Broken Frontier

The Confession takes a good hard look at the disintegrating friendship between Captain America and Iron Man, then weighing the merits of the outcome of Civil War in the process.

I sometimes wonder what goes on in the mind of writer Brian Michael Bendis. In the past I have been critical of how self indulgent he becomes with his use of dialogue, but there’s no question the man has talent. The Confession is proof of that, and this one shot pulls no punches while examining the animosity between Cap and Iron Man building during the rising conflict of Civil War.

Perhaps it was a clever device in how the confession is structured in order to give readers the maximum effect of both heroes’ opposing viewpoints. The first half deals with Iron Man’s reaction once he views the lifeless body of Steve Rogers shortly after the events of Captain America #25. Tony confesses to Cap how he perceived the events of Civil War and knew the outcome all along, giving way to oodles and oodles of regret. Then in the second half we get to hear how Cap perceived the events of the war as he explains it to Tony from his jail cell. Steve’s monologue is quite riveting, and during his speech he hits upon many points that sum up his belief system to perfection.

Now as I was saying earlier, when Bendis is on his game there is no better writer than him. His attention to fine detail is often coupled with stellar plotting and dazzling dialogue to keep the readers’ interest throughout. The guy doesn’t miss a beat and he intuitively understood the merits of both characters and gave us a portrait of both sides of the issue. Hence in this case, Tony’s staggering confession to a dead man and then Steve’s inflammatory speech reinforcing his convictions as a hero and patriot. When both of these elements of dialogue are slapped together, this issue instantly becomes memorable and it should be destined to become a classic over time.

It’s also great to see Bendis collaborating with Alex Maleev once again. These two creators go hand in hand like smoke is to fire, and a joint venture by both men usually results in utter brilliance. In this case, Maleev handled the art chores expertly throughout and thus successfully echoing the strong sentiments of both heroes. His work here is often gritty when applicable then muted mostly for emotion for the kind of resonance demanded from the story in question. I couldn’t think of a more perfect artist to illustrate such a heated story as this, and Maleev pulled it off without a hitch.

In the end though, I can’t say enough about Bendis when he is on top of his game like this. The Confession contained a splendid piece of writing, allowing both heroes a final platform to state their cases for going to war with each other, and of course the outcome is never what you would expect. It was never corny, nor was it handled in a cheesy manner, so Bendis should be congratulated for writing a riveting story throughout. With talents like this you would think the man would own the Marvel Universe outright, and maybe after reading this confession he might at that.