Civil War: Front Line
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Civil War: Front Line is an 11-issue, mini series tie-in to Marvel Comics's Civil War event. Part of the story is told from the perspective of two reporters embedded in the opposite camps of the war. Ben Urich follows the stories on Iron Man's side with the pro-registration heroes, while Sally Floyd investigates the anti-registration faction headed by Captain America. Writer Paul Jenkins has been given carte blanche to have the stories reflect the current political landscape in the United States. The other half of the miniseries is told from the perspective of Speedball of the New Warriors. It will show Speedball's struggles with survivor guilt, imprisonment, and relations to the victims of the Stamford disaster.
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[edit] Plot Summary
[edit] Issue 1
Iron Man shows his support for the Superhuman Registration Act by revealing his identity as Tony Stark in a press conference. Speedball is revealed to be alive after the Stamford Disaster, his kinetic powers having knocked him 500 miles away. He is promptly arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D., and is powerless as a result of the strain. Spider-Man considers his dilemma, torn between both factions, while a parallel is drawn between the Superhuman Registration Act and the forced imprisonment of America-born Japanese during World War II. Spider-man also visits Sally, making the proposal for her to investigate the Pro-Registration faction on Iron Man's behalf while also hinting toward making a public declaration of his own secret identity.
[edit] Issue 2
The public revelation of Spider-Man's secret identity results in a media frenzy as the Daily Bugle is swarmed by press and Conan O'Brien adds a "Guess the Secret Identity" segment to his show. Ben Urich contacts Peter Parker claiming "first dibs" to his story but J. Jonah Jameson, still smarting from what he views as Peter's betrayal, refuses to run the article. Meanwhile, Sally Floyd meets with Firestar in a bar. Firestar explains her fears regarding the registration act's effect on her life as a college student and any career outside of being a superhero. Claiming she can no longer afford to be Firestar, she quits, dropping her mask in the street. The moment that the act becomes law, a drunken, protesting Prodigy is confronted by Iron Man. The ensuing battle takes place in full view of awed crowds and ends with a mass of black helicopters carrying the unconscious Prodigy into a rainy night sky, leaving smoldering rubble and ambulances in their wake.
Speedball, still in government custody, is offered the opportunity to register as a costumed vigilante and join S.H.I.E.L.D. When he refuses to admit guilt or wrongdoing, Speedball is beaten and transferred to a maximum security prison without being allowed contact with family or a lawyer (as an "unregistered combatant" he has no rights). Powerless and surrounded by career criminals, Speedball is assaulted by an inmate named "Toomey" and informed his own name from this point on is "Dirt."
During his press conference, Peter Parker is asked about his relationship to Norman Osborn, AKA The Green Goblin. Parker responds that Osborn deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison for what he did to Gwen Stacy. When shown a tape of the conference by S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives, Osborn becomes enraged, claiming that Parker "broke the rules." The female operative asks whether he is "prepared to play by a new set of rules."
[edit] Issue 3
Issue 3 opens with reporter Floyd being lead to a darkened warehouse containing several vigilantes in the trend of Captain America's private little group: Battlestar, Typeface and Solo, among others. They all defend their reasons for defying the registration act and claiming they'll meet up with Captain America one day and band together. Typeface mentions his brother dying for his right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, and his right of privacy, where Battlestar cuts him off asking if the country even knows who the bad guys are.
In the meantime, Ben Urich is meeting up with Reed Richards in the Baxter Building, and he shows him a holographic projection of all of the USA's superhumans concentration on a map, and its potential growth in 5 years. When questioned by Ben, Reed says that numbers don't lie. Urich throws in a baseball analogy, saying if Reed knew about baseball he'd know about statistics, and claiming that so often one team would dominate the stat sheet, and the other team would win, and opinion polls going up and down, stocks fluctuating according to perception. When Reed claims Ben is oversimplifying Ben says that numbers don't lie.
Somewhere else, Thunderclap is battling Bantam, the latter being pro-registration and determined to bring Thunderclap in.
