Good io9 discussion the other day on the subject. Having read the first two issues, the first two Embedded accompaniments and the early New Avengers, Dark Avengers, Dark Wolverine and Initiative offerings, I’m inclined to say that it doesn’t yet suck but it will suck if it doesn’t pick up the pace soon. Spoilers after the jump.

(That is, click on the “read more” tag…)

The big event in Siege #2 is the Sentry ripping Ares in half. This follows Marvel’s recent crossover streak of killing off the scrub characters — Goliath! The Wasp! — and trying to make us care. The scene itself was wonderfully executed — paced right, drawn beautifully and conveying the clear sense that the Sentry has passed beyond predictably-unstable into genuine-menace territory. That’s reinforced by the Dark Avengers plot wherein we learn the Sentry is really just a drug addict (Hi, Tim Minear! What’s up, first season of Angel?) and that’s where this whole Void business comes from. (SHIT I SHOULD’VE USED A VOID CLIP… next time.) It all feels like a denouement. One io9 character predicted the Sentry will die at the end of Siege, and that’s the way it certainly feels, particularly after Nick Fury’s “you leave the Sentry alone” mission brief at the end of Siege #2. Thor’s going to fuck his ass up. (Dear Marvel: Ares’ kid does the job, that will be lame.)

But who cares if the Sentry dies? The character was a Wizard-borne hoax turned deus ex machina that’s lost its original meta charm. If the Sentry dies, it’ll be Marvel correcting a prolonged mistake — which is fine, but it’s not the sort of thing that emotionally anchors a good story. The downfall of Osborn and the reunion of the Thor-Captain America-Iron Man troika is going to be worth the price of admission, from my perspective. Because I know what I want from this series: not an epic, but a conclusive restoration. The panel in Siege #2 where Jarvis gives Steve the briefcase that every fanboy/girl knows contains Iron Man armor made me get momentarily emotional. And I was in an Amtrak line. That’s what I want from Siege, and it’s what I’m going to get.

That supports Graeme McMillan’s point that the story is too telegraphed to get anyone excited. Civil War, by contrast, really was new territory. Billing Siege implicitly as the finality to what started in Disassembled and accelerated in Civil War lends itself to a certain get-on-with-it-ness. And that’s where the disjointed pacing of the story comes in: two whole issues of Dark Avengers published during Siege are actually prequels. Same with New Avengers. Meanwhile, the pacing is really fast in the Siege books themselves. Don’t get me wrong — I’m going to like Siege. I’m just not sure if I’m going to like liking it. (Something my father used to say to me when I’d complain: “You’ll like it and like it!”)

Finally: has anyone else noticed there’s no actual siege of Asgard in Siege? Osborn’s Dark Avengers and H.A.M.M.E.R. are simply conducting an assault on Asgard. Where’s the blockade?