I Almost Don't Know What To Say
You should read "Siege" #4 before reading this issue. Seriously, go read "Siege" #4. Still here? Last chance to read "Siege" #4 before I spoil it because I have to spoil it to talk about this comic book. Okay, now that all those warnings are out of the way then we can talk about "The Sentry: Fallen Sun." "Siege" #4 shows that the heroes defeat The Sentry/Void, and Thor dumps his body on the sun (until someone revives him and brings him back).
THE GOOD:
- In a story where many of the characters don't seem true to their nature, the few right stand out. Spider-Man felt right, and he wasn't even in the book! The Thing had a good, honest moment. Finally, Thor's scene felt very true to the character. It was actually my favorite moment of the book.
THE BAD:
- The cover and the feelings here. Really? They act as if there were some heroic sacrifice. There wasn't. They had to put down The Void because he became unhinged. In the end, it was The Void who got beatdown. It is just really hard to sympathize with The Sentry considering how much they changed the character. The script also is just pretty heavy-handed. You can feel them forcing you to try and feel sympathy for Sentry. Considering that the book hinges on that sympathy then it's easy to see why it didn't work for me.
- They show heroes walking up at the start, so where'd Tony Stark come from? Steve's there and gets one panel? Really? He's the inspirational Captain America and one panel?
- The art looks weird at times. The tone didn't really match, odd facial reactions, some odd proportions, and it took me a while to distinguish Stark and Dr. Strange. We all know powerful art can add so much to an emotional comic. This book needed that.
- A lot of characters don't feel like themselves.
- Seeing as they retconned The Sentry into continuity, it should surprise no one that we get some more retcons here about how much fun they had with the Sentry, how he was there for them, and even another lover for the Sentry.
- "Show me, don't tell me." We get a lot of tell me.
- I said I liked The Thing's moment, but the end of it killed it for me. Yes, heroes don't kill, but it came off as The Thing saying "Villains kill children (in this case), but we'll just bring them to the courts." That felt weak.
- This book is an epilogue, but it's just got no importance. It's a good-bye to Sentry that will lose any importance it has once he returns.
OVERALL:
I tried to figure out who would like this issue. I came to the conclusion that maybe die-hard Sentry fans would. The key word there is maybe. I'm sure some Sentry fans will like Jenkins on Sentry again, but I'm sure they're also mad at what Bendis did to the character. Regardless, most readers will find that this issue is pretty bad.
I didn't enjoy the art, I felt like the characters weren't exactly themselves, and I'm not a fan of the continuing retcons. The big problem is the heavy-handed nature of the script. A funeral scene requires that oh, so delicate touch - the touch we briefly see in the Thor scene with Bob's mother. The issue not only has its technical flaws, but it has no long-term effects seeing as its a good-bye issue. I wouldn't recommend this issue for any possible reason because you wouldn't miss out on anything.
