#Juston Seyfert

[wandaxpietro]

[Avengers Academy #33]

[racefortheironthrone]

Have views changed on sentinels at all? That is to say, when they first come out in universe vs now is there a larger group of humans thatre rallying and protesting against sentinels both in useage and imagery , or is there unfortunately a widespread tolerance for sentinels and shoulder shrug at best whenever a new model comes out. I imagine the stark branding this time around helps the. ~ evil marketing ~

Great question!

So in-universe, Sentinels are traditionally rather controversial, both because of the issues they raise about prejudice and equal rights, but also because of their tendency to revolt against their human masters that led to the deaths of Bolivar and Larry Trask. On the other hand, humans frequently blamed mutants for the violence caused by Sentinels, so the Sentinels were a potent symbol of anti-mutant prejudice used by anti-mutant groups.

This changed somewhat in the wake of M-Day, when President Bush established by executive order the Office of National Emergency (ONE) and created the Sentinel Squad O.N.E as part of the U.S Government's national security infrastructure. Built by Tony Stark and led by James Rhodes under oversight from (the bitch) Val Cooper, these Mark VIII Sentinels were designed as mecha as opposed to robots as a way to avoid the whole Skynet scenario that had happened repeatedly in the past. (Notably, Tony would go on to build Stark Sentinels again during AXIS, because he would rather die than learn from his past mistakes.)

This use of Sentinels continued under SHIELD Director Tony Stark and HAMMER Director Norman Osborn, as well as through O.N.E and the Commission on Superhuman Activities. In addition to the Sentinel Squad, we have Juston Seyfert as part of Avengers Academy, etc. So for a period of about seven years' publication time, Sentinels were periodically accepted and used by the U.S national security state and promoted as a symbol of national protection and defense.

Shortly prior to Fall of X, Tony's tech would be used by Feilong when he took over Stark Unlimited to build ORCHIS a fleet of fully robotic Stark Sentinels. (And it should be noted that ORCHIS was founded by ex-AIM, SHIELD, STRIKE, SWORD, ARMOR, HAMMER, and other national security agencies as well as HYDRA.) And yes, ORCHIS used Stark's branding as part of the Culture/Narrative petal's project of justification and legitimation.

[night-gay]

Into the Anthill pt 50 - 50 Years And Counting

I wasn’t sure I’d have enough material to cover to make it to a 50th post in this journey considering Hank’s reputation as a “Forgotten Avenger” these days, but we're 50 years into his legacy and not out of comics just yet (we’re about 3 years away from Rage of Ultron though, so the timer’s ticking). 

Avengers vs X-Men popped off here as the Phoenix Force returned to Earth to possess Hope Summers. Hank’s really just a set piece in the fight scenes of all these comics, basically having no lines and no impact on the greater narrative despite appearing in more than a dozen issues of it. His biggest appearances outside of Avengers Academy in these comics were kicking Wolverine out of a plane and running diagnostics on Tony’s Phoenix-Killer gun. After that he was injured and sent to search and rescue work.

At least we got some cool group shots of Giant-Man out of this.

🐜🐜🐜

Secret Avengers vol 1 #22-23, 25

Captain America stepped down as the leader of the Secret Avengers, leaving Hawkeye to lead it just as Captain Britain joined the team. Brian was very impressed by The Lighthouse, their miniature satellite base in Earth’s orbit that used Hank’s Pymportal tech to both transport and shrink those who enter. Cap had put Hank and Beast on the project to keep them both out of trouble. Hawkeye’s first mission escalated quickly, pitting the team against an entire society of A.I. called The Descendants. Most of the team escaped safely thanks to Agent Venom’s late arrival, but Eric O’Grady was killed and Jim Hammond’s body was badly damaged. Hank promised to do what he could to restore Jim to full health after this. 

Avengers Academy vol 1 #29, 32-33

Cap and Wolverine worked with Hank to bring the young Utopian mutants to Avengers Academy to keep them safe from the Avengers vs X-Men conflict. Hank left Hercules and Tigra in charge while he, Quicksilver, and Hawkeye were in the field. The young mutants didn’t stick around long before Sebastian Shaw, X-23, and Tigra came to an agreement and allowed them to leave rather than hold them against their will. They staged a mock battle so that the camera footage couldn't implicate the Avengers in their escape if Cap decided to investigate. Despite her status as a mutant, Laura chose to remain a student rather than leave with her peers even after Hank had the chance to discuss it with her.

