Every month Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Carmen Carnero knock it out of the park with Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, a book that pushes Steve Rogers and his allies to their limits. Issue #10 continues from that strong start, forcing the Invaders to confront some of their biggest demons head on.
When people think of the best Captain America runs of all time, Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting’s run is always near the top of that list (if not the #1 entirely). One of the things that made that run so well was how Brubaker handled his cast, spending considerable time delving into the minds of Steve’s allies like Bucky Barnes, Sharon Carter, Sam Wilson, and Natasha Romanoff. Fortunately, since we are living in an era where we can have two Captain Americas, Sam Wilson has his own solo with his own primary focus in the pages of Captain America: Symbol of Truth (which is another great book), but Lanzing and Kelly are clearly taking a note from Brubaker’s playbook in how they split focus with Steve and his allies. There’s not a single core cast member in Lanzing and Kelly’s book that doesn’t have something to do and issue #10 proves that once again.
M.O.D.O.K.’s appearance causes each of the Invaders to wrestle with their demons, each facing memories from their past or having their worst fears vocalized, forcing them to face them head on. Carmen Carnero really delivers in these action sequences, making each page feel almost cinematic in how it’s handled. While each Invader has to face their fears and gets a moment in the spotlight, it’s Roger Aubrey (Destroyer) who is the star of this issue.
Marvel Comics
Aubrey is a character that a lot of fans may be unfamiliar with since he isn’t a character who gets much focus in most Cap runs historically, but Lanzing and Kelly do great work to make you care about him in just a few issues. Aubrey saves the day and gets hold of the more emotional scenes of the book, including the final speech to M.O.D.O.K. that he makes while asserting his stance. In these last few issues, many readers probably went from not knowing who Destroyer was to loving him and wanting to learn more about him.
The one downside to this issue unfortunately also belongs to Aubrey, whose final stand seemingly results in his death. As M.O.D.O.K. says the “killing” portion of his name, Aubrey stands in front of his beam to protect Sharon, with the final shot of the book being his destroyed mask. Of course, this is comics, where deaths are rarely permanent and high-adrenaline cliffhangers to make you wonder if a character is truly dead are just par for the course, so I’m still waiting to see where this goes in issue #11. But if Roger Aubrey really has died, it feels like a disappointing continuation of the age old “bury your gays” trope. Aubrey’s queerness is front and center in his story in Sentinel of Liberty, which has been a treat to see unfold, but it is undeniably a tad disappointing to see him die in the same issue that focuses on his relationship with Brian Falsworth.
Lanzing and Kelly are two of the best writers in the game right now, so it’s almost guaranteed more surprises lie ahead in this amazing series. Marvel truly struck gold when they combined these writers with the incredible talent of Carmen Carnero, who likewise also always delivers incredible work in this series. With this team behind it, Sentinel of Liberty is poised to be one of the great Captain America runs.
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