The idea here, that of reporters covering the Civil War uncovering the secrets behind it, was interesting. However, it didn't turn out as it could have. The secrets revealed weren't particularly surprising, and ended up having no consequence. The choice to have 3 or so stories in each volume made it feel scattered and without enough development in each. While some of the real-world comparisons were poignant, in total were overdone, and over-dramatic (Marvel's Civil War lead to dramatically fewer deaths than, say, WWII). ( )

I started Front Line after reading the main Civil War event, followed by Civil War: Avengers, Civil War: Fantastic Four and Civil War: Spider-Man tie-in collections. Those were all excellent, and I expected the same here. Unfortunately, I found this one disappointing.

There are three main arcs in the book. The first is Embedded which follows two news reporters "on the ground" throughout the event. One of them, Ben Urich, will show up later in an Embedded storyline for the Siege event. Both reporters start out in opposition to the registration act, but determined to show both sides as equitably as possible. One of the reporters, Sally, just happens to be an alcoholic. I guess this is supposed to help explain how she does a sudden 180 by the end of the story and simultaneously chooses not to publish a ground-breaking story on the truth behind Tony Stark's actions before and during the war. It didn't fit into the character of ANY real reporter and completely ruined the entire storyline - what was the point if not to uncover and reveal the truth? I think this story was meant to show the great sacrifice Tony has made to lead the pre-registration forces. Instead, he came off as even more loathsome. Stark (and Reed Richards) comes off so bad throughout Civil War that I can't imagine how anyone could continue reading his solo series. They're both so brilliant that they are also incredibly stupid.

The second arc is The Accused, which follows the fate of Speedball - the only one of the New Warriors to survive the explosion at Stamford. He is hated by the public and SHIELD wants him to register and be their poster boy for why registration is so necessary. His civil rights are consistently and blatantly violated throughout the story, but the story logically progresses for the hero he eventually becomes. I won't spoil it, but I encountered him in later events and now understand who he is. The ending of this made the entire collection worth reading.

The third arc is Sleeper Cell wherein Norman Osborn is released from prison to wreak havoc as the Green Goblin. Who is pulling his strings and why was he used to attack the Atlantean delegation? The story was predictable and didn't really add anything to the overall event. The last little bit at the end of the book is a Howard the Duck tie-in with registration. Sprinkled throughout the collection are pages that talk about real historical events (like the US Civil War, WWII, etc.) and how they tore people and families apart. The first couple of these were good, but after that they started to feel like blatant heartstring tugging.

Overall, the best part of the entire collection is The Accused and I'm giving all three stars for that. Speedball is an intricate part of the entire Civil War event and his story expands the story in a meaningful way. The rest of the collection felt like filler. ( )