Nowadays war in comics is fought by the superheroes, as in the Secret or Civil Wars, or even World Wars III and Hulk. This is a completely different animal. Really, it’s war only in the words. Superheroes fought during World War II, but not efficiently, and only in real time. Apologies to Roy Thomas, but the retcons just don’t work when given a modicum of thought.

When we speak of war and superheroes, what we are really talking about is a fight, or fights between individuals. We could include specifics, such as the Avengers/Defenders clash of the 1970s, or even any slugfest between the Hulk and the Thing. It is rarely about war, and when it is, it comes off rather badly. Dare I say it, but Norman Osborn and H.A.M.M.E.R.’s assault on Asgard, as depicted in Siege, is no exception.

Siege has been promoted as a return to greatness, the first time in over a decade that the Big Three – the Mighty Thor, Iron Man and the real Captain America – have stood side by side as part of the Avengers. This should be a triumphant moment, a positive, uplifting mini-series – but no, we get more of the Dark Avengers, with the spotlight on Norman Osborn and Loki, and when Thor does appear, he is treated as the adversary, not the hero and Avenger of old. This is a disgrace.

The previously page tells us very little that a press release on any comics new website wouldn’t have already told us. It does little to give us a setup of what is going on, and really, isn’t that its job? If it’s ineffectual, why have it? Give us a page of actual story instead please. If I were a new reader, picking up an issue number one of a new series, I am lost. Where did Captain America come from? What was Tony Stark doing in Oklahoma? That’s what the previously page is for. Tell us!

The opening with Volstagg is too familiar, so familiar in fact that Norman should comment on how much this set-up looks and feels like what happened to the New Warriors. I mean, come on now, you mean to tell me no one in the media of Marvel Earth notices how similar this is? Well, at least on one good note, we won’t be seeing Volstagg in the Penance costume. Will we?

I also can’t help but think this is a case of writer Brian Michael Bendis picking on a character he deems useless. We’ve seen how he’s treated Tigra, and Hank Pym as well. Is this a case of pick on the fat guy? Also in this sequence I am reminded of one of the reasons I’m not so fond of artist Olivier Coipel, especially in unison with Bendis – the visuals are sometimes unclear – and the text does not help us out. Is everyone in Soldier Field vaporized? Inquiring readers not only want to know, they deserve to know.

I’m sure someone will answer that question for me, and perhaps the answer lies in one of the three dozen other parts of Siege, but if it does – isn’t it the job of the editor or the writer to let us know? I currently only buy three of the main Avengers titles plus Siege, so please do let me know. I mean, really, in this economy, Marvel can’t really expect us to shell out well over a hundred dollars on what is essentially a four-part story, can they? It’s bad enough we have here twenty-four actual story pages (some of them full page panels) out of thirty-nine pages for $3.99.

Quite honestly the Wikipedia entry for Siege tells me more than any single issue of this crossover event has told me so far. Shouldn’t this information be in the books themselves, and not sought out in desperation online? This is not how comic books are meant to be read.

Manipulated by Loki, and it’s truly beyond me how a supposed (no matter how mad) genius like him cannot know he is being manipulated, Norman Osborn declares war on Asgard. How he can circumvent the US government and the President to do this with an organization like H.A.M.M.E.R. that is in my assumption part of said government is also beyond me, but there you go. Such is the logic of Siege, and in many cases, logic in the Bendisverse. Is it me, or has Osborn committed treason, and attacked either a sovereign state, or a part of the United States itself? What exactly is the legal status of Asgard? No matter how you slice it, I think Normie is in big trouble.

As the story continues Norman convinces a very stubborn Ares to lead and plan the attack on Asgard. He refuses, as well he should. Historically, even before the Bendis days, Ares has never been all that bright, but he’s not stupid. Somehow, against all logic (again) the god of war agrees to do it. Not without threatening to decapitate Osborn if he’s lying. This is a sad comic indeed as this is really the only thing I am excited about – looking forward to Ares taking vengeance on Osborn.

After all the hubbub, and a ‘war plan’ included at the end of the story (more on this later), it is still painfully clear that there really is no plan other than ‘let’s get them.’ Now that works fine when it’s good guys versus bad guys and a dude with a shield yells “Avengers assemble,” but that’s not what’s happening here. A handful of metahumans, and an army of misguided former SHIELD agents and criminals are talking about an all-out assault on a floating continent full of gods. You need a plan!

From all indications, as the pages flip by, the ‘plan’ consists of Sentry flying holes in the superstructure of Asgard while the handful of metahumans, a helicarrier, and approximately (if we are to believe Coipel’s art on page seventeen) five dozen jet fighters are going with the ‘let’s get them’ thing. How does this make sense? How does it make sense to Ares? No one questions this? Where are the US armed forces? And where did H.A.M.M.E.R. get so many jets?

Thor appears, from Tony Stark’s bedside, yet calling on no help whatsoever, and goes to defend his people and homeland. He is treated as villain in the eyes of our story’s writer and his protagonists, and he is beaten down live on television, much like Volstagg and the New Warriors before him. Really? By the U-Foes? Really??? I know that these guys are painfully never written up to their true potential, but we’re talking Thor here. The Mighty –I can take Ultron and Kang on my own but choose not to- Thor. If this wasn’t the Bendisverse, he would get up in the next panel and pound all of his attackers into the dirt.

As with previous issues leading into Siege we are left with a last page cliffhanger of Steve Rogers saying something like “I’d better do something,” but no action. All I have to say is he’d better do something soon, because his Blue Lantern shine is beginning to dim. The remaining pages of the issue are filler, ads, a Hulk preview and a text piece better off fit into the story itself.

The Ares War Plan Transcript is a five-page text piece at the end of the issue (why not where it would have taken place chronologically?), that while interesting, could have been otherwise woven into the story itself, giving the story a more solid base and made it make a hell of a lot more sense. I can’t help but note that comic book writers of an earlier age could have done it and made it work – and been a more enjoyable and less dry read.

In the text piece, am I the only one that finds it disconcerting that these villains actually refer to themselves as ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Hawkeye’ and ‘Wolverine’? And again, in these five pages of text, apparently supposed to be a planning session for the siege, there remains no plan. And this is why superhero wars are so dumb. So is Garth Ennis interested in writing an Avengers story?

I didn’t like this book. I’m giving it a solid two out of five possible stars. This could be so much more, and with the reputed tagline of “the event seven years in the making” it should have been more. Especially while over at the Distinguished Competition, every issue of Blackest Night has elicited strong emotional reactions from me (even a positive hopeful one in the most recent issue), it is a sad commentary that the best Siege #1 can garner from me is a yawn.

	Glenn Walker
	Glenn has been a fan of Marvel Comics' Avengers since the early 1970s, when their current adventures were chronicled by Steve Englehart and their early exploits by Stan Lee in classic reprints featured in Marvel Triple Action. He has persevered through many incarnations of the team and he still loves the Avengers to this day.