The Golden Guardian has gained a new series, but he’s not doing so well.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Art: Kim Jacinto
Colors: Rain Beredo
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
What They Say:
THE GOLDEN GUARDIAN IS BACK! FRESH FROM THE PAGES OF DOCTOR STRANGE…but is that really such a good thing? The greatest hero that the Marvel Universe ever forgot has returned! The Sentry – shining sentinel with the power of a thousand exploding suns – is back from the dead, but his troubled mind is far from finding peace. By day, he trudges through a mundane life as Bob Reynolds; at night, the Sentry soars across a gleaming, perfect skyline. But how much of the Sentry’s dual existence is real? And what of his dark other self, the Void? Jeff Lemire (MOON KNIGHT, Black Hammer) returns to Marvel and unites with Kim Jacinto (AVENGERS: NO SURRENDER) for this mind-bending series that will shake the Sentry, and the Marvel Universe, to its foundations.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Sentry has returned! Beginning the story arc “Sentry World”, we begin this new series by finding that life hasn’t been too nice to Bob Reynolds. Though his life is a bore during his time as Reynolds, he really comes alive at night when he can become The Sentry again. We start off with the Sentry and his allies Scout and Sentress fighting off the Living Shadow Army. When the conflict ends, Sentry leaves via some device and we find a rather shaggy and sad looking Bob Reynolds, in his living room. All this is explained while Bob speaks to his co-worker Billy. Here we find that Billy used to be Scout, and that the deeds we saw Sentry doing earlier were part of a pocket dimension Dr. Strange created for Reynolds. To Marvel’s heroes, it appears to be common knowledge that Sentry is dangerous. He brings an evil side with him called The Void, and were Sentry to be unleashed into the real world again, The Void would come with him.
In addition, Bob seems to have been put under watch. which brings us to what the main gist of this issue seems to be. The Sentry is regarded as a threat. Misty Knight and the ACD keep tabs on if Reynolds uses that pocket dimension once a day, and all of them know what will happen if he slips up even once. The theme here is that Bob is a man living on the edge of a knife, with that device in his apartment being the one thing that stands between him and The Void. This issue gives us insight and a look into his current lifestyle and how bad it is. Bob may be back, but the Sentry and The Void come with him, and that knife edge gets closer to giving out at the end, when Bob finds that the device that allows him to enter the pocket world as Sentry has been stolen from him.
In Summary:
The Sentry is a character that I feel not many writers have know what to do with. He’s one of the most dangerous heroes in the Marvel Universe but also has all this power. The thing I really like about this issue was that both Jeff Lemire and Kim Jacinto really capture what Bob Reynolds should be. He’s a guy who lives a boring life. He could live a better one as The Sentry, but both his saddened facial expressions and the dialogue hammer home that he knows how bad bringing the Sentry back to the real world would be, though he wants nothing more than for him and Scout to be heroes again. Misty and the ACD monitoring what he does only brings home the fact that even Bob knows he’s not trusted. The Sentry is a character that once saved humanity from The Void by making them forget all about him, so if anyone knows the danger losing that device places everyone in, it’s Bob Reynolds. This issue does a fantastic job of setting up Bob Reynolds’ character and the life that he lives. The writing and art really show that the team understands what makes this character and his world what they are, and I think Marvel fans need to read this.
Grade: A
Age Rating: T+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: June 27, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
