The Sentry #1-5

The Sentry #1-5

Originally released in 2000

Written by Paul Jenkins

Art by Jae Lee

I've heard that the original mini-series that introduced the Sentry is supposed to be good, and with it seeming like he's going to be appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe soon, I thought I'd try it out. The Sentry is a character that I've heard a lot about, though some of it is good and some of it is bad.  I'm loosely aware of his origin (he's a Superman figure who existed since the earliest days of the Fantastic Four but had the memories of everyone, seemingly even the audience, wiped for their own protection), but that's about it.

Robert "Bob" Reynolds wakes up in the middle of a thunderstorm, sensing that his arch-nemesis the Void has returned.  We see flashes of his backstory presented in the style of old comic panels, though the idea of him becoming the Sentry is treated in a darker tone, like someone relapsing after managing to stay sober. (Also, his sidekick Watchdog is an adorable fluffy little puppy)

The Sentry and the Void are seen interacting with the rest of the Marvel universe in stories that were allegedly set years ago and published during the 1960s, with the writing having a deliberate hokey feeling to it.

I thought the Sentry's backstory took place entirely in the 60's, but I was wrong.  As the flashbacks continue, they start to resemble the Dark Knight Returns, implicitly setting them in the real-world 1980's.

By the end of the issue, Bob is portrayed as a delusional alcoholic whose wife has gotten fed up with his drinking and leaves him for a few days so he can get his life together. It's unclear how much truth there is to his ramblings until he flies away.

The sense of dread builds as Bob makes it to the top of the Fantastic Four's headquarters, prompting Reed to come out and investigate. We learn that Reed was the best man at Bob's wedding, and when Bob mentions a unicorn, that triggers something in Reed.

Reed and Sue discover a video tape that was underneath a unicorn statue which they'd never seen it before, and upon watching it, they get a message from Reed Richards, warning them that if they've found this tape, then everyone is as good as dead.

Throughout this, it becomes clear that as time passes, the Void has been growing in power, starting out as a gangster-like character who wants to beat the Avengers as a warm-up before beating Sentry to a shadowy child-killing insectoid being, and now the brief glimpses that we have of him (assuming that it isn't just Bob hallucinating) feel almost Lovecraftian in nature, with the Void able to possess anything around Bob in order to taunt him and make him seem like he's crazy. (Or he could just be crazy)

(Don't worry; the dog survives)  As Bob makes his way around New York, it's clear that people once thought highly of the Sentry - even the Hulk likes him.  I know that, under some writers, it can feel like it's going a little overboard (with everyone heaping praise on the Sentry to the point where it comes across as parody), but limiting it to a few of Marvel's oldest characters helps to add a sense of history to him. (it helps that, despite the mind wipe, Hulk is the only one who remembers the Sentry)

It helps that the praise isn't universal - Spider-Man and the Sentry worked together a few times, and the Sentry learned Spidey's identity, but they apparently weren't close enough for the Sentry's appearance to trigger anything, and Peter just thinks that he's insane.

As Doctor Strange shows up at the Baxter Building, it becomes clear that the Sentry's re-emergence is the start of something dreadful, possibly even the end of the world. Meanwhile, the Sentry makes his rounds to Xavier's academy, where it's starting to feel like the more people remember the Void means that he's more likely to manifest. (Which, if true, means that the Sentry is unintentionally (?) bringing about the return of his enemy)

Bob meets with Tony Stark, which provides clearer hints for what happened to cause the Sentry's memory to be erased.  Apparently, the Sentry did something so awful that everyone needed to forget about him, and he seemingly agreed with it.  As I get further into the book, the art style changes seem more like they reflect what was going on in the Sentry's life at the time rather than when the story was supposed to take place, as he only interacts with Marvel's heroes from the 60s and he has no idea who the likes of Rogue, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler are.  Either way, Jae Lee and the others involved in the art (inkers, colourists, etc.) do an amazing job with replicating the styles of various eras.

The Sentry finds his former headquarters and deactivates the transmitter that was preventing everyone from remembering his superhero days, though it's unclear whether Reed Richards or Bob himself set it up.  Despite the Sentry's shining reputation (which takes a step too far around the time he met Tony; he says that he taught many of the heroes how to be heroic in the first place), there are hints of a darker side surrounding him.

At a faked funeral for the Sentry, years ago, Reed revealed that the Sentry was a drug addict who worked for criminal organizations to get a fix, and when he's reunited with his former sidekick Scout after the memory restoration (who seemed to be dead, but survived the Void's attack, albeit missing an arm and with scars on his face and chest), Scout basically asks him for drugs.

Restoring everyone's memory of the Sentry also seemed to restore the Void to physical form, and now he's bearing down on New York City like a hurricane.  The series ends on an ambiguous note, with the various heroes of the city gathered at the Statue of Liberty to stop the return of the Void, with the last issue ending before anything happens.

The first appearance of the Sentry was more mysterious than I expected it to be.  The question of whether or not Bob Reynolds has superpowers is easy to answer in the modern era, with Bob having served as one of Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers with his superpowers on full display, but the question of whether or not he's a hero is up in the air.  On one hand, he was a Superman analogue who still has the respect of Marvel's hero community, but on the other hand, he might have gotten his kid sidekick and his dog addicted to drugs.  I think the series continues elsewhere (there are various one-shots detailing how he met Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, etc. before a "The Sentry vs. The Void" one-shot that picks up where this left off), but I'm not completely sure, and I like the ambiguity (unintentional or not) that this ending leaves the audience with.