As the Phoenix Five had begun their efforts to guarantee world peace by force Emma Frost arrived at Avengers Academy to destroy Juston Seyfert’s Sentinel, an older model he’d befriended and reprogrammed to prevent it from harming mutants. His fail-safes were not entirely effective, as it attacked Emma immediately upon detecting her. Hank tried to reason with her that it could be managed, but her only compromise was to scrub it of it’s current programming entirely, which would erase it’s personality and memories in the process. Their combined efforts meant nothing against Emma’s new power; she easily destroyed the Sentinel and would have inadvertently killed Juston as well had it not protected him. She melted it’s CPU before leaving to ensure it would never rise again, but Quicksilver swapped in a fake one without her noticing. With Emma gone, Hank, Pietro, and Juston were able to rebuild his friend. The issue ends with Hank and Tigra telling the students they’re not certain the school will survive this war against the X-Men and that they need to go back home if they can.

Minor/Cameo appearances from this period:

Venom vol 2 #17, 22

Avengers Assemble vol 1 #6, 8

Avengers vs. X-Men vol 1 #1-5, 7, 9, 11-12

New Avengers vol 2 #24

Wolverine and the X-Men vol 1 #10-12

Avengers vol 4 #29

[requiem-bells]

Random question…

Give us five story arches, or one shots, or on going run of comics you think everyone should read.

I’m a little bummed you’re making me stick to just American comics but I’m going to try and do some deep cuts from the Big 3 publishers. Gonna do a mix of one-shots, limited runs and finished on-goings.

Marvel:

The year is 2003 and Marvel starts a manga-inspired imprint named Tsunami (this is also where Runaways got their start) to appeal to manga readers. Sentinel tells the story of a Battle-Bot building high schooler that stumbles upon some broken robotics parts in his family’s junkyard that, unbeknownst to him, belong to a mutant exterminating Sentinel. He eventually is able to rebuild it full-size with other scrap parts and Iron Giant shenanigans ensue. Ended/canceled after 12 issues but then brought back with the same creative team for a 5 issue miniseries in 2005.

Avengers Academy was one of the first ongoings to benefit from the groundwork laid by Wiccan and Hulkling for Marvel to include out, queer teens in their stories. A very fun read about superpowered teens in a school setting after being used by Norman Osborn as genuine pigs. With mentors such as Henry Pym, Tigra and Quicksilver - what could go wrong? Ran for 40 issues plus some crossovers with other teen groups at the time like Runaways.

DC:

Martian Manhunter #24 (1998)

A one-shot issue where Booster Gold and Blue Beetle II (Ted Kord) play a prank on the Oreo-obsessed Martian Manhunter by stealing his entire stash and buying out all others in the Tri-state area. This goes about as well as you would assume for the pranksters. Just a fun, non-canon read for any Justice League fan.

Justin League: Generation Lost tells the story of a newly reincarnated Maxwell Lord that has somehow wiped his known existence from the entire world besides for Booster Gold, Blue Beetle III (Jamie Reyes), Fire, Ice and Captain Atom. It’s a fascinating “What If” of sorts where now everything Max has ever had a hand in has been conveniently changed in the publics’ general consciousness and now dealing the ramifications that this has, such as Bruce Wayne being the one to reform the League instead of Max, as one example. One of my favorite lesser known recommendations for anyone that’s a fan of the Justice League International series from the late 80s. This ran for its intended length at 24 issues.

Image:

Without a doubt the most popular series on this list. Sex Criminals chronicles the story of two individuals that learn during puberty that they can freeze time after they orgasm. The stars align and the two meet and begin a budding relationship. They then begin to start robbing banks, postcoital, in order to help pay the debts of the main character’s failing library. This goes about as well as one would expect. A great comedy series by the masterminds of Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky. This series recently wrapped up in the last year with issue #31 (tho the final issue is aptly numbered as #69).

This was a lot of fun to think back to some deeper cuts that deserve some love!

[travisellisor]

the cover to Sentinel (2005) #1 by Joe Vriens and Gary Yeung

[marvelfaceclaims-blog]

Fabian Gamba - Juston Seyfert (Sentinel)

First Appearance: Sentinel #1 (Jun, 2003)

“If we can make all this work... who knows? Maybe we can do some good.”

[halcyonstarfish]

I didn’t imagine it could be possible for me to feel even worse about Avengers Arena all those years later.

[hellyeahheroes]

Team-Up I Want To See #14

So, as Marvel Legacy is, slowly and ineffectively, trying to set Marvel characters back on track it really feels to me it’s only working on few titles that actually needed this. One of them is Runaways who are slowly being put back together after the damage done to them by Dennis Hopeless. This made me think of another team that has been damaged by Hopeless that I feel, if Marvel wanted to show their willingness to fix their mess, should be brought back the way Runaways were. And I was brainstorming how I’d pull it off and I thought of another book that seems to be benefiting from Legacy and putting its protagonist back on track after seemingly character destroying story, Secret Empire. One thought leads to another and I came up with this concept I want to present to you. A concept I feel Marvel Legacy would actually benefit from had they thought of it. Avengers Academy returns...with Captain America as the new headmaster!

