REVIEW: ‘Sentinels’ Issue #3

Sentinels #3 is published by Marvel Comics. Written by Alex Paknadel, art by Justin Mason, art by Federico Blee, and letters by Travis Lanham. The Sentinels face one of their fiercest foes yet as they inadvertently come up against Magneto.

This ferocious technological tale only gets more brutal with each installment. The soldiers turned Sentinels face more unbelievably tough opposition in a completely hostile location. The structure changes within Sentinels #3. Corina Ellis, the head of the entire mutant containment operation, debriefs Drumfire. The disaster of a mission is then regaled. The operation goes wrong from the start with a horrible sense of dread seeping into the book as the Sentinesls tangle with mutants helping locals. But then there is a frantic panic as they face a huge boss, someone that the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe have fallen foul of.

The battle is phenomenally terrifying. The soldiers are grossly, horrifically outmatched, and unprepared, and the spectacle that unfolds is mindboggling. It forces tough decisions to be made, showing that the “protagonists” of Sentinels #3 are not entirely heroic. Other threads spiraling out of that battle show how the entire operation is beginning to fall apart, and the consequences are unnerving and startling.

The characters and the dialogue are terrific. Paknadel routinely digs out humanity from within the metallic tampering that the wounded veterans have faced. All of them have their own struggles that are messing with their ability to function. Lockstep, the team leader, is losing his sanity. With struggles in his estranged family and the immense pressure of the job, he falls apart entirely.

The chaos that erupts once Magneto enters the picture is fantastically scripted.  The one soldier who remains calm and collected is Drumfire due to the mood regulators she has been taking. She and Lockstep are on two ends of the spectrum, and both are entirely broken. Lawrence Trask has a conversation with something else and unknown. Something skin-crawling. This could disrupt the fabric of the book, with an underlying villain behind it all.

Magneto has been seen as a hero for a long time, allying himself with Cyclops and the X-Men. Sentinels #3 is a reminder of what he can be as a villain. He is so powerful and experienced with a frigid personality, able to swat enemies away like a fly. The Sentinels are the perfect opposition for him with their body parts and augments made of metal. It turns them into toys for Magento to play with. Magneto’s appearance in this issue raises eyebrows, as he has not left his chair in Jed MacKay’s X-Men series. The synergy and consistency across the series have been close to perfect, and it must be a mystery instead of a mistake.

The art mixes the 2000AD influence with Marvel’s Master of Magnetism. Every piece of metal on those soldiers’ bodies is something for him to twist or tear. Mason shows an unbelievably brutal fight scene where the Sentinels can barely lay a glove on the man. They are put in torturous contortions. The location is unfriendly and hostile for the squad, putting them through hell. Their augments turn against them, with so many ways of inflicting pain on display.

Mason shows some of the damage early in Sentinels #3, with Drumfire injured from the first page. Her hallucinations kick in occasionally, and Onslaught’s hulking visage fills the room before vanishing again. It creates a sudden pang of fear, but these moments are not overused. Magneto’s design is fascinating. The helmet hides his face, with only his eyes poking through. He is menacing, similar to how he was when facing the X-Men.

The colors are excellent. With the Sentinels, Magneto, and Onslaught appearing in this issue in one form or another, it is a wonderful reminder that they have had a common color scheme throughout their history. They all have purple on their outfits, and Onslaught’s red and purple match Magneto’s. Magneto even comments on the color, giving him more reason to unleash his anger on his attackers.

The background and location look bleak as rain pours down, covered in bright blue, demonstrating the horrific weather conditions and heaping pressure on the soldiers. The lettering is clear and easy to read within the technology.

Sentinels #3 is a metallic maelstrom. The book is a terrific technological terror, and Paknadel introduces a villain that can pick the main characters apart like it’s nothing. Every fight the soldiers have had features a new villain that changes the parameters entirely, and they are rarely prepared for it. And each time, they are left more damaged than before. That damage takes its toll over time, even if the soldiers and their overlords refuse to see it. The battle is a cacophony of carnage that is fantastic to peruse. It’s gloriously messy and horrible, with frightening imagery at every turn that highlights the horror of the Sentinels’ existence.

Sentinels #3 is available where comics are sold.