Civil War: Front Line #1

Oct 17

Oct 17 Civil War: Front Line #1

Civil War continues from Amazing Spider-Man #532…

Embedded, Part 1

At Calvary Cemetery in Queens, a group of reporters are paying their final respects to John Fernandez, a cameraman who recently died in the Stamford Disaster. Giving the eulogy is the Daily Bugle’s Joe Robertson. He goes over John’s life accomplishments and his career, and how he met his untimely end when he got a gig working as a camera man for the New Warriors reality TV show. He was at ground zero when the villain Nitro exploded and was killed instantly.[1] In the audience is Bugle reporter Ben Urich, who listens closely to the eulogy given by his longtime colleague and his friend.

Later, he joins Sally Floyd at the wake party at the local bar, where they all wear party hats because that’s what John Fernandez would have liked. On the TV, ongoing reports about the Stamford Disaster plays. After exchanging grim small talk about John, Ben abruptly says that the proposed Super Human Registration Act (SHRA) is going to come into law.[2] Sally wants to continue ignoring it as a possibility until it actually comes into effect. Talking about their respective publications, Bugle owner J. Jonah Jameson acts as though he won the lottery. While Sally’s boss at the Alternative, is giving their staff carte blanche to write about it however they want, particularly if they focus on the erosion of civil liberties. Regardless of the moral grounds for the new law, Ben points out to Sally that if the SHRA does become law, it will change everything.

Both of them head back home after the party, Ben taking the subway back to the apartment he shares with his wife Doris, while Sally drives him to her lonely apartment. She knows that Ben is right and how this law will split the nation with one half supporting the new law, and the other half against it. She grimly muses that the Daily Bugle is going to be the more profitable of publications over the Alternative, because nothing boosts a newspaper’s circulation like a good old fashioned disaster.

The next day, Ben Urich is called into an assignment meeting with the rest of the newsroom. They are told to focus on the victims of the Stamford Disaster and tell their story, but to stray away from the funerals as that is too depressing to readers. She wants Ben to go to the precinct and get all the information the cops have on Nitro, the criminal responsible,[3] as well as covering Iron Man’s press conference scheduled for the following morning. Lastly, she tells them that the Daily Bugle’s stance is that American is under attack by out of control superhumans.

When Ben leaves the meeting to prepare for his day, Joe Robertson notices that something is bothering him and asks what’s up. Ben says that despite all of the coverage of the Stamford Disaster, nobody is asking the most important question: why did it happen? Joe can understand Ben’s point of view, but reminds him that newspaper circulations are down and they are hurting as a business while competing with online news. Unfortunately, that means a sharper focus on reactionary news as opposed to detailed Pulitzer Prize winning material. He reminds Ben that his job is to sell papers and rhetorically asks how hard that could be. Urich has no response to this.

That evening, Sally is in her apartment ignoring her voice mail messages. That’s when somebody speaks out to her in her apartment. It is Spider-Man, who she doesn’t recognize in his new costume.[4] She throws a stuffed animal at him in order to try and get the intruder out of her home and he convinces her that he’s really Spider-Man. While she is upset by his breaking into her apartment, he explains that he is keeping a low profile after the Stamford incident. She quickly gets over it when he offers her a one-on-one tell-all interview.

Sally pours herself a glass of whiskey and gets down to taking the interview. Spider-Man wants her readers to know the immense pressure he is under with the new law that is in the works. He came to Sally because she lost a daughter and would know what it is like to lose family.[5] Spidey explains that he wants to do the right thing, but if he is forced to reveal his identity to the world, it puts his family at risk, something he doesn’t want because he has lost people before due to his life as Spider-Man.[6] He hopes that people can see what they are asking him to do. With that, he goes to leave but suggests that Sally go to Iron Man’s presser the next morning as it will turn out to be a big scoop. Before he does, Sally boldly tries to ask him out and Spider-Man awkwardly has to tell her that he is in a committed relationship.[7]

The next day, a hung over Sally Floyd shows up for the Iron Man press conference and waves to Ben Urich. Soon the conference starts, and Iron Man tells the reporters that he is giving his support to the Super Human Registration Act. However, before he can do so he has to put an end to the lying. As two Iron Man drones land on either side of him, he tells the audience that it is time for him to come clean about his true identity. As he has often used means of walking back revelations of his true identity through deception. He removes his helmet and reveals that Iron Man is none other than Tony Stark and proclaims that he is also an alcoholic.[8]

Recurring Characters

Ben Urich, Sally Floyd, Joe Robertson, Doris Urich, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America

