First off, I love comic books. I could spend hours reading them (and sometimes do), I could spend hours reading about them on the Internet (and I do), I could spend days perfecting a particularly good picture of one superhero (and, again, I do), but there is something wrong in the comic world today. Something that threatens to take away everything the comic book has to offer, everything that helps draw in countless teenagers and young adults (and some not so young adults) every month. That threat is realism!

Last year saw the huge crossover event entitled Civil War. In a nutshell the entire American super-hero community was torn apart over new legislation that superhumans had to register with the Government, therefore making themselves liable for any damage they may cause. The summer crossover event seems to be here to stay, with 2007 being ‘World War Hulk’ year. But something about Civil War stuck in my memory, and it’s something to do with how real the whole thing had become. Admittedly real incidents have shaped some comic characters (for example Punisher fought in Vietnam) but I can’t remember a story that was so directly influenced by real politics (aside from the WTC issue).

For those who want to see a huge superhuman war then it does provide that, but for those who are politically aware the freedom of the state vs. the freedom of the individual argument that is the main cause for the friction is pretty obvious. Not only does it serve to present how modern politics effects costumed crime fighters it changed some characters beyond repair. Iron Man became a complete tool and Captain America ended up dead. Having such a catastrophic event based on such real issues takes away from the escapism that comics should provide. Now the villains are not only super-powered thugs or aggressive aliens, but politics as well.

The only thing it proves is that fantasy and reality do not mix. While set in a world partly detached from our own the fantastical concept of superheroes becomes believable and acceptable. When their world so directly mirrors our own it is hard to see past something we recognise so much and then accept the fact that there are men and women running round in brightly coloured costumes. Comics are a form of escapism that allow us to imagine a world where someone will save us if we are in trouble, were aliens exist and cannot hurt Earth because we have people who sacrifice everything they have to protect it. When that world becomes conflicted because of issues that affect us then there is no reason to read them, who needs to watch the news when they can read a comic book. The only difference being the brightly coloured costumes.

Realism in comics has, to some degree, stemmed from the many film adaptations. I still can’t understand Sam Raimi’s decision not to include Spider-man’s original web-shooters, instead making the webbing come naturally out of his wrist. Raimi stated that he thought it was unbelievable that a boy as young as Peter could invent such a revolutionary technology when the US Government couldn’t. What he conveniently failed to mention in the same spot is that the guy sticks to walls like a spider and wears a fucking spandex costume! How on Earth can you justify a statement like that when the whole film you are making is based on such a fantastical concept? This striving for a believable undertone to the films has made them generally lackluster and contradicted within themselves. They tone down the superheroness and tone up the humanity, almost as if they think that making them believable as humans makes the superheroic activity seem less far-fetched. It doesn’t work. It stunts the films and makes them boring. Ghost Rider had the right idea in as much as he’s a flaming skeleton, there’s not much you can do to make that believable, so they ran with it, using it to their advantage, and made a damn good film. Spider-man 3 had the opposite effect. Peter spent so much time with his mask off that it was almost as if Raimi was making a deliberate attempt to acknowledge the person under the mask, as opposed to focusing on the hero.

The previous 2 crossover events were House of M and Disassembled. Both fantastic story arcs that dealt primarily with surrealist themes, not consciously making an effort to provide any sort of realism. Civil War is a good story, but considering what inspired it, and what runs through it, it’s hard to get lost in the plot, it presents too much of real life to be as successful as the previous two.

One telling Factor is that of the two leaders from each side of the Civil war one is now dead and one holds a high power position in the US Government. Captain America, the advocate of freedom, national icon and war-hero, now rests in Peace whereas Iron Man, modern thinking scientist, advocate of national security and leader of the Avengers, controls the fifty state initiative. Does that show the direction Marvel is heading in? I think it does.