New Avengers - Volume 5: Civil War

By and large, I've found Marvel's "Civil War" epic to be underwhelming and overblown... And since each continuity-altering mega-story seems to be instantly followed by another ("Secret War" > "Civil War" > "World War Hulk" > "Secret Invasion"> etc.) I'm getting kinda tired of all the gimmicky crossover "events". <br /> <br />That being said, I actually thought this volume was one of the better "Civil War" books, with some good character sketches, particularly the Luke Cage episode, where he decides to join the anti-registration resistance. The Captain America story, which starts the book, isn't the best-written thing ever, but Cap's interior monologue in the first few pages is pretty cool. I also like the final episode, where Iron Man gets (temporarily) taken down by a disaffected Stark Industries R & D scientist... There are details in here that help flesh out the otherwise irritating Civil War plotline... Definitely worth checking out. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)

I had the distinct advantage of reading this collection well after I read the unified edition of Civil War, so I must admit my perspective would be different from someone unfamiliar with the outcome of Civil War and its fallout. That said, knowing what I know about Nick Fury, Iron Man, and Captain America's current storylines, this volume of New Avengers was incredibly insightful and pertinent. Though Brian Michael Bendis is the writer throughout, each separate issue making up the larger volume is drawn by a different artist and focuses upon a different character from the New Avengers. While I don't believe any of these issues are "must-reads" in order to understand the larger storyline of Civil War, they certainly help illuminate character's motivations and set up plots to come in New Avengers and Mighty Avengers. I'd also like to say that there is a component to this volume featuring Sentry drawn by Pasqual Ferry that alone makes the entire volume worth buying. I could take or leave Sentry as a character, but Ferry's rendering of Sentry interacting with the Inhumans is an absolute delight. Certainly Dean White's colors add to the beauty of Ferry's art, and I really hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did. In my opinion, Ferry is the go-to guy when it comes to interplanetary adventure, as I first learned with his stunning art in Adam Strange: Planet Heist. New Avengers: Civil War is a great volume if you're looking for different artists interpretations of some of your favorite New Avengers; it's enlightening if you desire further character motivation during Civil War; and finally, it's a nice springboard to new plots in New Avengers. Had I read this in "real" time I don't know I would have enjoyed it as much, but with 20/20 hindsight, I thoroughly relished New Avengers: Civil War. ~Scott William Foley, author of Dr. Nekros: Phantasms and Chicanery (Volume I, Episode II)

Again Marvel dropped the ball. They still wrote a really good book, but compared to House of M, Age of Apoclypse, and other major events, they just havne't doen all with this one that they could have.

Great stuff. Not for the uninitiated, but fans of New Avengers and Civil War should love this. The best of the Civil War tie-in books. Highlights are the Leinil Yu Cage issue and the Chaykin Captain America issue.

I sort of agree with some of what has been said about this collection. The legendary Howard Chaykin illustrated the first issue (#21) that focuses on Captain America... and his art on this issue just seems EXTREMELY rushed. It's pretty bad, which is really sad for fans of Chaykin. But the story is really good with Cap escaping from SHIELD "Capekillers", enlisting the help of The Falcon and trying to enlist the help of Hank Pym, who unfortunately is already siding with the Pro-Registration side. #23 focuses on Jessica Drew and her internal conflicts over her allegiance to SHIELD, her loyalty to the Avengers and her obligations to HYDRA. It's a very good and very emotional issue. #24 deals with The Sentry, which in my humble opinion, is possibly the most useless superhero that ever existed. He has "the power of a thousand exploding suns" but he's a paranoid schizophrenic and an agoraphobe. I certainly don't mind a character who's a little unusual, but he's just such a blah character. One moment, he's saving the world and ripping Carnage in half and throwing things into the Sun... the next, he's laying in his bed in a fetal position sobbing. And in #24, he's just kinda chillin' in space very close to the Blue Area of the Moon, where the Inhumans live... and they're kinda peeved at humans right now because Quicksilver stole the Terrigen Mists in order to regain his own mutant power that he lost in the House of M... never mind. Anyway, he has some dinner with the Royal Family of Attilan, kisses Crystal for some reason and gets taken back to Earth by Tony Stark to join the pro-reg team. In #25, Iron Man is essentially taken hostage (in his armor) and going to be killed by a VERY disgruntled former employee of Starktech who is quite perturbed that his tech is being used against other heroes in this Civil War. It turns into a race against time for SHIELD Director Maria Hill to stop the would-be killer. When the issue is said and done, Tony Stark is offered by Hill to be the new Director of SHIELD. It's a hit-and-miss issue with great art by Mr. Cheung. But it's issue #22 that is the stand-out here with the unlikliest of protagonists: Luke Cage. At midnight, the Superhuman Registration Act goes into law and Iron Man and Ms. Marvel are at the Cage home to convince Cage and his super-powered wife, Jessica Jones that registration is the way to go. But Cage makes THE case for the anti-reg's. He just wants to live and do what he can to help the people of his world... if that happens to involve using his powers, so be it. But he also knows that failing to register will make him, his wife and newborn baby a target by the government. So he sends Jessica and his child across the border into Canada so that he can make his stand against those that would oppress him and those like him. And he makes one hell of a stand against the Capekillers that come to arrest him (albeit with the help of the 'Secret Avengers' like Cap and Daredevil). It was judged by Wizar