I walked away with a couple of things at the end of Siege #3. The first is that Marvel is, at least with this series, trying to make up for how long, drawn out and boring Dark Reign was. The second is that the House of Ideas is really trying to set the pecking order with Captain America, Iron Man and Thor before the Avengers title kicks off in the spring. Siege is clearly Marvel Comics coming in to clean house and set the stage for their Heroic Age era. Attacking the series from this standpoint has allowed Brian Michael Bendis to inject some real fun into Marvel Comics for the first time in awhile.
Siege #3 picks up with the arrival of Captain America and his ragtag group of Avengers who are trying to stop Norman Osbourne as his Dark Avengers from fully destroying Asgard. The intro to the title is nice because it shows the Government finally realizing how stupid they’ve been in trusting Osbourne and how much they truly owe the heroes they have been hounding for so long. The action in this issue is non-stop with everything from Sentry against Thor to the Avengers taking on a new sect of villains led by The Hood to just good old fashioned fisticuffs.
Beyond that I’ll leave Siege #3 in the dark because there’s way too much good stuff going on and I don’t want to spoil any of it. Bendis does a tremendous job of balancing the fun he’s having with the weight of the story. Siege is the end of a really dark period in Marvel Comics and for the series to be effective Bendis can’t lose sight of that. That doesn’t preclude him from putting in some nice touches such as B level heroes getting amped when Captain America says “Avengers Assemble” or the final back and forth between Spidey and Norman Osbourne. There’s also some twisted stuff, such as Osbourne’s face once his Iron Man style mask comes off and then there’s the end, which is tragic and awesome at the same time.
The pecking order within the main three of Cap, Iron Man and Thor is one of the central themes to the issue and Bendis brings that about subtly. Instead of announcing it or even saying it with dialog he unveils the idea just with structure. For example Captain America’s introduction is epic, inspired and completely heroic. Thor’s battle with Sentry is a violence tour-de-force, a moving, visual onslaught that jumps from the page. Then there’s Iron Man, his return is sudden, quiet but incredibly effective. At the end of the issue you see how The Avengers leadership will unfold. Captain America is the leader, the hero of the bunch. Thor is the enforcer, the conscious and Iron Man is the brains, the one who puts the plans together. It’s a really nice way to reunite these three iconic heroes and welcome them back to the fold.
Olivier Coipel’s art is again completely wonderful. There’s so much action in this issue that a real talent for movement and tension is necessary for Siege #3 to work. Coipel not only draws the characters with a real eye towards fluidity but also lays out the panels in interesting ways. Siege begins to acquire a life of its own and what Coipel leaves to your imagination fills in so quickly the action leaps right off of the page. Coipel also does great work with faces and “camera angles”. The battle he illustrates between Thor and the Sentry is classic comic book work.
Siege is setting up to be a real gem for Marvel in what’s been a year or more of real crap. This is how comic books should be, fast paced, solid storylines and plenty of action. I hope this title is Marvel trumpeting the end of their obsessive addiction to “political intrigue” and that the Heroic Age reminds us why we buy comic books. Siege #3 did that for me and that’s the greatest gift a comic can give you.
