Sentinels #4

Recap
With the program shuddered by Corina Ellis, the Sentinels face an uncertain future. What does it mean to be terminated when your job is literally your life? And what will four unstoppable super-soldiers do with the time left to them?
Review
Phew. Talk about the ugly truth. Paknadel packs several clever reveals and one helluva deep cut in as the truth behind the sentinel program becomes known. Ugly truths come home to roost as Lockstep finds himself in the hands of Corina Ellis who has plans of her own for him. The gruesome ugly secret behind the technology of how Lawrence Trask developed this latest program is revealed and shout out to Paknadel for digging that deep into sentinel lore, It’s a hard hitting gut-wrenching blast into the past for any one who read Sean McKeever’s series in 2003 and Avenger’s Arena in 2009. Meanwhile Drumfire’s hallucinations take a very interesting turn and another reveal leaves us with questions as the evolved Voivod with help by Camila escape to go find ” the boy from the junkyard.”
Excellent dialogue and pacing from Paknadel make this issue a riveting set of changes and reveals with some explosive action. I think the X-Office are to be complimented with how tight they’ve actually kept the overlapping continuity where the books have actually touched. This book just continues to deliver gut punching but utterly riveting story issue after issue from a cast that all suck to a varying degree. Paknadel is really good at the lesser of several evils layering that goes into this story as he tempers the heaviness of the story with tiny shards of humanity from our messed up sentinel cast while deepening the darkness of other characters like Scurvy and Ellis.
It’s an ugly book about ugly people doing messed up things and Mason and Blee get to do some really fun things in this issue. From the casual exchange between Lockstep standing covered in blood outside his son’s home while having a particularly well written back and forth between himself and Dr Ellis even as his hair falls out, to Drumfire’s petrified “hallucinations” and very well timed reveal to several gross body moments and the explosive confrontation between Voivod and the dog sentinels. Mason and Blee pour on the grit and cap it with a fantastic last two pages of revelations, ands a last page splash. Lanham gets to have fun with more sound effects as once again I couldn’t think of a better art team to take on this script than ones involved. Mason’s cover caps a perfect issue of a series everyone wanted to throw eggs at but has proven itself to be the biggest swing and hit of the new era.
Final Thoughts
Sentinels #4 is a superb chapter of reveals involving horrifying truths and explosive changes. With blistering good dialogue and pacing accompanied by the perfect art suited to the story, its a perfect issue and cements the series as being one of the best of the new era!
Sentinels #4: The Boy From the Junkyard
- Writing - 10/1010/10
- Storyline - 10/1010/10
- Art - 10/1010/10
- Color - 10/1010/10
- Cover Art - 10/1010/10