Continuity Notes

At the time of this story, the New Warriors had become reality TV show stars starting in New Warriors (vol. 3) #1. The Stamford Disaster was caused when they attacked a group of villains hiding out in Stamford, Connecticut, resulting in an explosion that killed hundreds of people, including school children. See Civil War #1.
In the wake of the Stamford incident, the government will push forward the SHRA as a means of regulating superhumans. This will be passed into law in Civil War #2 and remain on the books until Siege #4.
The assignment editor states that the Mayor of New York is pressing on at-large super criminals. This is likely a reference to the then recent breakout at the Raft Super Max prison that happened in New Avengers #1-2.
At the time of this story, Spider-Man had been recently gifted his “Iron Spider” suit by Tony Stark as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #529.
Sally Floyd’s daughter was a mutant that began de-aging when her powers manifested. She regressed to the point of non-existence. See Generation M #5.
Peter Parker is driven by the death of his Uncle Ben who was murdered by a burglar that Peter could have stopped early on in his career but chose not to, as told in Amazing Fantasy #15. He has lost many people he has cared about over the years, too numerous to mention here, but the most important one after Uncle Ben was his girlfriend Gwen Stacy who was murdered in Amazing Spider-Man #121.
Specifically, Peter states that he is married. At the time of this story, Peter Parker had been married to Mary Jane Watson since Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. However, he will later make a deal with Mephisto to save the life of his Aunt May in exchange for his marriage in Amazing Spider-Man #545. In the altered timeline, Peter is no longer married, but in a long term relationship with Mary Jane. As such, he’d probably say something along those lines (like a common-law partner, or the like) rather than saying he’s married.
Iron Man’s identity has been revealed a few times at this point, but Tony had walked it back a few times. Here are the details:
- Early on in his career, Tony decided to keep his identity as Iron Man a secret after becoming Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #39. Tony usually did so by claiming Iron Man was his bodyguard, often employing others to temporarily wear the suit or using robotic drones to make it look like they were two different people.
- Stark previously made his identity public knowledge in Iron Man (vol. 3) #55. He later walked this back in Iron Man (vol. 3) #78 after a disastrous run as Secretary of Defense, claiming that he was retiring as Iron Man and enlisting someone new in the role.
- Tony refers to himself as an alcoholic here. It was first revealed that Tony had a drinking problem in Iron Man #128.

Topical References

John Fernandez is stated as having the following credentials, all of which should be considered topical references for various reasons:
- He is stated as having four tours of Bosnia. Given the date of publication (2006), Joe is likely referring to the Bosnian War which took place between 1992 and 1995. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world conflict. Modern readers should interpret this to mean either a less specific conflict in that region that is unique to the fiction.
- He is stated as having drank Guinness when he last met Joe Robertson. This is a real world brand of beer.
- He is also stated as doing three tours of Afghanistan and eight of Baghdad for CNN. This is likely a reference to the then current “War on Terror” that saw the United States invade both Iraq and Afghanistan in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by al-Queda. Again, this should be considered topical as it is a real world conflict. His work for CNN should be considered topical as well as it is a real world news network.
- He is also credited as doing a documentary on the USS Abraham Lincoln. This is an American aircraft carrier that has been used by the US Navy since 1989. It’s reference here could be considered topical if you want to believe that John was doing a documentary on a warship that was still in operation as aircraft carriers are usually retired after 50 years of service. On the other hand, you could argue that Fernandez was doing a historical documentary and therefore the reference to the USS Abraham Lincoln wouldn’t be topical.
The TV in the bar is depicted as a CRT model television. This should be considered topical as this is now an obsolete technology.
Sally compares the divisions over the SHRA as being “Fox versus CNN”. According the Media Bias Fact Check website, CNN is considered a left of center news agency, while Fox News is depicted as far right to the extreme. It would have been more or less the same at the time this comic was published in 2006. Perhaps Fox was a little less right, but not by much. Regardless, this is another topical reference as both are real world networks.
Sally Floyd is depicted driving a Volkswagen New Beetle. These vehicles were first introduced on the market in 1997 and were sold until 2011. They were subsequently replaced by the similar to the Beetle A5. The design was later retired in 2019. Its depiction here should be topical as vehicles are eventually retired from the road over time.
The assignment editor states that J. Jonah Jameson is getting PR people on the O’Reilly Show. This is in reference to The O’Reilly Factor, a news talk show hosted by Bill O’Reilly which aired on Fox News from 1996 to 2017. This is yet another topical reference.
Sally is depicted cuddling a stuffed Elmo toy. Elmo is one of the most popular characters on the children’s television program Sesame Street. This should be considered topical as this is a fictional character not owned by Marvel that was at the height of their popularity at the time of this story’s publication. You could easily replace Elmo with a more contemporary example (Bluey, anyone?).
Sally is depicted pouring herself a glass of Jack Daniels whiskey while interviewing Spider-Man. This is another real world product.
Sally is also depicted as recording her interview with Spider-Man with a mini-tape recorder. At the time of publication this was still a common piece of technology used by reporters. However, cassette recorders have fallen out of common use thanks to digital recording methods and its depiction here should be considered topical.

