So we’ve talked about DC Rebirth but now it’s time to focus on the upcoming Marvel event – Civil War II. Just in time to tie into Captain America: Civil War movie. How nice. Question is: Marvel’s Civil War II – Should We Care? Let’s find out…

SPOILERS: There’s this assumption that you know WTF Marvel Comics is about, their heroes and recent comic book story lines. If not, go read them then come back, we ain’t educating but ranting & rambling. Enjoy!

Robert: I don’t know if I should. I cared when Civil War first came out some 10 years ago but now (WOW, 10 years ago!), it already feels hollow in a Marvel comics universe that I’m not quite certain I like or understand right now. So let’s try to figure out some big questions and perhaps in those answers, we might find a reason to care.

Ian: It was only ten years ago where all the head guys from Marvel came together and Mark Millar was like, “Ah ya cheeky cants, check this one din. What if you get that Iron Bloke to fight that Yankee fellow.” and then Marvel collectively shat their pants imagining Spiderman in an Iron Man suit. AH THE MEMORIES

What the Fudge-sickles is Civil War II About?

Robert: Good question. I have ZERO clue but I’m sure it has to do with the Inhumans because reasons. And YES, I’m ignoring the obvious movie tie-in and multi comics series to rack in the $$. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about this upcoming series:

A mysterious new Marvel character comes to the attention of the world, one who has the power to calculate the outcome of future events with a high degree of accuracy. This predictive power divides the Marvel heroes on how best to capitalize on this aggregated information, with Captain Marvel leading the charge to profile future crimes and attacks before they occur, and Iron Man adopting the position that the punishment cannot come before the crime.”

 

Robert: SO we have the every-man character who will be the point of view on how this new Civil War series will spark. Somehow it has to do with CHANGE or FIGHT the upcoming Future.

Ian: The hilarious thing about this if you look back on the first Civil War, why would Steve Rogers who fought to the damn end to make a stand against someone having authority over others just accept Carol’s whole precog minority report program with no question. The moment this series was announced, you could smell it in the wind – We need to cash in on doing some goofy event cause our MCU flick is coming out.

Ian: I’m still kinda pissed that for these same crossover merchandising that as soon as Amazing Spiderman 2 came out, Marvel decides to clumsily wrap up Superior Spiderman.

Robert: Sadly, there will be NO Fantastic Four in this Civil War series whereas Reed Richards was apart of the original series. Sad Panda!

Ian: Fantastic WHO? Doesn’t sound like an ALL NEW ALL DIFFERENT MARVEL brand to me.

Who’s Involved Creatively

Robert: Brian Bendis is writing Civil War II. So yeah, that’s not a seller for me. Marvel’s Siege was a utter mess of a series by Bendis. He has a great knack for telling great round table stories where characters do little but talk a big game. I don’t doubt that Civil War II will have some great character conversations, qibs and jokes but in the end can it even come close to his initial run on New Avengers leading to Secret Invasion? What I found to be his best Marvel work. Time will tell but I’m unsure. Bendis’ run on Guardians of the Galaxy is a financial question mark for me.

Ian: Isn’t it kinda crazy that Nick Spencer is doing a pretty damn good job with Standoff and then this marketing event happens? I get that Bendis is in the position to be the overseer of Marvel comics but they still don’t understand that his prime time is far behind him so he gets to coast with easy sellers like Miles Spiderman so of course, he’ll get put in charge of a movie cash in event.

What is the Long Term Marvel Impact?

Robert: Very good question. Will the heroes still be on the same side after this? Will Marvel revert to going dark with major hero vs hero fallout from this? Previously, the Civil War split the Avengers, will it now split the all the heroes and their comic books and haven’t they ALREADY done that enough in the recent Secret War? Do the Marvel readers need to read that AGAIN?

Ian: Rumours have actually been swirling around that particular promo for She-Hulk as she’s on the fence of being killed off for shock value. At least she’s fairly memorable character compared to say… Goliath. I sorta don’t count the whole time bullet assassination bit that happened with Steve but hey, it’ll make sense for MCU if they need to drop a certain actor.

Give Me ONE Solid Teaser to Care About Civil War II

Robert: The HULK. The Hulk was sent off into space before the last Civil War series (which lead to an amazing run as Planet Hulk, go read those!) and now he’s not only here but The Hulk is back in action. Where’s he been? Good question as Amadeus Cho has been his replacement since the last All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe soft relaunch post Secret Wars but I guess that changes for Civil War II.

Ian: In last month’s issue of the Totally Awesome Hulk, they finally showed how Cho ended up taking over for Banner as the actual Hulk part of him transferred over sorta like symbiote. Currently, Cho has shown to have a strong sense of control over the more savage side so I guess this tease is setup to be Cho losing it and most likely having to take a backseat to the savage Hulk from within.

Robert: Next teaser are The X-Men. The X-Men will be apart of Civil War whereas before they kindly said NO to both sides and didn’t take part in all the madness that went on. Now, they’re taking sides on the principal of CHANGE or FIGHT the Future. WHY is a good question, likely to do with The Inhumans and reasons.

Ian: Inhumans are dicks. They take their whole gimmick and give them a deadly sickness via their inhuman cloud? DICKS!

Fine. I’m kinda interested – What Are the Teams?

Robert: Well it looks like this time it’s not just Cap vs Iron Man, it’s Iron Man vs Captain Marvel (or whatever new name she’s got now) and I broke down the teams here but I’ll recap…

Team CHANGE the FUTURE: Captain Marvel – now called Spectrum (WTF?!), Winter Soldier, Blue Marvel, Medusa, Vision, Peter Parker: Spider-Man, She-Hulk, Ant-Man, Hawkeye, Steve Rogers: Captain America and War Machine.

