'THE SENTRY' From Jeff Lemire & Kim Jacinto

[The_Last_Czarnian]

Not had the chance to read it yet. How did it turn out for Bob?

[Tendrin]

Not had the chance to read it yet. How did it turn out for Bob?

spoilers:

He reintegrates and remains behind in the Negative Zone. There's a bit more to it than that, but not THAT much.

end of spoilers

[The_Last_Czarnian]

spoilers:

He reintegrates and remains behind in the Negative Zone. There's a bit more to it than that, but not THAT much.

end of spoilers

Thanks for that.

[JudicatorPrime]

I am honestly confused about that outcome. What's to stop the Void from eventually absorbing more NZ energy and splitting from Bob again? Isn't that kind of like catching the bank robbers in the act, but leaving them in the vault to figure out another way to escape with the cash? Plus, it didn't really resolve Bob's issue at all. He's back at square 1.

[The_Last_Czarnian]

I say just leave him there for a while until we can get a story that isn't merely a re-tread sporting a new paint job.

[Wildling]

I am honestly confused about that outcome. What's to stop the Void from eventually absorbing more NZ energy and splitting from Bob again? Isn't that kind of like catching the bank robbers in the act, but leaving them in the vault to figure out another way to escape with the cash? Plus, it didn't really resolve Bob's issue at all. He's back at square 1.

Didn't seem to me Void could, even in the Negative Zone, split himself from Sentry whenever he wanted due to his deep merged status probably negating the Zone's effects on the other half, at least not any time soon that could affect Marvel stories in the near future, unless Sentry was dead set on splitting him again through catastrophic personal effort, and he already knows what that leads to.

But going back to square 1 is arguably more insidious since the reason he decided to unmerge in the first place was the Void still being able to make him go into reality warping fugues in his current form. This could potentially be more dangerous than the Scourge and I assume could be explored again down the line. Unfortunately that risks to have "House of M Scarlet Witch retread" written all over it. Best case scenario would be for him to find a way out of that path to only do good with his powers while remaining the same.

[Tendrin]

It seems unlikely Bob would expose himself to the radiation required to split the Void off again, yes.

And I think even most villains would hesitate to let it loose again.

[JudicatorPrime]

No, I don't think Bob would consciously attempt it again, but doesn't the Void work contrary to Bob's wishes? And since the NZ naturally churns out that radiation the same way that the normal universe produces ambient cosmic energy, it just seems odd to me to leave the Sentry in the NZ for any length of time. Not exactly apples to apples here, but it seems like that would be like leaving Carol Danvers in VY Canis Majoris' orbit when you don't want her to go into Binary mode. (VY Canis Majoris is roughly 2,100 times bigger than our sun. Carol would achieve Binary mode in hundredths of a microsecond if she ever found herself in VY CMa's orbit.)

[Tendrin]

No, I don't think Bob would consciously attempt it again, but doesn't the Void work contrary to Bob's wishes? And since the NZ naturally churns out that radiation the same way that the normal universe produces ambient cosmic energy, it just seems odd to me to leave the Sentry in the NZ for any length of time. Not exactly apples to apples here, but it seems like that would be like leaving Carol Danvers in VY Canis Majoris' orbit when you don't want her to go into Binary mode. (VY Canis Majoris is roughly 2,100 times bigger than our sun. Carol would achieve Binary mode in hundredths of a microsecond if she ever found herself in VY CMa's orbit.)

Leaving Bob in the negative zone is the equivalent of having him blast off into space again after his every appearance. That said, there isn't supposed to be a Void at the moment, and acting like they're still independent of each other, when they're SUPPOSED to be whole, is frustrating. We can write it off as them not being fully reintegrated after their most recent re-merging.

That said, I do wonder if the Void more or less planned it all.

[JudicatorPrime]

Leaving Bob in the negative zone is the equivalent of having him blast off into space again after his every appearance. That said, there isn't supposed to be a Void at the moment, and acting like they're still independent of each other, when they're SUPPOSED to be whole, is frustrating. We can write it off as them not being fully reintegrated after their most recent re-merging.

That said, I do wonder if the Void more or less planned it all.

I have a feeling they're deliberately leaving it as a dangling plot point to be picked up and addressed at a later date. I, too, thought that Bob and Void had been fully integrated and were in effect one being acting with one accord, not multiple personalities within the same body/mind/soul construct. But Annihilation: Scourge gave me the impression that Bob was still at odds with Void. That's basically what launched the story.

Whatever the case, I hope that the next time that we see Sentry that the writing is consistent. And I'm still a little perplexed as to why Stormbreaker didn't revert into a walking cane when Odin's enchantment triggered Beta Ray Bill's change back to his mortal guise. I think someone at Marvel dropped the ball there as well.

[Tendrin]

I have a feeling they're deliberately leaving it as a dangling plot point to be picked up and addressed at a later date. I, too, thought that Bob and Void had been fully integrated and were in effect one being acting with one accord, not multiple personalities within the same body/mind/soul construct. But Annihilation: Scourge gave me the impression that Bob was still at odds with Void. That's basically what launched the story.

Whatever the case, I hope that the next time that we see Sentry that the writing is consistent. And I'm still a little perplexed as to why Stormbreaker didn't revert into a walking cane when Odin's enchantment triggered Beta Ray Bill's change back to his mortal guise. I think someone at Marvel dropped the ball there as well.

One can HOPE it will be addressed, anyway. I'd really like to see the Sentry get some continued TLC. Bob's a really strong character but his actual character development took a back seat for way too long.