In the immediate aftermath of Dark Reign comes Marvel’s next big crossover event, Siege. This event is being hyped as perhaps the biggest, most important one in years for the Marvel Universe; a culmination of everything since Avengers Disassembled, and the end of an era. It’s an awful lot to live up to, and comic promotion by a publisher is naturally full of exaggeration. But is the series really going to be that grand? Looking at the first issue, it’s a little hard to tell.
 
The story here involves Norman Osborn and Loki devising an elaborate scheme to wage an attack on Asgard, and carrying it out with his evil team of Avengers. But some of the founding Avengers, especially Thor, naturally decide to fight back. I don’t really follow modern Marvel, so I don’t know all the details of the events leading into this first-hand, but I do know that the premise for Dark Reign and the Dark Avengers never interested me at all. And it still doesn’t interest me much here, either, at least as far as the villains themselves are concerned. Maybe I’d feel differently if I’d read the relevant comics and perhaps found an emotional investment in their actions. But anyway, the actual story about the plot they’ve concocted to bring down Asgard does intrigue me. The triggering incident definitely makes me feel bad for the primary victim of it. The scenes with the heroes are pretty cool as well, but they’re much too brief. The cliffhanger implies that there will be much more of them in the next issue, but this issue is still very villain heavy, which is not exactly a positive to me in this case. My only other complaint would be the fact that the dialogue can feel a little stiff and forced at times, but it’s not nearly as bad in the main story as it is in the Hammer transcript in the back of the book.
 
The artwork, meanwhile, is generally rather solid. The style is a bit cartoonish, and comes off a bit rough in a few panels because of it, but it has far more highs than lows. The action sequences look great, and the facial expressions are incredibly well defined, with a few very awesome close-ups. The coloring is also really sharp and vivid. But, in contrast, the cover seems a little off. It has the same pencils and coloring, and thus the same artistic quality, but the layout of the characters on it seems like it would be better suited for a poster than a comic cover. I do like that it seems to depict the heroes rising up against the villains, however.
 
To summarize, the story has promise, and some great moments so far, but I’m just not quite getting the “end of an era” feeling that this event is supposed to have yet. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if things pick up in later issues, though.
 
Writing: B (The story has some good moments, but the villains are a bit dull, and things are still a little too political and “real” for my tastes.)
Art: A (It looks great, with more than enough awesome panels to weigh out the so-so ones.)
Cover: A- (It’s definitely not bad, except for the fact that it just doesn’t feel like a comic cover.)
 
Overall: B+ (It’s a decent start, and seems like it will get better later on, but it doesn’t strike me as a blowaway thus far.)
 


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