Sentry Appreciation 2024 - The Man with the Power of a Million Exploding Suns

[JudicatorPrime]

the last issue sucked so badly, marvel writers really lost their touch here

tl;dr for those who dont want to read, Mallary becomes the sole inheritor of the powers. She can briefly summon those who had died. They defeat Ryan. He gets arrested and so does Mallary. She begins training with Misty. She doesn’t want to follow Sentry’s path and becomes Solarus

Thanks. So, the Solarus thing is really just "solar" + "us" and they are a bit of a gestalt or composite? Sounds like Miracleman is no longer the only Shazam of the Marvel Universe.

I like Mallory, but as with just about every other mantle replacement these days, I wonder if they have been set up for failure. Not to come across as a conspiracy theorist, but I swear sometimes it feels like companies do this just to say, "See, we tried outside the box, diversity channeling and it didn't work...so we're going back to established groupthink."

[Wildling]

Thanks. So, the Solarus thing is really just "solar" + "us" and they are a bit of a gestalt or composite? Sounds like Miracleman is no longer the only Shazam of the Marvel Universe.

I like Mallory, but as with just about every other mantle replacement these days, I wonder if they have been set up for failure. Not to come across as a conspiracy theorist, but I swear sometimes it feels like companies do this just to say, "See, we tried outside the box, diversity channeling and it didn't work...so we're going back to established groupthink."

That's not an issue exclusive to comics. We saw how well Kamala's Hollywood debut went.

About Solarus, I don't mind the name. Bob had the million exploding suns tagline from beginning to end. But she only kept the powers, the other guys passed away like Bob and wished her good luck.

By the way, about the disability thing, I always wondered why nobody ever thought of giving Scout a replacement arm. Between that and his PTSD, maybe he had a point about being resentful.

[ENTRYS]

I like Mallory, but as with just about every other mantle replacement these days, I wonder if they have been set up for failure. Not to come across as a conspiracy theorist, but I swear sometimes it feels like companies do this just to say, "See, we tried outside the box, diversity channeling and it didn't work...so we're going back to established groupthink."

Nah man, out of all the possible reasons that one is probably the least likely one. Here, pick and choose:

1) White savior complex. You have plenty of white people who are completely detached from reality and feel the need to save people of color. And then they feel good about themselves. "Representation matters". Which it actually does. I fully believe that. But not in the way a certain group of modern Northern Americans does it. Because in the eyes of those people, diversity means not white. And I specifically write "modern Northern American" because there have been plenty of white writers who have created AMAZING diverse characters such as Spawn or Blade. Those characters were created and established naturally. Many of the modern diverse characters? Not so much. How about Honey Badger, the 9-year-old female Wolverine? Why is there a 9-year-old character in Marvel comics in the first place? Why are there stories where they're talking about that 9-year-old child discovering her bi-sexuality? What is happening? Did Stephen King write that creepy nonsense?

2) Upping the ESG score. Many companies desperately try to up their ESG score to get dat sweet sweet investors money. ESG stands for Environmental, Social, Governance. If you have a high ESG score you're in good standing and are more likely to get money from investors because you show that your company is trying to create a better world. Not necessarily a bad thing right, but at the same time everyone knows what the true reason is why these companies are hardcore pushing for diversity: money. They potentially get more money from the investors than they lose from people not consuming badly made products. It's the same as with a fine. If a company does something shady and earn-steals 50 million but they get caught by the government and have to pay a fine for 10 million... But they've just made 40 millions. They're happy. The government is happy because they just got 10 million for free. And the common folk are happy as well because they saw the company get a fine for taking advantage of customers: "THAT WILL TEACH YOU TO MESS WITH US!!! YOU MESS WITH THE PEOPLE??? YOU GET ****ED BY THE LAW!!!"

3) Here is some true tinfoil hat stuff for you: What if many of the modern spinoff characters are being created so that the big two companies don't have to pay BIG royalties to the families of the original creators? But at the same time, if someone very special over at Marvel creates a character, they're very likely to have made a deal to get royalty money. There is an artist who stated that he got a six-figure check from DC just because a certain character appeared for a couple of second on screen. And the artist had co-created that character. And now you have someone like Sana Amanat, a higher-up at Marvel comics co-creating Ms. Marvel. And that character is... kinda being rejected by the overall comic book reading audience. Her comics sell like ****. But you still can't get rid of her. She is constantly getting comics, being put into EVERYTHING, from comic book teams to games, shows and now even a movie. EVERYTHING with Ms. Marvel in it is failing yet she is still getting pushed. "Diversity matters". "First Muslim something something". And at the same time, Sana Amanat is smiling. Because there is NO WAY in hell she doesn't get some royalties for anything Ms. Marvel appears in. NO WAY.

