Siege: Captain America (one shot)

Written by Christos N. Gage
Pencils and Inks by Federico Dallocchio
Review by Dan Tres Omi

I thoroughly enjoy the Dark Reign crossovers. Having Norman Osborn in charge of the Avengers and H.A.M.M.E.R. (which is just Osborn's evil version of S.H.I.E.L.D.), allows several characters to take a back burner and 2nd and 3rd rate characters to really see the light. Not to mention the fact that several political factions such as Dr. Doom's Latveria, Namor's Atlantis, Wakanda and the Inhumans are realigning themselves with different groups never tried before.

The Siege story arc is really shaking things up. As usual, Marvel tries to really capitalize a story arc by not just doing crossovers but publishing one shots or mini series that coincide with the story such as the Secret Invasion Embedded. I decided to pick up Seige: Captain America since the actual Seige limited series is very good.

I should have left it on the shelf. I expected Captain America/Steve Rogers and Captain America/Winter Soldier to take on Venom (as depicted in the promo poster for the Siege crossovers). I thought that would have been a good battle. Of course, that didn't happen. Instead both Captain Americas end up fighting some 4th rate villain who isn't worth the pencils he is drawn with.

What saves this lackluster story is Federico Dallocchio's artwork. Dallocchio who has done loads of work at DC, brings a wonderful touch to Captain America. The artwork is great and really drips off the page. Other than that, one can afford to miss this issue.