Sentry TPB (Marvels Finest) [Paperback]

I stumbled across this book completely by accident, and i am so glad i did. The Sentry is now my favourite Marvel Hero, and this book is mostly to credit. The Story-line is simply brilliant, with a unique twist - rather than retconning an old character, Marvel actually retcon an entirely new character into the story-line! This is a great mix-up of styles and themes, with classic 70's, 90's and modern art-work all mixed up in a storyline that gives flashbacks of action and some very cool twists. I also reccomend The Sentry 8-part mini-series, New Avengers 7-10, and the upcoming Civil War: The Sentry.

Well, I'll admit it... I had never heard of the Sentry before New Avengers came out. What can I say? My comic book reading had kind of lulled when this title came out back in 2000/2001. More the fool me!
The Sentry is the story of a man who believes he was once a great super hero, but can't remember how he's ended up as a middle aged, alcoholic agrophobic. Something's gone seriously wrong with Bob Reynold's life! But what?
And that's the key to this book... who is the Sentry, and why does no-one remember him? It's a super hero mystery, and by god, it's a real page turner! By the end of the first part I had convinced myself that this was the new Watchmen. Jae Lee's superb art increase the sinister and mysterious tone set by Paul Jenkins expert script to the point where you feel like something really bad is going to happen if Bob can't work this out.
This book collects Sentry 1-5, Sentry/Fantastic Four, Sentry/Spiderman, Sentry/Hulk, Sentry/X-men and Sentry Vs The Void.
Sentry 1-5 Lay out the plot and throw down the questions. It's like a countdown to oblivion, and I actually found myself putting the book down to save it, then 30 seconds later picking it up, opening it, then putting it down again...
Then we get to the flashback stories featuring other characters from the marvel universe as they start to remember who the Sentry is, and this is where it all falls down. The Fantastic Four issue is just plain rubbish. The artwork is horrible (Jae Lee steps of for these stories) and cheap, and the story is hacknied. I know this is kind of the point, as it's trying to take us back to the Silver age in the Marvel Universe, before things got gritty and serious, but after 5 issues of excellent "gritty and serious", it just doesn't work. Having said that, it's better than the Spiderman story, which I don't even want to talk about. Ugly.
Thank heavens for Bill Sienkiewicz and Mark Texeira who handle the Hulk and X-Men issue respectively. The Hulk issue in particular is superb, showing a different side to the Hulk... and like I was saying earlier, that feeling of impending oblivion starts creeping up on you again.
Sentry Vs The Void is where Jae Lee comes back to round things off, but the tension's relaxed a little bit now because of the big pause in the narrative, and I think they could have done with spreading this part out a bit longer to get us back into the swing of things, and to really get those answers.
I so desparatly want to be afraid of the Void, like every character in the Marvel Universe, but we really don't know enough about him, and the ending lacks weight... it's still a good ending, but it could have been soooooo good, and I can't help but feel a little sad at what could've been the best comic experience ever.
This collection also includes all of the interviews with Stan Lee, and all of the publicity surrounding the launch of the title (Marvel conned everyone into thinking that the Sentry really was a lost superhero created by Stan Lee before the Marvel Universe started), and as glad as I am that it's all included, I wish they'd laid it out better, so you could follow the publicity with the story, as it's meant to add to the reader's involvement in the comic. As it is, It's all bunged in the back. We should have had an introduction, as well as an afterword.
Any way, minor gripes aside, you should buy the Sentry, it really is very good... But it could have been the best.

This is it. This is Marvel's Dark Knight Returns.And this also the only comic that ever made a grown man cry, which is saying something here.
The Sentry is Robert Reynolds, the man with the power of a million exploding suns. His friends betrayed him, deleting him from memory and forgetting his existence. Now, The Sentry's arch-nemesis, The Void is back and The Sentry must return to defeat him. Thats essentially the story without giving much away.
Now, if you're contemplating buying this, its probably because you saw The Sentry tear Carnage in half in New Avengers #2. But get this; this is the best thing Marvel have ever done.

The beauty of this book lies in the characters. The Sentry, when he was a hero, had a massive effect on the Marvel characters of Reed Richards (aka Mr Fantastic of the Fantastic Four), The Hulk(aka Bruce Banner), Peter Parker (Spider-Man) and Warren Worthington, aka Archangel of the X men. The Sentry taught all these characters how to be heroes, before anyone knew what it was to be a hero. The book contains 1-5 of the mini-series, as well as the one-shot tie-ins of Sentry/FF, Sentry/Spider-Man, Sentry/X men, Sentry/Hulk and The Sentry Vs. The Void.

There are so many stand-out moments here its astonishing. Peter Parker's photo of The Sentry winning him the nobel prize, Archangel using what The Sentry told him to put others lives before his own,as well as destroying his own self doubt. The Sentry/Hulk chapter is undoubtedly stand out. Illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz, this one-shot shows us The Sentry helping the people to recognize the Hulk as a hero. Its upsetting that things had to go wrong for The Hulk once Rob left. There are many more brilliant moments that you can't miss from this book. Its too damned brilliant to be overlooked.
Now, to the creators. Paul Jenkins will never write anything better than this, ever again. A brilliant portrayal of a forgotten hero with so many terriffic moments. It took Paul 8 years to get this published, and thank god it did. People say the ending was anti-climax- complete rubbish. The end few pages are a work of brilliance, and it all comes to a brilliant and mysterious end on the final page. Amazing work, mister Jenkins. I salute you.
Of course, this would never be possible if it weren't for Jae Lee's AWESOME pencilling. He draws such expression on The Sentry, The Hulk and all the characters throughout the story that its unsurpassed. No artist will ever beat this for expression, misery and ambiguity. This creative team are Gods.

Now, empty your amazon basket and put this inside. Its the best thing Marvel will ever do in 100 years. Bendis, Millar, Claremont and company will never top this. Buy it, and add something to your existence.