I got into a conversation with a friend about the Ultimates line, and now I'm thinking about going back and reading Spidey from the beginning of Ultimates. Is anyone following the run of Civil War? I'm surprised at how intrigued I am, but I suspect it is at least in part due to my lingering displeasure with Crisis.

Civil War is making me angry. In a storytelling sense, they are literally breaking their world. I have no idea how they are going to turn this off without a complete and total asspull.

I'm skipping around among titles I like, but the conflict has been presented in such ridiculously black-and-white terms that they might as well have substituted Victor von Doom for Tony Stark.

Oh, and since Millar is the brain behind the whole story, I suspect it will end with some giganto weapon being used to sodomize someone. They did have Mjolnir appear in the lead-up to the event, didn't they?

Heh. I don't doubt that for a moment, Matt.

Question: do you think it's living up to the critical hype as a commentary on the current political situation in the US? I confess, that's part of why I'm thinking of investing the time in reading it. But I'm curious to know what you think.

Honestly, it's so ham-fisted that if you haven't been reading up to this point, you probably shouldn't bother.

As far as Ultimates go, I absolutely love Ultimate Spidey. Ultimate X-Men has a good run for a long while (barring some absolute crap artwork for a couple of issues), but I nearly dropped it a couple times last year due to blah story and inconsistent art, but the story has picked back up and managed to keep my interest lately, even if the artists are still going through a revolving door.

As for the actual Ultimates comic, I stopped reading after the first run. I like Ultimate Cap and the "Is he really the god of Thunder or just a deranged mutant?" angle on Thor, find the Hulk as pure Id interesting and am pretty much neutral with most of the other characters, but I absolutely loathe Bruce Banner, Betsy Ross and Henry Pym in those comics, and that loathing prevents me from wanting to read any more about that team.

Haven't been following Civil War at all. After Infinite Crisis, I'm pretty much burned out on gimongous comicbook world-changing events and I totally don't buy Peter Parker revealing his identity to the world, ever.

Civil War has been driving me crazy. I can buy the premise, but the characterizations of Iron Man, Reed Richards and Capt. America are compeltely off ... it's like they've been robbed of their reason and their nuance, as though everything that happened before this didn't matter. I can actually see Cap taking such a drastic stance, but not being so cold to old friends. The Cap I know would be constantly trying to reach out to the other side -- and 90% of the heroes out there would never be able to bring themselves to oppose him. For Tony and Reed's part, I can't believe for a second that they wouldn't be opposing this whole thing -- Reed, particularly, has never seen eye to eye with the government -- and that they wouldn't be using their influence to come to some more reasonable accord.

But there have been a few bright spots. Particularly Spider-Man ... I'm remembering why I used to love him so much.

Y'all might've missed this bit by Leonard Pierce at the High Hat. (I have no opinions on his opinions, but he does have some strongly held ones about writers, so I thought I'd just throw it out there...)

*************

2. THE HARDEST-WORKING (LIVE) MAN IN SHOW BUSINESS OF THE YEAR: GRANT MORRISON.

What is it about British comic book writers who think they’re magicians? With Alan Moore in his dotage and Neil Gaiman puttering around with inconsistent projects at Marvel, the crown of best writer in comic books — well, okay, it belongs to Chris Ware, the Babe Ruth of graphic storytelling. But Ware works at a snail’s pace, while Grant Morrison seems to crank out brilliant postmodern superhero stories six a day and maybe a few more on the back of a cocktail napkin over lunch.

Morrison’s reputation would already be assured if he hadn’t written a thing during 2006; he was already a legend for his metafictional Animal Man, wildly anarchic The Invisibles, the legendary Doom Patrol, the officially suppressed Flex Mentallo, and well-received runs on X-Men and Justice League. (He also wrote the hilarious New Adventures of Hitler, which is exactly what it sounds like.) The previous few years had seen him produce an avalanche of worthwhile projects, from the inspired if inconsistent The Filth to the universally heralded WE3, but it was this year when he landed a gig as DC Comics’ unofficial ’rewrite guy’, becoming one of three editors (along with the mediocre Mark Waid and the horrendous Geoff Johns) responsible for shaping the future direction of the company. In that role, he produced All-Star Superman, a non-canonical take on the iconic character that instantly took its place as one of the best reads on the Last Son of Krypton ever produced; Batman, which has broken no new ground, but is a hugely enjoyable read that demonstrates Morrison’s easy facility with superhero fiction; The Authority, an opportunity for Morrison, one of the best writers in comics, to salvage a property associated with Mark Millar, one of the worst; and 7 Soldiers of Victory, a series of intertwining mini-series built around reinterpreted versions of second-string DC characters that culminated in a single-issue group title that is easily the best mainstream comic of the year. He’s also the standout writer on 52, DC’s year-long weekly series that is probably the most enjoyable “event” comic produced by either of the big two publishers since the yearly tradition started in the 1980s.

There’s simply no way one man, however talented, can keep up this pace forever; even a guy as good as Grant Morrison is eventually going to burn out under a workload so heavy. But it’s a hell of a ride while it lasts. Now, if only he’d get a chance to finish Seaguy ... - Leonard Pierce

the crown of best writer in comic books — well, okay, it belongs to Chris Ware, the Babe Ruth of graphic storytelling.

???

Best artist in comic books? An argument can be made. Best graphic designer? Sure. Best writer? Huh?

Best writer? Huh?

Yeah, I don't get that either. Who the fuck is the Babe Ruth of comic book writers? If not Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman (more of a Gehrig, I think) I don't know who I'd nominate.