Posted in: Avengers, Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: Armageddon, captain america, David Colton, paul jenkins, sentry

Is Paul Jenkins Giving Us A New Sentry For Marvel's Armageddon?

Mindless Speculation... is Paul Jenkins giving us a new Sentry for Marvel's Armageddon? And is it David Colton?

Comic book writer, editor and publisher Paul Jenkins posted to X today, saying, "I am not much one for nebulous teasers because it seems meaningless most times. "I just got big news!" is a bit of a cop out, I think. Anyway… I just got big news: another big Marvel project that I will announce as soon as I can. It's a character I'm very familiar with… :)" Well, naturally, I went to Sentry, the character he co-created, as a big mystery which I managed to spoil by mistake. But… Paul Jenkins has just brought The Sentry back in a new series that launched last month. And there is a lot of Sentry going on right now… Let's step back twenty-seven years…

On the 28th of July 1999, my rumour and gossip column, Rich's Ramblings, posted a "tiny snippet about the oh-so-secret Jenkins and Lee project for Marvel Knights. No name was forthcoming, but the book is about a character supposedly created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, but was 'too powerful to be published'. This is also the reason no one can remember what the book's meant to be called!"

On the 29th of February 2000, Rich's Ramblings printed "In the new Wizard, the Next Month section runs this line: 'Stan Lee's Lost Marvel Hero! Did you know that Fantastic Four was NOT the first Marvel Comics comic book? One week before FF, there was another… how could we all forget?'"

We then learned that, officially, the book was to be called Sentry, according to press releases posted verbatim by the likes of Newsarama, which claimed it was a revival of a character created by Stan Lee and Artie Rosen for Startling Stories #1. And that Startling Stories was the first of the Silver Age Marvel books, but everyone seemed to forget about it when Fantastic Four #1 came along.

Back then, Kurt Busiek posted on Usenet, "How much do you know about the career of Artie Rosen? Think about it." No, no-one's heard of him. Mind you, in the Lee/Kirby days, there were a couple of letterers, one called Artie Simek, another called Sam Rosen, often working close together. Artie did Tales To Astonish 80, Sam did 81. When they both did an issue… join the dots, folks."

Eventually, we got The Sentry, exposed as a meta-fiction, the character so powerful that everyone in the Marvel Universe had forgotten about him. It was a success, creating a meta-fictional Superman character in the Marvel Universe, and he went on to play major roles in big Marvel events from Civil War to Siege to The King In Black. He then joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as both protagonist and antagonist in Thunderbolts*, now renamed The New Avengers. But he hasn't been in the comic books for a little while.

In 2018, The Sentry got a new ongoing series by Jeff Lemire, Joshua Cassara and Kim Jacinto. The series ended after five issues. In 2020, The Sentry appeared to die in the King In Black event. Then, in 2023, a new Sentry series was published by Jason Loo and Luigi Zagaria. with Mallory Gibbs/Solarus, who gained Sentry's powers. It lasted four issues. We then got the Thunderbolts movie, withoit a Sentry comic, or appearances in the Thunderbolts spin-off comic book. Then we got the news of a new Sentry four issue series, finally, by Paul Jenkins again, drawn by Christian Rosado, published last month with a returned Sentry and Void, with little explanation, but trapped in a balance of karma and inactivity… and then Marvel Comics started teasing Armageddon.

Because these images from Armageddon Assembles certainly caught our eye, and suggested a Sentry-type figure. And now the solicitation for Avengers: Armageddon #2 seems to be introducing this figure, stating "Red Hulk's tirade across the globe must be stopped! Until a mysterious new hero with unrivaled power appears to level Red Hulk and the Avengers… "

Is this The Sentry? Is it someone who has been given the powers of The Sentry by the Origin Boxes, or other means? As for the star on his chest… could it be the interim Captain America, created after 9/11, while Steve Rogers was still in this ice? Could David Colton be a New Sentry? And if so, will Paul Jenkins write a new Sentry series spinning out of Armageddon? And in that case… who will be The Void?

Lots of questions, I know. And even more mindless speculation. Maybe we'll get some answers… or just be told not to be so silly, and Paul Jenkins is actually writing The Inhumans again instead…

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