Siege

A good collection of stories around a pretty apocalyptic event. This is Marvel history in the making. Good but not outstanding art, & the same could be said of the script as well. Fun & intriguing, but not quite got the depth that you'd want. Some ore cross over events have had deeper plots. ( )

With the success of the Avengers and other super-hero films, presenting graphic novels that share these themes may be a way to make reading more appealing to students who generally do not like to read. Seige would be good for 5th-8th grade students as the story line is a strong and cohesive one that requires a level of reading comprehension, some strong vocabulary is presented and it is a decent length, pushing students to increase skill while reading on a popular topic.

Reading Level: 6th-7th (not posted on Scholastic) ( )

So, Asgard is parked on top of Earth and Osborn is a tool, I mean, head of H.A.M.M.E.R and decides to lay siege to Asgard with the help of Loki and the rather frightening Sentry. I didn’t really pay much attention to the Sentry until he sliced through someone like he was cutting up salami for a sandwich. At that point, this story commanded my full attention. And I enjoyed it a great deal too. I liked the artwork and there was plenty of action (and off their rockers characters – Norman, I’m looking at you).

I do like a storyline that is jam-picked with heroics and destruction and shady politicking and equally shady characters who then go and redeem themselves at the very last moment (Loki, looking at you). And Loki, why are you such an arse? Master of misrule that he is, you always suspect that anything he plans is going to go tits up because that’s just the nature of this character – made to cause chaos, even his plans are unable to sustain cohesion. And he pays a hefty price for cocking up in this story. Still, that is one fine villein (don’t do it, spellcheck, I mean it – so fine a villain, I had to go feudal on this word’s ass).

I enjoyed this a great deal, though I do wish it had been a little longer – I imagine this story must have been contained in only a few issues when it came out – my graphic novel copy was certainly slimmer than I wanted it to be. Could have done with way more Cap, Thor and Stark.
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Siege is yet another one of Marvel's big events, with this one serving the purpose of righting all that is wrong with the Marvel Universe after a year of the Dark Reign era. Norman Osborn, who has been in charge since the failed invasion by the Skrulls, is finally outed as the criminal that he's known to be.

It feels more than a little convenient, however. Osborn managed to retain his power (however tenuously) in spite of "Spider-Man" (Venom) eating people, "Hawkeye" (Bullseye) nearly having a mental breakdown, "Wolverine" (Daken) killing innocent people for fun, keeping the psychotic Sentry presentable and under control, and running an organization that employs only "bad" people (the Hood's gang, Taskmaster, etc). And yet he's brought down by invading Asgard? I don't know. I think that there could have been a better, and much more over-the-top way, for him to go down.

Still, down he goes, just as the reader has known he would ever since Dark Reign started. It's really too bad; I liked Dark Reign a great deal more than most recent Marvel events, and I feel like it could have been explored much more than it was. ( )

"Contains material originally published in magazine form as Siege #1-4, Siege: the cabal and Free Comic Book Day 2009. ( )