Review: Siege- Mighty Avengers

SIEGE: MIGHTY AVENGERS (Marvel, 2010; Hardcover)
Collects Mighty Avengers Nos. 32-36 (cover dates February- June, 2010).
Here we are, at the end of yet another Marvel title, so that it can be subsequently rebooted and get a short-term sales spike with a new Number 1. Rinse. Repeat. This sort of thing gets tedious to us fans who like runs of titles, not fake renumberings or reboots with a new creative team. This story arc (written by Dan Slott) ties in ever-so-slightly with Siege, especially the ending of Siege. It seems hastily re-written so as to be labeled a Siege crossover and to gain those sales spikes. I am numb to crossovers anymore. I mean, can't we just have stories in regular titles? Events used to happen in regular titles that had ripple effects throughout the entire Marvel Universe. Nowadays, everything is set up to milk the maximum amount of dollars out of an ever-diminishing fanbase. Sorry to be so cynical, but that's just how I feel after reading this. So what did I think of the story? It was okay. Not great, not bad, but okay and worth a read. I kind of like this team of also-rans, although things do seem to fall apart by the end of the book. I enjoyed seeing Ultron back in action, as he is one of my all-time favorite Avengers villains. I'm not sure that I buy the "scientist supreme" Hank Pym...it seems pretty contrived. I wish that Marvel would turn the Avengers back over to Roger Stern. Now that would be something to get excited about!

Review: Siege- New Avengers; X-Necrosha

SIEGE: NEW AVENGERS (Marvel, 2010; Hardcover)
Collects Dark Reign: The List- New Avengers, New Avengers Nos. 61-64, New Avengers Annual No. 3 and New Avengers Finale (cover dates November, 2009- March, 2010).
This starts out strong...real strong. Yes, the 'witty' Brian Michael Bendis dialogue was present, but there was enough going on for me to consider this a satisfying read. New Avengers Annual No. 3 was great, and had beautiful artwork by Mike Mayhew. I am largely unfamiliar with his work but hope to see a lot more of it. He and Mike McKone (Artist, Issues 63 and 64) are the modern age's answer to John Romita, Sr. Solid, photo realistic artwork that hits all of the sweet spots for yours truly. I was having a good time reading these comic books until...just when I thought it was safe to like Bendis...there he goes again. The last several pages of the New Avengers Finale were nothing more than a series of pointless double page spreads that did nothing to further the story. They were almost as bad as the last few pages of Secret Invasion era Bendis where Hank Pym was riding in the car and they were telling him everything that had happened in his absence. So yeah, Bendis still sucks...sort of. 

X-NECROSHA (Marvel, 2010; Hardcover)
Collects Necrosha: The Gathering, New X-Men No. 32, New Mutants Nos. 6-8, X-Force No. 11, 21-25, X-Force/ New Mutants: Necrosha, X-Men Legacy Nos. 231-234 and material from X-Force Annual No. 1 (cover dates January, 2007- May, 2010).
This is a clusterphuck of continuity-defying, Blackest Night riffing nonsense. Let's bring back all of the dead characters! Horrible. Even Clayton Crain's beautiful artwork on X-Force couldn't maintain my interest or save this story arc. I wanted out even faster than the characters in the story. I no longer know these X-Men, and worse still, I no longer care. Everyone has been killed and brought back to life so many times that none of it means anything anymore. I am done with all of these ancillary X-titles and events and am sticking with Uncanny X-Men only from here on out. I have to be honest, though, the next time I sit down and read a stretch of that title will determine if I stick with even the flagship title any more. It breaks my heart to say this, but I don't like the X-Men anymore. The X-Men of the '70s and '80s are some of my favorite comic books ever published, but any more? It doesn't seem to matter, and that makes me sad.

Review: Siege

SIEGE (Marvel, 2010; Hardcover)
Collects Avengers: Free Comic Book Day 2009 (Siege Prologue), Origins of Siege No. 1, Siege Nos. 1-4 and Siege: The Cabal (cover dates May, 2009- June, 2010).
Longtime readers of my blog know of my disdain for Brian Michael Bendis' writing. Believe it or not, it was not always so. I really enjoyed the first 50 or so issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, and the first 2 or 3 arcs of New Avengers. The guy has come up with some interesting ideas, but ends up stretching them out to pad out trade paperbacks, and even then he usually fumbles the execution. House of M cleared the docket of all of the ridiculous mutants that they created. Secret Invasion could have literally helped reset the Marvel Universe, eliminating so much of the bad continuity that Marvel had in the late '90s/ early '00s. Both chances were squandered. Siege tends to follow suit in regards to this endless sea of crossovers. Interesting premise, the stage is set, the story progresses...and then the ending is fumbled.
(Spoilers ahead...you have been warned!)
First off, I cannot buy the whole Norman Osborn (a/k/a the Green Goblin) running the show thing. It's just not plausible. That said, having the 'Dark' Avengers as a foil to the real Avengers makes for an interesting read. It's nice to see the heroes finally acting like themselves after the whole Civil War/ Secret Invasion debacle. Bendis has tested the limits of my loyalty to these characters to the fullest. There were so many times, particularly at the end of Secret Invasion and it's Avengers tie-ins, where I was ready to throw in the towel. Too little story unfolding over too many pages. In Siege, we actually see Bendis ramp up the amount of story that is in each issue. I didn't feel ripped off this time, which is something that I haven't been able to say about a Bendis-helmed book in years. I do not like the way things ended, though. Loki turning  against Osborn at the end. The Sentry, quite possibly the worst creation in the Marvel Universe since Shatterstar, finally gets killed off. Not before taking Ares with him, though. That's kind of weak. I have some issues with Osborn's mortal horde of villains being able to take on all of Asgard. Really?? That seems to be something of a stretch, and I can't suspend my disbelief that much.
So what did I think about Siege? It was a mild disappointment, mostly for the reasons listed above. On a positive note, Bendis seemed to lay off of the decompression, a huge plus in my book. His dialogue still annoys me, but at least I wasn't subjected to entire issues of talking heads this time out. I did enjoy the Avengers: Free Comic Book Day 2009 issues. Some of the dialogue was awful, but the story seemed to work. Things seem to be improving. Who knows...maybe someday I may even...like Bendis. Maybe.