1265 ( )

Meh. ( )

On the one hand, this Siege tie-in was awesome - easily five stars. First, it has more Loki, who is mostly behind the scenes during the main Siege event, plus it details more happenings that lead into Siege instead of focusing solely on that epic battle. And though I was unfamiliar with this Mighty Avengers team, I found them engaging and interesting. However, the downside is that a quarter of the book is taken up by Ultron.

I loved learning more about Loki's scheming, beyond what was in "Siege: Loki"; this included his staging a confrontation with the Absorbing Man, in order to make Norman Osborn look heroic again. Plus, the book overlapped with the story arc where Loki impersonated the Scarlet Witch to fool the Mighty Avengers. They go so far as to capture Loki, and that story alone was worth the purchase of this book. Though this tie-in included a bit more background material not directly related to Siege, it was interesting and set the stage for these characters. Plus, the battle of the Absorbing Man against the Mighty and Dark Avengers was expertly played out.

The downside of this book, and why I deducted half a star, is that I found Hank Pym to be a loathsome, arrogant a@@ whose battle with Ultron was boring and had no influence on Siege. I'm not a fan of Ultron to begin with, and this event has more than enough villains without devoting a quarter of this book to a battle with him - a battle which has no other Avenger taking part. It was very disappointing.

Overall, most of this book was excellent and a great tie-in with the Siege event. It's especially good for those who are fans of Loki as he is more directly involved in the story. Though I didn't like Ultron's part, I still wouldn't hesitate to recommend this title. It's well worth reading. ( )

And here I thought that Marvel was trying to redeem the character of Hank Pym somewhat (although he's still creepy), but he seems like a self-absorbed jerk in this trade (once again). The Mighty Avengers disband, mainly because Hank is off his rocker, and while Siege is going on, Hank is too busy to take part until the end because he's giving his robot human limbs (and fighting off Ultron...again...but that's only after he's turned Captain America's request for assistance down). What a creep.

Speaking of going off his rocker, Quicksilver (one of my favorite characters) is fast approaching that as well. Loki's pretending to be the Scarlet Witch, which he doesn't know until the end of the book (yet another thing Pym decides to keep to himself). He's literally vibrating with rage. And with him living a lie (that a Skrull impersonated him and was the one who stole the crystals from the Inhumans) and his daughter (who knows it's a lie) hating him, all Pietro wants is his family - which is Wanda. I hope that his character is redeemed soon and he finds his way back into Luna's good graces once again. ( )