Civil War: Front Line, Book 1 - Dark Publications

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Product Description
There's a truth buried deep in the heart of every war, and reporters Sally Floyd and Ben Urich will be there, uncovering that truth in the midst of the biggest conflagration in the Marvel Universe! In the wake of the Stamford disaster, the public cries out for super-hero registration. Are the costumed heroes of the Marvel Universe protectors or ticking time bombs? And in "Civil War Correspondence," see stories inspired by tales of war correspondence throughout history! Collects stories from Civil War: Front Line #1-6.

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4 out of 5 stars

The first half of the story behind the story of Marvel's "Civil War" May 3, 2007
14 out of 16 found this review helpful

"Civil War: Front Line, Book 1" is the first of two trade paperback volumes that collect this 11-issue mini-series that ties into the "Civil War" event that drew a great big line in the sand for Marvel's superheroes. The New Warriors were battling a group of supervillains in Stamford, Connecticut, when one of the bad guys, Nitro, exploded and killed over 600 people. In the wake of this disaster Congress passes the Superhuman Registration Act. Iron Man supports the SRA while Captain America, whose identity is already known, opposes registration and draws others to his side, with Spider-Man being the one stuck in the middle, originally siding with Tony Stark and then gong over to the other side. Marvel's "Civil War" is a major event because it is a concerted effort to make secret identities a thing of the past. Issues #1-6 of "Civil War: Front Line" are collected in this first of two volumes.

"Front Line" has two major plotlines. First, "Embedded" follows a pair of reporters as they cover the two sides of the war, with Ben Urich covering Iron Man's side and Sally Floyd investigating Captain America and his supporters. But before that happens Spider-Man visits Sally to talk about what the SRA would mean for his family if he reveals his identity because the government demands superheroes register their identities of go to jail. Then Iron Man reveals to the world that his name is Tony Stark and everything changes. By the time we get to issue #2 the world knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man, which enrages both J. Jonah Jameson and Norman Osborn, and Iron Man is bringing in the first superhero to refuse to be registered. Floyd has to go blindfolded to a secret location to interview those resisting registration while Urich is checking out what Mr. Fantastic has come up with for "prisoners," and the Civil War claims its first casualties as things start to get ugly.

Second, "The Accused" focuses on Speedball, the only one of the New Warriors to survive the Stamford disaster who has to deal not only with being arrested for what happened but also finds himself powerless and suffering from survivor's guilt. But Speedball refuses to say he is guilty and as an unregistered combatant no longer has any legal rights (parallels to the War on Terrorism are really big in this storyline), even though Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk) shows up as his lawyer. There are additional stories and sections in these comics as well, the most prominent of these is "Sleeper Cell," which has to do with how the Atlanteans become involved in this whole mess. Again, the parallels to contemporary events are painfully obvious but the last page you get for this storyline in Book 1 is going to make you think of Dallas in November 1963.

On the basis of the six issues reprinted here you would think that "Front Line" is an allegorical critique of the War on Terrorism, with all of the obvious parallels to the real world in the Marvel Universe. Obviously that is a key element in what is happening in this comic book, but what will prove to be more important is that this is about the story behind the story. It is just that there is more to that story that you can tell at this point and it is not until we get to the final issue that we learn what this mini-series is really about. In that regard it turns out to be not a minor addition to the "Civil War" saga but an important perspective on what Mark Millar and Steve McNiven were doing over on the main stage in the "Civil War" mini-series. Of course I do not want to give anything away, but if you were sitting on the fence in terms of which side you were on in this particular conflict then the end of the "Embedded" part of "Civil War: Front Line" is going to make it pretty clear that while one leader is wrong, the other is way more wrong. In contrast story of the "The Accused" becomes relative minor while "The Sleeper Cell" turns out to be a key piece of the big picture.

