Review: Siege #4
So... OK, well, Siege is done and it certainly ended with a bang. I'd say this is a very solid finish to the book: some very satisfying moments, epic punch-outs, heroes who are effective and a believable launch to Marvel's next great story arc, the Heroic Age. I'm still not a huge fan of these massive crossover events and I'm not sure every moment was read by me in the manner intended by its authors, but I did very much enjoy it.
The unbelievably silly advertising on the back didn't hurt, either.
So, I'm glad all that business with the Sentry is over for now - at least, over for as long as Marvel deems it convenient. I type this with the dark certainty that even now there are probably Sentry-centric books in the works or perhaps sitting on comic store shelves and I just don't know enough to know that. Leave me to my illusions, people. I'm so sick of the Sentry I could cry. That doesn't matter, though; what matters is that we got to see Thor beat the hell out of the Sentry with his hammer. Nice.
That was pretty emblematic of the whole issue, actually: this one was mostly about heroes being good at stuff and that's always a nice change. Part of what drives me batty about these big crossover events is that they're about heroes having their power taken away and that isn't why I read these books. I recoiled for a moment when some character - I can't even tell who in the frame - decided that the loss of their power boost meant they were "screwed". I get that this is the Sentry, yes, I actually did notice awe on the menu of options I simply chose not to have any, but whiny heroes do not a heroic age make. That sentiment survives for less than that panel, though, as various supers are back up and at it right away. The image of Cap holding off the Sentry's evil licorice with his shield was pretty sweet; the ones of his shield slicing the Sentry up were even sweeter. Heck, we even got a second helping of Captain America's shield connecting with Norman Osborn's face. I'm pretty sure that qualifies as fan service but I'm a fan so, well, thanks!
That said, I was sad that again Wiccan and Hulkling and the rest of the Young Avengers didn't have anything to do. It's nice to see the character of Wiccan score a funny line but that was about it. Maybe next series, which apparently will start over the summer? We'll see.
Overall, though, this was about superheroes doing big, clever stuff - the ship as bullet, Thor's rage-on, Captain America in the Oval Office, the party at Avengers Tower, Thor and the other Asgardians showing up on a rainbow - and that's just fine as an introduction to the Heroic Age. The way this series concluded and the names they have working on the new Avengers books have me very interested in the next few months of Marvel overall. I've always been a DC kid but good writing is good writing is good writing. Siege wasn't perfect by any wild stretch of the imagination - too many god-guts for me, frankly, and anything featuring the Sentry bears an indelible stain - but it was better than anything else Marvel has produced in the massive-metaplot-resolution-crossover genre in quite a while.
But wait! My copy has an advertisement on the back for Norton Internet Security 2010. It says, "Tony Stark's identity is at risk. Yours could be next." For real? First off, Tony Stark's identity is known. I realize the product attempts to protect from identity theft and that's what they're talking about but it isn't how it reads, which puts it immediately out of touch with the very product that carries it, at least superficially. Second, does a free Iron Man comic push a lot of Norton anti-virus software out the door down at Computer Hut? Somehow I don't see the youth clamoring for security software. Maybe it's a huge success as cross-promotions go, I don't know, but it struck me as so incongruous, so out of place, that I burst out laughing when i saw it.
Klarion
Posted to Review on 24 May 2010
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: Siege
However, something just occurred to me: there's no discussion in the book of what happened to Broxton. That's extremely disappointing and it kicks the book down a couple of notches for me.
I actually thought the Sentry was taken down too easy. The battle didn't do it for me. I would have bought the freshly re-animated Thor holding his own against Sentry, but he was powered down a lot after bringing back the whole kingdom of Asgard and all it's inhabitants. If Sentry could rip Ares in half and obliterate Loki with a wave, what chance did Thor really have of incapacitating him in any way?
Also, there was no resolution as to what exactly Sentry was. Was he some strange incarnation of the Beyonder or something? Sigh...ah well, guess that'll have to wait for his inevitable return. Give me strength!
> his inevitable return
Noooooooooooooo!
I was happy to put my fingers in my ears and go la la la and accept that during their temporary power boost the various Avengers did enough damage to let Thor go all hammer-happy later. You're right, though, that it was out of sync with how the rest of the comic has portrayed the power levels involved.
Honestly, though, once the Sentry is involved my eyes glaze over and my brain checks out. He's one of the worst ideas Marvel has ever had and I will meet them halfway on any story that gets him off the stage.
Good lord, I wish the Sentry would never come back. I know he will, because he's a character that was made to be shoved down our throats to stifle any protests.
I thought the final battle was a bit of a miss also. Maybe I'm just tired of these yearly over-the-top event battles, but there was just no drama in it for me.
I agree with Kwan and ougeoman.
(I just got around to reading it, so sue me.)
The Sentry was obliterated too easily, and with little blood lost (Ares and Loki --who were both being jerks so it doesn't really tug on my heartstrings). There was no real heroic sacrifice, no real hard choices to be made. They just punched harder, and hit harder, and "The Angel of Death" was beaten to a pulp in a few pages.
If you set something up to be an unstoppable, uber-powered, end-of-all-things then you can't just give him a couple lighting "KRACKTHOOOM" pages and burn him in the sun.
This ending was woeful, but I've been disappointed throughout (well Number 2 was the least terrible issue). No real emotional attachment to any of this splashy action anywhere.
Give me a Darkest Night any day (*rimshot*) of the week. ;-)