The Sentry

The Sentry by Paul Jenkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Robert Reynolds is an overweight drunk but he used to be super hero called The Sentry. Why doesn't anyone remember him? And what will happen when they do?

The basic premise behind The Sentry is that a Superman-level hero once existed in the Marvel Universe but everyone forgot about him for some reason. I remember Wizard being in on the marketing, that the Sentry was actually a Stan Lee creation from the Silver Age that never made it to print. I didn't read it until years later, sometime in that haze before Goodreads. Due to the magic of Marvel Unlimited, I've read it again.

As Bob Reynolds pieces things back together, the world starts coming apart at the seams. Jae Lee's stark blacks are perfect for the tale. I remember not being a fan of his until his work on this and The Inhumans miniseries from the year before. Man, no one ever mentions how influential Marvel Knights was but it's shaped the way comics are done, for better or worse. The idea of a forgotten hero is appealing to me. Too bad they diluted and nerfed the Sentry after this.

Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee created something special with The Sentry. On one level, it's a tale of addiction, of a super-hero too powerful for his own good whose worst enemy is himself. On another, it's about how we've lost sight of how important the creation of Superman was. Four out of five stars.

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