I'm beginning to think that the aftermath of Marvel's CIVIL WAR is better than the event itself. I enjoyed CIVIL WAR as the summer blockbuster it was meant to be, but the ending was extraordinarily weak (as I mentioned in a previous column). All the fallout, however, has actually been pretty good. CIVIL WAR: THE CONFESSION was a surprisingly poignant read and better than anything that the CIVIL WAR main series offered, we've got two Avengers books now that are both lots of fun and somewhat at odds with each other, and we get to see all the Marvel heroes deal with the death of Captain America in the FALLEN SON series. We're still in the early part of this aftermath and Marvel frequently starts strong and ends poorly, so it's possible this could go south in a few months, but for right now I'm loving it.

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How are there now two valid Avengers teams who fight each other, you ask? Well, first you had the Avengers. Then some of them died or went nuts (much to the chagrin of several million mutants) and you had the New Avengers starring the fan-favorite pairing of Spider-Man and Wolverine. The New Avengers seemed like a good mix until some youngsters started a fight with some super villains that resulted in the deaths of 600 regular people (including some *gasp* school children!) It was at this point that Cap and Iron Man went all Alec and Kim and basically tore the Marvel universe asunder. With the Civil War won and his best buddy Cap in a box, Iron Man felt that it was his duty to continue the Avengers legacy of further endangering the lives of well-meaning do-gooders and created a new "new" Avengers. Not to be outdone, however, the remnants of the "old" New Avengers who sided with Cap are still running around loose, unregistered, and still calling themselves the New Avengers. It's kind of like when the band Yes broke up and then there were two bands both called Yes touring with members of the original band. So now you have the NEW AVENGERS comic with Ronin, Dr. Strange, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, and Wolverine all hiding out in Dr. Strange's house as outlaws, and also MIGHTY AVENGERS with Ares, The Sentry, Ms. Marvel, Wasp, Wonder Man, Black Widow, and Iron Man running around with S.H.I.E.L.D. and government support. Needless to say these two groups are still butting heads over Civil War grievances.

Mighty Avengers vs New Avengers

In the current MIGHTY AVENGERS story, Iron Man quite suddenly turned into a naked woman calling herself Ultron (and wouldn't you know it, right in the middle of a huge fight with giant monsters and the Mole Man). I put some preview pages for MIGHTY AVENGERS #3 in the slideshow, and from the looks of it The Sentry is finally going to throw down on someone.

I also received some preview images for the new arc of CRIMINAL that are in the slide show, although I don't think they are in any particular order. CRIMINAL is written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips, and it's an excellent example of a comic written for adults. It doesn't involve superheroes or super powers of any kind, it's just a great story in the medium of comics. The first arc titled "Coward" was dripping with film noir inspiration, and featured some excellent character development and fantastic art and paneling. I enjoyed Sean Phillip's art on MARVEL ZOMBIES quite a bit, and I was already a fan of Brubaker from his run on CAPTAIN AMERICA, so when I first read about CRIMINAL I didn't even care what the story was. I was disappointed to see the first arc end with issue #5, and I wonder if this second arc entitled "Lawless" will tie into it in some way. Brubaker described "Lawless" this way, "It's about a guy who comes home after a long time away, to find the truth about the death of his brother, who was a lowlife criminal, and a bad guy, but still, someone's brother. It's a meditation on violence, in some ways, and on brotherhood and family. And it's hands down the most brutal and unflinching thing I've ever written." CRIMINAL #6 is set to go on sale on May 23rd.

Last Thursday the 2007 nominees for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were announced, and I was surprised by some of them. YOUNG AVENGERS was nominated for Best Continuing Series despite the fact that only one or maybe two issues have come out in the last year. The Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely team-up ALL STAR SUPERMAN was also nominated for Best Continuing Series, but I think it's largely hit and miss. I loved the first issue and the plot it started, but the following issues haven't addressed it satisfactorily. Brian K. Vaughan wasn't nominated at all, and with RUNAWAYS, Y THE LAST MAN, and PRIDE OF BAGHDAD all out there, I thought he'd get recognized for something. I would have liked Michael Turner and Clayton Crain to get some love, but what can you do, these aren't the Travis Meacham Comic Industry Awards. Perhaps those guys don't impress the critics. Personally, I love their stuff. CRIMINAL got nominated for Best New Series and Best Writer, but it's a shame Sean Phillips didn't get some attention for it. It takes a confident artist to play down the art like he does for the book. It isn't big and flashy, but more dark and cinematic. You can see the rest of the Eisner Nominations here.

View Slide Show (12 images)

Here are my picks from this week:

• DC
• • Action Comics #848 - OK, what happened to the Donner storyline with the Phantom Zone criminals? Did I dream that whole thing?
  • Amazons Attack #1 - Beautiful, tall women dressed like gladiators appear in Washington D.C. and start killing people with swords. Ahh...comics.
  • Justice #11 - It's an Alex Ross book so you kind of have to buy it. They just had it to you when you go into comic stores now.
  • Wonder Woman #8 - Circe resurrects Hippolyta and, man, is she pissed when she finds out Wonder Woman's been captured (hence Amazons Attack #1).
• Image
• • Walking Dead #37 - Rick and his gang kill time (and presumably zombies) waiting for the impending attack from Woodbury.
• Marvel
• • Fallen Son - The Death of Captain America: Avengers - Both New and Mighty Avengers deal with Cap's death in their own way.
  • Fantastic Four #545 - It's the new Fantastic Four in outer space with the Silver Surfer and Galactus. So what can Black Panther and all the karate in the world do about it?
  • Powers #24 - Deena finds out Walker has powers after he fights the devil and blows up his own house. There's lot of cursing, too.
  • Silent War #4 - A domestic disturbance in Attilan, and is that Black Bolt speaking?
  • Wolverine #53 - Wolverine's in Africa and he can't sleep so he punches Sabretooth. Later on they fight. Is this going anywhere yet?

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