AGE OF THE SENTRY #1

[wolframbane]

Here is my reviews for AGE OF THE SENTRY #1. I am only somewhat familiar with the placement of early Sentry stories, so I will give annotations as necessary. I 'borrowed' some notes from Paul B at http://chronologyproject.com/phpbb2/vie ... try#p25266

Note that AOS 1 and AOS 2/2 appear to be framing stories involving a father tellings his son a bedtime story about Sentry.

AGE OF THE SENTRY #1/2 (AOS 1/2)
September 2008
"The Secret Origin of the Sentry"
10 pages

Characters: Sentry (Robert Reynolds), Scout, Watchdog, Lindy Lee (later Lindy Lee Reynolds), Professor Hugo Cornelius, Burton Dubois (editor of Excelsior Encyclopedia)
Villains: Cranio, Gorax, Men-Bot, the Void, a demon

Synopsis:
(1:2-2) Hugo Dubois sends Rob Reynolds and Linda Lee to interview Prof. Cornelius. Rob asks Scout (an ice cream vendor) to field and catastrophies while he is gone. Daytime, green trees.
(3-5) Rob and Lindy arrive at the Professor's lab, where he has developed "a living gelatin that responds to brainwaves". He places an alien brain found in the villain Cranio's collection into the goo, which reforms the body of the evil alien Gorax, who drains Rob of his powers before going on a rampage, putting Rob into a coma and revealing to Lindy he is actually Sentry. Lindy summons Scout and Watchdog, and they determine the only thing that can save Sentry is the same formula that gave him his powers. Since it was all apparently gone after Sentry first gained his powers, the Professor uses a time machine to allow the other three to travel back in time to observe Sentry's history.
(6:1-6:4) Scout, Lindy and Watchdog observe "the day Sentry met Cranio, the man with the tri-level mind." They decide to not interfere and risk a paradox.
(6:5) Appearing to systematically go backwards with observing Sentry's life, they see "the first time he faced Men-Bot" and "his first encounter with the Void... we must be almost there." There is also an image of Sentry having a fiddling contest with the devil (Mephisto perhaps?).
(7-9:3) They observe a young student Rob Reynolds (OHOTMU states he is a high school graduate, so he is probably a high school student) delivering food to the lab off Prof. Cornelius and his associate, when they get a report of a Russian nuclear missile that misfired and is heading right for them (ref to USSR on missile and "the Reds" are topical). Rob drinks the professor's secret formula, which grants him a powerful body, and he flies into space and throws the missile into the sun. He returns to the lab and considers becoming the Sentry, as Scout and Lindy take the remainder of the formula in the beaker (which is why there was none remaining). Daytime, green trees. Note this may conflict with other sources of his actual origin.
(9:4-9:5) They return to the present, and Professor gives Sentry the formula.
(9:6-10:2) Gorax locates Cranio and attacks him, but a recovered Sentry arrives and destroys his goo body, recovering the alien's brain. Cranio is revealed to be a dummy.
(10:3-10:5) Sentry returns to the lab and states he sent Gorax's brain into the Negative Zone (erroneously shown still holding brain in his hand). Prfessor uses a Lethio-Ray to erase Lindy's memory of her knowledge of Sentry's secret identity and history (possibly the same technology used to later remove the world's memory of Sentry altogether).
NOTES: One day. This story occurs sometime after FF 51 (when Reed Richards discovered the Negative Zone) and sometime after he first faced Void. It also occurs before the flashback in NEW AVENGERS #10 in which Reynolds has his third date with Lindy Lee (Thanks Paul!!). The second flashback involves the origin of Sentry. The OHOTMU said he was active "years" before the FF, so I would place this at least a few years before FF 1.

AGE OF THE SENTRY #1/3 (AOS 1/3)
September 2008
"Public Service Announcement"
10 pages

Characters: Sentry
Villains: Mad Thinker, Terrible Tinkerer, Torr (next in Amazing Adventures #1)

Synopsis:
(1:2-2) Sentry meets with 'directors' Jose Santini (Mad Thinker) and Phineas Mason (Terrible Tinkerer) to fill a series of public services announcements. Sentry flies them to the waterfront after he signs autographs. During "one morning." Daytime, warm weather clothing.
(3-4) Sentry does his announcement but feels weaker when he leaves. Santini and Mason note that their "parasite ray projector" stole a tenth of the Sentry's powers.
(5:1-5:3) Sentry does another anouncement (becoming weaker), and fights criminals that day and evening. "The next day."
(5:4-6:2) Rob Reynolds calls into work sick (due to being contnually weakened), but sees a television broadcast of the alien Torr attacking. "Three days later." Daytime.
(6:3-8:1) Sentry, despite being weakened, battles and defeats the alien Torr at a construction site. Torr wanted to add Earth to his empire.
(8:2-10) After battling Torr, he arrives at the studio to film the last announcement. Santini and Mason completely drain Sentry's power, but the weakened Sentry stumbles and falls into the projector, destroying it and replenishing his energy. Re-energized, the Sentry apprehends the crooks.
NOTES: Five days. The Thinker is noted as "Jose Santini," an alias he adopted when he kidnapped the real Santini in FF 68-70. It would make sense that this story occurs sometime after that, and after the Thinker's subsequent stay in jail that lasted at least through FF 79 (again, Thanks Paul!!). Sentry notes he already knows Reed Richards. Torr was also seen in Amazing Adventures #1, as http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/torramazing.htm