The Marvel Civil War: Front Line series is an 11 issue mini-series that ties in to the Marvel Civil War event. What makes this series unique is that it's focus is not so much on the lycra clad superheroes, but more on two of the journalists dedicated to covering the story. For much of the story the two are split down the middle, Ben Urich follows the story from Iron Man's pro-registration side, while Sally Floyd reports on the story from Captain America's anti-registration side of the coin.

As the two continue to investigate the story, they begin to uncover what seems to be a conspiracy that runs all the way to the very top of the food chain. One of the things that I liked most about this two volume series was how it revealed pieces of information, only hinted at in the major Civil War story. It approached the whole thing from different points of view. In many respects the Civil War story mirrors the current political landscape in the United States, and world in general.

The other major component of the Civil War: Front Line story arc is the story of Speedball, the only survivor of the incident that kick started the whole Civil War in the first place. Speedball was a member of the New Warriors, happy go lucky type of character. To me he was a watered down version of Spider-Man, except with different powers. As the reader follows Speedball in the Front Line story, we get to see the evolution of his character, by watching what happens to someone after they've made one single mistake, or the wrong split second decision. One split second can change a life, or end many lives, and as the reader follows Speedball in prison we also see him struggle with his own guilt. He has lost his powers as well as his innocence.

Having been re-born in prison, Speedball learns that his powers never left him, he can still access them, but only when he feels pain. By the end of Front Line, Speedball is dead, replaced by Penance. Penance looks like a bad ass, ready to pay for his sins, and prepared to make others pay for their own as well. I'm sure a lot of people would hate the transformation, but I don't. The writers took a run of the mill hero and made him more interesting. I, for one, would like to read more about this guy.

Civil War: Front Line was an awesome read, and I found it far better than the main Civil War story. Read Civil War, then read Civil War: Front Line. Highly recommended.

The Marvel Civil War story-line is the first major comic 'event' I've read. Whilst the ideas behind the Civil War story are fairly simple, the complexity comes in all the various 'tie-in' books and sub-stories that surround it.

Whilst filming a reality TV show, a group of super heroes attempt to apprehend a group of super villains. A battle ensues, there is a big BOOOMMM!, and innocent people are dead. This leads to the introduction of the Superhuman Registration Act in the United States. Any person in the United States with superhuman abilities must register with the federal government and receive proper training. Superheroes are to transform into Civil Servants overnight.

As a by-product of this, super heroes abiding by the Superhuman Registration Act are forced to reveal their true identities to the authorities. This could be a big deal, particularly for someone like Spider-Man who has battled to keep his true identity secret all his life.

The Marvel superhero world is split into two, the pro-registration camp, led by Iron Man, and the anti-registration camp, led by Captain America. From there the story continues, as the who's who of superheroes battle it out. The events in Civil War will ultimately lead to Captain America's assassination, heroes becoming villains and villains becoming heroes.

The story involves the entire Marvel Universe, so all the major players take part at some level. Basically all the characters from Marvel Ultimate Alliance (on PS2 or Xbox) show up at some point. Characters such as Wolverine, Spider-man, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, and the X-Men have their own tie-in stories which cleverly link into the main story arc providing a different perspective of events. It's a nice touch.

The Civil War trade paper back collects the main Civil War story line (Civil War #1-7) and I'd recommend grabbing this rather than trying to pick up the 7 issues individually.


The Civil War TPB is the first of the Civil War stories that I've read, I'll definitely be reading more. I'm currently working my way through the Civil War: Frontline series. I've completed volume 1, so once I've finished volume 2, I might also write about that here.

As my ‘graphic novel’ fixation has increased, I’ve found myself doing an increasing amount of ‘research’ on the subject. This has led to a number of startling revelations. One of the most surprising (for me at least), was the career of Frank Miller.

I’m guessing that I’m not different to a lot of people when I say that my first exposure to any of Frank Miller’s stuff came when I saw Sin City for the first time. After some initial research I quickly found that Frank Miller was not just the guy that wrote ‘Sin City’.

Frank Miller’s characters are tough, dark, broken, morally ambiguous and flawed. I guess this is why I shouldn’t have been all that surprised to learn that Frank Miller has produced stories for major characters such as Batman, Wolverine, Daredevil and Spawn. He was also responsible for the creation, and death, of the Elektra character.

