Roger Stern was a solid Marvel writer in the 1980s under the editorship of Jim Shooter. We rarely see such dependable work-horse comic-writers today. "Under Siege" remains one of Sterns greatest writings (along with his work on Dr. Strange). There is an almost effortless feel to the way Stern seems to nail down the characterization of all the characters (most notably on the second-stringers like Black Knight, Hercules, Wasp, etc.) John Buscema and Tom Palmer provides the art. The art really shines in the last chapter when the heavyweights like Thor and Captain America join the fray to reclaim Avengers Mansion. We see the restrain and control in Buscema's powerful art - Thor vs. Goliath, Cap vs. Wrecker and finally Cap vs. Baron Zemo. A lesser artist, thinking he's the next-Kirby, would have drawn the whole thing in a loose, in-your-face, full page splash, zero storytelling style. But not Buscema and Palmer. See their art here and you'll know why Buscema was THE Marvel artist of the 1970s and 80s.
[Note: I originally wrote the above review for Amazon.com in 2004.]
