In The Sentry #1 from Marvel Comics, written by Jason Loo with art by Luigi Zagaria, seemingly random people start gaining the powers of the Sentry.
We reviewed the book on the Stack podcast. But in the interest of highlighting more about the title, here’s a summary of the conversation with our thoughts. And if you prefer the longer audio version, that’s below as well!
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The Sentry #1 Review:
The Sentry, aka Bob Reynolds, is dead! So why are seemingly random people gaining the powers of the character, one by one? That’s what Misty Knight and Jessica Jones want to know!
Kicking things off, host Alex Zalben noted he’s “been a huge fan” of the various Sentry series, and particularly how each team has used the character for a different concept dealing with mental health. However, this book seems to be taking a very different, action-forward direction.
“It feels like half of the concept is laid out,” added Justin Tyler. Getting into spoilers he talked about how individual people are getting one of The Sentry’s powers, not all of them, and some the powers of his evil opposite The Void. “I like the mix of characters here… The way that mystery is unfolded. I would have liked to see the second issue.”
And on the point of The Sentry often dealing with either “mental health or the dichotomy of the human experience,” Tyler added, “I wish we got a little bit more of that flavor, because that does feel absolutely inherent to what The Sentry is.”
Continuing on that bent, Zalben clarified that “I don’t fault the team” for not following up on what Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee set up in the initial Sentry series. “This is a much more straightforward superhero take on The Sentry.” Zalben compared the concept, at least in this first issue, to the 2001 Jet Li film The One, or Highlander, where a character needs to kill other people to take their power and become stronger each time.
Tyler posited that, per his earlier point, perhaps there’s more to the concept of the series than we’re getting in the first issue, as it seems like “memories are associated with how the powers are presenting.”
“What I want out of The Sentry is something more psychologically complicated,” Zalben finished up. “I just don’t know if we’re going to get that here. But we’ll see.”
The Sentry #1 Official Synopsis:
WHO WILL BE THE NEW SENTRY? The Sentry is dead, but ordinary people all over the world are suddenly manifesting his powers and experiencing snippets of Bob Reynolds’ memories. Will one of them survive long enough to emerge as the new Sentry? Or will their newfound power destroy them? When Misty Knight and Jessica Jones cross paths in search of answers, they open an investigation that will change everything you think you know about the Sentry!
