Marvel takes bigger risks.

They've got a smaller body of iconic characters than DC, and have kept up by being a little more daring with their stuff. They've been known to shake up the X-Men, replace Spider Man with clones, turn Captain America into a redneck murderer (old Gruenwald series, drawn by Kieron Dwyer when he was really on top of his game), and do the Ultimate line - which was a a really great jumpstart to reimagining stories. Their status quo is less a matter of public record, whereas DC's major changes: Death of Superman, New Batman, killing off Robin - made it into mainstream news.

So when I heard about Civil War, I thought to myself 'Well, Bendis isn't writing it, so it'll be less about 'cracking the Internet open.' Let's see how it effects the Marvelverse.'

Here's the thing.

It HASN'T really.

- X books: Unaffected.
- Mighty Avengers: now government sponsored. Which they have been off and on again for DECADES. No Thor. Now Ares. Same premise.
- New Avengers: essentially re-hashed Defenders - a 'non-team' of underground heroes, taking on the weirdness the mainstream characters don't.
- Spiderman: the underdog hero hated by a public that doesn't understand or appreciate him.
- Captain America: Now THIS is different and interesting. But overall, they've not implied how this changes the overall Marvelverse, if at all. If anything, it seems to be a NON-effect, as Cap's presence is excised from any Avengers series or their tangents.
- Omega Flight: Alpha Flight.
- The Initiative: looks like this is taking the place of Young Avengers, as it follows War Machine, Yellowjacket, Justice and a small crew training the next generation of heroes.
- Fantastic Four: Supergenius + powerful wife, the Thing and Human Torch. Okay, so now the leader is much cooler, a better fighter, and his wife is a trained warrior. This isn't really a leap from the status quo so much as a shakeup. Hell, She-Hulk was a long-standing member of the team when the Thing left.
- Thunderbolts: under Nicieza, hasn't really had a status quo in years. But villains as heroes? Eh, been done. By Busiek. 'Written By Ellis' doesn't hold the same cachet it did five years ago.

Civil War's been a really REALLY good story.

I completely understand Melanism's preference.

But in the end, I care more about what happens to the DC Universe BECAUSE of its iconic status quo.

Infinite Crisis on its own SUCKED.

Big.

They nuked Superboy, who was potentially one of the coolest re-iterations since the original COIE, screwed up the Flash, and none of the OYL storylines really mean anything. And for what? There were no other Earth's before - or so we were told - and now there are...what? There was no clear point or answer to the series.

But as far as opening potential storylines, it's done WONDERS.

52 has reinvigorated the weekly serial format. This WWIII / Countdown / 52 mystery is COMPELLING. I actually WANT to know what happened, and where this is leading us. With Crisis, DC created a fantastic springboard for MORE stories, and that's the hook. I want to see wha the Hell 52 is. I want to know how they remix the DCverse. I want to see the new status quo they're building.

Civil War is finite. It's a good story, but the 'OOOOO/AAAAAAH' factor is ultimateley limited. They've spun the whole GOVERNMENT OUT OF CONTROL and GOVERNMENT SUPERTEAMS so many times, I almsot don't care. And the face that the government won in the end wasn't actually very interesting. I was hoping they'd do something unexpected, like maybe Iron Man would recant...or someone would die and force everyone to pause...but Cap biting the bullet in his typically Nobler-Than-Thou manner was kind of...well, predictable. They never tied in Annhilation, which is a potentially more world-shaking storyline, and World War Hulk - which will be GREAT - hasn't promised anything earth-shattering. In fact, Quesada's even said that it's going to have LESS impact that CW. Meaning the CW story doesn't actually do much for future storylines.

So for Mongo, the answer is Infinite Crisis. Not on the credit of the story alone, which was a mess, but as a foundation for future storytelling.