Marvel Civil War: Issue #1

In the season six premiere, Special Topics in Media host Garret Castleberry is joined by Kyle Hammonds in an effort to introduce readers to the best-selling comic book event series from Marvel Entertainment, Civil War (2006-2007). This seven-issue mini-series provided a competitive economic property in a decade where comic-publishing titans Marvel and DC Comics dueled for commercial supremacy. Marvel typically dominated monthly sales among the top 10 and top 25 single-issue releases, while DC held steady in the quickly growing graphic novel reprint market. Marvel's Civil War thus provides a meta-narrative that in some ways commemorates the industry-old sales tactics used to attract reader-consumers. Ultimately, Marvel succeeded at generating mainstream publicity for Civil War, primarily because the storyline suggested audacious key character shifts that allegorically reflected real-world anxieties in the post-9/11 cultural zeitgeist.
Hosts: Garret Castleberry, Kyle Hammonds
Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music)
Recommended readings paired with Season Six "Marvel's Civil War":
Mark Millar & Steve McNiven. Civil War. Marvel Comics, 2006.
Chris Gavaler. Superhero Comics. Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2017.
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