After a battle of half an hour, Thunderclap launches Bantam with a sonic attack, straight into a gastruck, causing an explosion, and killing Bantam. He walks away in the chaos of the panicking crowd, saying it was never his intention to kill the man.
She-Hulk is attempting to help Speedball by giving him another offer from the government, trying to get him out of the prison where he's being held. Speedball steadfastly believes that while he was part of it, he didn't do anything wrong, Nitro did, and that he couldn't change the past. She-Hulk tells him to change the present.
When guided back to his cell, Toomey, another inmate, is heckling him. Robert then finally snaps and shouts back saying he'll need no powers to beat him up, and challenges him to a fight next gym session. Toomey agrees. Robert talks to his cellmate, who says nothing in return, and appears quite catatonic. Tired, he tries to sleep.
Jennifer Walters comes back once more, and gives him a last offer, telling him to sign for three years of community service for SHIELD. Robbie says if he signs he'll have admitted it was his fault, and claims he'll never sign.
The next section opens with a fire at a pet fish shop. The only presumed eyewitness is rambling on about how Joe, the owner, was such a nice old man and how she bought a fish of his today. The story then flashbacks to earlier that day, where Joe is selling her a Tetra fish. He and his wife close up the shop, and relax in front of the television. A news broadcast comes on, talking about a school of whales beaching themselves, and about an unusual new whale song, snippets of which are played on the program. Upon hearing this song, Joe suddenly stands up, goes to the bathroom, and picks up a syringe with a green liquid in it. He injects it into his neck, and hunches over in pain.
The next page, he is shown in the mirror -- having gained considerable muscle tone, as well as a distinctively Atlantean ear-point and deep blue skin. The title of the segment, "Sleeper Cell", appears beneath him...
[edit] Issue 4
In this issue, Ben Urich and Sally Floyd meet to discuss the ideological chasm between the two sides. Urich warns Floyd not to get too close to the story, but later receives a mysterious note saying "Closer than you think. Listen to her". Sally attends the undercover hero meeting, where the members bemoan the fact that Captain America's team is nigh-unfindable. Suddenly, they are attacked by Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, and a group of SHIELD 'Cape-killers'. The rebels, described as 'unregistered combatants', are arrested, but Floyd is taken off the premises by the group before she can get in trouble.
Meanwhile, Ben Urich is following a lead when he is contacted via cell phone by Ms. Floyd. She describes the attack, and makes an attempt to warn him about something before the call cuts out. Continuing down the alley, he finds a small brown box tied with string. Opening it, he finds an inactive pumpkin bomb. He is immediately ambushed by the Green Goblin, who states, "You wrote lies about me, Urich. We're going to set the record straight."
In the prison gym, Robbie Baldwin is in a fight with Toomey. All the prisoners think Toomey will win, except Baldwin's strange cellmate, Hickey. Toomey thinks he can win easily, but Baldwin defends himself handily. However, another inmate hamstrings him when he beats Toomey, at which point Baldwin's power spontaneously restarts. Later, Baldwin receives a visitor: his mother, who begs him to accept responsibility for his part in the deaths of the Stamford victims. Baldwin counters by refusing to accept all the blame for the Stamford Incident. His mother agrees to respect his wishes, but then says she will not visit him again in prison.
In Sleeper Cell, two detectives are going over the crime scene. They develop a theory that Joe was a former undercover agent for a foreign government, who was reactivated for some mysterious reason. They suspect an Eastern European country, but the reader is shown images of Atlantis and Prince Namor. As the detectives go back to the precinct-house, we are shown that one of the firemen is Joe in disguise.
[edit] Issue 5
Ben Urich starts off the issue talking to Robbie and Jameson. Jameson can’t believe that Ben met the Green Goblin. The Goblin says he has been watching Ben and, 'he knows Ben, he knows what Ben does, and knows the people he knows.' Ben tells Jameson the Goblin mentioned him as well.
