'The Siege' ends years of twists, turns & mayhem

Marvel Editor-In-Chief

Joe Quesada

has gone on record saying "The Siege" is a story that will leave you wondering "How can they

ever

top that?"

Hype? Sure. But after reading three of the four installments, Comics Guy has to ask "How are they going to top it?" - especially if the fourth and final issue gives us a conclusion and payoff worthy of the first three.

This is great, epic stuff - on page after page and panel after panel. Those who are picking up a comic for the first time in a while will instantly understand the players and stakes involved - while longtime readers will see "The Siege" as a satisfying payoff to seven years of twists, turns and mayhem in the Marvel Universe and a nice setup to the company's upcoming "Heroic Age."

Indeed, this series marks the first time in nearly a decade that Marvel's Holy Trinity of Captain America, Iron Man and Thor are working together and that the majority of Marvel's heroes have put aside their differences to unite against a common threat.

It's also refreshing to see old icons re-enter the fray and to have the events that take place in "The Siege" mean you are able to tell the good guys from the bad without a scorecard again. Heck, even President Obama is shown to be bewildered by the rapid change of the status quo that takes place.

Issue No. 3 has one of the best cliffhangers Comics Guy has ever seen in a comic and if the conclusion is worthy of all that has come before, then "The Siege" is destined to be talked about for as long as people talk about comics, and will stand as Quesada's crowning achievement.

Comics Guy cannot recommend this book enough. It is a shining example of how fun, epic and emotionally powerful the medium can be. Do not miss it.

If you ever wonder why some editors or publishers may be afraid to take chances, here's a reason: The announcement that Greg Rucka, the driving force behind the new Batwoman, is done with both the character and DC Comics for the forseeable future so he can focus on creator-owned projects. Rucka's "Detective Comics" - which starred Kathy Kane, the new Batwoman since Bruce Wayne has been (temporarily) dead - has been getting rave reviews and has won a GLAAD Media Award for it's portrayal of Kane, who is a lesbian.

That has generated such intelligent responses as "DC is too cowardly to continue the best comic they've produced in years," "Homophobia is alive and well at DC comics" and "they must know there's some sort of substantial loss in advertising/sales that's just not letting them go ahead with it.

Either that or top brass in Time Warner are tea party members and/or Republicans and are stopping it themselves."

Right. DC creates the character, has her handled by one of their best writers and has her star in one of their longest-running and prestigious books - which likely garnered her more eyeballs than a solo series off the bat - and some want to portray DC as a bunch of neanderthals because Rucka wants to do something else?

Despite that they created the character and promoted her in the first place? Despite the fact that they have had long established white characters like Firestorm, Blue Beetle, the Atom and The Question replaced by a black, a Hispanic, an Asian and a lesbian respectively - and promoted the hell out of them?

Comics Guy gives DC props for having the guts to create and promote these characters and take chances, despite knowing that doing so will involve inevitable criticism from not only the Right side of the political spectrum - but often the Left as well.

As DC's Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler and Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns said in a statement: "We have plans for Batwoman and we want Greg to write it, but he's focusing on his career right now. There's no shelving."

Though Angela Bassett definitely has the acting chops and emotional heft to play Amanda Waller - one of the harshest, toughest characters in the DC Universe - in the new "Green Lantern" film, some feel she is a bit "light" for the role, since in the comics Waller looks more like Mo'Nique than the still slender Bassett.

More interesting to Comics Guy is the rumor that Bassett's Waller will act as a Nick Fury-style character that will appear in DC's future offerings and link them to a future "Justice League" film. One possible wrench in that scenario is that Christopher Nolan has already made it clear that in his Batman and Superman films he wants each to be "the only superhero" in their respective worlds.

Of course, there is a lot of money at stake and Nolan still works for Warner Brothers - so it's still possible a Waller cameo could apear in Nolan's films.

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