A-Next #2

Suddenly ... the Sentry!
November 1998
Written by Tom DeFalco

As the second issue of this Earth-982 series begins, Mainframe, J2, and Thunderstrike are waiting for Stinger to come to an meeting. She is late because she is getting a stern talking to be her father, the former Ant-Man, about putting herself in jeopardy. She arrives shortly after and Mainframe tells the team that Earth's space defense satellites, put into orbit years ago after a major Skrull invasion, shot at something that then broke into two pieces, landing in Washington Park National Forest. Dr. William Foster and his son John Foster are in the area working with the Maria Stark Foundation (also a backer of the Avengers), and sends its own people to check on the crash. Their two people, Carol and Walt, are blasted by some creature though. On the flight in the Quinjet to the Forest, the group learns J2's identity since he reverts back after a time. Thunderstrike in particular becomes angered that a kid is part of his Avengers. They decide to continue the conversation after the mission as they land and are briefed by Dr. Foster. The Avengers and Fosters then break into two groups to investigate the crashes. Mainframe and Thunderstrike find the two researchers, set them free, and then begin a battle with Intergalactic Sentry 666. Stinger, J2, and the Fosters find the ship and infiltrate it, finding the pilot dead. As the battle gets closer to the craft, Stinger and J2 join the fight, but a misplaced hit by J2 sends the Sentry towards the ship. Panicking and wishing to save his father, John Foster tries to the Kree controls and becomes a human/Kree Sentry! He comes out of the ship with his father and joins the battle. He lures the Sentry into the ship, which falls into a ravine, and activates the ships self-destruct. The issue ends with John proclaiming himself the Earth Sentry and telling the Avengers he knows the Kree are going to try something eventually.

This issue was a bit better than even the first one, since it didn't get bogged down by trying to explain how they all got together in the first place. Once thing that I was a little perturbed by was the amount of exposition during the fight scenes ... it was like Shakespeare during a Jackie Chan movie! Other then that, I enjoyed the conflict of interest between Thunderstrike and J2, since I find J2 a bit unnerving, especially in his series. I think it is funny that he continually thinks he is doing good when it turns out very bad. John Foster seems like he will be an interesting character, but I almost thought he would become evil by the way he was first presented. Overall, a good issue, but still a bit below of 4.

Score: 3 / 5