Siege

At this point I'm two or three events behind with Marvel. In fact, the last event I followed dutifully was Final Crisis, owing to Grant Morrison being the main writer.

Out of curiosity I decided to read Siege. Siege is a four issue mini-series with at least three times that many tie-ins. The tie-ins I read are Dark Avengers #25, the Sentry one shot, and maybe one or two others.

Bluntly put, Siege is a pointless mess. Norman Osborn, head of H.A.M.M.E.R. and the Dark Avengers, decides to invade Asgard. Asgard is now situated in the American Midwest, for reasons I'm not entirely clear on. Norman's stated motive is that having Asgard on Earth is un-natural and dangerous, which is probably true. Osborn's ultimate goals aren't entirely clear, though. Does he just want to level the place and kill all the gods? Or take it over?

Either way, Loki is seen manipulating him into acting. Does that make Osborn a tragic hero? An anti-villain who means well? A power hungry lunatic? Or just some poor sap being played like a fiddle by Loki? The story doesn't really specify. And what is Loki's motive? Presumably taking over Asgard, but again the text doesn't specify.

After the president denies his first request to attack Asgard, Loki tells Osborn he needs a galvanizing incident to turn public opinion , and thus the president, to his side. This is exactly how Civil War started, as Loki helpfully reminds any readers who may have forgotten this. The president remains steadfast after Osborn's manufactored event, however. Osborn basically says "Fuck it," and attacks Asgard anyway, rendering the entire plot point irrelevant.

Ares is wary of Osborn and doesn't want to join the assault. Osborn tells him Loki has taken over Asgard and Ares, who didn't trust him 30 seconds ago, takes Osborn completely at his word on this and takes his place leading Osborn's army.

The battle starts as Osborn throws an army of super villains at Asgard. Ares realizes he's been tricked about two minutes in, and the Sentry rips him in half. Then Captain America counter attacks with an army of super heroes. The bad guys are defeated and the Sentry loses control and kills Loki. That's about the whole plot, basically some text written to string together the splash pages showing every possible character diving into the fray.

The Sentry has finally succumbed to the Void, his evil half, and in the end of issue #4 Thor kills him to stop that threat. That's pretty much it. The only point of interest is the final fate of the Sentry, a Miracleman clone created by Paul Jenkins.

Remind me in the future to not break my fast of crossover events.