Dark Avengers #13
When it comes to the Sentry it seems there is no middle ground, you either love him or you hate him. The majority of comic book fans seem to fall into the hate him camp. As for me, it seems every time I read a story with him in it, it is like the writer is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. The Sentry just doesn’t seem to work well in the Marvel universe. I think this problem stems from him being a poorly conceived character from the very beginning. What can you expect from a character that was originally conceived as part of a gag. Despite all this, I still really wanted to read this story. I wanted to know how Norman Osborn got his hooks into the Sentry. I wanted to know the “true” source of the Sentry’s powers and his “real” origin.
Well, now I’ve read the issue and I don’t feel I’m one inch closer to any answers. Now, before I say one more thing, I have to be fair and point out that this is only the first part of this story. I may feel differently after I have read the whole storyline. Still, as it stands now, after reading this issue I’m more confused about the source and nature of the Sentry’s powers not less. In fact, much of the information writer Brian Michael Bendis gives the reader is through Lindy the Sentry’s distraught and bitter wife. In fact, her narrative is so subjective and lacking in detail at some points that it makes me think Bendis does not want the reader to take what she is saying at face value. If that is the case what is the point in having her tell the reader at all. I guess I’m reading too much into the shortcomings of Lindy’s story. Even taking her story at face value and adding in the little bits the reader gets from seeing Sentry and Norman Osborn together plus that whole thing between the Sentry and the Void it still does not add up to much. As a single issue Dark Avengers #13 left me wanting and I really can’t recommend it. As I stated before, I may have a totally different opinion after I read the next issue.
Keith Forney