Civil War: Front Line #7

Oct 17

Oct 17 Civil War: Front Line #7

Civil War continues from Fantastic Four #540….

Embedded, Part 7

Following the passage of the Super Human Registration Act (SHRA), the superhero community has been torn in half. Reporters Ben Urich and Sally Floyd have been covering the conflict for their respective newspapers.[1]

The Daily Bugle’s office is a madhouse as developing stories surrounding the SHRA are taking up much of their resources. In the thick of it is Joe Robertson who gets a call from Ben Urich. Ben is at the Capitol Building in Washington, DC to cover Speedball (Robbie Baldwin)’s Senate testimony.[2] Joe tells him to get back to New York, because his Norman Osborn story is currently blowing up and they need to get it to press before J. Jonah Jameson comes back from a charity event and kills it.[3] Joe has learned that those supporting the Super Human Registration Act have started enlisting former villains to help fight their war.

That’s when Speedball — in full costume — emerges from the prison bus with his lawyer, She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters). The sight of Robbie Baldwin in his costume angers protestors and inflames the media turning those gathered into a frenzied mob. As Ben hears what Joe has to say and is about to leave, a man in the crowd marches up to Baldwin and shoots him.[4]

Meanwhile, Sally Floyd is still in SHIELD custody in an undisclosed location after she was arrested for harboring an unregistered superhuman.[5] Having been left hanging for hours, Sally breaks down and cries. Not because she is afraid of what is happening, but because she is an alcoholic and really needs a drink.[6] That’s when she visited by Senator Eugene Sykes, whom she has been at odds with over his anti-mutant rhetoric.[7] He hasn’t come to gloat at her current predicament, but to propose a deal. He hands her a sealed envelope and tells her not to open it until he tells her to, and after that she can decide if she wants to rethink her position.

When Sally asks what’s in the envelope, he tells her that it is something to prove his point and that he’ll only take another five minutes of her time. He wants to convince her that the SHRA is justified, saying that he is a patriot who wants to protect the American people from walking timebombs in colorful costumes. Sally has heard this sort of thing from Sykes in the past and asks what she will get in return. Sykes simply says that he will get her out of her current predicament. When she asks why he’d do that, he tells her that her incarceration is in violation of her Constitutional rights. In fact, she is already free to go but he wants her to hear him out first.

Sykes says that when Sally was a year old, he was overseas fighting in the South Pacific where his kneecap was shattered by enemy fire. He was captured and tortured in a prisoner of war camp for two years. During that time, they were not allowed to speak and in his darkest hours he promised himself that if he ever made it home, he would always speak his mind, no matter if it was right or wrong and he was going to protect people’s freedom to do so, even if it got him killed.[8] Not only did he take a bullet himself, he had a relative die on the beaches of Normandy during World War II to protect her right to free speech. Be believes her problem isn’t the SHRA itself, but how it is being implemented. But, she doesn’t care to know how hard he works hard to make sure it is done right, otherwise she’d have nothing to complain about.

When Sally accuses him of trying to trick her, he tells her to open his envelope. When she does she finds that he predicted she was going to make the accusation. Sykes then asks her who really is the predictable person in this scenario? Sally never hated Eugene Sykes more than in that moment, specifically because what he was saying was right.

As Sally Floyd realizes this harsh truth, Norman Osborn finds himself back at the head offices of Osborn Industries in New Jersey. He is meeting with someone who was responsible for getting him out of jail. They have found themselves strange bedfellows because of the superhuman civil war, but it can’t be helped and Osborn is needed for what comes next. Osborn is then given a formula that will send back false readings from the nanites coursing through his body that are used to keep him under the thumb of SHIELD. When Norman asks how this plan is going to work out. The man tells him that nobody would expect betrayal coming from him in a million years.[9]

Recurring Characters

Ben Urich, Sally Floyd, Joe Robertson, Speedball, She-Hulk, James Stricker (unidentified), Eugene Sykes, Norman Osborn

Continuity Notes

The SHRA is a new law that was passed into law in Civil War #2. It requires all superheroes to register with the government. This law will remain on the books until Siege #4.
Speedball was involved in the Stamford Disaster, the inciting incident that led to the SHRA, as seen in Civil War #1. He was made a scapegoat and has been in jail since Civil War: Front Line #2. He was to testify to congress last issue.
Norman Osborn was incarcerated following the events of The Pulse #1-5. However, recently, he was enlisted by SHIELD to do wetwork as the Green Goblin starting in Civil War: Front Line #2. He confronted Ben Urich in issue #4. When Ben went to Jameson about this in the following issue, Jonah killed the story.
We saw this from Robbie’s point of view last issue. The shooter is unidentified here. In Civil War: Front Line #9, the shooter is identified as James Tricker, a man who lost family in the Stamford Disaster.
Sally was approached by a disguised Nick Fury as she was trying to find leads to Captain America’s Secret Avengers in Civil War: Front Line #5, as revealed in issue #8. She was being tailed by SHIELDS who confronted her about the meeting. When she refused to divulge what she learned she was put under arrest and has been in custody ever since.
Sally has been a hot mess ever since her child, who was born a mutant, de-aged into non-existence. She has been using alcohol to cope with her trauma ever since. See Generation M #1.
Sykes is an anti-mutant bigot, which you’d know if you read Generation M #1-4.
Sykes states that he fought in the Vietnam War, while this was possible when this story was originally published in 2006, it has become increasingly impossible without prematurely aging the character. Marvel has since worked around instances of Modern Age characters fighting in Vietnam by stating that they fought in the Sin-Cong Conflict, a fictional war that happened in the same region. See History of the Marvel Universe #2.
The identity of Norman Osborn’s mysterious benefactor has never been positively identified time of this writing (October, 2023). The mission that Osborn is sent on is an attempted assassination of Atlantean diplomats next issue. By issue #11, Ben Urich and Sally Floyd will have found compelling evidence that Tony Stark orchestrated all of this to create a common enemy and reunite the fractured superhuman community, while also enriching himself through government contracts. That said, the Norman Osborn profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #8 points out that these are merely unproven allegations. Other websites of dubious quality research will suggests that the man that Osborn meets with here is indeed Tony Stark because they are bad at what they do and don’t understand nuance.

