What's your opinion on Sentry?

[Tendrin]

If you were wondering about what happened with Sentry in november...:


Smells a lot like stealth cancellation.

I dunno why the'd stealth-cancel it. Sales aren't /great/, but they aren't so bad as some other things of Marvel that are allowed to continue.

As for the Sentry needing a reason to be sideline to exist in the wider MU... he has a lot of those just built into his own character, let alone outside reasons.

[Gridde]

As for the Sentry needing a reason to be sideline to exist in the wider MU... he has a lot of those just built into his own character, let alone outside reasons.

I agree, one of the character's redeeming features is that he is mercifully easy to write out of any story. That's why I'm hoping that (aside from unfortunate blips like the Doctor Strange relaunch) writers will not feel the need to have characters clarify "oh but Bob isn't feeling too good right now so we have to handle it" whenever literally any problem occurs.

Because as a character who has omniscience, can circle the Earth in an instant and has absolute control over life, death and all matter....there is absolutely no reason anything bad should be happening anywhere during the moments Bob is lucid. So Sentry being in the wider MU means...Sentry can't actually be engaged with wider MU at all, at the risk of making all other stories pointless.

[Tendrin]

I agree, one of the character's redeeming features is that he is mercifully easy to write out of any story. That's why I'm hoping that (aside from unfortunate blips like the Doctor Strange relaunch) writers will not feel the need to have characters clarify "oh but Bob isn't feeling too good right now so we have to handle it" whenever literally any problem occurs.

Because as a character who has omniscience, can circle the Earth in an instant and has absolute control over life, death and all matter....there is absolutely no reason anything bad should be happening anywhere during the moments Bob is lucid. So Sentry being in the wider MU means...Sentry can't actually be engaged with wider MU at all, at the risk of making all other stories pointless.

I mean, you should only be asking The a Sentry to get involved if shit has truly hit the fan in the worst way possible. I disagree with your take, though, by and large.

There are plenty of appropriate ways to involve him in the larger MU without rendering other stories pointless. The fear of this is way overblown.

[Thor-Ul]

I dunno why the'd stealth-cancel it. Sales aren't /great/, but they aren't so bad as some other things of Marvel that are allowed to continue.

Marvel Editors works in mysterious ways.

[numberthirty]

If you were wondering about what happened with Sentry in november...:

https://www.newsarama.com/41529-sent...g-artists.html

Smells a lot like stealth cancellation.

One reader's take...

Going into this next publishing run, Marvel has made a few of these sorts of moves.

While the book not making it much further is certainly a possibility, I would factor in that the news piece in the link isn't a singularity.

[Tendrin]

I think the easiest way to write Bob out of any other story if you're concerned about his lucidity is the same way other ultra powerful heroes like Hyperion, Silver Surfer and others are dealt with.

"Busy facing the Black Hole Bombers."

"He said something about stopping an invasion from the 9th Dimension, whatever that is."

"He's spending time with his Ex and asked to not be disturbed."

Bob's power levels have fluctuated a lot but it's not as if the same excuses used for someone like Blue Marvel and Thor don't also apply to him. It's an overblown concern, imo.

[Gridde]

Bob's power levels have fluctuated a lot but it's not as if the same excuses used for someone like Blue Marvel and Thor don't also apply to him. It's an overblown concern, imo.

Those two characters can't teleport across entire galaxies in an instant, disintegrate enemies with a mere thought and resurrect the dead.

Someone like that being an active member of the superhero community for even a few seconds each day would drastically alter the Marvel landscape, unless writers (finally) decide to cap his powers.

[Tendrin]

Those two characters can't teleport across entire galaxies in an instant, disintegrate enemies with a mere thought and resurrect the dead.

Someone like that being an active member of the superhero community for even a few seconds each day would drastically alter the Marvel landscape, unless writers (finally) decide to cap his powers.

I mean, he's absurdly powerful and is meant to be, but he correspondingly has stuff to deal with when he's active.

"Why doesn't X do Y" is a common complaint. The Sentry, if he's active, is going to be busy handling stuff only the Sentry can handle Just like Thor handles stuff only Thor can handle, and the Silver Surfer handles stuff only the Silver Surfer can handle, and so on. XD

Point is: it's only a problem if you let it get in the way.

