About Heroes

This Review Was Submitted by Toastydoc:
I have not yet weighed in on the Civil War yet, but this issue made the series for me. From the start, we have a half naked MJ waking up to the sounds of CSPAN. Peter is watching the news, putting together the puzzle pieces. The news report is comparing Halliburton to the sudden growth in value that Stark enterprises and Fantastic Four Inc. have had thanks to the registration act. You can see a real light bulb go of in Peters head as the report stated that Stark is now the richest man in the country. Peter goes to Tony who is suited up (all at 2:30 in the morning mind you) and drops a few not so subtle hints that Tony is War Profiteering. Peter insists on going to the detention center, and Tony reluctantly agrees. The two go see Reed who is wearing mole man glasses and operating a huge data server that looks like it is keeping the earth in orbit. He opens the portal to the detention center location, which we all know is in the Negative Zone. Peter does not like this. Of the flight, Tony remarks that Peter stopped making jokes. As Peter is about to comment, he sees the Matrix like complex with a train of blue busses headed in and out.

As the two land and bypass the security area, we get a nice nostalgic boost in the arm regarding the Security Passwords. Last weeks password was Adam West. We also find out that Tony’s last name is Edward. The Cells are made of Synthetic Vibranium, and the rooms are about the size of my college dorm rooms but with Virtual Reality environments. Still, the prisoners are still not happy, (gee, I wonder why). Peter asks if this is an Interim Solution, and Tony drops the ball. This Gulag is permanent. The two bump chests and get in each others face, Garney is really doing a good job building the tension. It ends with Tony dropping a very dickish hint that this could be Peter’s life, if he doesn't shut up and color. As they come back, Peter confronts Reed about the entire thing. Reed tells Peter a story about his Uncle, who was blacklisted during the Communist Witch Hunt back in the day. He blamed his uncle for not going along with it and naming names, but during his story, you can see the seeds starting to grow as guilt chokes up Reed, realizing that he may be making the wrong choice. Tony drags Peter away, and drops his back off at the Stark Tower. Peter sneaks into his house, avoiding the cameras and wakes up MJ and Aunt May. He tells them to get out, He made the wrong choice, and He is fighting for the wrong side. He bounces down the hall to meet up with Iron Man, who must not mind an insurance policy and crashed them through the wall.

A good read, beautiful art, and good dialog. You see Peter do what we have been expecting and flip flop, you see Reed stopping to think instead of just doing, and we see Tony, lose a bit more of Humanity and firmly step into the place of Joe McCarthy. I like seeing Reed stop acting and start thinking, and I can see the cogs lining up in his mind as he tells Peter about his Uncle. All in all, a solid A for having spidey do what we all wanted him to do, and doing it in a good, not contrived way.

Also, I figured out a few ways that Marvel can undo the Iron Man ad Richards are a Dick image they have going on: The Mutant Johnny Dee is running both sides of the show. He is controlling Reed, Tony, and Cap. What reason? To pay back humanity for the Mutant Registration Act, Punishing him even though he is not a mutant, the Freak is. This would explain why the three heroes are acting out of character. What better targets by the way? Who could be more influential then them?