Sentinel - Volume 2: No Hero

"Sentinel: No Hero" by Sean McKeever (Marvel Comics, 2004) This digest-size graphic novel is sort of like "Iron Giant," updated for the post-Columbine era. In it, a high school outcast named Juston Seyfert finds a damaged Sentinel robot, and secretly repairs it in his father's junkyard workshop. Juston (and his friends) are pop-culture geeks and the perpetual bullying target of the school's sadistic lettermen jocks. One of Juston's friends harbors violent Columbine-like fantasies about killing their tormentors, and at the end of this book, Juston comes close to fulfilling those fantasies when he unleashes the Sentinel on the schoolyard so that he can give the jocks a scare, and later realizes how his actions could have horrible unintended consequences. That was Book One. In Book Two ("No Hero"), Juston tries to make amends by playing hero with the robot, and inevitably attracts government attention. This volume rounds out the story's "Iron Giant"-like arc, with a couple of surprising twists towards the end. At the close of this volume, Juston sets out on a new journey, setting the stage for the next volume -- which is sure to be equally readable and fun. This series is definitely worth checking out. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)