In Chinatown, Sally Floyd is walking when a man in a hoodie sticks a gun to her back. He tells her to act normal and keep doing what she was doing. He tells Sally that she is writing the wrong story and Captain America's Secret Avengers is just a myth. He also says there is no hidden motive behind the act, Sally thinks there is and is out to prove it. When she turns to see the man, he is gone. All that is left of him is a banana on the ground.
The comic cuts back to Ben, who is arguing with Robbie and Jameson. Ben defends himself about his meeting with the Green Goblin, Robbie wants proof, and Jameson doesn't believe it. When a Bugle employee tells Jameson that Iron Man confirmed the Goblin didn't leave his cell for the past hour, Ben can't believe it and Jameson now completely doubts Ben's word. Ben loses control of his anger and lashes out at Jameson. After Jameson asks if Ben is done, he fires him.
The comic switches back to Sally Floyd in her news room. She has some documents for her Managing Editor, Neil Crawford, when a man bursts through the news room's door looking for someone. He is looking for someone, referred to as 'him,' and Sally jokes about the event. Sharpshooters have their eyes lined on Sally's head as the man reveals himself to be S.H.I.E.L.D. operative Eric Marshall (the same man who arrested Speedball). 'The man' is of great interest to S.H.I.E.L.D. and they know that Sally had met him. Sally states that she doesn't reveal her sources and Eric arrests Sally and Neil.
Speedball is finally being transferred. She-hulk is riding with him in an army bus during the transfer. She-hulk doesn't like the transfer (she thinks it’s strange that so many big people are a part of it) and Speedball hears the angry crowds who hate him. This is a shock to Speedball, who can't believe all their anger is solely on him. They arrive at their destination, a gateway to the Negative Zone. Speedball and all the other captured heroes are sent to the Negative Zone where a prison was made for unregistered heroes. "Negative Zone Prison Alpha," Typeface tells Speedball, "Alphabetically it is accurate... for it is the first and only of its kind. The inmates have a better name for it. They call it Fantasy Island." A pan-out shows that they are not the only ones being sent to Fantasy Island.
Wonder Man is battling the Rat when police confront him. He presents his registration card, which can only show its contents by a special light. The lights come on and the confrontation was staged. When Wonder Man returns to his office, two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents state that they want Wonder Man's services. They show him the case file about Joe, the fish shop owner. They believe he is an undercover operative for a foreign nation. Since he is registered, they have his records and his tax problems. If he helps S.H.I.E.L.D., S.H.I.E.L.D. can wipe those tax problems clean. Wonder Man says that’s blackmail; the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives counter that they are trying to help. Wonder Man states that it's not blackmail if her superiors authorize it and that he didn’t register for a draft; S.H.I.E.L.D. counters that this is a draft. (Overlooked is the fact that, since Wonder Man's real name has been known to the public for several years, S.H.I.E.L.D. could have easily engaged in such extortion regardless of whether or not registration existed.)
The comic closes with a story about two brothers in the American Civil War. The Battle of Secessionville was fought near Charleston, South Carolina. It was the North's first major attempt to take back Charleston. The brothers are Lt. James Campbell of the Confederate Army and Colonel Sergeant Alexander Campbell of the Highlander Regiment. They later learned that they had fought each other and won. The events are told through their letters to their respective receivers.
[edit] Notes
- Each issue concludes with a short story comparing the events of Civil War to real historical conflicts. Each piece is accompanied by portions of a relevant text.
- Issue 1 - Anonymous poem from Poston War Relocation Center.
- Issue 2 - Text by Plutarch. Compares Iron Man's arrest of Prodigy with Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon.
- Issue 3 - Futility by Wilfred Owen.
- Issue 4 - 'Goodnight Saigon' by Billy Joel. Compares an American action against Viet Cong with the government ambush of the rebels earlier in the issue.
- Issue 5 - Letters from two brothers during the Civil War, James and Alexander Campbell. They fought in a battle, each on opposing sides. They later find out they had fought each other. Compares the event to Iron Man and Spider Man attacking a group of unregistered heroes that were resisting arrest...