Again, I fully believe that representation matters. That's probably one of the main reasons why Sentry fans LOVE the character. They relate to his struggles with mental health for whatever reason. Maybe they're mentally ill themselves. Maybe they have been depressed. Maybe they have empathy for the character who is constantly being avoided by in-universe characters and being mistreated by out-of-universe writers and fans. That's representation done right. A character ANYONE can identify with. Just like everyone can relate to Spawn, a black character, who has sold his soul to the devil to get revenge and was saved by his family. All of those are strong emotions. But all of those strong human emotions... You can't get those in a comic written by people who have +25k tweets on Twitter in the span of two years. That's where you get a comic where someone literally says "time to punch a bigot" which is such idiotic Twitter talk. A comic which features many, many different new characters and only one of them is a white male who then also happens to be a racist serial killer. And the diverse protagonist of the story is being presented as better and more deserving than the original titular hero. It's political (in a bad way) and mean-spirited beyond belief.

I don't hate Mallory. How could I? She is as inoffensive of a character as they come. And I'm glad that physically disabled people have a character they can look up to. But why sideline something subjectively better (Sentry) in the process of creating her? Why not make her a brand new hero? Why replace instead of adding? Why hire an incompetent writer to create that diverse character? Because besides the Sentry stuff that has been handled abysmally, the story itself is just not well thought out, structured or told. And I do think that's a very objective point of view considering how badly the book has performed. How little people seem to care about it. There are more than enough Anti-SJW channels on Youtube who vomit out 1-2 videos daily where they complain about EVERYTHING. A book having a female character immediately makes it woke in the eyes of these dummies. But not even they are talking about this book. It was that dead on arrival.

[skyvolt2000]

Sana Amanat, a higher-up at Marvel comics co-creating Ms. Marvel. And that character is... kinda being rejected by the overall comic book reading audience. Her comics sell like ****. But you still can't get rid of her. She is constantly getting comics, being put into EVERYTHING, from comic book teams to games, shows and now even a movie. EVERYTHING with Ms. Marvel in it is failing yet she is still getting pushed. "Diversity matters". "First Muslim something something". And at the same time, Sana Amanat is smiling. Because there is NO WAY in hell she doesn't get some royalties for anything Ms. Marvel appears in. NO WAY.

Remove the tin foil cap...

1) Marvel including her writer didn't expect Kamala to make issue 7 let alone have over 80+ solo issues. They expected her to fail.

2) While her comics didn't sell-her trades did and at times did better than a lot of folks including the guy in Gotham. She FOUND an audience outside of comic book stores.

3) She wasn't rejected by everyone except the usual suspects that only seem to attack POC lead books without reading a single page. Only one group continues to have issues with her to fuel the pointless culture war nonsense.

4) Kamala is the most successful female Asian/Muslim character at the big two bypassing Cassandra Cain in terms of solo issues.

I like Mallory, but as with just about every other mantle replacement these days, I wonder if they have been set up for failure. Not to come across as a conspiracy theorist, but I swear sometimes it feels like companies do this just to say, "See, we tried outside the box, diversity channeling and it didn't work...so we're going back to established groupthink."

The issue at hand is you have companies doing business choices with the route of the LESS WORK.

Once you get past T'Challa, Luke Cage, Shang Chi, Milestone, Spawn and even Savage Dragon-almost all of your successful POC are legacies.

Miles Morales started at the same time as New 52 and Cyborg's push. Miles is nearing 100+ solo issues. Cyborg is at 39.
Sam Wilson has more solo issues as Cap America than as Falcon.

How many original characters of color are getting shot after shot after shot? Moon Knight is at what volume 10? Cyborg can't get shots as much media that he is in??

So they are going with what they think works.

Mallory calling herself Solaris just opens the door for Bob to return since she was talk to previously deceased folks. So expect Bob back in some form sooner than later.

[Tendrin]

I'm still angry about the invalidation.

[Golden_Guardian]

Garbage, is what it is. Bob seemed to be undermined by the writers at every turn. Even the glimmer of hope offered by Lemire's series was quickly snuffed out. I could not care less about anyone else with the powers. There is literally no reason for me to buy Marvel comics at the moment. I know I am not even a drop in the ocean, but there is just nothing that really interests me right now.

[Monari]

If I could somehow un-buy the Marvel comics I already have I would. I'm going to have to work on this.....

[kevlon]

Seems like we won't see Bob for a good few years now

[Frontier]

Seems like we won't see Bob for a good few years now

Unless they bring him back for movie synergy.

[JudicatorPrime]

Well, since this is a Sentry appreciation thread, I guess we should focus on the good, since the bad and the ugly have taken up far too much of our energy.

If you only had time to read 1 comic book issue featuring Sentry (Bob) before the world was swallowed up by a roaming black hole, which one would it be?

[Tendrin]

Well, since this is a Sentry appreciation thread, I guess we should focus on the good, since the bad and the ugly have taken up far too much of our energy.

If you only had time to read 1 comic book issue featuring Sentry (Bob) before the world was swallowed up by a roaming black hole, which one would it be?

Sentry1.jpg

Mental illness is a valid disability, god damn it.

[Thor-Ul]

Unless they bring him back for movie synergy.

I though this series was done thinking in the movie synergy.... before the actor was recast.
Or maybe it was done just to keep the trademark, because it has no so much sense.

