Marvel’s Next Event: The Siege
Marvel Comics is starting a mini-event in December and it is a DOOZIE. Its entitled “The Siege” and references the fact that Norman Osbornes final push in the Marvel Universe to consolidate power is to lay Siege to Asgard. This will bring him into conflict with his own dark cabal,superheroes and the gods of Asgard; but Norman is crazy and he might not care of the consequences. A brief run down of how we got here is at the end of this post in a trailer provided by Marvel Comics themselves. They have released 8 separate posters to advertise the event. The writer of the event, Brian Michael Bendis, has said this event will once again change the landscape of the Marvel Universe. So we will get the Avengers line up shake up, and a new status quo much like with the recent “Dark Reign”. So lets get to those posters!
The first of many Siege posters released by Marvel. This one details some interaction of a man with a briefcase offering Steve Rogers the Iron Man suit. Is he offering the suit? This wouldn’t be the first time that Steve has worn an Iron Man suit, the last being when he was near death when his super-soldier serum stopped working. Could the fact that Tony Stark being severely injured make it necessarily for Steve to put on the armor to take on Norman Osborne? The smart money says this is a bit of a swerve, though it would be interesting if Normans Iron Patriot took on Steve Rogers in an Iron Man suit. Definitely an intriguing poster to get us on our way.
The second poster reveals that Wolverine is about to give some fatherly discipline to his errant son. Daken has been subtly manipulating any and all parties as he took on his fathers namesake to join the Dark Avengers. The ugly art of Daken aside, what is it that finally pushes Logan to confront his son, especially knowing that simply seeing Logan brings out the absolute worse in Daken? This poster doesn’t say much of anything aside from the fact that Logan looks to be publicly taking back his identity from the usurper son.
The first poster that rings so badly art wise, that the message seems to be lost. With the release of Dark Reign: The List- Amazing Spider-man next week, we will know whether the big confrontation between Norman and Peter Parker will happen there, or in the Siege event. Now what is the art trying to say? Aside from the fact that Spider-man apparently got his suit waxed and buffed and had some horrible leg accident, it seems that the mask has been forcibly removed, a metaphor to Peter revealing the true colors of Norman forcibly? Will Peter finally take the gloves off and beat Norman to a pulp publicly revealing what the Green Goblin has done? Thats what this poster is implying, but with the fact that it is the Goblin mask and not the Iron Patriot helmet, could Normans be reverting back to his classic look? There seems to be a pattern of masks being taken off by force, will the Siege event be about the Dark Avengers and Norman finally being outed by the public? Since this is the end of Dark Reign, I deem this quite likely.
Ok so there is a mysterious flying guy who seems to be provoking fear from the populace that he is flying over. Since he is flying directly under the sun, and he has a cape, this is definitely Sentry. Bendis has stated that the Sentry’s storyline will be exposed and wrapped with Siege, we just will have to wait and see what side The Sentry chooses. There is one other option, the shadow isn’t Sentry but his darker half, The Void. Could the Void be released and come after any and all comers, and if so, what happens to Bob?
This is a classic poster that Tv shows, soap operas, basically any kind of entertainment tries on its audience to build anticipation. Marvel has done it themselves with the much maligned “One More Day” and what happened there? Not a single ONE of the people pictured turned out to either be in the story or have much of an impact. So Marvel I ask you, why the hell should I care or trust this poster in the slightest? The only characters that make sense as a secret power behind Norman is the Molecule Man (who Emma Frost would have been able to screw over honestly) and Mephisto. If it is the Marvel stand in for Satan, there will be a lot of expectations for this story and I hope Marvel has the guts to go through with it. Mephisto would hang around a human to bring a reign of darkness over everything. Because when things are the bleakest, thats when people will sell their souls to him for anything.
The reason JMS left the Thor comic. Too soon? Too bad, cause this basically looks like Thor gets into a fight over his head and will lead to him teaming up with his old compadres. Now I know in the Thor comic he has lost the Odinpower, but its still Thor here. Only Ares could really give him a run for his money, and here we get the Dark Avengers kickin his teeth in. Granted, the Dark Avengers do have the power to pull this off, but not the teamwork needed. There had better be an excellent reason that Thor is losing this fight other than, “we needed a reason for him to ask Tony and Cap for help.” To go into the art, I just want to know why Thor has that skull on his helmet, I guess he needs to be grim darker now that he has lost his kingdom. The shadowed figure might seem like a big deal, but chances are that its simply Ares and the artist’s style just looks like that. Or the fact that beating on the Thunder God wasn’t suspenseful enough, so you wonder who is carrying a fully colored sword, but is himself, only shadowed.
This is a fascinating picture and not just because Bucky looks to have been working out. First of all, he is still dressed as Captain America! How can that be with Steve Rogers back? Check out…a helluva lot of books to figure that out. Back to the poster though, the fact that the Iron patriot armor is smoking, the helmet is off and Norman is smiling is where the great stuff is. The red background gives you the idea of the rage Bucky feels, and Normans grin indicates either his insanity or that something bad is going to happen to Bucky if he goes through with it. Basically being a disappointment to Steve. Will Bucky play a major role in Siege? Count on it.
Finally we come to the last poster of the Siege barrage, and thats the fall of Asgard. It hasn’t even been here for that long and already Asgard is tumbling. Normans Siege of Asgard is going to shake up this Marvel Universe, but has he bitten off more than he can chew? Think about this for a second: Norman is picking a fight with Dr. Doom, a city of Gods, Thor, and the Marvel Superheroes. Granted, they have been acting inept and pissed off at each other, but thats still a lot of firepower. Unless Normans back up power is the Beyond (and don’t think that wont piss off the fans) I do not think the Thunderbolts and Dark Avengers are going to be too much of a threat. That secret power of Normans might be Mephisto, and that might give him more power than it seems, but I have a feeling there is a swerve here. Initial guess? The Void is the secret power along with or without Mephisto. Here is hoping that Siege can be a great story that gets the readers talking, and has better art than that Spidey teaser. Yeesh. For those that need a neat little recap here is the trailer for Marvels: Siege, coming soon!
Source: Comic Book Resources & Marvel Comics
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NK Flickr!
PULL THE TRIGGER BUCKY!
Absolutely fantastic. Can’t wait for it.