Broken Frontier

Peter Parker is having second thoughts about his stance on the Superhuman Registration Act.

Who couldn’t see this one coming? Honestly, it was only a matter of time before Peter came to his senses. Yet, even though this point has been pretty much foreseeable since the day Aunt May and MJ talked him into supporting Tony Stark’s initiative, Amazing Spider-Man has been arguably the strongest Civil War-themed book there is. Like a good revenge film, there needed to be some build up to this moment when Peter became so uncomfortable with his position in a seemingly fascist movement that his conscience could not bear the guilt of his actions against those he once called friend.

With his support of the Act already waning, Tony takes Peter on a tour of the superhuman prison that Reed Richards and Stark have created for those who refuse to register with the government. This new prison, located in the Negative Zone, is like Abu Ghraib on steroids to some, while others might see it as Club Med. To Peter this is the final straw and the moment of truth is nigh.

These tie-ins serve as a stronger place to discuss the politics of Civil War, and Straczynski is one of the best at doing just that. While Peter had doubts from the very beginning regarding his choice to back Tony, JMS paced this title wonderfully by showing the slow change over. The verbal confrontation between Tony and Peter at the prison wasn’t terribly juicy, but the discussion between Peter and Reed following the journey to the Negative Zone was a fine testament to who Peter is, was and always will be.

Ron Garney gives a solid contribution to this title. His style is sort of a cross between John Romita Jr. and Mike Deodato (probably due to Bill Reinhold’s slightly weightier inks), which is a good thing, considering those two artists have pretty much defined the title for the past several years. There is nothing too flashy or over-the-top, just a solid, dynamic effort with nice attention to detail and a promising look toward what will probably be an action-heavy next issue.

So far the Civil War event has been hot and cold. The central title has amounted to pretty much all flash and no substance. While the art is top notch, the plot of that title meanders throughout the Marvel Universe too much--you could say that it is like a Michael Bay film put to paper. The more interesting, well rounded stories are being told in the tie-in issues, and right now none of those is stronger than Amazing Spider-Man.