Sentinel reaches the end of its first storyline, "Salvage."  To be honest, it hasn't been selling all that well, but it's getting another few issues regardless.  Hopefully it'll do better in the trade paperback market, although unless Marvel package the things properly, I have my doubts about the Tsunami books' prospects.

Anyhow, the big idea of this issue is that Juston did indeed have a plan beyond just sending in the Sentinel to kill everyone.  The big idea was for it to pose as a threat so that he could then run in and defeat it to become the hero of the day.  Nice and simple.

And the twist?  Well, the twist is that it works.  He gets away with it.  Completely.  End of arc 1.

Or not quite, since Juston's left with the nagging feeling that this may have been a dreadful miscalculation.  Not only has he scared the hell out of everyone, but he's now getting adulation which he obviously doesn't deserve.  And, of course, there's a killer robot in the shed, which somebody's bound to discover in the end.  Sean McKeever writes all this rather well - Juston doesn't require anything more than seeing other people's reactions to get the hint that he's just traded in one problem for a much, much bigger one that's now looming some way down the road.

And with that, the book finishes setting up its status quo.  The next couple of storylines seem to be scheduled for shorter runs, so hopefully we can now pick up the pace a little bit and get a sense of where McKeever's going to head with the whole mess.

The book's got a lovely cover but I'm starting to have my doubts about Udon's work on the Sentinel itself.  It really does look unbelievably cumbersome, without ever truly giving the impression of being a makeshift collection of recycled parts.  But they do a great job with Juston, and his awkward frustration at the way his plan has intangibly failed.

Good book.  The first trade is due out at the beginning of November, by the way.

Rating: B+

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