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i think it's best to draw a distinction between Events-for-the-sake-Events and quality story-telling. There's nothing wrong with a large, all-encompassing story if it's crafted with an appreciation for the universe and all its many facets, the problem is when they let someone like Millar throw out a half-baked idea that hinges on all its major players behaving completely out of character. Add to that major upheavals, then I would agree it's a jagoff maneuver on their part.
I know there's a lot of people who dislike Bendis here, but I feel like in the last two years we've been treated to a rapid swing from crest-to-trough in event storytelling, visible even when examining the arc of one flagship character. To someone who has any concept of what makes Peter Parker who he is should appreciate that something with a little substance and weight was happening to him in House of M. For a brief time he gets a taste of a life without his defining guilt and pain, and then is left with the concrete knowledge of what might have been, culminating in what is essentially a reopening + salting of an old wound; I'm gonna get 17 people taking the piss out of me, but I found it touching and impactful.
Then turn the clock forward to Civil War, the guy's tried-and-true motivations go out the window. Not only does he throw out years of character-defining caution about protecting his family and reveal his identity, but he's running around fighting people who've been friends and teammates for years, and I understand people getting heated up about things they believe in, but you can barely get the guy to dole out beatings to bad guys, much less people like Reed Richards who, amongst other favors, saved him from the symbiote.
Additionally, while HoM was a relatively self-contained story that stood well on its own without requiring picking up a stack of books each month, Civil War seems nothing more than a series of vignettes that in the end leaves the reader feeling a substantial void.
So, everybody's getting all worked up over the whole "there's too many events! there's too many events!", when the real problem is the same as it is with a standalone book you don't care for: hack writing. |
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