It has been a minute since the Sentry was even alive, but Jason Loo and Luigi Zagaria are about to multiply him in the four-issue series The Sentry. Last seen torn in half, the new series proposes his powers may be appearing in average people. That’s a major problem, especially since some may not be fit to use the powers, let alone know how to use them safely. Thoroughly grounded, The Sentry is a great start to a series that would only work in a Marvel comic, since it’s representative of the world outside our window.
The Sentry #1 opens with Jessica Jones setting up her detective agency. She’s trying to get back to work while her husband, Luke Cage, continues to keep New York safe as its mayor. Soon, she hears a bang and rushes to find a half-destroyed building. Loo does a good job with pace and plotting, drawing the reader into the mystery of what has happened to the building while establishing a frosty relationship between Jessica and Misty Knight. Soon, they’re reluctantly working together and also realizing a Sentry threat needs to be contained stat.
Outside of the larger plot development, Loo and Zagaria do a good job of establishing our main character. A writer who has been relegated to clickbait stories, Mallory Gibbs, is assumed to be underneath the rubble of the building and is particularly vulnerable as she has cerebral palsy. The story switches to before the explosion as we meet Mallory, who is well-written and immediately compelling. Her disability isn’t keeping her down, and she has different interests that keep her busy. Like many of us, she’s jumping on social media to keep busy with hopes of growing an audience online.
How scary would that be?!
Credit: Marvel
Soon, though, her life is turned upside down, and she’s flying through ceilings. Again, the creative team keeps things grounded, capturing the insanity of gaining powers and not knowing how to use them.
Two more characters are introduced, further fleshing out the victims of the Sentry power entering them. Again, Loo manages to capture the different personalities well, which helps set up the concept of insane power being given to different types of people. Part of the interest in the story is seeing how each utilizes them.
At $4.99, the issue is a little pricier, but it’s also extra-sized. Given all the character work, the price seems reasonable, as this isn’t a quick read. Mostly a mystery, the issue does lack the action one might expect from a superhero book. The fight at the end does have some bold moments, especially for a Marvel comic, but it’s too little, a little too late.
The Sentry #1 is a good start to a start that explores what might happen if average people were given incredible superhuman powers. It’s mostly a strong character study; there’s a lot of potential here to explore the human condition.
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