VS

Team PROTECT the FUTURE: Iron Man, Deadpool, Totally Awesome Hulk, Luke Cage, Miss America, Daredevil, Black Widow, Captain America: Sam Wilson, Hercules, Black Panther, Thor and Star-Lord.

Robert: You still here? REALLY? Okay well there are the two teams but not including The original Hulk & X-Men so yeah the teams might change. I’m sure A character on either teams will die (that’s kinda a staple from the previous series) while others will completely change alliances making the actual teams muddy by the end.

Ian: I think Miles and Kamala/Ms Marvel are actually being teased to be on Iron Man’s side. Bad enough that your own internet fandom idol isn’t good to team up with, maybe Kamala will come up with her own title when the event is over.

Robert: I just hope that Marvel can Nail the Ending on this series. Joss Whedon’s suggested ending for the previous Civil War series was quite the let down.

Ian: Considering that the original ending is just Steve accepting some jail time and the whole major twist happening right after, what could Marvel pull out their ass to shock anyone at this point?

Alright. What are the books? How many?

Robert: Retailers have been told Civil War II is a 7 issue series but that could change. As for the additional related issues, I know there’s a Civil War II: X-Men & Spider-Man books (perhaps multi issues), perhaps a FrontLines book and I’m sure the big event series will crossover ALL Marvel Comics during that seven months so add those to the costs.

Ian: If anyone is wondering if that’s a real variant cover – Yes, that awful cheesy thing is legit.

Robert: BleedingCool has a breakdown of all the Civil War related Marvel comics coming out for June 2016 alone here:
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/03/22/marvel-comics-full-solicitations-for-june-2016-a-civil-war-reenactment/

CIVIL WAR II #1 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR II #2 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR II: CHOOSING SIDES #1 (OF 6)
CIVIL WAR II: X-MEN #1 (OF 4)
CIVIL WAR II: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 (OF 4)
CIVIL WAR II: GODS OF WAR #1 (OF 4)
DEADPOOL #14
THE TOTALLY AWESOME HULK #7
UNCANNY INHUMANS #11
CAPTAIN MARVEL #6
MS. MARVEL #8
CAPTAIN AMERICA: SAM WILSON #10
ULTIMATES #8
NEW AVENGERS #12
NOVA #8
ALL-NEW WOLVERINE #9
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #10

These are ALL the CIVIL WAR II issue 1 variant covers:

CIVIL WAR II 1 BLANK COVER VARIANT COVER ALSO AVAILABLE (MAR160714)
CONNECTING VARIANT COVER B BY Kim JUng Gi (MAR160712)
TEAM CAP HIP-HOP VARIANT COVER BY TERRY DODSON (MAR160713)
VARIANT COVER BY DAVID MARQUEZ (MAR160711)
VARIANT COVER BY STEVE MCNIVEN (MAR160709)
SKETCH VARIANT COVER BY STEVE MCNIVEN (MAR160710)
VARIANT COVER BY MICHAEL CHO (MAR160708)
TEAM IRON MAN HIP-HOP VARIANT COVER BY RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE (MAR160706)
CHARACTER VARIANT BY PHIL NOTO (MAR160707)
Hot Wheels VARIANT COVER BY MANUEL GARCIA (MAR160705)
BATTLE VARIANT COVER BY CHRIS SPROUSE (MAR160704)
PARTY VARIANT BY YASMINE PUTRI (MAR160719)
CIVWARII2016001-HOT-WHEELS-44652

Robert: Let’s take an estimate that there might be 15 Civil War II related Marvel comic books per month so I’m guessing around 112 comics for 4-6 months all together give or take. So let’s say 5 titles at $4.99 and 11 at $3.99. Rough cost of $451.94 US for ALL the Marvel Civil War II series and related tie-in comic books.

Robert: Good news is that you get a short issue #0 for FREE on Free Comic Book Day! YAY!

SO. Civil War II. Should We Care?!

Robert: If you can just get away with reading ONLY the main series then perhaps. I’m still not certain as to WHY this story line needs to happen in the Marvel Universe besides being a big Marvel event money maker? What’s the bottom line for the comic books? One team wins. The Future changes AGAIN (in some way even if the Fight the Future team wins). It JUST entirely changed last summer with Secret Wars and it will entirely change next summer. For the hardcore fan though, is it worth the read? Who will die? Will you care? Will I care? Will it relate to the movie or NOT at all? Does that matter?

Ian: Spoilers – No, IDK, Probably Not, No, No, No.

Robert: Bottom line – You care ONLY if you want to enjoy the characters in the story. If you don’t, you won’t care. Should you care? Of course, you’re a comic book junkie and you want to be told a great story with wonderful visuals.

Ian: Considering that by the time this event comes out that The Vision is over, both Stand-Off/Last Days of Magic are over and Tom King is busy over at DC, I’m pretty sure you have plenty of money to spend on this totally not made up in time for same name movie part 2: Electric Boogaloo.

– – –

Robert: What I should care about is this unbelievable stunning artwork by Kim Jung Gi as he draws these connective covers for Civil War II…

Robert: ALL I want is a poster of this work Kim Jung Gi did for these Civil War II covers!

Ian: What kind of faust influenced deal with the devil did Marvel make to get that beautiful thing done for such a throw away event? DAMN.