Comic Book Review - Sentinel Issue 11: Dark Matter

Rob reviews Sentinel Issue 11: Dark Matter...

From what started life as a homage to the vintage comic series Starblazer, Sentinel has expanded into its own thing. While the publication retains the signature Starblazer style of a full story within 'x' amount of pages, Sentinel gives you a great mixture of different stories, characters, and themes. 

It's also this assortment that makes each issue a terrific read. Not only do we get a distinct look into writer Alan Holloway's varied imagination, but there's also a different artist there to bring it all to life. For Dark Matter, Alan has enlisted artist Ian Beadle who's no stranger to working with the writer on drawing for Sentinel. Fans will already recognise Beadle's line work as he was the artist for 'Misty Moore', and the cover artist for the brilliant 'Hell on Harry Howson'. 

This time however Beadle trades in horror and fantasy, for a gritty sci-fi military affair as Alan Holloway takes us into the far reaches of space with Dark Matter...

Dark Matter follows a group of no-nonsense mercenaries as they head off on to their latest mission. Tasked by a distant relative of Phil Collins to infiltrate the ruins of a once-great library in search of a missing data crystal, Dark Matter is the only team capable of completing the job. However, it's not simple and as such their destination is a planet that's in a constant state of war. As such Dark Matter will need to utilise all of their expertise and cunning to get the data crystal out safe.

With this tale, Alan Holloway is back on writing form. Whilst his last outing with Newtopia felt a little flat, here with Dark Matter he doesn't hold back. What we get is a blistering sci-fi tale that ticks plenty of boxes and gives plenty of threads for future visits. 

Unlike other Sentinel issues, this one is themed around action - and there's plenty of it. Whilst the rough and tumble do make up a fair chunk of this story, Holloway gives us a few subdued areas to allow everything to sink. It's also in these quiet moments where we're given small chunks of exposition that delves into the team's backstory and builds their world. 

With writing any story that features a team of hardened space marines, it's hard not to fall into those classic sci-fi tropes. And with Dark Matter, it's no different. Whilst the team are unique form each other, they all fall foul of characteristics that we've seen before. For example - there's the gruff and battle-scarred leader, the snappy wise-ass, mysterious assassin, Mr big and dumb, the badass woman, and the sly corporate big-wig. Yet, even with these "defined" roles, Holloway manages to keep things feeling fresh. 

Throughout Dark Matter, you can tell that Ian Beadle is having a lot of fun. Each page is packed full of armour plating, PSI powers, gunfire, robots, and explosions...lots of explosions! Everything about the artwork is a real tour-de-force that doesn't let up. Beadle also treats us to a few full-page spreads which range from combat mechs smashing through walls, to the team's "cartoon" style PSI team-up. It all comes together in a way that keeps the story grounded within the science, but allows the fiction to sneak through when needed. 

All in all, Dark Matter is a return to form for both Alan Holloway and Sentinel. It's a very well written sci-fi tale that doesn't shy away from that fun factor of what made Starblazer great. It's a planet-hopping adventure, with plenty of action, a lot of world-building, and superb artwork that wouldn't look out of place in any mainstream serialised comic. 

Rating 8.5/10 

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