Musing: Marvel's Civil War and world building

Kimota94 inspired me to post my thoughts on this issue. Check here for his thoughts on the matter.

Marvel Comics is currently changing the face of the Marvel Universe. The latest event crossover, Civil War, has given all of the Marvel Universe (or at least the earthbound characters) a new status quo. The government requires all super-powered beings to register with them so they can keep checks on these 'persons of mass destruction' (Thanks Millar!). It seems like the majority of Marvel's heroes are going along with the registration, though, some of them, notably Spider-Man, are going underground in opposition to the legislation.

Allow me some exposition.

Marvel has kept their continuity fairly consistent for the past 50 some odd years. DC chose to reboot their continuity with Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 80's. DC thought it might simplify a few things. Considering that at the time there were multiple Supermen who lived on different Earths in different universes serving on different teams who were for all intents and purposes different characters, I can see what they were thinking. Creating a consistent world for characters is a hard task. Maintaining that world with a minimum of contradictions across multiple titles is just tricky. I won't even look up the number of books Marvel is putting out for their mainstream universe right now, it's more than 20, which seems like a lot to me.

Anyway, Marvel has been putting out a product that has garnered many loyal fans for a long time. Part of the loyalty that comic book fans have is universe specific. Fans who like one company more than the other tend to like that universe because they've been reading it longer. They're more familiar with it. When DC rebooted the universe it theoretically allowed anyone a chance to jump in. It didn't work quite like that, but that was the intention.

What Marvel has done with Civil War is, to me, very similar. Instead of changing around bits of a characters history Marvel changed the way that the universe functioned and it's heroes relationships within that universe. It's not a reboot, but it is a shocking change of status quo.

Personally, I think it's a very ambitious project. I think if pulled off well, it can lead to a lot of interesting stories. I think super hero registration is an interesting enough idea that it can be milked for stories for a few years to come.

Do I think that this is the best move for the market? I'm not sure. As much as I love monthly super hero comic books, I'm just not positive that every character Marvel has on roster can work with this shift. For instance, Ed Brubaker's titles, with the exception of Captain America, have all but ignored Civil War thus far. It'll be interesting to see how he fits Daredevil and the Uncanny X-Men into the new universe. I think Dan Slott's She-Hulk would be better served without this move. Slott is an amazing talent, but Shulk's strength has lied in the fact that it plays loose with continuity, now it's being asked to play in line with it.

I'm interested to see how this will work. I wish Marvel the best.