The Sentry #3 opens with the backdrop of the the world’s superheroes fighting an impossible threat in the form of the crystalline entity that’s all but stumped Earth’s mightiest heroes and minds, as previously established. But none of that is the story, or only part of it: the true focus lies in Sentry and Watchdog. This issue is the culmination of Jenkins’ exploration of grief and isolation in a man who has lost the ability to relate to everyone around him.
With the decision to put down Watchdog, Sentry is grappling with the exact morality and helplessness his wife, Lindy, feared he would from the moment they learned of their dog’s cancer.
Marvel
The burden of responsibility and the knowledge that the price of that power is often times too high haunts Sentry throughout this issue as he reckons with the decision to put down Watchdog. This issue is quieter than the previous, focusing in on the unavoidable, bitter grief in knowing for all his power he cannot stop death.
Even as those around him remind him he could extend Watchdog’s life, even for a week and he outright refuses to, getting some sort of broader, terrible sense of foreboding over that choice.
Meanwhile, Kingpin’s diagnosis is no better, and seemingly keeps changing. The fail-safe to protect him and his interests includes whistle-blowing on his entire board to the federal government, a classic scorched earth move. Of course, that only happens if he dies. So now the most influential men he’s gathered around him have proper incentive. He may be morally repugnant, but he’s not stupid.
And finally, Reed Richards has done his own investigating, arriving at the Watchtower and investigating, informing Sentry’s A.I. C.L.O.C he only comes with the best of intentions. Reed’s all but connected the Void to the disturbances around the world, just needing confirmation.
We’re left on something of a cliffhanger, Bob’s emotional state more than worrying as he loses Watchdog, gets incessant outreaches to help with the crystalline danger and the call of the Void.
Marvel
Some of my favorite art of the issue involves Bob, Watchdog and Hulk. There’s something so devastatingly charming about two of the most dangerous people in the Marvel universe holding and petting a dog. It’s a tender moment reminding us that while the whole world is falling apart outside (not hyperbole), there are smaller ones crumbling, too.
The grand, expansive fear that resides in Sentry throughout this issue is so beautiful show-cased in Christian Rosado’s art and Matt Milla’s coloring. It’s little details like the shadowed black and white panel of one of Sentry’s worst fears coming true, speckles of white intermittent with the silhouettes to invoke and remind us of the Void, lingering and rising higher and faster to the surface.
One of my favorite elements of The Sentry is how unnatural the other superheroes look in this issue, their bright colors and palettes almost alien to the somber colors of Bob’s grim reality with the inevitable death of his dog, Lindy’s own grief and even the Hulk.
The continued tease and terror of the Void is building, and it’s clear there will be an explosive, heart-wrenching ending for Sentry in the final issue of this four-part miniseries.
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