Under Siege is considered by many comic book aficionados to be among the greatest Avengers stories ever written. In this arc, Baron Helmut Zemo, son of the original Baron Zemo (the man responsible for rigging the exploding plane that killed Caps sidekick Bucky Barnes), recruits the Masters of Evil to ambush Avengers Mansion, and savagely beat Hercules, Black Knight and the defenseless butler Jarvis. As the Masters of Evil ransack the mansion, Zemo ties up Captain America and forces him to watch the chaos. While Under Siege is notable for its quantity of quality character moments, writer Roger Stern arguably saves the best for last with Cap. When the dust settles and the Avengers defeat their adversaries, Caps great personal loss finally sinks in. For one of the few times in comic book history, Cap sheds a tear as he realizes that Zemo destroyed many of his most cherished personal possessions, such as his only photo of his mother. Cap being Cap admonishes himself for his selfishness, but Captain Marvel reminds him that mourning our losses is an integral part of what makes us human. Even during the stories where Captain America challenges the status quo, readers never saw him as earnest and relate-able as he is in the final chapter of Under Siege. Its a stunning bit of characterization from one of the true masters in Stern.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
