Broken Frontier

This special issue is devoted to recounting the past friendship of Iron Man and Captain America.

Since we’re still waiting for the final events to play out in Marvel’s Civil War saga, this special issue takes time out to recount the friendship between Iron Man and Captain America. I’m still wondering who will stand victorious when this is all said and done, but it’s interesting to see these two iconic figures stand pat in order to discuss their respective point of views.

It’s also nice to see a bit of Marvel’s history recounted for this story in particular, and I must say writer Christos Gage did his homework. It opens with the pair meeting in the ruins of Avengers Mansion after Tony decided to contact Steve via the Avengers communication protocols when normal channels are compromised. The good Captain did indeed monitor those protocols and he showed up to talk openly to Tony about how things have gone since the push for the registration began. Both heroes talk candidly about their pasts and once again both reiterate their stance on the registration act until a stalemate is reached. Since they cannot reason with each other, the only other option is to rely on the use of their fists. Even that results into a stalemate.

I think the stalemate between these two great heroes serves to further fuel the ongoing confrontation started in Civil War #1. It’s great to have this much previous continuity culled together in a single issue for this purpose, and writer Christos Gage should be thanked for successfully doing his homework. I liked the structure he devised here to chronicle the friendship of both heroes, and the other neat thing about this story came about in the form of the believable dialogue. There were more than enough ample bits of truthfulness recounted here, and it made for a very convincing confrontation.

Aiding Christos Gage in this arduous task was artist Jeremy Haun who supplied a competent drawing style to flesh everything out. His pencil work had a clean finish to it, allowing many of the panels to look somewhat reminiscent of artist Steve McNiven’s work. Most of the pages gelled well together, but sadly there wasn’t really that standout page for my tastes. I don’t think there was anything wrong with the storytelling overall, but I just wished for that added extra punch to season this extremely informative tale.

So for my tastes, I think this issue fits in well into Marvel’s Civil War event. Now it may not entirely be a necessary issue to pick up if you are only following the Civil War series and not the offshoots spawned from it, but for continuity buffs I think it is. There is enough information here to give you some insight into both heroes, and perhaps sway your opinion of who is really right and who is ultimately wrong. My money is on Cap, but I guess I will have to wait for the correct outcome this January when Civil War comes to an end. In the meantime though ponder the plight of both heroes in this issue.