The end of Dark Reign arrives in the form of Siege, which will be coming out over the next few months, as Marvel promises an end to the never-ending event, marketing this as a culmination since Avengers: Dissassembled (from House of M to Civil War to Secret Invasion to everything in between). This will no doubt be a huge sales success but hopefully the level of quality will be there too.

The series promises to wrap-up the Norman Osborn era of of Avengers as well as reunite for the first time in years the recently resurrected Steve Rogers Captain America, Iron Man and Thor. Its mainly an Avengers event and there is no doubt all of the Avengers titles will be dramatically changed. Since it takes place in Asgard, Thor will be featuerd heavily, and other periphery Avengers titles like the Thunderbolts will be too. While I'm hesitant to become fully engaged in any event, I'm already reading Thor, New Avengers and several other titles, so the pay-off is already built-in for me. If I wasn't collecting all these comics already I'd probably give this a pass. More than anything, I want the boring ass Norman Osborn as head of HAMMER scenario to come to its conclusion--they beat us over the head with that so much it made the days of Iron Man being a dick constantly seem nostalgic (not really ).

So I picked up the “Siege: the Cabal” one-shot in preparation because it looked to be similar to the Avengers: Illuminati one-shots a few years back that I enjoyed and it basically was. The interaction between the Cabal is interesting and I like the different agendas going on between Norman, Dr. Doom, Loki, the Hood and now the Taskmaster. I certainly haven’t been following every title this story has run through so I wasn’t aware that Emma Frost and Namor already betrayed Osborn and left (I passed on Dark X-Men) but it makes sense. I was glad to see Doom do his long overdue betrayal to Osborn. I generally hate when Doom is not portrayed as what he really is: the greatest villain in comic book history. This was a solid read if you’re going to collect the event—if not, I can’t really recommend it in good conscious.

I also grabbed “Siege: Origins” which was a freebie handed out during the skip week this past week. I somehow ended up with two of them by the way so if someone wants on, I’ll mail it to you (including the calendar that came with it). Not really too much more going on but for a freebie it was pretty cool.

I guess it comes down to this: with Bendis writing this could be a great little miniseries or it could be flat like some of the other stuff he’s done. Likely the hype will be too much and that will cause it to suffer but that’s not really his fault. What’s more interesting is what is to come after its over (much like Civil War).

I'm getting the central mini-series, but I confess, I'm only reading it for Daken and Dani Moonstar's potential involvement.

Gonna be honest here. Bendis seems to have a stranglehold on the Marvel Universe. Not saying he writes poor stories, just that he seems to be dictating the course of everything lately...and to be fair, Geoff is essentially doing the same thing at DC. But there are at least others at DC that seem to have a hand in the pot...Morrison, Giffen, et al.

Picked up #1 and read it, and I like it so far. The set-up has been in place for some time (basically the last year's worth of Marvel stories) so they get right into the action with the Dark Avengers and Thor. The real star of #1 is Olivier Copiel, whose artwork just continues to become even more excellent than before. I'll probably give it a second read just to look at the art.

You can tell Osborn's days are numbered and that's enjoyable to read (because frankly, he's annoying as shit). Iron Man and Cap loom in the background here but aren't really included yet, but you can feel their presence coming. Thor, Loki and Balder under Copiel's pencil are awesome to behold.

PS - I just learned Volstagg in the coming Thor movie will be played by the guy from Rome who played Pullo; aka the guy who is just plain awesome. I expect him to make people love Volstagg. Ipso facto, Volstagg ain't dead.

This issue was shorter than I thought it would be. All the fault of that Hulk preview, but it was a disappointment. The art was fabulous, I wish Coipel was back on a title I read.

I liked the story and I'm looking forward to the next issue. It's good to see Osbourn falling apart, something that's been developing over the last few issues of Dark Avengers. I'm not sure why they're putting Daken in this fight. He seems woefully underpowered to be going up against Asgardians. From the sounds like he's going to get put through the wringer in his own title. Can't wait.

BTW, did anyone else have a problem with the transcript at the end? I've got one part of the text written twice (although the pictures are different), and there's obviously a chunk of text missing.

Yes - my copy has a text page printed twice as well.

Read it, hated it.

I know I'm supposed to suspend disbelief for a comic, but the first issue of Siege was sheer nonsense.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/01/07/marvels-siege-1-corrected-backmatter/

Thanks.

