Say It Ain’t So, Steve

If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it 100 times.

Joe Quesada has credited Joss Whedon with riding in on a “white horse” and nailing down the conclusion to Civil War - a denouement that many believed left much to be desired.*

Now, Whedon himself has emerged to tell a different tale …

Hi and briefly: I walked into the infamous Marvel meeting, where they pitched me Civil War. Cool enuf, sez I. Then they pitched the end they were currently going with, wherein the woman whose son is killed breaks up the fight between Cap and Iron Man, much like Joanne Dru in “Red River.”

Not cool enuf, sez I. If the whole thing rests on Cap and Tony’s conflict, and they’re gonna fight, I sez sez I, somebody’s gotta win. I just pitched that Cap got past Tony’s armor and started beating the poo out of him - thus becoming exactly what Tony had called them all: a superpowered guy taking it out on a powerless human. Cap realizes this and lay down his arms. (But he wins. Eat that, Stark.) That is literally the tale.

I said looking around at the destruction of Manhattan didn’t have much resonance - these guys destroy Manhattan all the time! It was the personal act of putting his fist into the face of his powerless one-time friend that would Make Cap feel like a bully, a monster, a Nazi and kiddies I didn’t say much else. (Except that a fight between titans broken up by the “voice of reason” before it ends is a lame fight indeed.)

I didn’t know Civil War was gonna envelop the whole universe for a year. I didn’t know the entire face of Marvel was changing, and though I heard pitches of what’s to come, I don’t know what stuck.

I think I’ve been given too much credit for all this. Which is sweet, but I wanted to save you all endless speculation. Which I have done, and now back to work.

That doesn’t really sound like the ending Marvel published.

The Keeper could see Cap recoiling at the near murder of a once close friend, but instead we got the whole “Tony’s right because the 9-11 heroes say so” routine that isn’t much different from the original proposal.

So what is Quesada talking about? Guess the EIC just likes to remind people that he knows Joss Whedon.

Keeper’s Note: The always insightful X-Axis published an excellent critique of the mini-series. Check it out.

The Week That Was

Wow.

Your friendly neighborhood Keeper just had the craziest dream. We kept switching blog templates every other week!

Of course, that would never really happen.

Anyway, our friends at the Big Two certainly kept themselves busy at the New York Comics Convention this past weekend.

The Civil War corpse wasn’t even cold before Joe Quesada announced the latest, greatest events catapulting out of the House of Cash Flow.

Let’s see if we can keep it all straight.

First of all, there’s The Initiative - a new series detailing the conscription of Marvel’s super-humans into a massive army that will crush individual rights preserve the nation’s safety.

Several other books will also tie in closely to the new status quo.

Then there’s World War Hulk, which features a not-so-jolly green giant kicking that self-same army’s butt - a five-issue mini-series that will cross-over into: Incredible Hulk (Sure …); Invincible Iron Man (OK); Heroes for Hire (Huh?); and Ghost Rider ( Gee, wonder why?).

There are also such tie-in books as: World War Hulk Prologue: World Breaker; World War Hulk: X-Men; World War Hulk: Gamma Corps; and - of course - World War Hulk: Frontline.

Hulk writer Greg Pak said you don’t need to buy the tie-ins to understand the story (Say, didn’t they say that about Civil War?) , but if you want to get the complete picture …

(Yep, that definitely sounds familiar!)

Don’t care about the Hulk? Not to worry, true believer! There will also be a sequel to the much-loved Annihilation - complete with a prologue issue and three lead-in mini-series - and an Annihilation-style event for Marvel’s mystical characters that is based on the Tarot!

(No, not that Tarot …)

Gee, still not enough? Well, nobody at the convention even mentioned the summer X-Men blockbuster …

By comparison, DC was the model of restraint.

They “only” have World War III, the new Countdown weekly, and the Amazons Attack mini-series. Of course, Superboy-Prime’s reality punch and Slade’s hypos will probably team up in some yet-to-be-announced opus that will FOREVER CHANGE REALITY™.

In a way, the Keeper can’t really blame the two publishers. One Year Later, DC’s attempt to avoid earth-shattering events, wasn’t a financial success and - as Quesada himself said - fans eat big, loud crossovers up.

Can’t sell a horse to a feller who wants a pig. (Man, when did we turn into Ross Perot?!?)

And what of the Keeper? Heck, we’re still trying to figure out if we really liked Infinite Crisis!

In the meantime, we’re looking forward to Brian Wood’s new series about Vikings.

Vikings rule.

As for what we read last week, let’s keep it short and sweet.

Brave & The Bold #1 and The Spirit #3 were excellent. DC’s new team-up book featured Hal Jordan and Bruce Wayne at a blackjack table in Vegas, a concept that is simply Haney-tastic, while Darwyn Cooke continues to shine in the seemingly impossible task of following Will Eisner.

The Immortal Iron Fist stands head and shoulders above many of Marvel’s high-profile titles, but the third issue did little to advance the story - a common failing in the age of decompression.

There’s bad-ass and then there’s Golgo 13, Takao Saito’s legendary assassin. Created in 1969, the character has been called the Japanese answer to James Bond. However, Golgo 13 is not a camp knock-off a la Matt Helm. He is an amoral protagonist in a grey world who - as the latest Viz volume deftly illustrates - should never be crossed. A good read for Punisher fans.

Finally, everybody should buy at least one of the Love and Rockets trades that Fantagraphics released last week. Black Flag, Stranger Than Paradise and the Hernandez Brothers - ahhh, the ’80s.