Paul Jenkins writes all of the stories in "Front Line," with "Embedded" being penciled by Ramon Bachs and inked by John Lucas, while Steve Lieber is the artist for "The Accused," and Lee Weeks pencils what Rob Campanella inks on "Sleeper Cell." Each issue ends on a poetic note, as the events of the Civil War are juxtaposed against the diverse texts as an anonymous poem circulated at the Poston War Relocation Camp during the summer of 1943, Plutarch writing about Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon, Wilfred Owen's poem "Futility," Billy Joel's lyrics for "Goodnight Saigon," a pair of letters written by two brothers on opposite sides of the U.S. Civil War, and an epigraph by A.E. Houseman commemorating the dead of the Somme offensive. So some history and literature is thrown in for some nice ironic effects.

4 out of 5 stars

Possibly even better than the main storyline May 21, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

For those of you wondering about some of the many plot holes and loose ends left over from the main Civil War storyline, Civil War: Front Line fills in some of the gaps. Scripted by Paul Jenkins, Front Line follows many of the smaller details of the main events of Marvel's massive, universe shattering crossover. In this first TPB, we find pro-registration hero Iron Man revealing his identity to the public, and we see the aftermath of Spider-Man's revelation to the public that he is Peter Parker (in particular, that of J. Jonah Jameson and Norman "The Green Goblin" Osborne), as well as learning that Speedball was the only survivor of the New Warriors fiasco that jumpstarted the entire road to registration. This section in particular is where Front Line shines, as we see the former hero powerless, guilt-ridden, and fighting for his life. We also see the effects of the Civil War on embattled Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich, as well as seeing the events from his eyes. Yes, along with the great art throughout, Front Line is possibly even better than the main Civil War storyline; all of which makes it a more than worthy pick up for those who enjoyed the main storyline and are looking to fill in some of the gaps.

1 out of 5 stars

WHY DO THIS STORY LINE, WHEN IT WON'T STICK YEARS DOWN THE ROAD? FOR MONEY NOW.... June 29, 2007
3 out of 9 found this review helpful