Topical References

Joe Robertson states that J. Jonah Jameson is off at a celebrity golf tournament for charity and is currently losing his shirt to actor Kevin Costner and rock musician Alice Cooper. This name drops should be considered topical as these are real world celebrities whose names can be replaced with more contemporary celebs.
There is also some obsolete technologies seen in this issue, namely Ben Urich’s cell phone which is an early 2000’s flip model that has fallen out of common use and Joe’s CRT television he has on his desk.
Joe is depicted watching Fox News to see Ben Urich in the crowd of people at the Baldwin testimony. This should be considered topical as this is a real world news channel.
Joe remarks that this changing story is like a number of historical events rolled into one. As he is referring to things in a historical context, they would mostly be factual references. They are:
- The Watergate Scandal: In 1973-1974, a break in at the Watergate hotel led to an investigation that discovered that President Richard Nixon had been spying on his Democratic opponents during his 1972 re-election race and that he used his Presidential powers to try and cover it all up. Ultimately, the truth came out and Nixon was forced to resign in 1974.
- The United States was involved in a war in Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. Outwardly, it was billed as a war to prevent communism from taking hold in that nation. The reality, was that the United States sought to gain favorable control of the nation’s rubber, tin, and oil. It was a war an increasingly unpopular war the longer it went on, particularly since those drafted were disproportionately poor and underprivileged. It had a high body count on both sides. It has gone down in history as the Untied States first major military defeat in its history.
- The Iraq War: Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Bush Administration was able to leverage the need for retaliation to launch an invasion of Iraq which took place between 2003 and 2011. Again, this was under the auspices of protecting America from terrorists and the possibility that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was stockpiling illegal chemical weapons. Although Hussein was deposed and executed, the reality was that the United States was basically going in there to secure oil interests. This conflict was still going on when this comic was originally published, so any reference to this as happening in the present tense would be topical.
As I mentioned above, Syke’s Vietnam War service is considered topical. He also states that his father fought in World War II. This has similar implications as it becomes impossible for someone to be directly related to someone alive during the 1940s without some means of extending lifespans, which seems unlikely in this instance. Modern readers should interpret this to mean that Syke’s had an ancestor who fought in World War II, rather than a specific and direct relative.
The nanite inhibitor is stated as making Osborn’s bio-readings seem as benign as reruns of I Love Lucy. This was a sitcom that ran on CBS from 1951 to 1957 and was quite popular at its time. It has been in perpetual re-runs ever since the end of its run. That said, this wouldn’t be considered topical because the mystery man specifically refers to the series in the past tense. Still, you could replace it with a more contemporary example. It doesn’t really matter quite so much.
Osborn remarks that the nanite inhibitor serum tastes like Red Bull. This is an Australian energy drink that was first produced in 1987. It has since exploded in popularity making it the third most valuable soft drink brand next to Coke and Pepsi as of this writing. That said, this should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world brand.

The Accused, Part 7

Robbie Baldwin, aka Speedball, has been made the scapegoat for the Stamford Disaster. Robbie found himself in Prison 42, in the Negative Zone, where unregistered superhumans are incarcerated.[1] Set to testify before Congree, Robbie arrived at the Capitol Building in his Speedball costume. This angered the crowd of protestors and as he was being led up the stairs, one of them shot him in the stomach.

As he bleeds out in agony, his lawyer, She-Hulk stands by his side until paramedics arrive. As they work, all Robbie can thinking about is a letter he would write to his mother explaining this situation. He thinks about how this wouldn’t have happened if he still had his powers,[2] or if he never had powers to begin with. As he is loaded up in a stretcher and taken to an ambulance, Robbie finds himself thinking of his dog Rupert. About the endless hours he sat on the stairs as his mother sat in the living room waiting for his father to come home from work. He thinks about how much he misses that dog. As the ambulance is pulling away, Jennifer tells Robbie to stay with her. All she can hear are his ramblings about how he doesn’t want to die like this.

