Kelvin's New Avengers review...
 

Couldn't agree more - a lot of other guys online seem to have lapped this issue up, but the nature of the Sentry retcon just completely undermines the character. I'd hoped for more from this arc, but now I'm just hoping that the Sentry doesn't get damaged too badly before Jenkins gets to work on him again in the new Sentry mini.

The only thing I would say regarding the villain behind it all is this: he might not be as previously unconnected to the Sentry as you might think. If you check out the comic book panels in the sentry's mind, you'll see more than one picture of some unidentifiable character wearing the exact same hat as the mystery villain beside Mastermind. He has one red eye and a militaristic uniform.

Now check out these scans of "The General", from Jenkins' original miniseries...




It's a possibility...

Thanks Dave. Yeah, I thought the original Sentry was a wonderful creation that as well as being the ultimate superhero (ie, Superman) was also the ultimate iteration of Marvel's superhero philosophy (ie, that he's flawed). As I said in the review, I find it more heroic to overcome personal obstacles in order to do good than to simply be pure unflawed goodness. By having all the Sentry's problems be the result of outside forces, Bendis dangerously undermines the character.

Anyway...

I did think about The General as being the mysterious behatted fellow in the flashbacks, but I discounted him largely because he seems too minor a character to be behind the Sentry's downfall. I mean, his only appearance thus far (as I recall) has been in one of the supplementary spin-off issues of the original series that didn't have any impact on the main plot. It would be like a character from the original Marvel Team-Up suddenly becoming hugely and retroactively important in Spider-Man's life.

Not that I wouldn't put such a move past Bendis and Marvel, but I'm going to be generous and give them more credit than this. I think The General is too minor, although he is the obvious candidate.

And my other big problem with New Avengers is that the comic isn't even about the team. We've got a Sentry arc now, followed by a Daredevi-sorry, a Ronin arc, followed then by a Spider-Woman arc. That takes us up to around #16 I think, and we've not seen the full team working together yet.

I don't mind origin stories and introductions, but either involve the rest of the team more, or limit them to an issue rather than stuff like this bloated Sentry arc. Bendis doesn't seem to be aware that NA is a team book; instead he's writing it like an anthology or MTU.

Well yeah - case in point this issue, where most of the plot revolves around Emma Frost and Reed Richards. We've yet to see the team really coalesce, and after almost a year of stories you'd have to expect more than that.

"The General"
 

That's the last time I give Bendis the benefit of the doubt. The grand mastermind behind the Sentry's downfall is a pastiche of General Jumbo?

General Jumbo?

...

Yeah, I used to read General Jumbo as a kid and wondered if it was an intentional reference or not... Still, at least it wasn't built up as a "big reveal" and dragged out any longer than necessary this issue - although it is suggested that it's going to be a future plot point for the Sentry's character...

Jenkins is a Brit, and of the right age, so I can only assume so.

I would guess that the upcoming Sentry miniseries will deal with him getting his own back on the people behind his downfall, including Jumbo...

Yeah, I guess that's a possibility - although I do remember Jenkins saying something along the lines of all him wanting from Bendis' arc was to reintroduce the Sentry into continuity, and leave him a relatively blank slate do play around with in his own mini. Plus, it'd seem a bit odd to explain the grudge in one book and then provide the payoff in another... Unless Marvel wants to do it intentionally, to encourage readers to buy the new series...

Perhaps I'm only hoping that they deal with it in the miniseries, because I dread to think when we'll actually get around to it if it's Bendis is the one who's going to be picking up on that plot thread... :icon_conf