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For a relatively new character, The Sentry is quickly becoming one of my favorite heroes in the Marvel cannon. Created in 2000 by Paul Jenkins and Rick Veitch, and designed by artist Jae Lee, The Sentry was originally proposed as a forgotten character in the Marvel Universe, who existed way back in the legendary silver age of comics. Stan Lee, and others at Marvel, perpetuated the hoax and rumors spread that Sentry was a forgotten Stan Lee creation that predated the Fantastic Four. Though untrue, subsequent series, including the brilliant The Age of The Sentry illustrated the alter ego of Robbie Reynolds in the faux art and writing style of 60s Marvel Comics, making for a fun and believable back-story for the “Golden Guardian of Good.” He even had a super-corgi named Watchdog to add to the camp. As writers like Brian Michael Bendis expanded the character’s darker persona, he quickly became Marvel’s equivalent of Superman, a man with the power of “one million exploding suns” but worst enemy was his own personal flaw: A schizophrenic split personality and super-villain known as the Void.

The Sentry is currently a member of Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers, and is easily the series most compelling protagonist. In the current issue of Dark Avengers, Sentry’s battered wife Lindy reveals her husbands true origin. Before he was a super-hero, he was nothing but a meth-head looking for a new high. When he broke into a laboratory and ingested a highly potent and unstable strain of the super-solider serum, which gave Captain America his abilities, he transformed into the unpredictable Sentry. Though his actions as the Sentry are viewed by the public as heroic, Reynolds transferred his addiction to the super-serum and his unknowing second-self The Void creates an equal amount of chaos in the world. The Sentry is the analogous superhero of Newton’s law “every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”

It has also been recently revealed that the Sentry cannot die. Though on the outside the comparison to Superman might be valid, with his metaphysical immortality, I would argue Sentry is closer to Watchmen’s Dr. Manhattan than the “Man of Steel.” As the character has evolved into an agoraphobic recloses, his detachments from reality and humanity has made him that much more intriguing, and readers are left with a genuine uneasy feeling about him regardless of his heroism. What more, unlike Dr. Manhattan, the Sentry is a member of an ongoing mainstream comic universe and his saga has been explored over a few years, not just a few issues.

Its remarkably impressive that such a new character can be written in a variety of styles, like the campy 60s version or the Alan Moore-like junkie, and be successful on so many different levels. As the Marvel Dark Reign comes to a close with the Siege crossover event, I’m excited to see where Sentry will be in the aftermath. Especially since Norman Osborn has been manipulating the mighty demi-god for the last year.

-Jon

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