In his mind, Robbie regrets the day that he got his powers, because he stopped being ordinary Robert Baldwin and became something else. He mocks how he had no idea what he was getting into and the cat that he used to have as a sidekick back in his early days.[3] Or how he was a founding member of the New Warriors and how, on their first mission, they stopped Terrax, a former herald of Galactus.[4] He also remembered how annoyed his parents were when they found out he was Speedball, and how he didn’t care because he was a hero.[5] He then skips ahead and remembers the Stamford Disaster, how it happened when the New Warriors tried to capture criminals for their new reality TV show.[6]

He struggles now with a realization that the incident was all his fault. That he had been fighting against taking responsibility because then he would have to come to terms with the fact that some of his friends died and that it was all his fault.[7] As he makes this realization Robbie begins feeling the agony of his gunshot would, which causes his powers to flare up. As She-Hulk tells the ambulance drivers to hurry and get them to the hospital, the energy flare causes the ambulance’s electrical system to short out. The vehicle ends up speeding through a red light and t-bones a car passing in the opposite direction….

Recurring Characters

Speedball, She-Hulk, (in flashback) Maddie Baldwin

Continuity Notes

Speedball was among the New Warriors who were involved in the Stamford Disaster in Civil War #1. Robbie’s powers were seemingly burned out for good as per a physical analysis in Civil War: Front Line #1. However, the suddenly came back when he suffered a broken leg in issue #4.
Speedball first got his powers in Speedball #1.
This is not a joke, Speedball adopted a cat named Niels who was also bombarded that has similar powers to his own. See Speedball #1 (again).
This also totally happened. The New Warriors’ origin was covered in (you guessed it), New Warriors #1.
About Robbie revealing his double life to his parents:
- Here we see a flashback of Robbie telling his mother he is Speedball by showing her a newspaper headline. This wasn’t how she found out, as we saw in New Warriors #9, she was in the middle of the Brazilian rainforest after she was roped into joining the eco-terrorists known as Project: Earth in New Warriors #9. In the following issue she was less annoyed and more concerned about his safety but he convinced her that he was doing the right thing.
- His father found out in New Warriors #27, and he was not happy because as a District Attorney, he believe vigilante heroes were everything he stood against.
- That said, the discrepancies that Robbie makes here could be chalked up to his misremembering events. You try remembering specific details after you were gut shot.
At the time the New Warriors had recently become reality TV stars starting in New Warriors (vol. 3) #1.
Present at the Stamford Disaster were Night Thrasher, Namorita, and Microbe, who were all seemingly killed in the explosion. Night Thrasher was actually pulled forward in time by the Controller, as seen in Contest of Champions (vol. 2) #5. Namorita and Microbe remain among the deceased as of this writing (October, 2024). However, Namorita has had a past version of herself brought to the present day in Nova (vol. 4) #32 and is treated like the one that was lost, even though her being in a present makes her come from a divergent reality.

Sleeper Cell, Part 5

Detectives Keith Dixon and Donna Altieri are called to the a crime scene at a warehouse on the pier. There they find a number of dead Atlantean sleeper agents, including “Joe”, who they have been trying to find ever since he blew up his pet shop and killed his wife. They also find Wonder Man (Simon Williams) who had been assigned by SHIELD to track down an Atlantean sleeper agent who has recently been activated.[1] Luckily, Williams is merely unconscious and, manage to wake him up and ask him what happened.

Simon recalls how he was sent to this location by SHIELD and after confirming that he found the Atlanteans, the place was attacked. The attacker used pumpkin bombs to kill the sleeper agents. Wonder Man also took a powerful blast and was the reason why he was knocked out. Before he fell into unconsciousness he saw the Green Goblin. He barely manages to tell the detectives this before he blacks out again. By this point, EMTs have arrived on the scene and are taking him to the hospital. The paramedic tells Dixon and Altieri that they can interview him later.

The two cops compare notes and can hardly believe that the attacker was Norman Osborn, because as far as they knew, he was in jail. Keith tells Donna to check in with her friend in the Costume Division to follow up on this lead. However, Keith feels really tired trying to figure out the details of this case. 20 years on the force and he has a feeling that whatever answer they get behind this mystery is going to be a lot simpler than the truth.

Recurring Characters

Wonder Man, Green Goblin, Atlanteans, Keith Dixon, Donna Altieri

Continuity Notes

As we discovered in Civil War: Front Line #3, “Joe” is an Atlantean sleeper agent who was recently activated for a secret mission on the surface world. Wonder Man was coerced into running this mission last issue.

The Somme Offensive*

Preface: The opening narrative tells readers about the Somme Offensive, a joint British and French attack that took place on July 1st, 1916. The purpose of the mission was to divert German resources before the battle of Verdun and regain territory. By the end of the first day there was an equal number of British and German casualties numbering about 58 thousand a piece. When the Somme Offensive halted in November 18th of that same year, there were over 450000 British deaths and 500000 German deaths. All over what was essentially a few yards of mud.

What follows is a juxtaposition between that bloody battle and the Green Goblin’s ambush on the Atlantean sleeper agents. It ends with a quote from English poet A.E. Housman: “Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose. But young men think it is, and we were young.”