Civl War - The Calm Before - P. A. Nolte

A quick scene set between Civil War: Runaways/Young Avengers #3 and #4.  The combined teams are on their way to rescue their friends from a SHIELD facility after a harrowing fight with a mind-controlled Noh-Varr.

1/ An extreme close-up of Vision, speaking, deep in a weird trance.  He is missing his right forearm, as it is currently phased into the chest of Noh-Varr.

Vision: "--the drums beat the assembly, and in ten minutes we were on our march for Bull Run.  Having heard the enemy were waiting to receive us, our troops, then numbering 25 or 30 thousand, were divided into three columns, ours under Col. Hunter taking the right through a thick wood."

Vision: "About eleven o'clock, as our pickets were advancing, a volley was poured in upon them from behind a fence thickly covered with brush.  The pickets, after returning the shots, returned to our regiment and we advanced double quick time yelling like so many devils..."

2/ Chase, Patriot, Nico, Victor, Kate, and Stature are buckled into the front seats of The Leapfrog.  Most of them are focused on instruments or out the windows.  Only Stature is more concerned with the scene in the extra seats behind them.

Chase: Uh... I think your robot's broken. Er. MORE broken?

Patriot: Nah. Recites historical letters to himself when he's nervous.

Kate: You get used to it.  Eventually.

3/ Across from Vision, still deep in his weird trance, Molly sits on a bench with her knees up under her chin.  One arm is wrapped around her knees, obscuring the lower half of her face, the other idly pets Old Lace, the velociraptor curled up on the bench beside her.

Stature (OP): Molly?

4/ Stature sits down next to Molly on the opposite side of Old Lace.  The Runaways and Young Avengers have only known each other for a few hours and a psychic dinosaur is a weird thing to see, even in the Marvel Universe.

Stature: Are you okay? I mean, given the circumstances.

Molly: I don't want to fight anymore.

5/ They sit, talking quietly and watching Vision.

Stature: Well, that's...

Stature: You know what?  Me neither.  But these guys have our friends, and w--

Molly: If you have powers and you try and save people from bad guys, doesn't that make you a good guy?

Molly: So why can't Captain America and Iron Man BOTH be Avengers?

Molly: ...

Molly: Adults are so dumb.

Stature: I--

Patriot (OP): We're here.

Civil War--"Class War"--David Press

1.1: Opening on a wide shot of a classroom, PETER PARKER stands trying to control the rambunctious eighth graders who are throwing paper airplanes and spitballs and everything else.

1.CAPTION:          Evander High School. Bronx, NY. First day of school.

2.PARKER:            Settle, you guys! Please settle down!

1.2: CUT TO ONE KID with his hand extended up to the ceiling—his face is red with the exertion like he’s popping out of his seat to ask his question. Let’s call it a medium close shot so we can get the fullness of his expression. The kid’s name is DEX.

3.DEX:               Mr. Parker! MR. PARKER! What made you reveal your secret identity on national television?

4.PARKER [O.P.]:     Great question, Dex…uhhh…

1.3: Over to Parker, his hand behind his head and he’s blushing hard. Why don’t we try to do the classic half Spider-Man / half Peter Parker head? I’ve always wanted to write that sentence.

5.PARKER:            I’ll just tell you what my lawyer tells me to say:

5B.                         “Due to the controversial nature of the events of 2005, Mr. Parker…

1.4: Let’s split the last tier. This panel can be on page left and we’re looking at the classroom from behind Parker’s head and over his shoulder. His students look very disappointed at this response.  

6.PARKER:     “…cannot comment on his actions…

6B.                  “They would be detrimental to his safety.”

1.5: Same size as the previous taking up the right side of the page. This time, it’s Dex with his hands up looking frustrated.

7.DEX:           Well, duh, you let out your identity on television.

7B.                  What were you thinking, Spider-Man?  

--END--

Civil War - A House Divided - Perry Kent

Panel 1

Exterior, afternoon. Ironman lands in a park. Captain America waits for him by a tree.

1. CAP. AMERICA: Hello Stark.

2. IRONMAN: Cap.

Panel 2

Ironman takes off his helmet/mask so (at least) his face shows. Ironman walks towards Captain America.

3. IRONMAN: Are you ready to concede? Is that why you called me here?

4. CAP. AMERICA: Concede? No, Tony. Did you really arrange this meeting to play games? Is that suppose to convince me to join you?

Panel 3

Split panel. In one panel Captain American can be seen through the scope of a sniper rifle. In the other panel Tony Stark's face can be seen through the scope of a sniper rifle.

