The
Sentry vs. The Void
The
Sentry vs. The Void
Title: “The Sentry Act 6: The Truth”
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Penciller: Jae Lee
Inker: Jae Lee
Colors: Jose Villarrubia
Editor: Stuart Moore
Sentry stands on Liberty Island with the other heroes waiting for the Void to attack. He thinks to himself that in a few moments he is going to have to face the end of the world. He thinks to himself that it has been a while. Sentry knows that the Void is returning. He wonders how he is going to face him. He thinks about the doubts rising up from his mind to the edge of his heart. The heroes with him prepare for the end of all things, and if Void gets past the first wave his influence will spread like a cancer. He can almost feel their fear and that it seems like the terror and trepidation are almost necessary. He wonders what the Void will look like, feel like. He wonders who will live and who will die. The Void if then on Sentry and Sentry actually feels relief that the waiting is over. He tenses under the weight and Void comes like an impossible fury. The memories flood back and Sentry wishes he could have warned them. The tendrils will keep on coming no matter what, and when you get tired they will still keep coming. The Void goes after the Hulk immediately. Sentry suspected he might, but that he couldn’t have warned the brute. The ball of energy is keeping Hulk alive, but just barely. Sentry thinks of some road kill he saw when he was younger that wasn’t killed by the impact. He thinks to himself that he should have let the Hulk stay away. Spider-Man dodges Void’s tendrils. He suddenly feels his spider-sense tingling and realizes that Doctor Octopus fighting along side the heroes. Ock says that desperate times call for desperate measures. Spider-Man asks him what happens if they win. Ock says that he will kill him then.
The first hero dies when eighty tons of the George Washington Bridge collapses on him. He couldn’t move fast enough, but then no one can run fast enough to outrun their nightmares. Doc Samson tries to dig the man out, but he was too late. Perhaps he was too late the moment the Void decided to return.
Reed says that it is coming too fast. He warns Archangel to look out behind him, but then suddenly his speech slurs as time stops around him. Stephan Strange appears before Reed and asks to forgive the intrusion. He says that he has given them a moment of pause because they need to talk. Strange says that Reed feels like he has remembered, but it is only as much as he is being allowed to remember. Reed says, “Allowed? But I… I betrayed him, didn’t I…?” Strange says that he did, but asks Reed if he remembers why. Reed remembers the Fantastic Four entering a cave, Torch asks what happened to all these people. Thing says that whatever happened that the sicko did it on purpose. Reed remembers that it was Sue that saw it first. Sentry is glowing with black energy. Reed tells Strange that he finally remembers. He says that the Sentry is the Void.
Sentry thinks that it feels so right and so wrong. Ever the Void, once more the Sentry as he knew in his heart it always would be. Sentry knows that he is the last line of defense arriving in the nick of time, with one second left on the clock. He feels that he is better than Jesus. A clock ticks. Sentry has his fist cocked. Void asks why he is holding back. He asks if he isn’t everything that he has feared and more. Void asks if he isn’t afraid, but then Sentry realizes that he isn’t afraid. Existence may end, but Sentry and the Void will battle on until the end of time. It is as if Sentry already knows the outcome of the battle from beginning to end.
