Preview: The Sentry #1

[JudicatorPrime]

... no, you aren't reading too much into it. Have you read the second volume or save of the Sentry?

On my to do list.

[Tendrin]

On my to do list.

Age of the Sentry is so good. The second mini has some hit and miss to it that lays the foundation for later Bendisian missteps. Lemire's run is building off parts of Age of the Sentry specifically.

[Tendrin]

So wait, Bob becomes the Sentry? I thought the two were one and the same. Well, counting Void, all the same. But that sounds like Sentry is an entirely different being that Bob merges into, like Billy Batson and Shazam/Captain Marvel. Am I reading too much into that?

So I wanted to provide an answer to this based on my own recollections a bit more.

In the original Sentry mini, we see Bob slowly transitioning into 'Sentry' over the course of the story. His appearance grows younger, he stops casting a shadow, until issue by the end, he's fully restored and the Sentry forces himself to forget again once he's finally remembered why he was forced to forget in the first place, and the Void is all of Bob's self-hatred, self-doubt, self loathing and resentment given tangible drive and shape.

In the second mini, Sentry and Void seem more like created avatars for Bob's psyche, with each possessing half his memories. When Bob 'becomes' the Sentry, he actually seems to be splitting in two, with the Sentry being his perfected, idealized, Mary Sue version of himself and the Void being, well, everything else, maybe, or perhaps 'the Real Robert Reynolds'.

In the Bendis version of the Sentry, there's no real difference between Bob and the Sentry, and the Void seems to exist 'inside' him, rather than being an effect of him becoming the Sentry itself and having its own independent existence most of the time.

Age of the Sentry is something else entirely.

One of the major differences in characterization between the Sentry under everyone else's pen and Bendis is that Bendis carried over Bob's mental foibles into his identity as the Sentry. When Bob is the Sentry, he's supposed to be /free/ of his agoraphobia and anxiety and so on. In reality, he's just high. He's self-medicating and pretending he's not sick. Under Bendis' pen, however, we got something else. Bob is Bob, even when he's the Sentry, who is supposed to be a confident, competent 'hero Bob' and instead we get a guy who seems like he can barely handle putting on his pants. Bendis often seemed to flail about on his characterization of him, trying to find some version of him that'd work. He just wasn't the right guy for the job. Hopefully, he'll do better with Superman than he did by the Sentry.

Like many other things, Bendis' characterization of the Sentry didn't really work.

[numberthirty]

Hopefully, he'll do better with Superman than he did by the Sentry.

Seems like I came across something on that DC is giving Tom King a 12 issue Superman story.

It's gonna be a tough year to be Bendis.

Edit: Make that "12 Part".

[Golden Guardian of Good]

The only comic I'm interested in.

[Tendrin]

Some extra unlettered pages from Sentry #1 have surfaced.

https://twitter.com/SentryisVoid/sta...84079257911296

[Tendrin]

So it looks like those pages came from this interview I didn't know about until now:

https://www.cbr.com/sentry-marvel-st...ire-interview/

Pretty good interview with Lemire there with some hints of how he sees Bob, Sentry and Void.

[comicscollector]

The preview looks interesting.
I will be picking up at least the first issue.

[Tendrin]

It's nice that Jeff Lemire is finally making /Bob/ the heart of the story.

[numberthirty]

It's nice that Jeff Lemire is finally making /Bob/ the heart of the story.

Huh. I can't say I saw Misty Knight playing a role coming, but it is an interesting development.

While other folks have mentioned it, it sounds like a similar approach to Marc/Moon Knight.

Lemire does actually have a knack for that. It was even a less central element of his "Hawkeye" work.

Looking forward to this and the final issue of Kill Or Be Killed.

[Tendrin]

Early reviews for Sentry #1 are in and they're very positive.

http://comicbook.com/marvel/2018/06/...marvel-comics/

http://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com...ntry-1-review/

[Golden Guardian of Good]

Early reviews for Sentry #1 are in and they're very positive.

http://comicbook.com/marvel/2018/06/...marvel-comics/

http://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com...ntry-1-review/

Sentry gang is BACKKKKKKK!!!


Was gonna pick up my copy early in the morning but the damn distributor messed up everything and so I gotta wait until next week. >

[Kuwagaton]

I guess I should have stuck with MK because yeah, Lemire has a good touch for this type of stuff. This was a lot of fun although very short.

[AJpyro]

New to this. I like it though.

[Tendrin]

I am still waiting for mine to arrive.