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The Amazing Spider-Man: Civil War collects Amazing Spider-Man nos. 532-538 written by J. Michael Straczynski with art by Ron Garney. Though the story intersects with the larger Civil War storyline, one need not have read that to understand what's going on here. Spider-Man, with his support of Tony Stark in the wake of the Stamford Incident, followed by his realization that the attempt to prevent another attack had corrupted the values of the country, plays a key role in the Civil War crossover and Straczynski brilliantly writes these tie-in issues so that Spidey's moral wrangling drives the story and helps ground it. From a creative standpoint, the decision for Spider-Man to reveal his secret identity was interesting as it opened up a host of new storytelling possibilities. Many characters are more supportive of Peter and his family, while others, like J. Jonah Jameson, feel betrayed. Things build to a head when the Kingpin puts a hit on Spider-Man and his family for revenge, leading to Aunt May's mortal wounding. Unfortunately, in an effort to resolve that, Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada would retcon out Peter and MJ's marriage, one of the strengths of Straczynski's writing and the previous two decades of the comics. Quesada's betrayal comes later, however. This volume also features the oft-quoted "No, you move" speech from Captain America. ( )

This was good and close to the core books because Spider-Man was such a big part of the series. Ends with a cliffhanger. ( )

Other than Tony Stark and Captain America, Spider-man is probably the character most deeply involved in the Civil War storyline. Therefore, it makes sense that an entire tie-in book is needed to cover his perspective. Before the SHRA is passed, Tony begins cultivating Peter as a protégé and right hand man. Civil War: Spider-Man opens with Tony taking Peter to his private meetings with Congress about superhero registration. Tony is arguing against it, though he knows it is inevitable. When the Stamford tragedy occurs, he is proven right and he puts his plans into effect.

The first half of the book goes behind the scenes of the Civil War, in particular Tony’s actions, as viewed by Peter. If Tony looked bad before, he’s revealed as downright ruthless and unethical here. Peter’s life begins to unravel after Tony convinces him to reveal his identity to the public. First, he is terribly conflicted when he has to hunt down his former colleagues, especially Captain America. His conviction begins to waver when he learns that Tony and Reed are making billions of dollars off of government contracts to build a prison and create tech to hunt and contain superheroes. Secondly, he realizes that Tony is using the Spider armor to monitor Peter in addition to “helping” him. When he visits the prison, he is horrified to see that the heroes are being imprisoned without due process, permanently, and in the Negative Zone. Further, Tony emphasizes that the prison is not on American soil, or subject to law, and that all the prisoners are now “non-entities.” It’s no surprise when Spider-Man switches sides!

The second half of the book focuses on confrontations with various villains from Spidey’s rogues gallery – who now know who, and where, he is. Aunt May and MJ are guarded in Avengers tower until Peter takes them on the run and into hiding. Since Spidey ends up switching sides during Civil War, the second half of the book was sometimes difficult to follow as to exactly when the battles were occurring in the timeline. However, it wasn't strictly necessary to know. Peter switches costumes back to his original one once he defects. There are some excellent action sequences in part two, and many familiar faces like Rhino, Mysterio and Black Cat.

Overall, this was an excellent tie-in. I thought it was better than Civil War: Fantastic Four omnibus, and as good as Civil War: Avengers. Highly recommended! ( )

The basic theme of this is similar to Martin Luther King's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," except it's super heroes' rights. How do we respond to unjust laws?

The problem is the crossover stuff is a marketing ploy, and the reader can't get the whole story from this book. In fact, this book doesn't even have an ending to its story arc. ( )