Everything Starts to Fall Apart

     After about a year of Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign, everything is about to come crashing down on top of him in Siege.  And the prologue to that is Siege: The Cabal, when Osborn’s little group of rulers also collapses.  Osborn talks with his Green Goblin mask about what to do with Asgard in Oklahoma, and “they” decide that it needs to fall, and that Loki can’t be trusted.  Osborn, in Iron Patriot attire, calls a meeting of the Cabal, which now includes Taskmaster.  Dr. Doom isn’t happy to see Taskmaster, and he tells Osborn to call off his attack on Namor or suffer his wrath.  Of course, after the events of Utopia, he refuses, and Doom claims he’s just picking off the members of the Cabal one by one.  Osborn calls in his bodyguard, and all hell breaks loose.  The Hood leaves, and the mysterious bodyguard slaughters Doom.  However, “Doom” is really just another Doombot, which releases a swarm of mechanical insects that prompts Osborn to evacuate Stark Tower.  The Sentry flies in and deals with the bugs, and Doom delivers an ultimatum through his Doombot.  Osborn fails to convince President Barack Obama of the need to invade Asgard, and he is forced to turn to Loki to find some reason for said invasion.

     The cover is a tad misleading, since it makes it seem like clear battlelines are drawn between the Cabal.  Really, Doom is against Osborn, Taskmaster supports Osborn, and Loki and Hood are kind of on their own side.  But this whole setup seems really cool.  I love how well Brian Michael Bendis is dealing with Osborn’s truly screwed-up psyche.  After all, it was in the pages of his own series, the Pulse, when Osborn’s identity was publicly revealed for the first time.  Sometimes, I wonder if he would be better writing Spider-Man, since he obviously gets Osborn, and he’s doing so well with Ultimate Spider-Man.  Anyway, I’m excited to see where this is going to go.  Loki has Osborn wrapped around his finger, and Osborn is clearly set to fall.  Michael Lark’s work is also quite good in this issue, even if Dr. Doom’s armor looks a tad clunkier than usual.  Definitely better than Alex Maleev’s disappointing work on Dark Reign: The Cabal.  The bugs look pretty cool too.  I don’t know what this new “heroic age” is going to turn into, but unless Bendis royally screws up Siege (which is possible), this should be an entertaining cap to all these years of stories.  I just hope he doesn’t mess things up at the last minute AGAIN.

Plot: 9.0      Art: 9.2      Dialogue: 9.0      Overall: 9.0