Strange says to look at Void’s power. He says that it has increased and the battle has increased tenfold. Strange tells Reed that he has to remember. Reed asks why Strange doesn’t just tell him what he needs to know. Strange says that would be altering the course of a stream that needs to find its own way… it would divert the truth. Strange says that at the final meeting of the heroes that someone sent the Sentry away. He asks Reed who it was. Reed says that he doesn’t know. He says that there was such chaos and shouting. He says that he remembers Sentry standing before them, not defiant, but proud. Everyone knew now that he was both the Sentry and the Void, but he stood there a man who had unconsciously killed a million people, destroyed half a city, but he saved a hundred million more. Reed says that he remembers pleading with Sentry to listen to reason, “…counteract the poison, for the sake of mankind.” Reed remembers that Sentry thought for a moment and then replied, “Then it’s decided. To all intents and purposes, the Sentry must die.” Reed remembers sitting with Rob that night and drinking themselves stupid. Sentry was losing everything and it was hitting him hard. Reed says that all he could do was offer his friendship. He thinks about how he never saw him that way vulnerable and morose. He remembers being afraid that Sentry was going to change his mind. He says that Sentry told him that he suspected that he was the Void for some time, but that he was unable to admit it to himself… felt he was losing control. It was the first time he had confided in anyone. Rob says that he so desperately wants to be the Sentry and that he doesn’t know if he can deal with being Rob Reynolds. He said that he had hoped the problem would just go away and everything would be fine. He asked Reed if he ever lied to himself like that. Reed told him that everyone does to some extent. Reed told Rob not to give up hope, and that he has an idea. Reed told him that they needed to make everyone forget about the Sentry, including Rob, and that he talked about hypnotic transmitters and power sources. He says that he was trying to make himself feel better as much as he was for Rob. Sentry sat there coming to terms for the first time with his addiction. He told Reed that it was a good plan, but that for it to work that they are going to have to bury him first. He said that people won’t accept that he is dead and that they need him too much. He said that the people will have to reject the Sentry for it to work. Reed said that he can’t be a part of that and that he is his best friend. Sentry said that now is the time to prove it. He says that they have to bury him and then destroy the remains. Reed says that he went before the television cameras and came up with outlandish lies all because Sentry asked him to. Reed looks up at Sentry and says, “Oh, Stephen… what he went through that day… the power he gave up, and we’re going to have to ask him to do it all over again.”
The heroes continue the
futile battle. Sentry thinks to himself that the world is crumbling and that he
doesn’t have the courage to admit that it is his fault. Hulk’s ribs are breaking
one at a time. His shins will be next followed by his thigh bones. After that
would be his spine… it will take a long time for him to die. Sentry thinks that
he could put the Hulk out of his misery if he wanted to. He thinks that it is
between him and his conscience and the livid black sky. Reed stretches over to
Sentry and says that it is time to face the truth. Sentry starts to say, “N-no!
Richards can’t be here… not him…”, but it is Void that finishes, “… he betrayed
me…” Reed tells Sentry to listen to himself and asks if that is him talking or
the Void. He asks if he can even tell the difference anymore. Void says that it
is a trick. He says that they are lying and that they can’t be allowed to
remember. He says that he won’t let it happen again. Reed tells Robert to think
about this.
He
says that he didn’t betray him… Rob says that he was part of it all along. He
says that they installed the transmitter together. Rob says, “Th-that’s why it
was so easy to disassemble? And the virus…? Oh, Reed… what have I done…?”
Sentry remembers the last few minutes in the Watchtower. Rob said that he installed the virus into Cloc’s operating system, and that he doesn’t know how much longer he can keep it together. Reed says that he is making a recording for himself, and that if he has gotten this far that he has to do something to try and get the transmitter working again. Thing said that the doohickey was calibrated and that if there was ever a time for Reed’s noggin to work that this was it. Sue begged for it to work. Reed said that it was now or never and that he is so tired he can barely think. He asked Strange to make him a promise and that if they ever remember the Sentry to do whatever they can to make them forget again. Cloc told them that the virus is working and that it would begin transmitting in two minutes and twelve seconds. It said that he would be unable to communicate after that and that it suggested they leave the Watchtower. Rob turns to Reed and said that he thought it was going to work. He asked him if he is supposed to congratulate him or punch him. Strange said that they should go and that Robert should hasten to their other residence. He said that is wife was waiting for him there. He said that hopefully he will soon believe that it where he belongs. He wished him the best of luck. Cloc said goodbye to them. Reed said, “I’m sorry we had to do this, Cloc. Look after yourself, okay?” Sentry realizes that it why Cloc thought that it was Reed that gave him his final order, but that it was him all along. Void says, “No! You miserable wretch, Sentry… you pathetic nonentity… you will not remember, do you understand me? I won’t allow it! I want to live… I have that right! And you’ll never take it from me Golden Boy… not ever again!” Sentry says that he isn’t controlling the Void anymore. He says that he thinks that he just became an entity all his own, and that the only way they are going to stop him is to get the transmitter working again.
