Well, I downloaded this issue.
To be honest, it's not really that bad. It's okay. It's definately not an "event".
There are two main problems that I felt #1 had: Rhyo expressed one - without the prequel issues, this story has an unbelievably poor beginning. This story, like Infinite Crisis, is not meant for new readers. It is completely meant for an audience that is already picking up comics set in this universe, as well as picking up the tie-ins.
The reason I find this somewhat horrific is this - Marvel is pushing this title as the best thing that they are producing now, in order to entice a new audience and at the same time, raising the price and committment in order to buy the story. The problem with this is that if the beginning of story is not contained within this so-called first issue and it becomes apparent that not only is it unreadable and somewhat shallow and fanboyish, but that in fact, you have to buy more comics that aren't part of the main title to understand it, this new audience will think this is the best the comics world can produce and it's not worth it's price or the effort involved in picking it up and the short term boost in sales for the first few issues result in a longer drought.
This is self-destruction. What's worse is it's coming from a writer who made a name for himself helming one of the major Ultimate projects designed specifically to cater to new audiences independent of other titles.
It's not that you can't understand Civil War #1 - it's simply that the story moves at a pace where you are assumed to know all the basics, which character is which, and that this Civil War thing was just about to happen. The start of the story is the Nitro scene. But the story begins long before it, while Civil War doesn't.
To use some storytelling terminology - the Nitro scene is the "inciting incident". This is the scene which radically upsets the balance of life, for good or ill. For example, this is the murder in a murder mystery, the debut of the super-villain in any superh-hero story, the scene where boy meets girl in any romantic story, etc. However, the inciting incident can be the first scene of a story, or generally, anywhere within the first quarter of the telling. The idea is that one only reveals the inciting incident when the moment is "ripe". However, the longer the incident is delayed, the greater the risk of boredom, so sub-plots are used to keep audience interest.
To give you an example - "The Fugitive" begins with its Inciting Incident, whereas every Indiana Jones and James Bond begins with a sequence that is not related to the main plot, and keeps us exicted while we wait for the Inciting Incident of the main villain of this year's flick. Consider The Lord of the Rings. The inciting incident is Frodo picks up the One Ring. Now look at when that scene happens. 40 minutes into the film. Why? Because in order for Frodo picking up the One Ring to mean anything, we have to know who Frodo is, what the One Ring is, and why finding it in the Shire by a Hobbit is so important. So for 40 minutes we are treated to a huge epic war by Sauron, the loss of the One Ring to Isildur, Isildur's death, Gollum and Bilbo finding the One Ring, and then, the One Ring isn't seen until Bilbo puts it on because in that time we have a big sub-plot: "Bilbo Baggins leaves the Shire".
So, my point is, that the story can start long after the story begins - as is appropriate. By that rule of thumb, the inciting incident could've occurred anywhere from #1 page 1 to around halfway through #2 (give or take) so as to make this scene mean something.
As it is, the kids being killed is a fine way to begin - it definately means something; a villainous tragedy. But the problem is this: The Nitro scene, without any build-up, makes the series look like it's about finding and getting Nitro, the bad-guy. But suddenly, this entire series says that the meaning of this scene isn't that Nitro's a super-villain, but whether superhuman registration is required. If you don't read the prequels, this is sorely lacking.
Some build-up that if superheroes were to **** up would result in badness for all superheroes inside Civil War (plenty is done outside the title) would've been welcome, I think.
The second problem is linked to the first. Due to a lack of set-up in the issue, the issue is actually the same scene repeated ad infinitum for several pages without much progression or development, save in the last pages.
The comic, post-Nitro is this: "Oh my God. Kids died because those superheroes weren't trained. Should we be registered with the government? This is going to get bad."
Every scene is this. No matter who is in it. Every scene is several characters talking about this situation with the resolution of, "Things are going to be bad." This isn't progression of story. This is redundant repetition, designed to show off a fantastic cast (who, when sitting around talking about registration, I felt looked unbelievably ridiculous), however, there is little point in showing off a cast in which everyone acts the same: Every character regardless if they are for or against registration, thinks things are going to get bad. A cast should have a polarised set of reactions to a situation, not six of one and half a dozen of another, all repeating the same ominous portents.
Ominous portents so thickly laid on that I realised the only reason one would lay it on so thick is to hide the house of cards its built on.
Again, the thickness of this dire nature of the crossover is required to get new readers up to speed because the work wasn't done prior to the inciting incident to set up just how bad this Nitro scene is. See what I mean? By not setting up Nitro effectively in Civil War, it requires Millar to suddenly do a ton of packpeddling to retroactively put meaning into a scene that should've already had it.
So these are my two main problems - This comic is two scenes, slapped together with ill-held repetition, which is a shame because it's not really that bad, it just feels... amateurish. It feels like fan-fiction.
It's not really that bad, but it's nothing really amazing either.
And I don't need to discuss whether registration is good or bad. The metaphor is handled adeptly, but it lacks any real meaning. The metaphor doesn't really hold up that well in my eyes, but it is handled well. The bizarre superphobia is very well handled, as is the government's response. Also, Iron Man choosing to become a figurehead for representation in order to counterbalance Cap makes sense.
So, it's well-thought out indeed and it's not bad.
But it's not well told, I think.
I have to say, I thought it was a damn sight better than Infinite Crisis. But I'm going to give IC another chance.
