Like a lof of gamers I grew up with comic books and was an avid collector for a while (the four long boxes and four short boxes in my guest are a testament to this). I kind of fell out of the habit about half way through college when I didn't have time to keep up with everything and didn't have the money to support a $50 a month comic book habit. Over the last 13 years or so I've picked up the occasional graphic novel or mini-series to try and get back into the swing of things but could never really get back into the groove. While running errands this weekend I decided to explore the
comic book store my girlfriend had discovered a few miles from our house and check out Marvel's new Civil War series that's been in the news lately. I picked up the first two issues of the series as well as a copy of the new Amazing Spider-Man as it doved tailed into the story line a bit. I have to say that I'm pretty impressed so far, Marvel has crafted a pretty good storyline that immediately pulls you in and raises some interesting questions about the whole costumed hero genre as the US Government wants to license and control all known super heroes, effectively making all of the good guys government employees. The battle lines are then drawn between the people supporting the new law (led by Iron Man) and those opposing it (led by Captain America). What I like about the plot line is that the writers have done a good job at presenting both sides of the argument without getting overly preachy about it.
I hate to say it but I'm hooked, even if the plot line seems a little like the Mutant Registration plotline that they've used in the past. The only thing really holding me back from going hog while in the series is that the comic books cost around $3 each. **GAH** I get inflation and what not but when did they hit $3 a book? Given that Marvel is going to spread this plot line out over multiple titles over the next month or so plus a few new mini-series books you'lre looking at well over $100 to follow everything. I think I might stick with a couple of the core comics and try and keep it under $50 but even then it's a little tough to justify.
