Age of the Sentry #1 - The Origin Begins

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows I'm a Sentry fan. I don't think Marvel has treated him well at all, but he's a cool character who deserves better treatment. After several strange attempts to give him an origin story, Marvel is at it again with this miniseries. This time around the stories are written as if they'd come out in the Silver Age of comics.

It's hard to grade this story because it's purposefully written as if it had come out decades ago. As such, it really does fit the mold of the older Superman stories I read as a kid (and that you'll find in the "Showcase Presents" TPBs). We are introduced to Sentry, his sidekick, a love interest, and even a super pet of sorts. There's the over-the-top villain mastermind (with 3 brains), and the monster stealing his powers. And along the way, we see the origin of the Sentry again. This one agrees with the origin revealed in the New Avengers story arc from a few years back.

The artwork here is, again, purposefully drawn in the old style. As such, Sentry appears overly muscular in some parts. Also, his old costume with the cowl never really seemed that cool compared to his long hair look, but it fits with the time frame they are trying to write for. It looks like old Superman comics in places.

While I'm really happy to see them giving Sentry another shot at a solo miniseries (this is his third), I can't say I'm thrilled with how they're doing it here. It was interesting to see those flashes from the supposed "lost issues" during his first miniseries and the New Avengers storyline, but I'm not sure how it will hold up to six issues. Of course, I could be wrong and Marvel could pull out some awesome surprises before its through. I'll definitely be back for the next issue just because I like the character, but anyone with just a passing interest in him will probably skip it altogether.

Mighty Avengers #18 came out last week, and while I've been reviewing past issues because of their importance in the Secret Invasion, I'm skipping this one altogether. It's supposed to be an important Nick Fury back-story about how he led his new secret commando team to capture Maria Hill because she was a Skrull, but we all know she wasn't a Skrull because of what happened in Secret Invasion #5, so the entire issue is a waste of paper and time. No suspense because we know ahead of time the entire team will make it out of the mission alive (we've seen them in the aforementioned issue of SI), and there's no suspicion of Maria Hill. A stupid filler issue.

Also, New Avengers #45 came out this week, but I'm not giving it an in-depth review either. Basically, it's more of the same old back-story stuff of what happened during the "House of M" storyline for the Skrulls. Nothing major occurs. You learn nothing by reading it, and you miss nothing by ignoring it. Marvel continues to kill their audience for these books by giving them "fascinating" stories that don't matter to anyone. Whereas these could have been great side ventures into the aspects of survival during the invasion, we are given nothing but filler stories. I have a feeling these will be the worst-selling trade paperbacks in both of the Avengers series.



Until the Secret Invasion series is over, it's safe to toss Mighty Avengers and New Avengers aside. Save your money for better books.