Sinister’s Six #3: Cry Havok

Alex Summers is a man always forgotten in the shadows of his elder brother, but at times manages to surpass his heroism. He was never meant to lead, but still finds himself followed by people foolish enough to believe in him. He’s not as smart as his older brother, and nowhere near as powerful as his younger brother, but in spite of that Alex Summers does what he can, and sometimes that’s more than enough. A good man forever used by an evil world. That’s a lesson that continues to be hammered into him, yet he always defies it. 

It was obvious from issue one that this book was only going to end one way. The six were a broken mess that were always meant to shatter to dust, nonetheless the journey was an interesting one to follow. We didn’t have much time with this group, but Dave Marquez does a very good job of making you feel for most of them in that short timeframe. 

Their battle with Revelation and his forces has the briefest glimmers of hope, before hitting us and the six with the crushing weight of their reality. You find yourself rooting for at least ONE of the group to survive, and one does but the escape proves to be bittersweet by the end of the issue. 

The only minor gripe I have is the identity of Venom, which is the big twist of this final issue. Narratively the person underneath the symbiote makes sense, and the building blocks were there, but it just further highlights the continuing craziness that is the Venom host list. Like I said earlier however it’s small potatoes and doesn’t take away from the overall effectiveness of the story.  

Rafael Loureiro’s pencils almost perfectly reflect the emotion in Marquez’s script. You feel when each member of the six goes down and there are a few moments that genuinely made me sad.