Siege Paperback – January 1, 2010

Seige brings an abrupt end to the entire "Dark Reign" era of Marvel comics, and it does so in an extremely satisfying manner. While I really loved the whole Dark Reign concept and the various storylines that went with it, it was a good time to bring it to a conclusion, and this series managed to do that in an epic fashion. Not only do favorite heroes make their return to prominence and public favor, but several evil schemers finally get the punishment that is coming to them. The return of favorite Marvel heroes and re-establishment of the "real" Avengers ushers in Marvel's new [self-dubbed] "Heroic Age." Seige offers great story-telling, great artwork, and great ramifications to the whole Marvel universe. I especially enjoyed witnessing the deaths of a few of my least favorite uber-powerful characters, including The Sentry and Ares. Now that I've read the core book of the event, I'm eager to try some of the peripheral story collections to see how well I enjoy those.I highly recommend this book to ALL Marvel fans, but especially those who are fans of Thor and the Asgardians!

A recommended starting point for newcomers to Marvel is Kieron Gillen's Journey into Mystery, Vol. 1. I enjoyed the series immensely and continued on with his Thor Ultimate Collection. That omnibus happens to include issues that precede and follow the Siege Event. Needless to say, I wanted to know what happened during Siege. So, I jumped to Straczynski's three volumes of Thor (all excellent), in order to work my way back through Marvel continuity toward Siege.I began with the Siege Prelude to try and orient myself to the state of this Marvel universe, and it was helpful. Siege opens with Osborn informing the Cabal that it is Loki's turn to be aided in taking over Asgard. Osborn wants to attack, but the president needs justification. Loki works with Osborn to create an inciting incident by setting up Volstagg to cause some major destruction, and Ares is tricked by Osborn into leading the assault with the Dark Avengers- and the Siege begins! Captain America gathers the Avengers, who have been in hiding from the superhero registration act, Nick Fury and Maria Hill resurface, and they all come to the defense of their friend, Thor. The Avengers fight better as a team, and they seem to make headway until the ultra-powerful Sentry brings Asgard crashing down and threatens all their lives. He can only be defeated by some very unlikely help.Loki's machinations from start to finish as he unfolds his plan are fun and interesting. And the actual assault has a lot of very exciting action sequences. But, one element that didn't work quite so well was the meeting/communications recaps. The book breaks from the action 3 times to provide a literal transcript of a prior meeting. The first such meeting is Osborn laying out his plan for the Dark Avengers. Later we get Fury's briefing of the heroes in training, and finally Maria Hill's communications with the president during Siege. While the background was interesting, it went on too long and pulled me out of the story. Still, I found this "event" to be an excellent story arc and I plan to read some of the tie-ins to get a fuller picture.While I would give the story five stars for being so well executed and action-packed, I give the book four stars because this edition (ISBN 0785148108) is not as good a value as the January 2012 Siege (that I didn't know about when I bought this book). The later edition has a higher retail but includes more of the related tie-ins. This hardcover includes: Siege #1-4, Siege: The Cabal, and Siege Digital Prologue. The expanded hardcover has the following additional material: Siege 1 Director's Cut, New Avengers (2005) 61-64 and Dark Avengers 13-16. As a newcomer it can be challenging to know which tie-ins are necessary/worthwhile, and I now have to search out those other issues not in this edition.Overall, this is definitely worth reading and an exciting event - just make sure to buy the best edition. Highly recommended, and now my curiosity is piqued to see how we got to this point. Looks like I'm going back to Civil War...

Major Event storyline for Marvel.

This book is a lot of fun, not too long, and you don’t need any additional context besides what’s in it. A must read.

The Siege graphic novel collects the one-issue Siege: The Cabal, issues #1-4 of Siege, and the single issue Free Comic Book Day 2009 (Avengers), all of which were originally published between 2009 and 2010. Like other Marvel hardcovers, the Siege graphic novel features medium-gloss paper, finished boards (with blue foil-stamping), and a sturdy but glued spine. Unlike Marvel's other big event graphic novels, however, Siege is regular-sized (approximately 7x10") and includes no extras save variant covers. Continuity-wise, Siege functions as a conclusion to events that began in Civil War and continued through Secret Invasion and Dark Reign. Though the book can be read on its own, readers without knowledge of these earlier series may have a difficult time making sense of the story.As an ending to Brian Michael Bendis's long run as Marvel's lead writer and idea man, Siege is something of a disappointment. Partly, this story of Norman Osborne's war with Asgard is simply too short--and too dependent upon tie-in books not collected here--to make for a compelling read. Though less scattered than Secret Invasion, Siege shares with that book a plot structure lacking clearly telegraphed rules. As a result, many of the story's key plot points seem forced and unbelievable (for instance: are we really to believe that Osborne possesses the power to single-handedly declare war on behalf of the United States?). The other issues included here--Cabal and Free Comic Book Day--work slightly better as self-contained stories, but their relation to Siege is tangential at best. The Free Comic Book Day book especially is blatantly out-of-sync with Marvel Universe continuity and, as an epilogue to Siege (which is where this book positions it), makes absolutely no sense. Art-wise, the entire graphic novel is decent, but Olivier Coipel and Mark Moarles's work on the main series is fairly unremarkable. Much better are Michael Lark (with Stefano Gaudiano on inks) and Jim Cheung's pencils for the other issues.If you've enjoyed Bendis's previous mega-events, you'll certainly enjoy this one as well. Other readers, however, may find it disappointing. Still, dedicated Marvel fans should pick this up, as it effectively relaunches the Marvel Universe for the new "Heroic Age." Casual readers just looking for some entertainment are better off picking up one of the tie-in books, such as Avengers: The Initiative (Siege), Siege: X-Men - Dark Wolverine & New Mutants, or Dark Avengers: Siege.

Always been a Marvel fan (not fanatic), and I found the Secret Invasion storyline to be pretty solid. So much so that I've wanted to read the Siege books. But with several graphic novels, I didn't know where to start. I opted for this volume because it seemed to be the starting point. Now that I've read it, I NEED TO BUY ALL OF THE SIEGE GRAPHIC NOVELS!Great job of story-telling. Great artwork. I am officially hooked!

.. Arrived very early, in excellent conditions, and at an excellent price (A book I'd been waiting for months to buy.. )Thanks, World of books!!!

É uma das melhores histórias da Marvel!

Got it by amazon in just 3 days. It has one of the best art and story from marvel. And paper quality is top notch. Love it. Nice to have it my collection.

Que ce soit au niveau du graphisme ou de l'intrigue, fear itself est vraiment top. Le combat Thor / Sentry laissera sa trace dans l'histoire de l'univers Marvel. Le seul regret: on aurait aimé que la "peur" soit un peu plus présente dans l'histoire.

Such a sweet comic. Great condition when I got it. Recommend to any marvel fan. Although you do need a bit of backstory for this one. Hit up Wikipedia first and read up on the events leading to this.