For those who watched Supernatural last night… do you think that future Sam (actually Lucifer in Sam’s hot bod) seemed more than a bit stereotypical with his speech patterns, dandyesque white suit and rose cultivating?

via WayOutWest

Well it seems that the lesson Norman Osborn took away from the Marvel U’s Civil War was that you can sell anything to the public as long as you scare them first with a sufficiently tragic instigating event. So the Green Goblin has decide to set public opinion against Asgard by setting up an unsuspecting Volstagg with the U-Foes.

Beginning with the ravaging affects of Avengers Disassembled and following the aftermaths of House of M, Civil War and Secret Invasion, culminating with the evil Reign of Norman Osborn, the Marvel Universe has been left with its greatest villains holding more power and control than ever before. On the brink of madness, Osborn, in his final bid to take total control, targets the final obstacle in his mission…Asgard.

Events are set in motion forcing our heroes to put aside the deep rifts that have grown over the past seven years. Opposing them stand a horde of evil that has begun to take down the gods of the Golden Realm! SIEGE will rock the foundations of every super hero, villain and team in the Marvel Universe. As an era ends, one word will ring above all others…”SIEGE.”

I’m sure Stormin Norman plans to sweep right on in there using his “mystery ally” and easily round up a bunch of immortals, but his plans may be derailed by the reunion of Marvel’s own Trinity – Thor, Iron Man and captain America. They’ll wipe the floor with him and his “Dark” Avengers.

As a special holiday treat, I’ll be peppering the posts with some random and very odd Christmas selections… ENJOY! First we have the infamous Wet Spots with their beloved holiday classic… Fist Me This Christmas. It’s time to gather the whole family and sing along!

If you were wondering exactly how Selene assembled her little gang of death dealers, than this one shot should fill in a few blanks for you…

Selene’s Inner Circle stand revealed… Wither, Mortis, Senyaka, Eli Bard and Blink. But what led Selene to gather some of the deadliest mutants in the world? Why would one of the X-Men’s students join her? Who is Mortis? How is Blink alive? The stories of the Black Queen’s death dealers are told in this anthology one-shot by some of today’s hottest artists!

This collection of short tales whets my appetite but still left me with a lot of unanswered questions… Will Selene be banned from the Hellfire Club (which looked more like a Fridays or Hard Rock Cafe than an exclusive private club) for killing the help? How did Selene know where to look for Blink? (short answer = sorcery) Why didn’t Emma or Jean detect her in years past? How did Selene transform the innocent child she was into a murderous puppet? (short answer = sorcery) Why didn’t Lois London wonder why her half-sister Dazzler was suddenly a strange brunette? (again short answer = sorcery)

I must say that the combination of Mystique’s new Jean Grey persona and blue and white Dark X-Men uniform is sheer brilliance. A beautiful homage to her original white belted tunic costume. I’m SO happy that Nate’s coming back to 616 continuity, but I hope he doesn’t end up a prisoner in Norman Osborne’s “Omega Machine.”

X-MAN, A.K.A. NATE GRAY IS BACK! Sadly, the X-Men that he first encounters are Norman Osborn’s X-Men and they don’t like the idea of an Omega-level mutant that won’t tow the company line. Do they have a chance of defeating X-Man? And if they don’t, what does that mean to Osborn’s agenda?

Now that Nate has gotten up to speed on the status quo of the Marvel u since he’s been gone, it should be a bit harder to trick him into a trap.

Magneto bonds (and scares) the X-kids. Wolverine sings the praises of… Cyclops? Iceman explains his roles as the X-Men’s class clown via inner monologue. Colossus channels his grief into art.

A mutant nation has been created on UTOPIA, off the coast of California. But what does that mean to the X-Men? Don’t miss the series that delves into the lives and minds of your favorite X-Characters. This issue stars Colossus, Wolverine, Nightcrawler and others!

These sort of character-driven vignettes allow for exploration of the psychological affect of the various x-tragedies since M-Day that have most recently resulted in the creation of the X-Men’ s new island utopia. Some stories were better than others… overall the DCU Holiday was a better anthology.

Lovin the concept of this series but so far not overwhelmed with it’s excellence. I love Abigail Brand and am interested in reading more about her, so I’m sticking it out for at least 5 issues.

Extraterrestrials are no longer welcome on Earth. So say goodbye to Marvel Boy, Beta Ray Bill, Karolina from the Runaways and a ton of others…including Agent Brand and Lockheed! Henry Gyrich has turned the tables on our heroine and her time as head of S.W.O.R.D. is coming to a close.

I’ve ALSO always hated former Avengers government appointed liaison Henry Peter Gyrich, so once she starts actively working against him (and she’s now going to have to) it should pick up.

Clint Barton is in custody and that leaves not only Barton’s life in severe jeopardy but all the New Avengers are at serious risk. So the ladies of the Avengers ban together to do what they have to do in a double-sized blockbuster Avengers story with a startling new chapter in the life of Jessica Jones. Brought to you by Brian Michael Bendis and artist extraordinaire Mike Mayhew.

DC asked readers to send in postcards if they wanted to see the amazing amazon’s title reset back to it’s original numbering when it reached its landmark 600th issue. By their Halloween deadline they’d gotten 712 and late entries brought the total close to 800. As of June 2010 Wonder Woman will return to the old numbering with issue #600.

via the Source