Comic Book Resources

Fables isn’t ending any time soon. On Willingham’s website he says he’ll keep the series going as long as he has ideas, which he indicates should be for some time. He says he has it planned through at least issue 100 at this point.

Also, doesn’t the guy on the cover of that Star Wars book remind you of Grimjack? With Ostrander writing, I’m sure that’s no coincidence.

Why haven’t you been asking us to help you buy your comics lately?

This week’s Cable & Deadpool is VERY GOOD, as is this week’s Green Arrow #75.

Yes, Sentry IS that strong. In the initial Sentry series, it’s established he’s the counterpart to Superman, just head and shoulder above everyone else in the Marvel U. In the second series, he takes down Terrax the Tamer (a seriously cosmically powered badass) effortlessly.
That said, yeah, the issue was lackluster.

Going with Stephane, The Sentry’s tagline is that he has “the power of a million exploding suns.” It’s pretty convenient that The Sentry was established as one of the Hulk’s greatest friends in the original Sentry miniseries, because otherwise the fight between them in WWH would consist of Sentry picking Hulk up and throwing him into the sun.

I believe Spider-Man said he was the most powerful human being in the galaxy, which could, technically, leave Gladiator stronger, as Gladiator is a Shi’ar.

And I totally agree that Marvel has a hard-on for Sentry that seems unmatched by the fans. They use him in these crossovers as if he’s Wolverine, or the Hulk, or any other character that people actually want to see in crossovers. And they always use him the same way; I think it’s funny that he’s uber-insecure, but why is that the only thing they ever write? Is it because he’s the only character who acts that way?

What happens when Sentry fights The Molecule Man (who, I believe, was already established as the most powerful human being in the Marvel Universe when some other writer or editor had a hard-on for him)?

I hope Galactus eats Sentry. He seems really boring, above all else.

I don’t know why everyone hates the Sentry so much. If you read the original series he was written for, it was clearly designed to be self-contained and it was actually really good, and kind of sad. That said, it was a horrible blunder to bring him back into the mainstream universe. I suppose we can all thank Bendis for that one.

Ah yes, the Sentry – I remember when he sounded like an interesting character, back when he seemed to be a comic-book character living in the real world – for about half an issue. After that… oh dear; all that tedious Void stuff, and not a lot else – he’s rapidly getting known for being “that guy who throws people into the sun”.

I found the “Sentry makes the Hulk act like a lonely puppy” stuff entertaining, but I imagine that won’t work this time…

The art in the limited series was just a warm-up for “Eternals”, wasn’t it? And quite right too.

Acespot: to be honest, since the kid got out of school, my schedule has been thrown into a bit of turmoil, and I’ve simply forgotten to ask which comics I should buy this week. I usually remember when I’m writing these posts, and smack my forehead like Homer Simpson and say “Doh!” It’s fun to do, so I’ll try to remember next week.

Spider-Man used the generic term “guy.” I’d count Gladiator (plus a bunch of other cosmic people who may or may not be more powerful, but it’s possible) as “guys.” I really don’t have that big a problem with the Sentry, as I’m pretty sure this is the first comic I’ve read with him in it, but it’s curious how he suddenly became the baddest dude around. It’s just weird how both Marvel and DC do this, become enamoured with a character when the public’s response doesn’t seem to warrant it.

That’s interesting to know about Fables, Jesse. It makes this “apocalyptic” feel to this storyline neat, because what will happen afterward?

As a big fan of the first Sentry limited series, I will say that I don’t necessarily have an issue with the character being brought back into the Marvel Universe.
The problem, however, is that even his own creator, Paul Jenkins, complicated how it was done.
The original mini clearly mapped out the character’s origins and why no one remembered him. And at the end returned everything to the status quo.
I read Bendis’ re-introduction of the character in New Avengers. What struck me as so bizarre about it was that he kept the concept that everyone had been forced to forget the Sentry. But then he decides to change WHO forced them to forget the Sentry. Basically it was a retcon of a four or five year old mini series which didn’t need to be retconned.
I didn’t buy Jenkins second Sentry miniseries, but from what I could figure out from reviews and glimpses of it at the comic story, Jenkins retconned his OWN miniseries and made the Sentry’s origin even more complicated. But at the same time his retcon was different from Bendis’, which had only come out in New Avengers a few months earlier.
Side note: It always bugged me that reviewers never appeared to pick-up on the fact that Jenkins and Bendis were messing with a character that was only five or so years old. We get critics all the time complaining about retcons of 20-year-old stories, like New Avengers: The Illuminati. But when it’s done to stories from not very long ago, and when one of the original writers is involved, there’s not a peep.
Anyway, my opinion of the Sentry – Brilliant character concept that was, for no really good reason, horribly mucked up by both his own creator and other writers.