The Accused, Part 1

In Stockton, New York, a local famer named Albie brings Pete, the local sheriff, to something that crashed near his farm house. Pete thinks that this is another of Albie’s alcoholic delusions until he sees that whatever it was smashed through the tops of trees, lighting them on fire. Realizing that Albie is telling the truth, Pete calls for back-up and emergency crews because they could be dealing with a crashed airplane. Still, he draws his gun, just in case this is some kind of alien invader or something. Once they reach the clearing on the other side of the woods they are astonished to see a man laying in a crater who is crackling with energy.

As they get a closer look there is a growing hum around the man who is miraculously still alive. Seeing the costume the guy is wearing, Albie suddenly recognizes him, this is Speedball (Robbie Baldwin) of the New Warriors, one of the heroes that was involved in the Stamford Disaster. As Pete gets closer to perform CPR, the hum becomes a whining scream, shattering their flashlights and hurt their ears. Suddenly, Speedball explodes, incinerating both Albie and Pete.

Later, when Speedball is found again and examined by a medical team, one of the doctors says that Speedball is dead. Not literally of course, as their patient is only in a coma. He means that the Stamford explosion and his crash landing in upstate New York burned out the nerves that allow him to generate his kinetic powers. As they go over how extraordinary it is that he survived the blast, Robbie Baldwin dreams of the Stamford explosion. He remembers confronting the villains hiding out there and his last memory is being sent flying high into the air after Nitro exploded. That’s when the doctors notice that Baldwin’s EEG is starting to spike, and call for security.

Moments later, Robbie wakes up and is greeted by a man sitting at the side of his hospital bed. This man is Eric Marshall who is assigned to SHIELD’s Anti-Registration Terrorist Violation Squad, via the National Security Agency. He tells Robbie about that he has four pieces of bad news: The first is that his fellow New Warriors are dead,[1] that there over six hundred people in Stamford were killed, sixty of which were school children, thirdly the blast burned out his powers, and lastly, he is under arrest!

Recurring Characters

Speedball, SHIELD (Eric Marshall)

Continuity Notes

Speedball and his fellow New Warriors were involved in the Stamford Disaster in Civil War #1. However, not everyone was killed in the blast, here are the details:
- Although believed to have been killed in the blast, Night Thrasher was plucked out moments before the blast killed everyone by the Collector, who pulled him forward in time. See Contest of Champions (vol. 2) #5.
- Namorita was absolutely killed and as of this writing (October, 2024) is still considered among the deceased. However, a past version of herself was brought forward in time in Nova (vol. 4) #32. Although she is now from a divergent timeline, she is treated like the original Namorita.
- Microbe, is still considered among the deceased at the time of this writing.

Untiled Cringe Story*

Preamble: This story starts with an accounting of the Japanese internment camps that were set up in the United States in 1942 in response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. What follows is an anonymous poem that was circulated among the prisoners there in the summer of 1943.

This is used to juxtapose the story of Kimiko and her father as they enter one of these camps during World War II and Spider-Man’s personal struggle with impending superhero registration.

The young girl asks her father why they have to leave their home to live in the camp. He says that they had to move to help with the war effort and it is their duty as Americans.

In the present day, Spider-Man makes a phone call to check in on his family to see how they are doing. He tells them that he has some hard decisions to make moving forward and swings about the city, thinking about the Japanese-Americans during the war. He stops at the Statue of Liberty where he finally recalls the advice his Uncle Ben once gave him: With Great Power… and you know the rest.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man

Continuity Notes

Peter Parker is grappling with Iron Man’s request that he reveal his true identity to the world as a means of showing his support for the SHRA. He will do this in Civil War #2.

* This story was untitled, so I have given it my own title to separate it from the other stories in this issue. I call it cringe because comparing Spider-Man to Japanese Americans who were forced into internment camps during World War II is exceptionally cringe. They are not comparable to anyone but the most tone deaf ignoramuses.

… Civil War continues in Civil War #2