5. IRONMAN: Wait. I didn't arrange this.

6. CAP. AMERICA: Well, I didn't.

7. CAP. AMERICA: Who--

Panel 4

Two simultaneous gun shots. A bullet rips through Captain America's head at the same time another bullet strikes Tony Stark in the (maskless) face.

8. SFX (gunshot): CCCRRRAAAAKKKOOOW

Panel 5

Two snipers, on top of a building, pack their rifles away. They are dressed in nondescript clothing.

9. SNIPER 1: That'll keep both sides busy.

10. SNIPER 2: A house divided cannot stand.

-END-

Civil War – Giant-Sized Little Marvel: Civil War – MK Stangeland Jr.

(More shenanigans in the vein of Scotty Young’s Little Marvel/Marvel Babies comics – here, a schism has cause IRON MAN to take a group of the AVENGERS from the treehouse and go build a new, better one. That also happens to be bigger and overshadows the old one.)

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: IRON MAN looks over the balcony of his ‘new, super-duper-awesome wonder tech tree’. Next to him are YELLOWJACKET and SPIDER-MAN, the latter of which is dressed in an over-exaggerated version of the IRON SPIDER outfit.

IRON MAN (1): HEY CAP!

IRON MAN (2): HOW YOU LIKE MY NEW DIGS?!

Panel 2: A water balloon hits IRON MAN in the face, exploding with a big splash. SPIDER-MAN and YELLOWJACKET recoil back from the water.

SFX: SplOOSH!

Panel 3: CAPTAIN AMERICA stands on a balcony of the original treehouse. Next to him is RONIN – HAWKEYE in the RONIN outfit – holding an armed bow with a number of water balloon arrows pulled back and ready to fire.

CAPTAIN AMERICA (1): That’s right, Tony! Just keep talking!

CAPTAIN AMERICA (2): The more you inflate your ego, the easier it is to hit you!

Panel 4: IRON MAN looks angrily over the balcony and shakes his fist at CAP.

IRON MAN (1): You’re just being jelly and stupid, Steve!

IRON MAN (2): And if you think that one stupid arrow is going to…

Panel 5: A hailstorm of water balloons of various types fly up at the balcony, causing IRON MAN, SPIDER-MAN, and YELLOWJACKET to duck and dodge to avoid getting hit.

SFX: (A massive assortment of various splash noises)

Panel 6: IRON MAN, SPIDER-MAN, and YELLOWJACKET run into the treehouse to get away from the water balloon assault.

(END PAGE)

Civil War - What's Eating You? - Grant McLaughlin

1 - Peter Parker, in his Spider-Man costume, stands on a rooftop, looking down at a New York street where Captain America and Iron Man's opposing forces fight each other, with the two leaders front and centre.  Peter is frightened and confused.

PETER: I don't understand!  What could have cause this rift?  How did it all come to this?

2 - Flashback to the Avenger's mansion's kitchen.  Steve rummages through a cupboard, his face hidden by the cupboard doors.

CAPTION: How it all came to this.

STEVE: Hey...

3 - Tony sits at the table, a look of worry on his face as he raises his eyebrows.  Hulk and Spider-Man sit to either side, looking questionably in Tony's direction.

STEVE (off-panel): Who ate the last Pop-Tart?

4 - Looking down at Tony's plate, there are only crumbs remaining of the Pop-Tarts he's so clearly eaten.

NO COPY

Why Civil War?

Sure, there's a certain movie coming out this week bearing a subtitle that may be spurring the timing of this selection, bu you also cannot deny that Civil War is a clear highmark of Marvel Comics storytelling of the past 10 years.

Issues of state surveillance are omnipresent in the society we have built for ourselves, and it was a little thrilling to see part of that conversation play out among an all-star cast of Marvel who's-who.  It also helped that the main series was a pretty decent comic story on its own merits, featuring the talents of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven.

When you think of the quality and ongoing timeliness of the original work, it's honestly not that surprising that Marvel's movie counterparts would want to bring it to the big screen.  There was a time whee I might have been concerned whether a project of such an ambitious scale would translate between mediums, but considering Marvel Studios' track record, my question is more along the lines of how good it will be in comparison to previous films.

All of which brings us back to the selection.  Whatever the medium, whatever the focus, Civil War is a seed of good ideas that seems to just keep growing.  So I throw the task to our tenured writes and any keen play-at-homers to grow their own interpretation and grace Thought Balloons with the fruits of your labour.

May the best side win.