"Civil War" Prose/Graphic Novel Comparison

            The following is a comparison of the Marvel Comics Event “Civil War” and the prose novel “Civil War” by Stuart Moore. This is not talking about any actual war.

            Hey, guys! Welcome to From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! I’m your dude, Tim Cubbin!

            Okay, first off, before you go any further, let me stop you for a second! DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE READ MY “Civil War” AND “Civil War” by Stuart Moore POSTS PRIOR TO READING THIS! If you haven’t, GO BACK, READ THOSE, then come back here and THEN read THIS! Are we clear? Good, let’s get started!

            Well, this is going to be a little difficult for me considering that my review of the “Civil War” by Stuart Moore prose novel was over a year ago and that the prose novel was based on seven issues and the event presented on Marvel Unlimited is ninety-seven issues, but let’s see how I do. I’m going to limit myself to five points of differences in the narrations of the adaptations, whichever of the first five that pop into my head.

            One: In the comic book of “Civil War,” Peter Parker was married to Mary Jane Watson, and Peter’s identity was known to the Avengers, and he, Mary Jane, and his Aunt May all lived in Avengers Tower. In the prose novel, Peter and Mary Jane had never married, the Avengers didn’t know Peter Parker was Spider-Man, and while Aunt May knew Peter was Spider-Man, she said nothing.

            Two: While Nitro was responsible for the Stamford, Connecticut explosion is both narratives, in the prose novel, Nitro died in the explosion, while in the comics he survived, escaped to California in the back of a pickup truck, and was chased by both Wolverine and a faction of Atlanteans.

            Three: In the prose novel, Robbie Baldwin/Speedball died in the explosion. In the comics, Robbie survived, lost his powers, and was thrown in jail as an unregistered combatant.

            Four: The teams in the comics and prose novels were inconsistent. Some characters on the two teams were on different sides between the two adaptations, and some from the comics weren’t even in the prose novel.

            Five: At the start of the final showdown in the comic book, the battleground started at Ryker’s Island then transferred to New York City, while in the prose novel, the battle started in the Baxter Building (headquarters of the Fantastic Four) and then traveled outside.

            Now, I know some of you may be wondering which adaptation I preferred better, prose or graphic. In this case, I can’t give you an answer. Having been an expanded and comprehensive comic event when compared to a four-hundred page novel just makes it impossible to compare. The comics event impacted the entire Marvel Universe, and almost every character, team, or series had tie-ins to the main event, so to be fair, I can’t give you a comparison. I mean, there was so much I liked in the comics, but the comparison is unfair to Stuart Moore, and his work on the prose novel was amazing, and I get many of his changes, since he didn’t want to write a book longer than a George R.R. Martin book, but if you look at the main event, he told the same story framework just not the outer workings.

            And that will do it for now. I know I told you to read my two prior “Civil War” posts, but feel free to read some more of my work. Believe me, I have done plenty. I have a bachelor’s degree in English/journalism and have been published, so I know how to write. I’ve done dozens of reviews, as well as short fiction and nonfiction, poetry, essays, editorials, and other writing formats, so please keep looking at other posts. If you do, you are THE BEST and your support is most appreciated! So, now all is said and done, so I only have three more words for you: Tim Cubbin… out! 

"X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga" by Stuart Moore

The following is a review of the prose novel “X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga” by Stuart Moore. It is NOT a review of the graphic novel “X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga” NOR a review of the film “Dark Phoenix.”

Howdy, y’all, and welcome to another review From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! I am your guide, Tim Cubbin!

So, if you’ve been here before, you know I write a review of everything I read. Therefore, you know that I must have just read the “X-Men: The Dark Phoenix” prose novel. Prior to this post, I reviewed the graphic novel “X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix” and within a few hours of posting this… well, post, I will be posting a comparison piece comparing the graphic and prose novels of “X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga” so feel free to check them all out if you want, that’d be great, and I will tell you if you read all three of these posts, you are THE BEST!

