CW Front Line 11: Gutless Reporting

CIVIL WAR: FRONT LINE 11. Jenkins & Bachs.

The finale of the #2 Civil War mini-series is out this week and while the issue wasn't a disappointment, the actions of the books two main stars - reporters Ben Urich and Sally Floyd - were disappointing. The job of reporters, as we've been told throughout the series, is to get the truth out to the public. Ben and Sally have spent a good amount of time tracking down the biggest story about the Civil War - the background conspiracy angle. Who's the traitor in the Pro-Reg ranks? Who let Norman Osborn out? What was Tony Stark's real role?

Predictably, Stark was the traitor. Unpredictably, Urich and Floyd decide to sit on the story and not run it.

Let me back up for a second. There are two halves of the issue, the first half which seems designed to rip Captain America a new asshole, and the second, where Stark gets chastised but ultimately left off the hook by Floyd, who's willing to swallow the fact that Stark orchestrated a fake assassination attempt on an Atlantean ambassador to sway public opinion around to the Pro-Reg position.

Jenkins allows Floyd to pile on an imprisoned Cap, ripping him for not realizing that his approach was wrong sooner rather than later. What's frustrating is that Cap just sits there and takes it. He makes a few apologies, but seems unable to muster a reply when Sally accuses him on being out of touch with modern America. She argues that Cap's America, the "mom and apple pie" America, is dead and gone, replaced by a celebrity-obsessed culture. While Sally isn't thrilled with that culture, one that celebrates celebrities and craps on teachers, she somehow argues "at least I walk its streets every day" and challenges Cap by arguing: "You've broken that country, Captain America. What are you going to do to fix it?"

What makes Cap's willingness to take this abuse all the more incredible is that Floyd and Urich then visit Stark, show him all the evidence pointing to the ills he's committed and then inform him they're not going to run the story. That Floyd is willing to lambast Cap for breaking her beloved, misplaced-morals society and then walk into the office of the guy who she knows has done his part and let him walk is really sorta outrageous.

Stark's big crime of using fear of war with Atlantis as a political tool for gaining support for the Pro-Registration Act is historically huge. And yet, the public won't know about it because Floyd believes Stark did the right thing. There's a thin line between critic and convert, apparently. There's certainly a level of venom in her applause of Stark, but there's no focus on that critique. The overall message is that Cap was wrong and Stark was right.

All of that said, Front Line 11 served as a fitting end to the Civil War event. Sure, there's a lot spinning out of CW in the coming weeks and months, but FL 11 serves as a solid capstone to everything we've seen so far. Unlike CIVIL WAR 7 (the end to that mini), this issue was well-paced, and given the room to be reflective on what has transpired. While the actions of the characters were a bit troubling, the issue itself delivered a solid ending to the event that has dominated Marvel for the past nine months.