I read Ares's battle plan, and despite his gruff dismisal of the "Golden Bullet" idea, there's no real reason why they wouldn't just let Sentry take Asgard apart all by himself.(at least until he was no longer able to)

Maybe there was more lead-up to this between Loki and Osborn previous to this series, but there was a total lack of drama about the stakes involved. It just seemed to be two bad guys saying, "Let's invade Asgard." "Ok." And we're off! On the other hand, I certainly appreciate that they didn't take the entire issue just to lead to them getting ready to invade. It's a matter of pacing and while I'm glad the plot's moving along, it seems a little too matter of fact.

Wasn't there a one-shot starring Loki and Osborn?

It was the "Siege: Origins" one-shot, it was a free promotion during the New Year's skip week. It had a 12 (or less?) page story that is basically the first half of the conversation in Siege #1.

I've not been the most invested reader of Norman's Dark Reign, but I'm familiar enough with the comings and goings of his Cabal. Seige #1 was quick, and it didn't feel rushed to me. It was nice to see a story moving at a fast pace for a change. It had that energy, and Bendis gave us some exciting moments too. That's not something I get out of one of his books, so I'll enjoy it while I can.

Mr Copiel needs to be moved on to one of the monthly books I read. I love seeing his work.

^-- "Ceej on Siege" Action... kinda like that hot P!nk video...

If the story in the SIEGE: EMBEDDED mini had been incorporated into SIEGE proper, I would've enjoyed the whole thing alot more. Volstagg is always fun, even when he's a whipping boy. Will he be the 'Penance' of this series? Let's hope not.

I'm looking forward to the SIF one-shot that's coming up- though the fact that she's getting one makes me wonder about her immediate future...

I don't think you need to worry too much. Marvel's having a year long "Women of Marvel" event to promote female characters and creators. X-23's getting a one-shot, too, and Black Widow is getting an ongoing series. (Both written by Marjorie Liu.)

I am, of course, hoping Dani gets a one-shot, too.

I'll be picking up Sif as well - but mainly because Beta Ray Bill is in it and I always liked their relationship.

got it, liked it, too short, coipel's art was awesome.

my dream first few pages of number two is thor giving norman's entire team a beat down!!

i would love to see him look at sentry and ares and say "meh"

of course the old team of avengers is gonna get back together. but...i want spider man to be the one to defeat osborn and methinks it'll be iron man or cap.. .

any thoughts on who/what osborns second wave is? olympians? asgardian giants? ultrons?

and loki's just a jerk.

Since Bendis appears to be trying to tie in several of his previous stories, I think the second wave might be ultrons or symbiotes--something from his Mighty Avengers run.

Won't the "second wave" logically involve Norman's shadowy "Big Gun" (that Doom sidestepped so elegantly in Siege: The Cabal, leaving the Sentry to rescue Norman)?

I'm going to do this with Blackest night this month too...April previews are up...

SIEGE #4 (of 4)/$3.99
SIEGE: EMBEDDED #4 (of 4)/$3.99
DARK AVENGERS #16/$3.99
NEW AVENGERS #64/$3.99
MIGHTY AVENGERS #36/$2.99
THUNDERBOLTS #143/$2.99
AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #35/$2.99
THOR #609/$2.99
NEW AVENGERS: FINALE/$4.99
FALLEN/$3.99
SIEGE LOKI/$2.99
SIEGE SPIDERMAN/$2.99
SIEGE CAPTAIN AMERICA/$2.99
SIEGE YOUNG AVENGERS/$2.99
SIEGE SECRET WARRIORS/$2.99

51.85 (best guess, based on main titles they include here.)

Wait...Blackest Night is over. Yet, Bendis' opus is still going strong. It's been how many years and crossovers now?

I so wanted to give Siege a try--especially since my man Olivier Coipel is on art, but at $3.99 and with only fluff for extra content, I couldn't justify it given my mild-at-best-but-usually-just-nonexistent interest in all that Osborn/Dark Reign crap.

Honestly, Dark Reign killed Invincible Iron Man for me. After a very good first arc, DR just sucked the life out of it. It woulda just been hypocritical for me to buy Siege. Maybe if everyone says this thing pissed excellence (hell, it better shit, puke and ejaculate it, too!) after it's over, I'll CONSIDER buying the trade. If I do, I'll buy it used on eBay, so Marvel won't benefit from it.

siege #2!!!

love the art, the action but....there is no way daken can cut off asgardian's arms (oh wait that's the latest issue of dark wolverine

but still venom and the others are no match for an asgardian child!

sigh. who can't beat ares at this point! some god of war.

i'm hoping captain marvel 2 (monica rambeau) will show up to scar the crap outta moonstone. or at least carol will be like "*#$ch I am Ms. Marvel!!!

that said, cap's avengers look a little light in the fire power.

anyone else get this???

