Synopsis & Review by RachelGrey:
Synopsis: In a secret underground lair, Captain America and his Secret Avengers plan to attack a transport of detainees when they are interrupted by Cee and the Yancy Street Gang. Cee then gives Cap some information about the route the transports will be taking. The Yancy Street Gang then leaves and Cee tells Mouse, who got the information, that it better be right. Elsewhere, The Thinker and Puppet Master plot to destroy a bunch of the heroes during tomorrow’s transportation. The two talk about their failure and own…mental instabilities…before moving onto their plan. Using Thinker’s technology, Puppet Master will control the guards and police, as the heroes will prove to be too hard to control. So they gave The Yancy Street Gang the route of the transport to have the heroes distract each other.

The next day, Ben Grimm eats lunch at a local diner when the owner tells him the Yancy Street Gang is planning some protest…right during the time of the detainee’s transport. The Thing realizes what they’re planning and runs to them. Meanwhile, the transport moves and is forced to go through Yancy Street. With that, Thinker and Puppet Master begin, taking over a helicopter’s pilot and having him launch its missiles at Iron Man and Spider-Man. The Anti-side uses the moment to launch their attack (As seen in Amazing Spider-Man #534). Ben Grimm arrives in time to see the fight explode and both sides urge him to join their sides. But The Thing’s attention is diverted when he sees Mouse, seemingly mindless, pick up a bomb and walk towards the transport holding the detainees. As he walks towards the transport, Cee tackles him and Mouse drops the bomb. The Thing then takes the now empty transport and uses it to keep the bomb damage minimal by slamming it on the bomb. The Thing gets up to hear Mouse mocking him and Ben realizes it’s the Puppet Master. Ben looks over and finds Cee dead from the explosion. The two hero sides prepare to continue fighting when Ben yells for them to stop and shows them that Cee, a civilian, is dead. Both sides urge Ben to join their cause. Ben responds with “I say…Ta hell with both of you.” Ben says he believes registering is wrong, but he’s still a patriot so he won’t fight his government. So he’s leaving the country…and he might not come back.

Review: This was another sub-par issue, but it was better than the last four issues. The big problem was that Marvel told everyone Ben would leave the fight and go to France (they don’t mention France this issue, just that he’s leaving). It would have been a better shocker if they had kept quiet about it. The best part about this issue is how it coincides with Amazing Spider-Man #534 so well. The missiles’ origin is revealed, as is the cause of the explosion. We also see a shield-less Captain America return to the fight after the explosion, as he had lost it fighting Spider-Man. My biggest complaint here? How did the Yancy Street Gang find Captain America’s secret underground lair? So Iron Man can’t find it but they can? Isn’t it directly from Nick Fury and only he knows the locations of these lairs? Geez…that’s sad. Also, hitting the bomb with a transport vehicle would help with the detonation? I don’t quite get that. Puppet Master and The Thinker’s conversation is mildly interesting as they’re really lower level villains…but it took a little too long to get through. The Yancy Street Gang was as annoying as ever. I wasn’t particularly sad when Cee died. It was the right catalyst to get Ben to leave, but it didn’t really invoke any feelings in me. McKone’s art is a little better here, but it still feels “old”. It’s still not very dynamic. His Dagger and Daredevil need some work. His Iron Man and Captain America were good though. The cover is still nice though. This book continues to drag along. It just has a dated feel to it. The writing and art just aren’t delivering enough to make this book worth it. But Civil War is succeeding on the marketing level as this issue sold out at my local comic shop. I had to read my friend’s copy for this lol. I’m glad I did because I don’t think I would have wanted to pay for what you got in this issue. This book really needs some help to bring it up to some of Marvel’s other books. It's just lacking and it’s a shame.