Civil War #7 Review (Spoilers)

How will the Marvel's superstar creative team wrap up this controversial year-long event?

I flipped open the cover of Civil War issue seven with extreme anticipation. The controversial series which saw Spider-Man publicly unmask, the Fantastic Four break-up, and Goliath die was finally coming to a close and I was pumped to see how writer Mark Millar would wrap it up. Unfortunately, by the time I had flipped to the last page I was filled with disappointment. Not because the issue wasn't up to par, it is, but because the conclusion didn't match the scale of all the other events in the Marvel Universe during Civil War.

What bothered me about this issue is that Marvel has been hyping up the conclusion to Civil War for so long that everyone was expecting something big. Whether it was the death of Captain America, the destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D., or something completely out of left field; comic fans were expecting something huge to go down. Unfortunately this wasn't the case. After a few pages of heated battle we see Captain America surrender, along with most of the Secret Avengers, and Iron Man's side take victory. There weren't any notable deaths, plot twists, or significant moments, just a disappointing conclusion to what had been a great storyline thus far.



What also bothered me is that this issue doesn't wrap everything up. A handful of the Secret Avengers are still in hiding, there's no mention of what happened to the villainous Thunderbolts, and although we're shown a panel of Cap in prison, it's not clear what his fate will be. Now, I'm glad they left a bit of the storyline open for conclusion later on in the Marvel Universe, but I think Millar left the story too open for my liking. I also didn't like how the issue quickly jumped from the end of battle to a few months later with such a quick transition. I felt it should have been dragged out a bit longer.

Steve McNiven's art is top notch as usual in this issue and he does a great job capturing the emotions of the heroes (and villains) in such a exhausting battle. I can't wait to see what's next for McNiven after Civil War as I'm sure it'll be excellent as well.

While I wasn't a huge fan of the conclusion to Civil War but I did enjoy the comic run as a whole. Although it seemed as if every Marvel book on the shelves had something to do with the event, they were able to keep the story moving for readers who didn't buy any of the tie-ins as well as those who sought out them all.

Have you read the last issue of Civil War? What did you think? What did you think about the entire series? Was it worth shaking up so much of the Marvel Universe? Post a comment, let me know.

Cheers.

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