as the stories each work better in the context of their individual series.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A grab bag of Marvel Civil War stories. X-Factor was okay but Cable and Deadpool were pretty much as bad as they usually are. Actually that's unfair - Cable was better than usual as was Deadpool. Which makes them annoying and unenjoyable. This particular batch of X-Factors I don't particularly know - Layla was pretty interesting though. Not bad, but definitely skippable.

[Sylvester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cable tries to reason with the president about the danger of Superhuman Registration Act, Deadpool was the enforcer of the Act. X-factor chooses their side in the war.

Cable was pretty based as he confronted the president, he delivered a good little analogy of 1984, X-factor issue 8 was particularly fun as we see Layla talk about Objectivism. Peter David has done well in taking a stand.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quicksilver is a fun character and I love that he moves too quickly to appear in most of the first issue (I'm not sure why I like that running joke as much as I do) but is only in two of the five issues contained within. Cable & Deadpool, the focus of the last three issues aren't worth the effort.

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Deadpool/Cable team-up did what I had long considered impossible and actually made me kind of like his character. I can't really comment on the X-Factor issues collected herein because there's just so much backstory that I have missed out on.