Sentry #3

Archive

Reviewed by James “Avoids Putting his Name on Anything” Hatton

Title: N/a

Writer: Paul Jenkins
Penciler: John Romita, Jr.
Inker: Mark Morales
Colorist: Dean White
Letters: VC’s Rus Wooton
Production: Jacob Chabot
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: Marvel Comics

It’s apparently Paul Jenkins week with me here at the Comics Nexus. That’s fine, he is one of the best writers in the Marvel Bullpen right now. So I don’t mind.

Anyway, the Sentry is a story about a man fighting his inner demons. If you haven’t ever read the original Sentry by Paul Jenkins, you missed out on a story that was quite possibly one of the most underrated stories of its time.

What happens when a man realizes he is the most powerful thing in the world, only to realize that it is his existence that keeps the most disgusting and vile thing in the world alive. That is the story of the Sentry. Neat, huh?

STORY!

In the last issue of Sentry, our hero found out that a man in the Negative Zone had a secret that could possibly explain how to keep the Void at bay. That is, in effect, what this entire book is about. Robert Reynolds aka The Sentry is a man with a shared headspace and he needs to figure out how he can possibly exorcise his demon.

The problem that seems to come up is that he fails to realize that he lives in a yin yang of a world. I have a hard time believing that even in the best world for Robert Reynolds, he will ever be able to destroy the Void. He NEEDS the Void, as it is his other half. That doesn’t mean he’s going to stop though. So to try and find this secret, held by ‘The General’, he takes one of his oldest and nearest friends, the Incredible Hulk, into the N-Zone to find the General.

The Sentry must deal with an entire Rogue’s Gallery of villains that he has defeated in his past. Finally, upon finding the insane General, he once again is confronted by the Void. The Void that talks in circles. The Void that allows him to get to the final answer of what the General knows, only to take it away.

Jenkins is leading us down a primrose path to an answer, and it feels as if he keeps shoving that answer in our face. The Sentry is stopping himself at all costs from knowing what he feels he MUST know. If the Void knows it, then obviously the Sentry must know it too, but that dark part of him won’t reveal it. I know it does come across as convoluted, but it’s a story that resonates in all of us to some degree… haven’t you ever woken up one day to realize something about yourself you had never wanted to admit before?

ART!

In my review of Generation M, I discussed how the new way of comics is to look dark and gritty, relying heavily on your inker. John Romita, Jr. could quite possibly be the exact antithesis of what I’m talking about, yet he still holds his own as one of my favorite artists of the day.

The Sentry is a story about a superhero from the past, so his story, and the characters he surround himself with, should have that feeling too, shouldn’t they? The Hulk, for example, almost seems to have that Frankenstein-esque flathead he had in his initial days. When paired with the Sentry, a character who looks as close to Superman as Marvel will ever allow, it fits. It fits perfectly.

OVERALL!

The Sentry is a story that takes itself quite seriously. It takes itself seriously as any strange mystical story of the mid-70’s ever did. (See any mid 70’s horror or Doctor Strange to see what I mean). All of that fits together, making this a book that is quite literally behind its time. This title is return of an older series format with a current type of sensibility, which I love.

I do wish that Jenkins would make his points a little clearer, as when the Void prattles on, you tend to get lost in what he is saying, but I guess that is just part of his insanity and perhaps I shouldn’t worry about it too much.

“..current type of sensibility” God that almost sounded smart…

But the diction of that phrase just makes my head hurt. Well, that and the fact you never give yourself credit for your own reviews Hatton. An editor could get sick of writing your name for you, even given exemplary musings like this! Editor K.-