This is how I choose to remember The Sentry.
It’s fitting, I think, given that in my first real introduction to the character I watched him fly into space and tear Carnage a new body hole (which I find myself mad about in retrospect, because, damn, when was the last time we saw some good Spidey on Symbiote action?)
The internet has been abuzz about the death of another hero, so there really hasn’t been much talk on this issue (and I’m sorry for being late with this review!) and honestly, there doesn’t really need to be. The resounding feeling around the net is that this issue just didn’t work because of The Sentry’s very nature as a character retconned into the Marvel Universe.
This isn’t a funeral for someone like Captain America, Superman or Captain Marvel. Those are characters who we grew with and loved. I have never once cared about The Sentry, not even when the Avengers books tried to make me care about him. In fact, you could even say I hated him.
The funeral, where we get to read Reed Richards, Tony Stark and even Matt Murdock extolling the awesomeness that was The Sentry, doesn’t mean a damn thing because the readers have no emotional connection to those events and when we finally do get to see a sentiment which might match ours, they ruin the moment following this panel by having Ben Grimm also talk about how great The Sentry is.
I don’t think this issue was ever supposed to be satisfying to us fans, especially not on any sort of emotional level, but I think Paul Jenkins walked away from that script with a smile on his face. I doubt Jenkins was ever really consulted about what was done with the character after he first wrote him or if he even cares, but in the end he got to send off The Sentry, his creation, in the only way that really fit.
The Sentry was always a better concept that he was character: the long-forgotten hero who had hob-knobbed with the greatest of the great and battled the baddest of the bad. The Sentry was our favorite hero’s favorite hero – say what you will about this misguided attempt at weaving a meta-something through the Marvel Universe, but that’s got to count for something, right?
Oh, he also boinked Rogue, who is definitely like the holy grail of super-hero fanny.
Final Score: 0/5 – Only because he will be back (CLOC wouldn’t shut the hell up about it) and this funeral will mean even less.
