"Civil War" by Stuart Moore

            So I just finished reading “Civil War” by Stuart Moore and wanted to give it a review. Note that this is a Marvel comics prose novel and not a book about any real civil war. And when I say prose novel, I mean a novel and not a comic book. This is also actually based on a comic book storyline originally written by Mark Millar. The graphic novel was also the inspiration for the movie “Captain America: Civil War.” This review applies only to the prose novel and not the graphic novel or the movie.

            All right, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about the book. It begins with a major tragedy. A group of superheroes called the New Warriors had a reality TV show. They did superhero activities and were televised. The ratings were going down the toilet. They discovered a group of super villains in Stamford, Connecticut. They knew they were outclassed, but jumped into it anyway. They seemed to be winning until Namorita cornered Nitro. Nitro’s power was self-detonation, which he enacted, killing himself, the other villains, the New Warriors, and eight-hundred-fifty-nine citizens of Stamford, including a schoolyard full of children.

            At this time, Tony Stark/Iron Man recruited Peter Parker/Spider-Man into the Avengers. In light of the Stamford incident, the United States turned on superheroes, putting every super human to blame rather than just applying it to Nitro, who solely deserved the blame. This led to a brutal attack on Johnny Storm/Human Torch, putting him in a hospital. As things escalated, the United States government considered two options: either make all superhuman activity illegal, or have complete control of superhuman activity. Obviously, the second option was selected after much discussion, and the Superhuman Registration Act passed through the United States government, requiring all superheroes in the United States to register their name, identity, and powers with the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate (S.H.I.E.L.D.) and submit to being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, including training. The idea was to make superhuman activity regulated to prevent any further tragedy.

            Iron Man came in favor of the SRA and led the task force. However, Steve Rogers/Captain America, did not approve of the SRA. S.H.I.E.L.D. Acting Director Maria Hill called on Captain America to enforce the SRA, which Captain America turned down, then escaped the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier and turned into a fugitive. He recruited a resistance against the SRA.

            Spider-Man sided with Iron Man and took the ultimate step, unmasking as Peter Parker to the world media, fully becoming legitimate.

            The government came to the conclusion that those in defiance of the SRA must be detained, but of course, any normal jail can’t hold superhumans, so Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four suggested a superhuman jail in the other dimensional area the Negative Zone, dubbed Project 42.

            Of course, the two faction inevitably clash, resulting in a casualty that shakes the faith of several combatants and results in changes in sides.

            The rest of the novel prepares for the final battle between the two sides.

            My opinion of this novel is rather favorable. The action was, in my opinion, exciting, the story was, in my opinion, engaging. The characters were used to their true potentials and continuity of the comics was relatively accurate. The changes were acceptable, and the adaptation compared to the graphic novel was a good enhancement. The humor was, in my opinion, executed effectively. There were highs and lows in the emotionality of the novel. As a rating, 1 being the lowest, 10 being the highest, I give the novel a 9. I recommend it to fans of Marvel comics who are relatively familiar to the comics, as there are many characters that have not made appearances in Marvel movies or television shows and some history of characters do not apply to the movies or television shows that may confuse casual readers, but that is not saying the novel is inaccessible to casual readers. All-in-all, I felt it was a well-written novel and worth reading if you are into this kind of story.