HE AIN’T HEAVY, HE’S MY LAYMAN

John’s a friend. So I have to admit that before discussing the book. I’m a full disclosure kind of guy.

SENTINEL SQUAD O.N.E. #1
Written by John Layman and Drawn by Aaron Lopresti
Published by Marvel Comics

Since their inception, the Sentinels have always been giant homicidal robots with only programming as their guide. Now, actual human beings pilot the new generation of killer bots. This is their story. SENTINEL SQUAD O.N.E. was described to me early on as “Band Of Brothers with giant robots” and that’s a fair enough angle. We’re introduced to the recruiting class for pilots, meet the movers and shakers behind the program, and get a general idea of where the series is going to go. One little tidy “pilot episode” package for your enjoyment.

That isn’t to say that there aren’t speed bumps along the way. With such a large cast, we don’t get much of a chance to develop a rooting interest in any of the recruits, because the exposition is so important to getting the plot moving. Plus, the fact that we need to learn about the recruits to a certain degree pushes the best character in the book to the wayside: James “Rhodey” Rhodes is the man charged with training the motley crew of pilots, and he’s a welcome sight, indeed. The period where I was a big IRON MAN fan coincides with Rhodey’s tenure in the suit back around issues #170-197 of the original series. Good times, happy memories.

What works? Layman does a good job of impressing upon you that his band of recruits are a bunch of body bags waiting to be used. Piloting a huge weapon like a Sentinel is as dangerous a job as you can find in the Marvel Universe, and there’s no room for malcontents or those who refuse to pay attention. He also presents a solid bit of intrigue as to one of the pilots, Lex, as he appears to be hiding his status of a still-powered mutant. But the star here is Aaron Lopresti’s art, which is just about perfect for the book. He excels in presenting all-out action between the robots and the Hulk, yet doesn’t phone it in when it comes time to working with the humans in the cast. Pretty, pretty stuff.

One thing I do need to mention is that there is one complete botch here: the logo. In a market where shelf space is life, this book has been saddled with one of the worst, most generic logos I’ve seen in ages. It’s terrible. If I hadn’t known to look for the title because of its writer, I’d have ignored it completely on the stands. Awful.

There’s a lot of cool stuff ahead in this book. Give it a read.

/Mason