Reading Comics 188 "Reading that Civil War II FCBD story again, and suddenly it makes perfect sense"

I have no idea if Brian Michael Bendis and/or Marvel did this deliberately, but suddenly it's my favorite comic book experience of 2016 so far. 

So I went back and reread, like you may have read in the title, the Civil War II Free Comic Book Day story.  This comes after reading Civil War II #1, the first issue, technically, of the series itself.  If you remember, I thought the FCBD story was pretty random, originally.  The only thing I took away from it was the character of Ulysses, the precog who would end up being at the center of Civil War II's conflict.  I had no idea why Thanos was being tossed into the middle of the fray like that.  Thanos stories typically are huge deals in and of themselves.  Just look at the very circuitous way the Avengers movies are taking to get back to him, after his debut in 2012's Marvel's Avengers and subsequent appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy.

As it turns out, that missing scene I talk about in my Civil War II #1 review is actually the FCBD story.  Which is to say, Civil War II #1 is explained by FCBD Civil War II, and vice versa.  Again, I don't know if this was deliberate, but in hindsight, it works like gangbusters.

The thing that makes it so brilliant is that, if you read these the way I did, incomprehension first and then with a reread, you realize what happened, and the depth just keeps getting deeper.  In Civil War II #1, you get the conflict around Ulysses spelled out, and the aftermath of the fight in FCBD Civil War II.

If you then go back and reread FCBD Civil War II?  You realize the full tragedy of the situation Captain Marvel has found herself in.  She's the one who sides with the idea of using Ulysses in the war on crime.  But we learn that this support is coming at a price, because we learn that Jim Rhodes' death isn't just personal for Tony Stark, but for Carol Danvers, too.

Maybe all this reaction from me is unique to a reader who doesn't reside in regular Marvel readership, but comes and goes, because I didn't know Carol and Jim had a thing going on.  It doesn't matter.  It gets the impact it needs.

And the thing is, if I'd made all the connections I'd needed, right from the start, I don't know if the impact would have been the same.  Clearly I'd read FCBD Civil War II first, but I'd forgotten most of that by the time I read Civil War II #1.  I don't do a lot of compulsive rereading.  There are fans out there who read and reread the same issue.  I don't.  I read it and move on.  Usually, if I reread something, it's not because I'm trying to figure something out, but because I just happened to read it again, or generally like the material. 

This is a first for me.  I've read a lot of comics in my day, and this is a first for me.  I can appreciate the significance of that.  Bravo, Bendis.  Bravo, Marvel.  I don't always give you the props you deserve, but this time, you've absolutely earned them.  You made a pretty deliberate creative choice.  It took me a while to figure it out, but that choice was indeed a very, very good one.