Sentry: The Age of the Sentry

Sentry: The Age of the Sentry #1-6

by Jeff Parker, Paul Tobin, Nick Dragotta (Illustrator)

“Classic” tales of the Sentry at the birth of the Marvel Age! Discover the previously unexplored history of the Golden Guardian of Good as he battles the Mad Thinker; Ursus the Ultra Bear; Mountain Man; and Cranio, the Man with the Tri-Level Mind — all leading up to a final showdown with his arch nemesis, the Void! Featuring guest-stars galore, including Millie the Model and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Plus: a special story guest-starring one of the greatest — but sadly forgotten — British Invasion bands, the Crick-Hits! More than ten tales of old-school super-hero action! Collecting THE AGE OF THE SENTRY #1-6.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Humor

152 pages, Paperback

First published June 3, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the original Sentry miniseries but it's been diminishing returns for the character for me ever since. For me, the point of the original miniseries was that Superman wouldn't it into the Marvel Universe and every appearance since has disregarded that but I digress. Anyway, I found out about the existence of this miniseries a while ago and was hooked by the retrotastic nature of it.

This hit all the buttons for me. In the framing sequences, Reed Richards is telling Franklin stories about the Sentry. In the stories, The Sentry goes up against villains like The Void, Cranio, Ursus the Ultra-Bear, hillbillies, Truman Capote and other menaces like his love of Lindy Lee but there are odd incongruities that invade the sunny '60s stories.

Early Marvel (and Timely and Atlas) Easter Eggs abound, as do citations to earlier Sentry adventures. It reminds me of 1963 and Supreme: Story of the Year, both by Alan Moore, at times. It's a love letter to Superman, the Marvel Universe, and comics in general. Five out of five exploding suns.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the meta-nature of the Sentry, this is a close to perfect way to fill-in some stories about this "forgotten" character. It's a done in a lovingly almost entirely sincere but also a tad pastiche/parody style.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good pastiche/parody of Silver Age Superman.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing that these are basically "tall tales" that Reed Richards is telling his kid as a bedtime story, but the sexism and misogyny really gets annoying after a while...

[Tym · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I could give it 3.5 stars I would.