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A review by carroq
Civil War: Front Line, Vol. 1 by Steve Lieber, Rick Magyar, Kei Kobayashi, David Aja, Ramón F. Bachs, Paul Jenkins, Lee Weeks, Jorge Lucas, Leandro Fernández, Sean Chen, Kano, Roy Allan Martinez
3.0
I recommend reading the main storyline to Marvel's Civil War event before starting this. After a fight between the New Warriors and a group of supervillains killed 612 people, including 60 children, in the town of Stamford, CT, the country calls for the registration of all heroes. There is a political theme running throughout the connected books pitting the pro-government/registration group against those that see this as a violation of their personal freedom.
What this volume does is follow two continuous stories, a third smaller story, and snapshots of historical war events. These focus more on side characters that aren't central to the debate over the hero registration act. Even though the biggest heroes aren't the focus, they do make appearances throughout. To me, this book gave the Marvel Universe more character. It shows how the actions of the heroes affect regular people, making it feel like a living world.
"Embedded" is the first storyline presented, which centers around two reporters: Ben Urich and Sally Floyd. The story is strong and ties into the main storyline the best. Ben Urich is a recurring character in various Marvel series, and that connection helps lead the charge here. The reporters and this story flesh out the political aspects of the event.
The other main story covered in this volume is "The Accused", featuring Speedball, the only member of the New Warriors to survive the New Stamford event. He represents the anti-registration heroes in a more subtle way than Captain America or the heroes that side with him. Speedball is held responsible for the deaths of the people in New Stamford, and is eventually imprisoned. We see other heroes treated similarly, but his involvement in the event that sparked the war makes him easy to follow. I disliked his attitude throughout the story though. He comes across as a jerk compared to what is going on around him.
"Sleeper Cell" is the shorter piece in terms of the length of each story and how many parts there are. It felt unnecessary in this volume because it didn't add a lot to the overall story. It introduces the Atlanteans in a very slow way and doesn't explain their presence very well. The final piece is a series of shorts labelled as "Correspondence". These focus on different wars in history and are inspired in a variety of way, such as poems and letters. The best part about these was the side-by-side panels showing the historical war and how the Marvel Civil War parallels it.
I wasn't satisfied with where this left off, which is not surprising since it is in the middle of the various stories. Worth reading as a companion to the main storyline, but needs the second volume to make it feel complete.
What this volume does is follow two continuous stories, a third smaller story, and snapshots of historical war events. These focus more on side characters that aren't central to the debate over the hero registration act. Even though the biggest heroes aren't the focus, they do make appearances throughout. To me, this book gave the Marvel Universe more character. It shows how the actions of the heroes affect regular people, making it feel like a living world.
"Embedded" is the first storyline presented, which centers around two reporters: Ben Urich and Sally Floyd. The story is strong and ties into the main storyline the best. Ben Urich is a recurring character in various Marvel series, and that connection helps lead the charge here. The reporters and this story flesh out the political aspects of the event.
The other main story covered in this volume is "The Accused", featuring Speedball, the only member of the New Warriors to survive the New Stamford event. He represents the anti-registration heroes in a more subtle way than Captain America or the heroes that side with him. Speedball is held responsible for the deaths of the people in New Stamford, and is eventually imprisoned. We see other heroes treated similarly, but his involvement in the event that sparked the war makes him easy to follow. I disliked his attitude throughout the story though. He comes across as a jerk compared to what is going on around him.
"Sleeper Cell" is the shorter piece in terms of the length of each story and how many parts there are. It felt unnecessary in this volume because it didn't add a lot to the overall story. It introduces the Atlanteans in a very slow way and doesn't explain their presence very well. The final piece is a series of shorts labelled as "Correspondence". These focus on different wars in history and are inspired in a variety of way, such as poems and letters. The best part about these was the side-by-side panels showing the historical war and how the Marvel Civil War parallels it.
I wasn't satisfied with where this left off, which is not surprising since it is in the middle of the various stories. Worth reading as a companion to the main storyline, but needs the second volume to make it feel complete.