Salvage (Sentinel, Book 1)

Rating:
Summary: Why did Marvel cancel this book?
Review: Marvel comics astounds me. They turn out drek like the last few years of "Uncanny X-Men" and then give the writer responsible for that travesty more work, but they cancel a fantastic title like Sean McKeever's "Sentinel."

This handy digest collects the first half of that too-soon cancelled series. Juston Seyfert is a teenager with teenage problems -- an absent mother, school bullies, a girl he has a crush on who just likes him "as a friend." Things turn around when he finds a Sentinel in his father's salvage yard. This giant mutant-killing robot bonds with the boy, and they start a series of adventures.

This fits the basic framework of your classic "boy and his monster" story -- parallels to the excellent film "The Iron Giant" are obvious -- but this title has a lot of originality to it as well. It's very refreshing to see a father in a teen story who isn't stupid or abusive, but is instead as supportive a character as you could have. Juston enjoys his new friend, but he makes mistakes too, and he has to deal with them. This is very well done.

I missed this title when it was first released. I'll definitely pick up the second (and sadly final) digest that collects the book. And then the voices will get raised to ask Marvel to give this deserving title another chance.