Olivier's art makes me gasp for air!
His version of Mockingbird is DIVOONE!!

best mockingbird ever for sure. i think her costume shrunk in the wash...

Who's that li'l blonde kid w/ the "God powers"?

Ares' son, Phobos god of fear. oddly i thought osborn is telling ares he will help him find if if ares works for osborn. but i think (according to wikipedia) ares knows as well....dunno

Thanks,DB!

Ironically, Ceej misspelled Siege "Seige." Maybe it was a veiled reference to the person who started the thread?

(My favorite Cobie-ism is "Mangog" -- apparently an erstwhile member of the JSA. )

I thought Siege #2 was awesome: Copiel is knocking it out of the park in every panel!

The tension build-up is moving at a lightning pace and the action keeps coming. I like it. A nice change of pace here and I don't mind it if the story moves super-fast. It does certainly feel very dramatic and like a blockbuster.

Jarvis seeing Cap again and handing him that case was great. Obviously, it contains Tony's old armor and that scene is going to be really great.

The big death in this issue wasn't a shocker because the story seemed to be going there thematically but the way in which it was done was certainly shocking and pretty wild. This leads me to think the Sentry will bite it to by story's end; after these last few years it seems he has to die (for a little while at least).

"What, no one is going to say 'Man, I gotta get me one of these?'" - okay, I admit it, I thought that was a great line.

yeah, spidey's been written well in avengers... : )

ok, who can't kick ares' butt? god of war?

anyway, i want sentry to go bye bye now. hes too powerful and the plots are suffering cause hes been held over everyone's heads. still no clue on the second wave.

hoping we get to see some old fashioned Power Man action, Luke seems to be more of I've got bullet proof skin now a days, and less butt kicking super strength.

anyone know who the two women are with the U Foes giving Thor a beat down? Volcana and (looks like Kinetix haha) ?

Can't wait until Cap's team gets there! like bat man's team in kingdom come.

i'm still thinking the asgardians are going down way to easy, i thought they couldn't really be injured by mortal weapons, much less body parts flying everywhere.

maybe kid phobos will show up and rip sentry a new one.

anyone surprised by the end of Siege 3?

liked seeing the avengers kick butt and Thor going toe to toe with the Sentry.

oh yeah...and the art was fantastic (Tony Stark) : )

I thought Siege #3 was great! It wasn't anything ground-breaking or life-altering, but it was pure fun and definitely invoked the 8 year old in me to scream "awesome!".

The Avengers all have great moments: Cap & Bucky, Iron Man's awesome return, Thor reminding readers he's been the MU's top dog for a helluva a longtime, Spider-Man making wise-cracks (though his punch out of Osborn was a bit of a let down as I felt it somewhat cheapened all of Osborn's great moments--yet again by Bendis, after Luke did that once before). Even Luke battling the Red Hood, Ronin battling Hawkeye (Bullseye) and Ms. Marvel battling Moonstone in the background were nice to see. Bendis even got to have his favorites Maria Hill and Victoria Hand have brief, yet powerful scenes.

I suspect the Sentry will not be surviving much longer and that's okay with me. They've kind of upped the awesome level on the Sentry by making him such a super-threat.

The President giving the order to take down Hammer was great.

So what was Norman's secret weapon we kept hearing about? The Sentry? Uh, not quite a secret.

I like that this series if four issues and moving at a rapid pace--its a much needed break from other crossovers. Now Bendis needs to find a happy medium: a story with both the action/continuous forward progression of Siege with the character moments/interaction of Secret Invasion. He often leans too far to either side.

The best part about Siege, of course, is Copiel's art. Wow, he's come a long way!

Siege # 4

...

ending was quite allright.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">not happy with stark being put back in the fold, or asgards destruction but i liek how loki was played. thor taking out sentry was a bit quick but whatever. thought it would turn into a few issues of the void controlling the world or something rather than just a smack down by thor. </span></span>

I thought Siege #4 was the likely outcome of the series with the action-movie type ending I was expecting, and I wasn't at all let down by that. Copiel's artwork was terrific and it felt very heroic and upbeat to see the various heroes take down the Sentry once and for all, with Norman and the Dark Avengers being captured.

There is still a lot of character beats to follow-up on to address the last 5 years of Marvel continuity and I'm sure we'll get that in spades (probably too much) so I'm not worried about that.

I thought Loki was played pretty well here too.

And the Sentry ended up being a great villain as the Void for the whole MU.