Review by Frank Plowright

The cause of the civil war between Marvel’s superheroes was government insistence that anyone with super powers registers their personal details with a federal database. Unsurprisingly, many objected, and were designated outlaws to be captured. If you’re the government, though, with infinite money and resources, why not hire heroes to track others down. So it came to be that Misty Knight and Colleen Wing’s organisation are tasked with doing just that. As their usual pals of Iron Fist and Luke Cage are currently fighting the law, their company is Black Cat, former villains Humbug and Orca, Paladin, Shang-Chi and newcomer Tarantula.

Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti deliver their trustworthy superhero action, bouncing mismatched characters off each other and ensuring events are anything other than predictable. They have Misty Knight as team leader doing what she considers right, rather than following instructions, and so straddling a fine line keeping the right side of the law.

Despite workable plots, the initial attraction of the serialised comics was the precise and detailed art of Billy Tucci, with much thought applied to the layouts, and the women of the team his visual priority. It’s cheesecake, but well produced cheesecake poses. However, the effort required means that by the second chapter Francis Portela is already supplying several pages, and his contribution increases while Tucci’s diminishes throughout, with the final chapter being Portela alone. He’s trying to work in Tucci’s style, but lacks the finesse. It’s not poor art, but the flaws are more obvious.

Civil War broadly covers two plots, with the Heroes For Hire being tasked with tracking down Captain America and bringing him in more engaging than the final two chapters featuring the return of old enemy Ricadonna. She’s now bolstered with Skrull shapeshifting abilities, but that’s largely by the numbers.

The final page is a little kid turning up with jar full of coins wanting to hire the team, and where that leads plays out in Ahead of the Curve. This was later combined into a thicker paperback also featuring the activities of former villains, now heroes the Thunderbolts during the Civil War.