Caramuru
04-24-2004, 07:40 PM
Story: Sean McKeever
Art: UDON
Pencils and Inks: Vriens, Helig, Hepburn & Vedder
Colors: Hou, Yan & Yeung
UDON chief: Erik Ko
Letters: Cory Petit & Dave Sharpe
I've never read Sentinel when it was being published. This paperback collects issues 1 through 6 of the series in a digest format. The reason I didn't pick up single issues of this book was that I thought the premise seemed to similar to The Iron Giant and I thought it was just a rip-off.
The story is a bit similar. A young boy, Juston Seyfer, who lives with his father and brother in Antigo, WI, finds and befriends a giant robot. The robot is, of course, a damaged Sentinel - one of the X-Men enemies. Juston's father owns a junkyard and both brothers are very smart and spend a lot of their time building Battlebots for their own amusement. One day, Juston finds the Sentinel, brings it home and hides it in a shed. The Sentinel is heavily damaged and his memory is defective. Juston slowly works on the robot to get him operational and re-program him with new commands.
Now, on the back of this TPB, the story is classified as "Action/Comedy/Teen Romance." This is not a super-hero story. And even with the obvious sci-fi undertones, it's more about a smart kid from a poor family who has to deal with life in a small town, a high-school where he's an unpopular student bullied by seniors and general social interactions - love being a part of it. The giant robot brings a magical element to Juston's life. Suddenly he has a secret that helps him to focus his thoughts at the same time that provides him with escapism from his real life problems.
Sentinel's cast of characters are all very human. Juston's father (I can't recall his name - the kids just call him "dad") is a benevolent man who can be stern when necessary, doing his best to raise his kids as a single parent. Juston's younger brother, Chris seems a bit dependent on his brother, becoming more introverted as Juston spends more time "by himself" fixing the Sentinel. There's also Juston's friends Alex and Matt. Alex is the nice one. Matt has a darker side. They're all bullied, but Matt is the one who's the angriest about it. In many ways, he seems to externalize Juston's own desire for revenge against the bigger kids who are always pushing them around.
And there's the love interest, Jessie. She's the cool girl who befirends Juston. Their relashionship is a bit complicated and doesn't flow like a regular teen romance. The stay as friends for the most part until the bigger kids try to drive a wedge between them.
Sentinel is a funny and reflexive book. It's very honest in the way it tells a story about the problems of being a teenager and the choices we make and how they're going to determine who we become later on in life. The Sentinel is not just there for color and mood. It is in fact an intelligent weapon that seems to be slowly regaining it's full potential. While the interaction between Juston and the Sentinel has it's funny moments, there's a growing sense of danger building up - from the reader's perspective. Juston seems to underestimate the danger of what he's getting himself into.
The art by UDON is manga-styled. The coloring is great - a bit darker than the usual super-hero or teen romance book. As I said, I never read the original, so I don't know how they'll compare, but I think the artwork looks great in this reduced format.
I must say that all my original bias against this book was totally unfounded. I think it's a very entertaining read that left me craving for the next TPB. Priced at $7.99 for six issues, it's a great bargain. This book gets an "A."
Art: UDON
Pencils and Inks: Vriens, Helig, Hepburn & Vedder
Colors: Hou, Yan & Yeung
UDON chief: Erik Ko
Letters: Cory Petit & Dave Sharpe
I've never read Sentinel when it was being published. This paperback collects issues 1 through 6 of the series in a digest format. The reason I didn't pick up single issues of this book was that I thought the premise seemed to similar to The Iron Giant and I thought it was just a rip-off.
The story is a bit similar. A young boy, Juston Seyfer, who lives with his father and brother in Antigo, WI, finds and befriends a giant robot. The robot is, of course, a damaged Sentinel - one of the X-Men enemies. Juston's father owns a junkyard and both brothers are very smart and spend a lot of their time building Battlebots for their own amusement. One day, Juston finds the Sentinel, brings it home and hides it in a shed. The Sentinel is heavily damaged and his memory is defective. Juston slowly works on the robot to get him operational and re-program him with new commands.
Now, on the back of this TPB, the story is classified as "Action/Comedy/Teen Romance." This is not a super-hero story. And even with the obvious sci-fi undertones, it's more about a smart kid from a poor family who has to deal with life in a small town, a high-school where he's an unpopular student bullied by seniors and general social interactions - love being a part of it. The giant robot brings a magical element to Juston's life. Suddenly he has a secret that helps him to focus his thoughts at the same time that provides him with escapism from his real life problems.
Sentinel's cast of characters are all very human. Juston's father (I can't recall his name - the kids just call him "dad") is a benevolent man who can be stern when necessary, doing his best to raise his kids as a single parent. Juston's younger brother, Chris seems a bit dependent on his brother, becoming more introverted as Juston spends more time "by himself" fixing the Sentinel. There's also Juston's friends Alex and Matt. Alex is the nice one. Matt has a darker side. They're all bullied, but Matt is the one who's the angriest about it. In many ways, he seems to externalize Juston's own desire for revenge against the bigger kids who are always pushing them around.
And there's the love interest, Jessie. She's the cool girl who befirends Juston. Their relashionship is a bit complicated and doesn't flow like a regular teen romance. The stay as friends for the most part until the bigger kids try to drive a wedge between them.
Sentinel is a funny and reflexive book. It's very honest in the way it tells a story about the problems of being a teenager and the choices we make and how they're going to determine who we become later on in life. The Sentinel is not just there for color and mood. It is in fact an intelligent weapon that seems to be slowly regaining it's full potential. While the interaction between Juston and the Sentinel has it's funny moments, there's a growing sense of danger building up - from the reader's perspective. Juston seems to underestimate the danger of what he's getting himself into.
The art by UDON is manga-styled. The coloring is great - a bit darker than the usual super-hero or teen romance book. As I said, I never read the original, so I don't know how they'll compare, but I think the artwork looks great in this reduced format.
I must say that all my original bias against this book was totally unfounded. I think it's a very entertaining read that left me craving for the next TPB. Priced at $7.99 for six issues, it's a great bargain. This book gets an "A."