[ARkadelphia]

Nah man, out of all the possible reasons that one is probably the least likely one. Here, pick and choose:

1) White savior complex. You have plenty of white people who are completely detached from reality and feel the need to save people of color. And then they feel good about themselves. "Representation matters". Which it actually does. I fully believe that. But not in the way a certain group of modern Northern Americans does it. Because in the eyes of those people, diversity means not white. And I specifically write "modern Northern American" because there have been plenty of white writers who have created AMAZING diverse characters such as Spawn or Blade. Those characters were created and established naturally. Many of the modern diverse characters? Not so much. How about Honey Badger, the 9-year-old female Wolverine? Why is there a 9-year-old character in Marvel comics in the first place? Why are there stories where they're talking about that 9-year-old child discovering her bi-sexuality? What is happening? Did Stephen King write that creepy nonsense?

2) Upping the ESG score. Many companies desperately try to up their ESG score to get dat sweet sweet investors money. ESG stands for Environmental, Social, Governance. If you have a high ESG score you're in good standing and are more likely to get money from investors because you show that your company is trying to create a better world. Not necessarily a bad thing right, but at the same time everyone knows what the true reason is why these companies are hardcore pushing for diversity: money. They potentially get more money from the investors than they lose from people not consuming badly made products. It's the same as with a fine. If a company does something shady and earn-steals 50 million but they get caught by the government and have to pay a fine for 10 million... But they've just made 40 millions. They're happy. The government is happy because they just got 10 million for free. And the common folk are happy as well because they saw the company get a fine for taking advantage of customers: "THAT WILL TEACH YOU TO MESS WITH US!!! YOU MESS WITH THE PEOPLE??? YOU GET ****ED BY THE LAW!!!"

3) Here is some true tinfoil hat stuff for you: What if many of the modern spinoff characters are being created so that the big two companies don't have to pay BIG royalties to the families of the original creators? But at the same time, if someone very special over at Marvel creates a character, they're very likely to have made a deal to get royalty money. There is an artist who stated that he got a six-figure check from DC just because a certain character appeared for a couple of second on screen. And the artist had co-created that character. And now you have someone like Sana Amanat, a higher-up at Marvel comics co-creating Ms. Marvel. And that character is... kinda being rejected by the overall comic book reading audience. Her comics sell like ****. But you still can't get rid of her. She is constantly getting comics, being put into EVERYTHING, from comic book teams to games, shows and now even a movie. EVERYTHING with Ms. Marvel in it is failing yet she is still getting pushed. "Diversity matters". "First Muslim something something". And at the same time, Sana Amanat is smiling. Because there is NO WAY in hell she doesn't get some royalties for anything Ms. Marvel appears in. NO WAY.

Again, I fully believe that representation matters. That's probably one of the main reasons why Sentry fans LOVE the character. They relate to his struggles with mental health for whatever reason. Maybe they're mentally ill themselves. Maybe they have been depressed. Maybe they have empathy for the character who is constantly being avoided by in-universe characters and being mistreated by out-of-universe writers and fans. That's representation done right. A character ANYONE can identify with. Just like everyone can relate to Spawn, a black character, who has sold his soul to the devil to get revenge and was saved by his family. All of those are strong emotions. But all of those strong human emotions... You can't get those in a comic written by people who have +25k tweets on Twitter in the span of two years. That's where you get a comic where someone literally says "time to punch a bigot" which is such idiotic Twitter talk. A comic which features many, many different new characters and only one of them is a white male who then also happens to be a racist serial killer. And the diverse protagonist of the story is being presented as better and more deserving than the original titular hero. It's political (in a bad way) and mean-spirited beyond belief.

I don't hate Mallory. How could I? She is as inoffensive of a character as they come. And I'm glad that physically disabled people have a character they can look up to. But why sideline something subjectively better (Sentry) in the process of creating her? Why not make her a brand new hero? Why replace instead of adding? Why hire an incompetent writer to create that diverse character? Because besides the Sentry stuff that has been handled abysmally, the story itself is just not well thought out, structured or told. And I do think that's a very objective point of view considering how badly the book has performed. How little people seem to care about it. There are more than enough Anti-SJW channels on Youtube who vomit out 1-2 videos daily where they complain about EVERYTHING. A book having a female character immediately makes it woke in the eyes of these dummies. But not even they are talking about this book. It was that dead on arrival.

I can’t relate to Spawn because I’ve never sold my soul to the devil

[Tendrin]

I can’t relate to Spawn because I’ve never sold my soul to the devil

Look, I can't either, but that's just 'coz I was born ginger.

[mace11]

Mallory calling herself Solaris just opens the door for Bob to return since she was talk to previously deceased folks. So expect Bob back in some form sooner than later.

It turns out Marvel's new Sentry isn't actually "the Sentry" at all

The heir to the power of Robert Reynolds/The Sentry is forging her own path with the legacy, and I'm excited to see where it goes

https://www.gamesradar.com/it-turns-...sentry-at-all/