The last issue of AGE OF THE SENTRY is coming out this week.
It’s a bittersweet feeling, for me. On the one hand, I’m very excited to see what people think of the issue I’ve been so excited for for the last few months. On the other hand… it’s the end of my favorite series. After this… no more.
What is this AGE OF THE SENTRY, you ask? Why, it’s the best book in the world.
The series was conceived at an editorial retreat in December 2007, but unlike many of the ideas to come out of that retreat, it wasn’t an idea that was discussed by Bendis, Loeb, Brubaker, Brevoort, Quesada or any of the other talented writers or powerful editors in attendance. I was sitting in the back of the room, listening with great interest to the future of the Marvel Universe, and doodling a picture of the Sentry. I’d been reading a lot of Silver Age stories from our Distinguished Competition, stories about some OTHER caped crimefighter with an “S” on his costume, and all of a sudden an idea occurred to me. I shared it with Senior Editor Ralph Macchio.
“We should do an ESSENTAL SENTRY trade. You know, a big, black and white collection of all-new Silver Age Sentry stories, pretending like they came out in the 60’s.” I’ve always liked the Sentry character, ever since his first miniseries. Something about the idea of creating an all-new character and trying to weave him backwards into the fabric of Marvel throughout the years really appealed to me. The flashbacks to fake comics was always my favorite part of the character, so… why not just do that?
He thought it was a funny idea, but I think he knew it would not happen. I realized it pretty soon, myself. Those books are hundreds of pages long. Like 20 issues or so. Your average comic artist would take quite some time to finish that. But I still thought the idea could be fun, so I pitched it to Mark Paniccia as SENTRY CLASSIC. The idea would be to do it like AVENGERS CLASSIC, like it was a reprint series cleaning up classic run of old comics. Mark and I were both fans of Alan Moore’s “1963” and his run on “Supreme”, and wanted to do something in that vein.
It was Mark’s idea to bring Jeff Parker to the series. I had never worked with him before, but having enjoyed his work on AGENTS OF ATLAS and the MARVEL ADVENTURES books, I was excited. We pitched the series as SENTRY CLASSIC, but they advised against that title. Apparently, it was thought that making people think a book is a reprint is not the best way to get sales. Weird, huh?
The series was a dream come true. Jeff came up with the “super-structure” for the series (the shape of which will finally be clear when you read issue 6). I don’t recall whose idea it was to pull Paul Tobin onto the series, Jeff or Mark, but adding him in on the back-up stories was a great move. The pair of them took our basic idea for the series and ran with it, making it everything I could have hoped for and then some.
I don’t want to the give the artists short shrift on this, either. Dave Bullock did our covers, showcased here*. Nick Dragotta did Jeff’s part of every issue, and did so incredibly well. Ramon Rosanas drew two of Tobin’s stories, as well as the Franklin Richards frame story. Colleen Coover did our Millie the Model story, Michael Cho drew the cutest Watchdog in the series, and Bill Galvan brought us the 60’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Speaking of which, that brings to mind two ideas that made it from my original pitch to the final comic. One was that Sentry time-traveled to the future regularly to act as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The other was that before Carol Danvers was Ms. Marvel, she was the Sentress, the female version of the Sentry**. It was her “wholesome” pre-women’s lib persona. Sadly, my idea that, even though the Sentry got his powers in college, he had still somehow fought crime as “Sentry-Lad” as a young teen did not make it to print.
Seriously, though… I could not be more enthused about a series, or more proud of how it turned out. When you read this last issue, you’ll see… Jeff really looked at every single part of this character, really gave it a lot of thought, and made it work better than I could have ever imagined.
If you didn’t check the series out so far, take a look around your local comic shop! There is a good chance you’ll be able to pick up the back issues. And if not, the TPB collection will be available in June. Make sure to pre-order it from your shop, so they order you an extra one.
Who knows? If enough people order it, maybe they’ll listen to my idea for COSMIC AGE OF THE SENTRY set in the 70’s. Or 80’s masterpiece DARK AGE OF THE SENTRY. Or, even (dare we hope?) the dreaded 90’s TURN OF THE SENTRY***?
Keep it Golden, true believers!
Jordan D. White
* Except the one that says clearly that it’s by Sal Buscema.
** Well, just look at her. She has the reverse of the Sentry’s symbol on her costume already. It was a perfect match.
*** I’m not kidding. I have the ideas ready and waiting.
Despite I'm a huge fan of the caracter, I don't think ONLY making fun of your Distinguished Competition is what I would call 'being creative'.
I'm hardly waiting for the character out of 'Dark Avengers' with an ongoing to see the Marvel approach about such an interesting character, especially 'the S' side...
Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-03-04 13:12:06
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About this blog: Jordan loves reading comics, and he loves thinking about them way too much. Super Hero morality, quirks of continuity, and the daily grind of putting out funnybooks… it’s all fair game.
About the author: Jordan D. White is an assistant editor at Marvel. In his free time, he reads way too many comics. Seriously.
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