The X-Men join in the Civil War (Civil War: X-Men - David Hine)

Member Name: pmcds

Product:	Civil War: X-Men - David Hine
Date:	25/10/09 (25 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great tales and artistry, nice to see development

Disadvantages: Nothing really

The Civil War series of Marvel comics took the collective of Marvel's superheroes and brought them up to date, mixing them with the world as we know it and attempting to show how we would react to people with superpowers, and to mutants.

The results were shown in the events of Civil War, which saw a government bill passed to force all superheroes to sign a treaty, effectively making them government employees. However, there were some who objected to this, and went underground, led by Captain America. Those who agreed were led by Iron Man, and the result was a nearly catastrophic, with equal balances of superhero powers coming to near all out war.

It is this kind of in house Cold War scenario that the X-Men then find themselves in. Permanently sitting on the fence, the X-Men have completely stayed out of the battle, but this is all about to change, as Iron Man's Sentinels and a couple of over-zealous superheroes attempt to 'free' those kept at the Xavier school for mutants, run by the X-Men. This crosses boundaries and leaves the X-Men with no choice but to choose a side......

I like the Civil War series. I believe it to be a very mature way of bringing all of Marvel's characters together and updating their plot developments. Making things more current, with a general national unacceptance of superheroes having free reign, means more pressure and control exerted over them, and the result is this divide, this split, that the X-Men find themselves in the middle of.

The story is very well written, with each of the X-Men given a bit of time to show their abilities, while a few lesser characters are given the chance to be developed a bit more, such as Domino, Caliban, Micromax, Sabra and Shatterstar. It shows the vast spectrum of potential powers the guys at Marvel can think up, and develops them quite well.

It also creates a pressured environment whereby well known characters such as Iron Man, Cyclops and Bishop can interact and show off, and tension in the tale is important to making this work. The artwork retains the classical Marvel style, with overglossy exaggerated musculature a regular occurrence that would have been sorely missed here had the style changed. As it is, it retains authenticity at the same time as giving us something different with the plot style.

Overall, this is a very good part of the Marvel Civil War saga. I hope to read many other Civil War installments featuring other characters, and if this is anything to mark them by, they'll be hard to put down. Civil War: X-Men is currently available from amazon.co.uk for £6.49, and is well worth it. Not only do you get the tale, but the last 6 or 7 pages or so give you some detail on some of the lesser known characters I mentioned earlier, as well as some pretty detailed analysis of the history of the Sentinels. A welcome and thoughtful addition at the end of an enjoyable series of episodes. A recommended issue.

Summary: The X-Men installment of Marvel's Civil War series