Void’s fury is unimaginable he starts to strike at the heart of all creation if he is going to survive. The world is everything that he despises. Below hero and villain alike realize that the end of the world isn’t coming… it’s already come. This is the end of the story for this universe of marvels.
Inside the Watchtower, Sentry says that Void’s attacks are getting stronger. He asks Strange to try and protect the outer stasis fields. Reed orders Cloc to disable the alarm. Cloc says that he detects Strange and Reed and asks if this pertains to the reemergence of the Void. Sentry says that it is okay, and that it can act on their orders. He says that he wants the transmitter reactivated. Reed says that they have boosted the signal to almost three times its previous output, and that he has sent himself false information about this being a temporal anomaly. Reed says that it is now or never and asks Robert if he is with him. Sentry falls silent for a moment. He thinks about how he is bigger than god and that he could do anything he wanted, or he can live in a ratty old house with two moth-eaten animals and an aging wife. He can be afraid to go outside again and wither and die. He makes his choice. Sentry tells Cloc that he doesn’t have time to reinstall the virus to make it forget. He says that he is going to leave him running after they reactivate the transmitter. He says that when he does so that Cloc isn’t to try and make any contact with anyone outside the building. He asks if Cloc understands. Cloc says that it understands and thanks him for allowing it to continue with its duties. Sentry thanks Cloc and says that he has been a good servant and a true friend.
Outside
the Watchtower, Sentry, Reed, and Strange stand silently. Reality shifts and
Sentry knows that his is the moment that he will lose it all. He turns to Reed
and says, “Reed… I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to come back…” Reed tells Rob,
“Don’t ever be sorry, Robert. You were the first of us… and the best… and we’re
going to have to lose you again… you were the best man I ever knew…” Everything
fades to black.
The news reports on the most expensive natural disaster in history. Reed Richards commented that there was a temporal anomaly in the heart of the hurricane. In other news, authorities are attempting to explain why the Hulk is rampaging in Hoboken, New Jersey. Lindy turns off the car radio. She tells Rob that he has nothing to be afraid of. Inside Burger Palace she tells him to remember what Doctor Pinder said, “You’re not scared, you just think you are.” She says that fear is a little black cloud and when you think it is going to rain on you that you smile at it and it makes the cloud go away. She tells him to hold her hand. Lindy turns to the man behind the counter and says that she will have a tripe decker with cheese and curly fries. Billy Turner finishes putting on his apron and asks Rob what he will have. Rob just looks at him. Lindy whispers that it isn’t polite to stare and to give the kid a break. Rob just stares ahead. Something flashes into his memory. Sentry stands there with Scout and says, “Mm-mm! Burger Palace big chili dogs are big enough to satisfy even a hero’s hunger!” Scout says, “They’re humanity’s only hope!” Rob smiles and says, “Chili dog”.
Forgotten… but not Gone rating: 10 out of 10
This is a great issue and a powerful and poignant statement about addiction and its nature. The Sentry is the Void… or rather the Void seems to represent the ugly within Robert Reynold… his addiction to the serum that makes him a god. It’s interesting to note that each time the Void comes back he becomes a little bit stronger. As the Professor pointed out in issue #1, each time Sentry would use the serum he would need a little bit more. Let that be a lesson to anyone out there thinking of trying drugs. It might seem like fun at first, but as someone whose name I forgot once said about drugs- at first I felt great, but the longer I went the more I would need. I started taking the drugs to feel better, but the more I used the less I felt better until at the end it was all pain and no pleasure. Sentry finally remembers that he was the one that banished himself, and he had to find the strength to do it again. Again, the art seems a little off, but for this story it fits like a glove. Doc Ock looks like crap, but I gave out the perfect score because the writing makes it easy to overlook.
RETURN TO FORGOTTEN... BUT NOT GONE