Civil War II #1 (Marvel)

For any fans reading this who's like to see an alternate take on this same basic story, watch the movie Minority Report, or the Philip K. Dick story that inspired it.  In this second Civil War, Marvel is tackling the matter of punishing the offender before they commit the crime.

You could argue that this is also within the realm of the surveillance debate that various high-profile leaks in recent years have provoked, and maybe it would be a good case to make, but I'm not sure I would buy it.  In the end, this is another excuse to get superheroes to fight each other.  It's a comic book tradition, and Marvel has admitted to that.  It's the fan classic: who would win?  The question, when making an event out of it, is how to justify it?

DC Versus Marvel was to that point the biggest such answer, and then came the first Civil War, which tackled the classic question of accountability, and then AvX, which was about exploring the issue of too much power, and now we have Civil War II.

I've decided that it's kind of just an excuse to explore the new Marvel landscape, to meet the new power players.  This isn't a bad thing.  Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel, Nova, the Inhumans, these are all characters who have emerged in recent years as the new generation of Marvel icons.  It's Captain Marvel who is leading the charge to support the Inhumans and their new resident precog, Ulysses, while Iron Man leads those who think all this could end badly.

The Free Comic Book Day preview that baffled me did feature Ulysses, but gave no indication that he would have such a significant role in the event itself.  Interestingly, while the preview was filled with random action, Civil War II #1 itself leaves most of that action off-panel, so that it's the discussions and character conflicts that drive the plot.  That's typical Brian Michael Bendis, the king of conversation comics.  It's a little shocking when this means James Rhodes (War Machine) dies off-panel, or that a big event like the Thanos takedown was not in itself the big event of this big event (it's really, really odd how Marvel has been using Thanos, both in the comics and movies, considering his significance).  We also get the apparent death of She-Hulk, but that just seems like overkill (if you'll pardon me for saying that).

All of which means I still don't know why the two sides will, y'know, fight, but I can see this Civil War for what it is, which for once is fairly straight-forward.  I still have no idea what Secret Wars was all about, or what it accomplished, other than give Jonathan Hickman his big event. 

Bendis is reuniting with Ultimate Spider-Man artist David Marquez, and that seems like another indication that Civil War II is really about that next generation.  I don't know.  I don't know what I'll miss if I don't continue reading this one, but I'll at least keep tabs.  If the last Civil War proved anything, these things can take pretty dramatic turns...