[numberthirty]

On the "What Does November Mean?" front...

I noticed an article that posed almost the exact same question in regards to the current "Moon Knight" title as came up in this thread based on it not being a part of November's solicits.

[JudicatorPrime]

Those two characters can't teleport across entire galaxies in an instant, disintegrate enemies with a mere thought and resurrect the dead.

Well, one can teleport across galaxies using his hammer, and the other, theoretically, could annihilate anyone and anything with his antimatter powers if comic science wasn't so muddled, but I see your point.

Still, I can't help but believe that there is a place for someone like Sentry even without being depowered. But if I'm a writer, no, there's no way that I place my whale in a pond and even try to see if it can thrive there, let alone swim. I don't know if that would fly with his readers, though. Hyper-cosmic stories tend to have a very select niche of readers.

[Thor-Ul]

Let's shake the thread: this article offers interesting points of view:
https://www.cbr.com/sentry-superman-good-bad/
You agree? Not?
(And bet than Tendrin will answer the first.)

[Drops Of Venus]

If you were wondering about what happened with Sentry in november...:


Smells a lot like stealth cancellation.

Has Lemire said anything about this? Writers are usually quick to confirm or deny rumors of cancellation when a title is missing from solicits. I hope this didn't happen here, but given Marvel's track record, it's not impossible. I hate when they cancel a book before the first trade is even out. Have they learned nothing from Iceman and The Unstoppable Wasp? Trades and non-traditional markets can make a huge difference these days. Give those books a little more chance before pulling the plug. Shit like this is why I hope the new Marvel Digital Originals line works big time. I look forward to the day when floppy sales will be irrelevant to non-A-list books.

I dunno why the'd stealth-cancel it. Sales aren't /great/, but they aren't so bad as some other things of Marvel that are allowed to continue.

The thing is: we don't really know how all the books are doing in the bigger picture. Direct Market sales don't tell us the whole story and we don't have access to other numbers, so we're really clueless as to the reason Marvel is letting some books last longer than others. Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider and Runaways have pretty bad sales in the DM, but have lasted more than people would expect, possibly because of outside numbers. While other books with similar sales got cancelled earlier on. And then we have the Scholastic titles like Ms. Marvel, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur, which have passed the 30-issue mark and don't seem to be getting cancelled anytime soon. It's hard to tell how it's gonna be because it's different for each book. It's possible Sentry was doing so bad that they felt they had to cancel it, but that doesn't mean the book couldn't have any potential going further. The Unstoppable Wasp was cancelled before it even reached double digits too, but the trade sales impressed Marvel enough to let the book come back for a mini (with the potential of becoming an ongoing). Long story short: the industry is complicated, but Marvel is not helping any book by cancelling it before they can even show if they have potential or not.

[Tendrin]

You know what, if Sentry's book can't support itself, that's fine.

But they ought to take Lemire, put him on Marvel Two in One, and make it a Sentry/Moon Knight team up book for a while. Ersatz World's Finest, dang it! XD

[Michael Watkins]

I think that they should officially bring back the Ultimates line and have Sentry, somehow, be transported to that universe. he'd have more room to move; I suspect. the current run felt a bit disconnected (purposely so) from the rest of the Marvel Universe. I think that might have hurt it.

[CaptainMarvell]

With so many other heroes in the world, in addition to Sentry, the world never really seems to be in that much trouble. I had mentioned in another post, the possibility of having Sentry accidentally go to another universe where Sentry, Sentress and Scout are the only heroes, that Sentry dies and our Sentry secretly takes his place. Now he has this huge secret all this drama unfolds as he tries to keep it a secret and have it so this world doesn't skip a beat, while looking for a way home. It would basically be Sentry vs a universe full of villains, alien invasions, cosmic threats, etc.

I think its garbage that they would cut off his series so quickly while other books get chance after chance after chance and consistently have low sales (even lower actually), if sales is the reason for this cancellation.

UPDATE: This could possibly be an artist problem. They don't have enough time or artists to complete an issue for November?
https://www.newsarama.com/41529-sent...g-artists.html