Currently, the Academy is pretty much in ruins. Most of the students were dropped into limbo, out of the original cast Mettle and Reptil are dead, Hazmat got derailed into oblivion, both the courtesy of possibly the worst writer in comics history, Finesse’s story ended on a sour note and Striker got forgotten. Only Veil got a seemingly happy ending and even that is debatable. Out of the characters added later, White Tiger gave her powers away, X-23 moved on and Juston has been killed by the same hack who offed Mettle and Reptil. Even their headmaster got absorbed by Ultron who then went completely bonkers and became a centrist. That they’re in dire need of some serious fixing is undeniable. But due to tremendous damage done to them, their book would have a hard time to take off. So they could use some star power that Captain America would provide. In a way, it would also be fitting somewhat with the evolution of his opinion on teen superheroes over the years. When he was once firmly opposed to the idea at some point between trying to put Runaways and Young Avengers from the streets he seems to have realized it’s because of guilt over Bucky’s fate. He slowly came to accept them on his terms, when they’re being overseen by more experienced capes and kept from massive threats. I think that the logical step now would for him to realize that he cannot just relegate that to Avengers that the main group considers bad PR, he needs to step in himself. And kids from Avengers Academy, whom Avengers, let’s be honest, fucking failed...that would be a good place to start. I’d say he’d start small, taking Hazmat, Finesse, White Tiger (if Ava is even still calling herself that) and Striker back under his wings, but I hope the story would find a way to get Mettle, Reptil, and Juston with his Sentinel back as well. It could provide the healing opportunity this team seriously needs, while the inclusion of Cap would allow for different dynamics and maybe new perspective for the characters.

- Admin

[puterboy1]

You know who’d I like to see in Big Hero 6: The Series?

Juston Seyfert.

He and Hiro would be like rivals because they both have a robot for a best friend. But then they become pals and the robot Sentinel would be like an antithesis for Baymax.

Any other ideas or questions or thoughts?

[super-hero-confessions]

[why-i-love-comics]

Avengers Academy #33 - "What the Heart Wants II" (2012)

written by Christos N. Gage art by Timothy Green II, Jeff Huet, & Chris Sotomayor

[paulsebert]

Just snagged all 12 issues of the 2003/2004 Sentinel series on Comixology.  This stuff’s been out of print for a decade and was only reprinted in a digest format.  The digests Marvel published at the time had a cheaper newsprint-like paper and while that wasn’t really an issue on books like Runaways and Spider-Girl, both Sentinel and Araña had much lighter color schemes and looked worse in that format.  

Also I’m buying this because it’s a quality book featuring an C-list character and I think those deserve support.

[zarohk]

I mean, I hope that Juston acknowledged that it was offensive at some point, but I do like the idea or a reprogrammed Sentinel, andvthe questions of morality and sapience that come with that.

I’m kind of pro ‘let’s scrap the genocidal robot’ myself…

[panels-of-interest]

First appearance of Juston Seyfert.

[from Sentinel (2003) #1]

[bricksnclix]

#HeroClix #TheDestroyer, #053a from the new #WarOfTheRealms set. I mentioned a week or two back that I’d bought two boosters and pulled a super-rare in each, and one was Crusader: this big tin can is the other! Seems like they make this guy anytime they do a set with substantial Thor presence, which makes sense… he’s a straightforward dial design, you just make him big, slow, and powerful. The wrinkle this go-round is that he pairs with the uncommon #KidLoki from the same set, who is just the absolute fanciest little lad. They both have the #GuardiansOfTheGalaxy keyword, surprisingly prevalent in this Thor-centered set. That’s due (it would seem) to a recent comic book called #AsgardiansOfTheGalaxy (has Avengers Endgame really been out long enough for offhanded jokes in it to have spawned whole comics series? Geez…). Anyway, it would further seem, Kid Loki’s appearance relating to this The Destroyer is a twist midway through that series. Whoopsies. #spoilers. At least I still don’t know what happened to The Destroyer’s arm? This Kid Loki has a Trait that only works with this specific The Destroyer, and together they kinda replicate the Juston Seyfert/Sentinel tactic that was the cheese back in 2015 or so. Not my play style, so I’m trading ‘em. Kid Loki isn’t shown in focus here because he’s only an uncommon, you can get your own. Me, I’ll probably either try to track down the more Young Avengers-y Kid Loki from the last #MarvelHeroClix set, or wait for the MCU Kid Loki in the upcoming Disney+ set. Wow, that character’s having kind of a run, huh? Good for him. If you swiped all the way through, post your own (tasteful!) #bunsofsteel joke in the comments. 😜 @wizkidsgames @necaofficial #clixstagram #tabletopgaming #tabletopgames #wizkidsgaming #wizkidsgames #weareheroclix #bricksnclix #toyphotography #photoygraphy #toycrewbuddies #toysofinstagram #littleplasticpeople #macro #latergram https://www.instagram.com/p/CbJSEbYM5Hb/?utm_medium=tumblr

[majingojira]

A More in-Depth Review of Runaways #1

Which is an odd thing to say, because really not that much happens in the story.  There is a problem, it is confronted, and solved.  But the little touches that make it work.

