Title - Siege: The Cabal
Writer- Brian Michael Bendis
Art- Michael Lark
Summary:
Doom appears for a meeting of the Cabal to find that Osborn has recruited the Taskmaster to replace Emma Frost and Namor's seats. Tensions rise when Doom demands Namor's return and Osborn refuses. Osborn gives Doom an ultimatum, he's either in the Cabal or not. When Doom refuses, Osborn's secret ally enters the room and blasts Doom until he is apparently dead. However Doom is revealed to be a Doombot which begins to unleash a swarm of robotic insects. The insects begin to eat away the building and everyone inside. Osborn orders his Avengers to evacuate, but the Sentry remains to help Norman. He orders the Sentry to destroy the Doombot which disables the insects. Norman promises to pay Doom back for this assault with war. In a final transmission, Doom tells Osborn that he won't do anything because he's already fighting wars on too many fronts.
Comments:
The moment foretold in Dark Reign: The Cabal has come at last. Its actually been less than a year, but the Cabal has fallen apart. It was inevitable that the agendas of all these villains would break them apart. The most interesting part of this whole Dark Reign and Cabal plot is the way that the stories of all these villains have become entwined. The allegiances here have become very complex. Although Doom is breaking away from Osborn here, he is still allied with Loki (pending any big reveals in future issues of Thor) and Namor. They in turn have their own overlapping allegiances. I wonder if this was intentional, or just a product of everyone wanting to use all these characters. Doom has had enough appearances this year to make up for the absence during his death and return.
Doom's break from the Cabal is portrayed well. I like that he is still standing up for Namor. The scene between Norman and Doom is well played. The only disappoints are that we still don't know who Norman's secret ally is and that it looks like Doom will have zero role in the upcoming Siege event. Doom's involvement in all things Asgardian seems to be ending in Thor and the upcoming Doomwar looks to be drawing Doom away from events in the U.S. Bottom Line: * * * out of 5