He has the power of Superman but he is paranoid-schizophrenic… How is that not a great idea?

Personally, I find the Sentry to be the least interesting character ever; if I ever wrote the Avengers, he’d just disappear in the very first issue I wrote, and someone would find a little note on the refridgerator saying, “Attention Avengers: You have a member called the Sentry whose existence everyone in the world periodically forgets. If you read this note and don’t remember who it’s talking about, go look for him!” And they read the note, say, “Pffh. I think I’d remember if we had a guy like that on the team,” crumple it up, and throw it in the trash.

And on reading the issue, I think it’s pretty clear as to why the Hulk could beat Black Bolt–the madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets, and I think it’s pretty safe to say that the Hulk has never been this angry at anyone, ever. So he’s shrugging off shots that hurt him before.

“He has the power of Superman but he is paranoid-schizophrenic… How is that not a great idea?”

Is he? I don’t mean to be snarky but, honestly, based on every appearance of him I’ve seen [full-disclosure: I was more or less out of comics when they introduced him, so I've only seen random later stuff, not his initial appearance] he just seems to suffer from poor self-esteem. They always have to talk him up about how great he is, then he becomes the hero and is great.

If he were a genuine paranoid schizophrenic, a la ‘Clean, Shaven’ or something, that would be a great idea. It seems more like he’s vaguely neurotic.

Bill Willingham has also mentioned that the next two storylines after “The Good Prince” finishes will likely be a Cinderella-centric arc and a Baghdad-centered arc whose events will happen concurrently. Which order the arcs will appear in had not been decided at the time he mentioned this.

“Spider-Man used the generic term “guy.””

Yeah, I was thinking of Mr. Fantastic, but Spider-Man actually said “guy in the galaxy”; Gladiator is in another galaxy, unless that changed in that crazy X-Men story that just finished (I didn’t read it).

If he were a genuine paranoid schizophrenic, a la ‘Clean, Shaven’ or something, that would be a great idea. It seems more like he’s vaguely neurotic.

No, Ian is right. I haven’t read the original mini-series but in the arc that established him as a New Avenger he had an arch-nemesis called ‘The Void’. Everytime he used his powers to help soemeone it would call The Void in existence who would then proceed to do some evil stuff. He was manically afraid to use his powers because it would always lead to death and destruction at the hand of The Void.

Turned out he was a schizophrenic and he himself was The Void as well. Even though he knows this now (and is probably getting treatment), that’s why he’s so afraid to use his powers.

I only have a passing knowledge of the Sentry’s origin & retcon, but schizophrenia rarely manifests itself as the “multiple personality disorder” that seems to be described here. That’s more the realm of soap opera, and since this is it’s cousin superheroic fantasy, that’s cool. I’m just sayin’. See “Clean, Shaven” or Cronenberg’s “Spider” for fictional representations of real schizophrenia.

Changing the subject, I was really excited for Black Diamond. I’m a big fan of Astronauts in Trouble and like Young’s work alot when he’s in that mode. The premise is tres sweet – perfect fodder for Mad Max-style high adventure and social/political comment. And Greg, it’s stated elsewhere (the flip-book preview maybe?) that planes are illegal in this future due to being too easy of prey for terrorists. But that’s the only defense of this that I can give. I thought the art was bad to terrible – the face work oftened looked like I was tracing a Tony Moore comic, and something went wrong in the finishing & coloring that caused things like characters becoming cross-eyed for a panel. Storywise, this is all set-up. But the set-up doesn’t hold up to much thought (why does Dr. Don just agree to this so quickly? if the Diamond is so lawless, why is the brother-in-law restricted from going up there? can’t he go undercover?). And the change to the overall premise made in the text piece on the inside cover (that the government wanted the Diamond to be lawless from day 1) seems implausible and lessens any real-world metaphor Lar was shooting for. $2.95 is too much to pay for weak set-up, bad art & no action. Why break away from the OGN business model to give us a comic that’s only chance of working is as the first chapter of an OGN? So, yeah, I was excited about the idea, but the execution? Boo.

I agree with the criticism that Black Diamond would work much better as an OGN. I’m not sure why it’s not. I’m willing to see what happens when Dr. Don hits the road, however, to see if it’s worth buying the rest of the series. I’m sure Larry has a reason for releasing it in singles.

I had forgotten about the airplanes thing. I’ll have to find the preview and see if it’s in there.

I can’t find the preview right now either, but did find this article on the main site that lays out the premise of commercial aircraft being banned and the Diamond “becoming” lawless after it was created as an alternative:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=10289

Let us know what you think of the rest. I’ll probably pick it up when it’s collected if reviews are positive.

A related aside: what happened to “Mini-Series I Bought But Did Not Read”. Change in philosophy?

Yeah, I decided to try reading them as they come out. I figure if I can’t follow what’s going on, that’s their fault!