Something else that I learnt was that Frank Miller was responsible for writing the scripts of Robocop 2 and 3. I dare say, they probably weren’t the high points of his career.

So, you’ve seen Sin City and 300, dipped your toe into the pool of ‘graphic novels’ with one of the Sin City stories, where should you go next for your Frank Miller fix? Well, I’m glad you asked, here are some of his more popular and highly regarded works.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

10 years since the last recorded sighting of the Batman. Gotham City has begun to rot away. It’s time for Batman to come out of retirement. This story was credited with resurrecting the Batman ‘brand’. Arguably one of the most talked about comics in history.

Batman: Year One

From retirement Batman, to the work experience kid Batman. Year One takes a massive leap back in time to trace the beginnings of Batman as he spends his first year on the job. If you liked the movie, Batman Begins, then you stand a good chance of liking this.

Daredevil Visionaries - Frank Miller Vol. 1

Frank Miller made his name when he brought the Daredevil series back from the dead. In volume in volume 1 he contributed the artwork. If you've seen the live action movie with Ben Affleck, then some of what you find in volume 1 will be familiar to you.

Daredevil Visionaries – Frank Miller Vol.2

Volume 2 collects issues 168-182 of Daredevil, and these are the issues in which Frank Miller really made his mark.. Frank Miller contributes both the stories and the art. Volume 2 features the Hand as well as Daredevils mentor Stick. Elektra is also introduced in this series for the first time.

Daredevil Visionaries - Frank Miller Vol.3

Volume 3 covers both the death of Elektra as well as the return of the Hand. Without Elektra to help him, Daredevil turns to the Black Widow.

The relationship between Daredevil and the Black Widow is actually alluded to in the Xbox game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Just thought I'd mention that.

Elektra: Assassin

Let’s just say that I don’t think Frank Miller ever intended Elektra to turn out the way she did in the 2005 Jennifer Garner movie. Still, I'm a big fan of Jennifer Garner's work...

Wolverine by Claremont & Miller (Marvel Premiere Classic)

An old school Wolverine story, one of the first to delve into what really made the guy tick. Set in Japan, this story also features an appearance by ‘the Hand’.

I believe that I may have taken the second last step in my transformation into full blown geek. I have developed a liking for "graphic novels". Some people will try to tell you that "graphic novels" are nothing more than comics. To those people I would like to say "... are not!".

If you'd asked me a week ago what a TPB was, then I would probably have scratched my head, and answered with a "I dunno". In my life, a week can be a very, very, very long time!

So my guilty habit began with Wolverine: Origin (Marvel Premiere Classic). It delves into the childhood and formative years of Wolverine, arguably the most popular of all the X-Men characters. If you've ever wanted to know where he came from, then this is a good place to start. I can't really say any more about it without giving too much a way, and potentially spoiling it. I will say it was definitely a good read, but suited for 'mature' audiences only.

I then moved on to Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition). The imagery in this one was far less 'comic book' and the subject matter dark. With the Joker having taken over the Arkham Asylum and threatening to kill hostages if Batman doesn't admit himself to the Asylum, Batman goes inside, learning more about himself, whilst we learn more about the origins of Arkham Asylum. Interesting read. Recommended for Batman fans. Probably not for the casual Bat dudes.

The last "graphic novel" I've absorbed was Cable/Deadpool Vol. 1: If Looks Could Kill. I got into the Cable/Deadpool thing because I couldn't track down any solo Deadpool collections. The Deadpool stories are probably the coolest ones I've read. There's humor and loads of intertextual references. Deadpool holds a fixation for a variety of things, including Bea Arthur, the Olsen Twins and duct tape. 'If looks could kill' sees Deadpool finding a solution for his weird looking appearance, and unwittingly finding himself in the middle of a bizarre cult set on creating a world without individuality. I loved this one so much, I went out and picked up all the other Cable/Deadpool collections I could find. At the moment, the only one I'm missing is Vol.5. I'll keep looking.

So, figured out what TPB stands for? Trade Paper Back

And what is the final step to full blown geekdom? A World of Warcraft subscription. At this stage, that is not a step I'm prepared to take!