Anyhoo, when I write a review, I keep a similar format for each post, which you will know if you’ve read a few of my reviews before. If not, you’re about to learn it. So, yes, I start with my boring, useless, blah, blah, blah thing where I set everything up (which you are reading now, if you’re still here, and if you are still here, you are THE BEST!). Next, I will tell you a little about the characters since some of you may not even know who the X-Men are but decided to read this post anyway. Or you might not know the characters. I mean, this is based on a story originally published in 1980, which, at the time of this posting was over forty years ago, so the roster has changed since them. Granted the characters in this book are all well-known and highly popular, but I’m doing this anyway, for your benefit. And, oh, my gosh that was boring! Following this, you obviously want to know just what this book is about, so I’ll tell you the story and try to avoid spoilers as much as possible. Then I’ll tell you some of my thoughts about the book, which will be a little difficult for me, actually, because of my upcoming graphic novel/prose novel comparison and I have to pretend to have never read the graphic novel in order to write a fair review (and this comic is actually one of my all-time favorite comic storylines and I’ve read it literally dozens of times). After that, I’ll tell you if I think casual or non-regular readers would understand this book. Then I’ll give a numeric score (if you don’t know my scale, I’ll explain when we get there). I’ll then tell you if I recommend this book, and to whom I think would enjoy this best. Then we wrap up with another blah, blah, blah where I tell you a little more about my blog, the content, what’s there to read, the works. Then I say goodbye and you can do whatever you feel like doing now that I’ve given you freedom (or, y’know, you COULD check out more of my blog posts, such as, I dunno, maybe my review of “X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix” and my graphic novel/prose novel comparison of “X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga” if you have a little bit more time, which would be great and you’d totally be THE BEST!) Okay, you ready? Good (if you thought “yes”)! Let’s go!

Alright, let’s start with who the X-Men actually are. So, the X-Men are mutants. Through genetic mutation, they have powers that (I hate this word, but…) normal humans don’t have. We’ll get to those powers over the next few paragraphs. Normal humans hate and fear mutants for being different, and this often leads to violence since this IS based on a comic book. Some mutants (such as the X-Men) just want to be accepted by the normal humans and live in peace and harmony between baseline humans and the mutant population. Other mutants want to establish mutant supremacy and fight anyone, even other mutants (namely the X-Men), who stand in their way. Now, let’s examine these mutants.

Scott Summers/Cyclops: Team leader, cursed with optic blasts he can’t control and can only safely open his eyes when they are covered with ruby quartz.

Jean Grey/Marvel Girl/Phoenix/Dark Phoenix: A powerful telekinetic/telepath, empowered by a cosmic force. The love of Cyclops’s life.

Peter Rasputin/Colossus: Former Russian farm boy. Can turn his body into steel, which grants him super strength and a relative invulnerability.

Ororo Munroe/Storm: Can control the weather.

Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler: Covered in blue fur, with three fingers on each hand, two toes on each foot, and a tail. Able to teleport.

Logan/Wolverine: In love with Jean. Often butts heads with Cyclops. Has a skeleton coated in adamantium, an indestructible metal, with three retractable claws in each hand, and a healing factor allowing him to recover from almost any injury.

Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X: Founder of the X-Men and headmaster of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, the X-Men’s secret base. The most powerful telepath on the planet.

Kitty Pryde: A young mutant girl with the ability to pass through solid objects and walk on air. Soon to be an X-Man.

The Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club (pardon my language): A clandestine group of evil mutants who want to rule the world.

Jason Wyngarde/Mastermind: Evil mutant, able to create illusions. In love with Jean and manipulating her with psychic flashes of their love.

Emma Frost/White Queen: Member of the Hellfire Club, telepath, headmistress of the Massachusetts Academy, the evil counterpart of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning who tries to recruit Kitty Pryde to her school.

Sebastian Shaw/White King: Can absorb any form of kinetic energy and release it as super strength. Member of the Hellfire Club.

Harry Leland: Member of the Hellfire Club. Able to control mass.

