The Books of Brian Reed

A tie-in to 'Civil War' by Mark Millar, in which the Superhuman Registration Act violently splits the superhero community. There are basically three stories in this book and, sadly, only the first really deals with the Civil War. In it, Ms. Marvel is forced to hunt down an old friend and separate a mother and daughter in her role as one of Iron Man's Government-sanctioned enforcers. I really liked the fact that it is the inexperienced teenage hero Arana who shows the conscience and compassion that Ms. Marvel and Wonderman have abandoned in favour of stability. The second storyline is a pretty cliched affair in which Ms Marvel, alongside Rogue, throws down with an evil twin from another dimension. It does address Ms. Marvel's psychological hang-ups regarding Rogue, but that's about all that's of interest. The final story features a young man with the power to make his imagination reality. He inadvertantly unleashes a cosmic evil and Carol Danvers is forced to take up her old identity of Binary to fight it. Overall, Ms. Marvel isn't that compelling a protagonist and this book doesn't explore her involvement in the Civil War enough for my tastes. On a different note, it's interesting to note that all of Carol Danvers' superhero alias make an appearance in this book; Ms. Marvel, Warbird and Binary.