Sentry

The Sentry is the most powerful, and arguably the greatest, superhero in Marvel history, his epic adventures having had a profound impact on the shaping of the Marvel Universe right from the early days of the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, et al. onwards. The only problem with this scenario is that the Sentry wasn't launched back in the 60s alongside the FF, Spidey, the X-Men and company. He was launched a few years ago as a pivotal character in the Marvel Universe. There was a tiny 'problem' with that too - no one in the Marvel Universe itself - his friends, his allies, his enemies - had any clue who this 'Sentry' fellow was. And, in fact, it appeared that Robert Reynolds might just be a very unwell, very delusional, man, and that the Sentry was all in his head. Now the Sentry turns up in the pages of New Avengers, and the truth behind who and what he is - and who and what the entity called The Void is - are ready to be told in this mind-blowing volume that reprints #s 7-10 of the New Avengers ongoing, as well as the 'Most Wanted' Marvel filebook as a bonus. Looking at early images of the Sentry, it could seem that he was just an attempt to give the Marvel Universe its own Superman, but that isn't the case. While he's definately at a Superman-like power level, the Sentry's chroniclers have successfully differentiated him enough that, while keeping some of the iconic similarities, he's very much his own character. And who that character is - which is only partially revealed here - is an amazing discovery, for both the reader and the Sentry himself. Investigations by Iron Man and his allies into the being known as the Sentry, whom they encountered during the "Breakout" arc of New Avengers (available as a Trade Paperback) find virtually no mention of the Sentry in the world's databases - except in the most unexpected of places, which I'm not about to spoil here. And when the reasons come out - and the larger implications behind them - well....it ranks pretty high on the meter of comicdom's greatest revelations, to say the least. In addition to the story of The Sentry and The Void, this volume also sees the new Avengers lineup getting right to work on tracking down the escapees from The Raft. Everything continues to work to maximum effectiveness here; it bears repeating that New Avengers is one of the best series out there, and the arc presented here is a prime example of that. A masterpiece.

In some ways, this is the real conclusion the Marvel hoax that gave birth to the Sentry several years ago. Before reading this book, I'd recommend you reading not only New Avengers Vol. 1, but also the Marvel Knights TPB titled "The Sentry", written by Stan Lee. The story will make a lot more sense that way. Anyway, the art in this book is absolutely gorgeous - some of the best I've seen in a while - and Bendis is at his absolute best. I was rather skeptical approaching this book but it blew me away. In short, if you're looking for a great superhero team-up, you need look no further (though you should also check out Millar's Ultimates).

There are some pretty great meta concepts handled beautifully in this edition. The Sentry's origin is quite interesting, and the art in the book is gorgeous. High recommendation to fans of intelligent superhero fiction. The possibilities for the character are a little staggering, and hopefully he'll be used well now that he's been established.

I found the first volume of Brian Michael Bendis' New Avengers to be above average, but not great. In my opinion, it was no Runaways or Astonishing X-Men, but it had its merits and from what I've heard about the series, I decided to continue. Fortunately, I found these next four issues to be vastly superior to the initial arc. The first arc was the origin story of the New Avengers, and while I've read some killer origin stories, I found this one to be a little slower than I'd prefer. However, now that the second arc has begun, Bendis can immediately throw the Avengers into action and he has mysteries from Breakout to wrap up. After over 40 supervillains escaped from a maximum security prison, the Avengers are still trying to clean up the mess, and we see them deal with the Wrecker, one of the escaped villains (and a Runaways reference is thrown in, which always makes me happy). Meanwhile, Iron Man/Tony Stark brings up the possible problem of the Sentry to the Illuminati, which is a group of some of the most powerful, intelligent, and influential men in the Marvel universe. Sentry was in the prison as well, but he was there because he requested to be there. He is extremely powerful and claims to be a hero, but after the supposed death of his wife, he turned himself in. The New Avengers, along with the Fantastic Four, the Astonishing X-Men, the Inhumans, and Dr. Strange, have to find out the root of Sentry's problems involving his problems and the source of his perceived insanity, especially when they learn his wife is alive. When the heroes learn that a comic book writer (who is a real-life comic book writer) chronicled the adventures of Sentry, a whole new set of questions are raised. Overall, I really liked the Sentry arc. It did focus a little too much on Spider-Woman/Jessica Drew and Iron Man while ignoring most of the other New Avengers (Emma Frost was more integral to the plot than most of the rest of the Avengers team). The only other problem is that there are only four issues in this hardcover (plus a set of files detailing the 46 escaped criminals), but that that obviously isn't story-related. Still, this is a good read.

First off, the Sentry was actually created as a Gag, back in the summer of 2000-2001. Marvel Comics had Wizard Magazine publish a story and an interview with Stan Lee - he actually did it! - where Stan claimed that he had created a character known as the Sentry back before the Fantastic Four, SpiderMan, or any of the other silver age additions to the Mighty Marvel Masterwork Milieu. The reality is, Paul Jenkins and Joe Quesada dreamed up the Sentry, and decided to play a prank/publicity stunt on the comic's community. Long story short? It worked. This hardcover collects issues 7-10 of New Avengers, written by Brian Michael Bendis and pencilled by Steve McNiven. Inside, you will find - along with the story - plenty of goodies. The covers will be shown on the inside, as well as the hard to find alternates by classic Avengers Artists like Neal Adams, Sal Buscema, and John Romita, Sr. I strongly suggest picking this book up, it's a great read, and McNiven's art is a treat. Enjoy.