Sounds like an interesting story plot. Sounds like an interesting direction. Too bad though that Marvel had to make this such an expansive cross over. Personally, I would have liked one book, one story line, one long running series of this as a possible "Future Event", like X-Men # 141-142 "Days of Future Past".
OK. So I'm old school. I DON'T like MAJOR MULTI-ISSUE cross overs. But not something that tears apart every team or charactor that we care about, and leaves a MESS in the end.
So by this, no more Fantastic Four. No more "True" AVENGERS. Spider-Man is screwed up. A Marvel ICON is left dead. And in my opinion, it was done to SELL BOOKS.
EVEN MORE SO IT DOESN'T MATTER! Because in a few years, they'll start the charactors with new beginnings or origins ALL OVER AGAIN.
THESE ARE COMICS. HOW MANY TIMES HAS THIS HAPPENED ALREADY???
Only problem with this whole thing, is that there are too many books, too may cross overs, and for those who collect comics, six months of having to buy EVERY Marvel comic put out to get the real story. And I'd imagine it was pretty expensive, just like if I decided to buy/collect EVERY CW TPB tie-in book. There are just too many.
I may end up buying the COMPLETE story line in 5-10 years IF this storyline and ramifications from all this still have an impact. It is an interesting idea. MIXED REVIEWS from everyone THOUGH.
Mine is, don't bother.
Until Marvel decides this is the way it's going to be and STICK TO IT FROM HERE ON OUT!
It's just a shame that it had to be done in such a manner that you have to buy 20 some different books and titls (to increase the sales of the ones doing poorly) to understand it all, everyone's side, and what the heck is going on. Marvel should have kept it in ONE(!!1!!) book, even if they'd have to do it in an expanded COMIC version, using various titles writers/artists to do their story lines, and left out the cross over books. Maybe have had published a new story/comic every week since everyone would have been collaborating. Makes more sense numbering Civil Wars # 1 - 150 (OR WHATEVER) if needed, but left out the cross overs.
As you can tell, corss overs are my BIGGEST complaint. I HATE them. They seem like they try to raise sales by being cross overed in comics who's sales are lagging.
I dunno'. This is alot to grasp. I'm old school. I think I'd rather buy Marvel Masterworks reprints, then this new stuff. Not as complicated.
And besides that, we all know, that somewhere, some time down the road, they'll RE-START the series and charactors again (for the umpteenth dozenth MILLIONTH time) and things will go back to normal. I mean, Aunt May died in the Amazing Spider-Man # 250 or 350 ( One or the other, I'm not going to pull it to be exact. ), yet, she's been back for quite a while. As happened a long time ago in Ultimate Spiderman.
So this is a big PUT-OFF to me.
Reason: No matter how bad Marvel screws this up, and does this or does that, they can, and usually DO, start all over again ( just like DC has TOO MANY TIMES WITH THEIR CHARACTORS ) from scratch, from the beginning, with everyone ALL with a clean slate.
So what is the point of getting excited or involved with this knowing that in a few years, there will be a new origin or something, for all the heroes and teams, or that it happened in an Alternate Universe, and this most likely will be forgotten by the heroes, kept in a Parallel Universe, or something along those lines???
~Yawn~
Which has happened too many times in comics period. Kind of ruins them and their credibility.
So 5-10 years down the line, if this story line is still the direction Marvel is going, and hasn't turned back, and ramifications are still being dealt with, then maybe it would be worth it. Maybe it will be a classice worthy of buying EVERY cross over for my Personal Collection.
But I don't see it happening.
Old schoolers like me think of the Avengers as Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America.
And the FANTASTIC FOUR SPLITTING UP??? C'mon. Give me a break.
So much for a FF 3 movie.
Seems like too many books, too much money, and (probably) not enough conviction by Marvel to keep this storyline alive forever, and make it the way things are, were, should be (because they wrote this story line), and will be a mainsty for the future of the Marvel Universe.
But it ain't gonna happen.
Just a story, yes. But does it make any sense if it's passed over and not a factor years down the road?
Not to me.
At least they didn't butcher the X-Men. They left them out of it pretty much. Smart move. Don't trash your best selling book.
But it's only a matter of time, before Peter Parker goes back to being Spider-Man w/o J Jonah Jamison knowing his identity, Aunt May not having a clue, and SOMEONE changing the Marvel Universe to where the Civil War NEVER happened and everyone's minds are wiped clean of the events, and life goes on as we knew it.
Interesting story line, true. Just should not have been so drastic with too many cross overs, and so many books done for (PROBABLY) NOTHING.

All in the name of making MONEY for MARVEL....

I'd rather stick to the "CLASSICS" Marvel books, like Marvel Masterworks. And if this turns out to be a classic and impact story line on the future of Marvel comics in 5 - 10 years, then I'll have to buy it. But not now.

CLASSICS ARE ONLY GOOD IF THEY STAND THE TEST OF TIME AND REMAIN A PART OF MARVEL LORE FOREVER.

Dang. Imagine if Stan Lee and Joe Kirby took back some of their work 5 years after doing it. Thank goodness, they had the common sense not to do or try something like this.
No wonder Stan left Marvel for Disney....
Smart move Stan!!!
Too bad most of the charactors you created are hurt by this. It is a shame...

5 out of 5 stars

Great "event" June 18, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

I typically hate comic book cross over "events." They are usually poorly written; not Civil War. It was an excellent, thoughtful story. It made perfect sense in the context of what was going on with each of the characters. If you're at all a Marvel Comics fan, I can't recommend it enough.

5 out of 5 stars

Civil War: Front Line, Book 1 July 8, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I read my first comic book in the summer of 1963.At that time I could never imagine that the comic book could be so well written and thought provoking. Civil War:Front Line is a thought provking look at role of goverment and the media in our lives. The major questions are has the goverment gone too far in taking away our civil liberties and has the goverment taking away too much of our privacy . For people who believe comic are just for kids show them Civil War:Front Line . This shows the potential of the Medium.

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