First off, I like how it seems to be setting up confronting the past while at the same time establishing it for new readers.  It’s not just to get to know the character, but to understand where she has been.  It also makes sense to do this in a “Let’s get the band together’ arc, but it sparks some interesting ideas and commentary. 

After the Runaways broke up for reasons unknown, we get a summary of the things she’s been up to since then. 

That first panel is totally a dig at Avengers Arena and Avengers Undercover.  If you know anything about me, you know how much I approve of that sort of thing! Her use after the cancellation of Runaways only really has two bright spots, the latter of which is highlighted rather well.

Stupid Civil War ruining everything . . .

It paints Nico as a person who suffers a lot, which is very true.   I also liek how this and the prior Panel’s help show off Anka’s talent.  the style of the prior books shown is evoked, but it’s still clearly Anka’s art.  It manaages to call back while not feeling like it’s a crop out or cop out.  The extra mile was taken with this series!

Then Chase shows up and she sees that he did what he usually does: Screw Up.

The rest of the issue is spent trying to revive Gert, and it’s an active, tense bit that carries the issue.  It’s a real ride that carries things.  No hiccups in flow, just characters scrambling to save their friend. 

But there’s a lot of little things which really make it work. 

Like this bit.  There’s quite a few people Nico would want back from the dead, and we know she’s tried it before.  It’s nice to hear that after two “Powerup” story arcs she experimented to see if that would allow her to do it. 

No dice, apparently.  I like to think she tried it for Alex, her parents, Victor Mancha, Ken Mack/Mettle, and Juston Seyfert. 

I want to take a moment to focus on the narration boxes because they are kind of unique.  They are apparently being done in Third Person Limited, the same perspective taken by books like Harry Potter series.  It allows for quite a bit of exploration of the focal character, even to things they are not aware of and would be lost if it was First Person, while still keeping the character intimacy that is lost in Third Person.

It’s almost unheard of in comics but common in YA lit.  I think it works here. 

I also wanted to point out the first caption box.  I love the way that’s worded. 

Though the later caption pointing out that Nico doesn’t know how her magic works just enhances my desire for her to get some actual magical training. 

Someone once proposed that Ilyanna take up that duty and I’ve come to agree with that.

This is a great little description of her, and ties into previous establishments of her creativity.  But the fun part is after telling us this, it shows this in action as the Staff of One misbehaves something fierce in 5 pages, two of them wonderful two-page spreads, of the desperate measures taken to save Gert.

Once that is done (and a very confused podiatrist is sent back), Gert turns to grilling Chase because messing with spacetime is no laughing matter.

I’m sorry, I just love the line “Time Travel Juice” and had to share it.  the core of the argument between them is that Nico worries about the consequences and Chase . . .  does what he thinks he has to, usually thinking about it after.  If at all.

There’s a quality about the way they argue that speaks about how close they were (even if you ignore the fact that they snogged/maybe slept together once). Also, ANOTHER dig at Arena!  Sure, I think it’s also setting up later exploration of what happened between the death of Gert and now, but I’d be happy if we followed Nico’s advice on the subject too.

Speaking of, the next bit has Chase talking about how he got her back.  If this were Arena, he’d just talk about it, but because the person writing this understands that what’s being described can be utterly captivating, we get to SEE what happened too!  it makes the experience more engaging and ‘real’.  Besides, who likes just being ‘told’ about something in a visual medium?

Regardless, I love the fact that this happened because Chase managed to be late with a time machine. 

I also want to point out with this sequence how great it was to get Anka on the art.  Anka’s talents are exactly what this series needs: expressive faces, diverse bpody types so everyone looks visually distinct (and like a human being), and the panel placement in the two page spreads is just masterful.  There’s a lot of great flow in them that really helps the intensity and urgency of the story reach the audience. 

And the issue ends with PSYCHIC CAT GRANDMA!  Who creepily watches the goings on.

I am betting is the mysterious grandmother mentioned in Molly’s focus issue.

So, while not a lot happens, the way it’s done makes it really work. 

How good is this book? 

I’m actually putting the issues on my pull list.  this is the first time I’ve ever done that.  I’m a trade waiter, but this . . . to make a reference: I’m going full Gundam on it.  I’m getting digitial copies, print copies, and the trade.