Donald Pierce: Cyborg, member of the Hellfire Club.

Lilandra Nerimani: Empress of the alien Shi’ar. Xavier is her royal consort.

The Imperial Guard: Assortment of aliens. Protectors of the Shi’ar Empire.

Alright, now we’ll touch on the plot. While piloting a doomed space shuttle to the earth, Jean Grey dies and is reborn as the Phoenix. The X-Men battle Magneto, an evil mutant, in a volcano and Phoenix is believed to be the only survivor. Over the next year, Xavier goes to space with Shi’ar Empress Lilandra, and Jean moves to Kirinos and attempts to form a new life without using her mutant powers. There she meets the dashing Jason Wyngarde, who creates “time slips” to manipulate Jean to fall in love with him. Jean discovers the X-Men are still alive and joins them while they battle Emma Frost when the X-Men travel to Illinois to recruit the newly discovered mutant, thirteen-year-old Kitty Pryde to the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. The X-Men learn of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, who intend to mold Jean into their Black Queen. When their plan fails, Jean loses control of the Phoenix and becomes Dark Phoenix. She defeats the X-Men and absorbs the sun of the D’Bari system, destroying the inhabited solar system. The Shi’ar then decide that the Phoenix must be destroyed and bring the X-Men into space, where Xavier invokes a duel of honor between the X-Men and the Shi’ar Imperial Guard to decide the fate of the Phoenix.

Okay, that sums the book up nicely. Now for my own personal thoughts. I found this book to be AMAZING! I thought it was very well written. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Unfortunately, though, that is my only opinion I can give without comparing it to the comic.

Now, yes, I know there are some of you who have never read X-Men before. You might not know the characters and history. Well, I found this book to be very much self-contained. I felt the character descriptions were well fleshed out in the book. The inclusion of Jean becoming the Phoenix at the start of the book was a good ease-in point. I think that any non- or casual X-Men fan could easily pick up this book and follow and enjoy it.

All said and done, let’s just hop right on over to our numeric score! So I put it on a range of one to ten. One means this book is a piece of garbage and should be thrown in the trash, it was not worth the money I spent on it, ten means that this book is the best book I ever read, I give it a nine. This was easily the best “X-Men” prose novel I have EVER read. Mind that I have posted a review of a book also written by Stuart Moore which also garnered a nine, so in my opinion, he is consistent and a very good writer of Marvel comic book prose novels. It should also be noted that I am VERY hard to please and have given other books very poor scores, so a nine is pretty darn good.

Now, we’ll move on to another important part; do I recommend this book? Honestly, do you have to ask? I gave this book a NINE! I don’t think this is just a good X-Men novel, or a good comic prose adaptation novel, but a good science fiction novel. If you’ve never read X-Men before but love science fiction novels, I say give this book a read. And if you’ve read X-Men before and found my review to be compelling, I think you should check this book out. If you love the X-Men, I think this might be the right book for you. And if you’ve ever read “The Dark Phoenix Saga” graphic novel and enjoyed it, I totally think you should read this book. And if you saw the film “Dark Phoenix” and were highly disappointed (as I was), this book is a TOTAL redemption. So, yes, this book gets a glowing recommendation.

Alright, if you’re still here, you are THE BEST! Before I free you from the captivation of my spell over you from reading this review, I’ll tell you that, while reviews are totally one of my major subjects, I do write other kinds of topics, such as short stories (both fiction and nonfiction), I do dabble in free-verse poetry from time-to-time, I write essays and editorials, and my B’ings series where I complain pointlessly about pointless topics that bother me due to me just being me. So, now, you can go do whatever you want to do now (and you would be THE BEST if you went on to look some more at my blog), I just posted this and am now working on a comparison piece between “The Dark Phoenix” graphic novel/prose novel, which will be up in a few hours, it might even be up by the time you’ve read up to here, so I hope you’ll totally check it out. And until you enter From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin again, I say to you, Tim Cubbin… out! 

"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.