The Sentry Hoax - A Look Back

Paul Jenkins and I were old buds, having met while he was at Mirage Studios. We worked closely together on BRAT PACK and THE MAXIMORTAL at Tundra. Paul was focused mostly on production and editing back in those days but clearly had potential as a writer. He and I had often discussed a story he wanted to develop concerning an over-the-hill guy, struggling with addiction, who had a tight relationship with his dog. Paul was trying to come up with a way to show the character’s addiction problem as a manifestation of the unconscious. At one point, if I remember correctly, Paul pitched a horror version of this plot to Steve Bissette for TABOO, although nothing came of it.

It was in the late 1990’s that Paul and I came together to try and develop it into a superhero pitch for Marvel. At the time Paul and I came together to work up THE SENTRY concept, Marvel Comics was a financial mess. Sales were lousy with the exception of the Marvel Knights line; a side imprint produced outside the Marvel offices by Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palomatti.

Paul had a good connection to Quesada and the plan was to create a brand new character we would pitch to Joe and Jimmy for the Marvel Knights line. Paul saw the character as a guardian type, with a watchtower. We tossed around possible names and initially hit on THE CENTURION which seemed a bit clunky. It was Paul who boiled CENTURION down to SENTRY which sounded so good we couldn’t believe it wasn’t already taken.

What I brought to the table was the retro angle. I’d been involved in two major retro projects (1963 and SUPREME) in which Alan Moore and I had developed a sort of “deadpan” approach to the genre. Then and now, most retro stories you see tend to be over-exaggerated. The dumbness is caricatured; played for laughs in both the writing and art. Alan and I believed such an approach was to be avoided.

It was this close-as-you-can-get-it mimicry approach that I wanted to bring to SENTRY, creating a false history of the character with versions going back to Timely Comics in the 1940’s. Paul liked the idea but wondered how we could explain the character’s absence in sixty years of company continuity. That’s when the light bulb went on. I’m quite sure it was my suggestion that something so horrible happened to THE SENTRY that all memory of the event, and SENTRY himself, had to be wiped out, probably by some Marvel character on the scale of THE WATCHER. Right there Paul and I knew we had it; SENTRY’s quest for a return of his memories and powers, a solution for his absence in Marvel continuity, and motivation for an attack by his own unconscious.

We quickly ran through some of the other Marvel characters, plotting out how they would figure in to a mass amnesia. Most would have their memories erased, but some, like THE HULK, wouldn’t. And a few, like REED RICHARDS and DOCTOR DOOM, would be smart enough to figure out what happened. As Paul and I gleefully riffed on how we would depict THE SENTRY through the various decades, we realized we couldn’t use the names of any real artists or writers. The crux of our scheme was that the character had been around for sixty years, but it wouldn’t be fair to say he’d been written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby, John Romita, Neal Addams, Jim Starlin, Frank Miller or Rob Leifeld. So we decided to create our own nom de plumes.

I’d been playing around with an anagram program on my computer and come up with a variation of my own name that I liked: CHICK RIVET. Paul quickly anagrammed his name and decided he’d be JUAN PINKLES.

The addition of our literary doubles implied how SENTRY had not only been forgotten within Marvel continuity, but by the real world as well. Paul wrote an outline and I did the concept art you’ve been seeing here. We were both excited; Paul was going to get to do his “What if SUPERMAN was real?” bit and I was going to get to play in the Marvel sandbox of characters (and art styles) that had heavily influenced me growing up.

We knew our idea asked a lot of Marvel continuity, but the company was on the skids and that is often the best time to pitch something revolutionary. The Marvel Knights line was proof of that.

Paul set up a meeting with Quesada and took the train down to the city. I waited for Paul’s call letting me know if it was a go or a dud. Now anyone who knows Paul Jenkins knows he can be direct and to the point. And when he called to let me know how THE SENTRY meeting had gone with Joe Quesada he immediately told me he was doing the book with Jae Lee. This set me back on my heels a little bit. I mean you hear about concepts and storylines for existing characters being hijacked by publishers and editors all the time, but not so a completely original concept!

Thing is, bringing in Jae made a lot of sense. He and Paul had done a corker of a job on an INHUMANS mini-series which had even won an Eisner. And I couldn’t fault a publisher, starved for hits, with maximizing box office appeal even if it meant me being thrown under a bus. I had plenty of other projects to keep me going and, more importantly, Paul had been there for me more than once back at Tundra. So I didn’t make a stink.

But when Paul enthusiastically went on about marketing plans being built around “Chick Rivet” I had to gently remind him that he really couldn’t use the anagram of my name and should stick to “Juan Pinkles”. Ultimately he and Marvel decided on “Artie Rosen” as their imaginary artist/creator and even brought Stan Lee in to help perpetuate the hoax. Jenkins and I had envisioned SENTRY as a completely original mid-level superhero, on the level of IRON MAN or DAREDEVIL. In the series he became one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe; pretty much a SUPERMAN clone dressed in the requisite cape and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound etc..

Daredevil (vol.2) #9 (July, 1999) ended its letters column on a somber note. Artist Artie Rosen, said to be instrumental in the formative years of Marvel Comics, was in poor health. Marvel was keeping him and his family in their collective prayers and asked fans to send their get well wishes as well. It's quite touching...



The only problem... Artie Rosen and his family didn't exist!

That didn't stop Artie from passing away the following January, or keep Wizard Magazine from running an obituary for him some months later.

Not only did the Wizard obit flesh out more of Artie's non-existent career and life, it also added Stan Lee himself to the mix. "We were close, years ago, but I hadn't seen or heard from Artie in so many years, said Stan Lee, who worked with Rosen at Marvel. "It came as a big shock to me."

I'll just bet it did, Stan.

A month after Rosen’s 'passing', in Wizard #104, an article discussed the possible discovery of a 'lost' Silver Age character co-created by Stan Lee prior to Fantastic Four #1...

"If it were true - and I am in no way saying it is - it would have a tremendous impact on Marvel's history and on the history of comics in general," said Marvel's then-Editor in Chief Bob Harras.

Industry and Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee offered, "I'm not at liberty to say anything about it right now, but wouldn't it be great if there has been something before the FF? I'd be more than happy to look at the sketches, to try to help Marvel out in any way I could. Like I said, I'm not sure what it is they found, but if it really is something I created way back when, I'd at least like to take a look at it."

Note all the careful word parsing... While there are some outright lies in the Sentry hoax(most notably the existence of 'Artie Rosen'(and by extension his family), most of it, especially the build up, is phrased speculatively... letting people fill in the banks and make the assumptions that they were being so carefully led to.

Deeper... and Deeper

The big-reveal moment finally came in Wizard Magazine #105(June 2000).

Wizard, in a special 'exclusive', reported that after Artie Rosen's 'death', his widow 'Blanche' had found a box labeled "Marvel Comics", with an assortment of papers, files and old comics inside. She then returned the box to Marvel, where it ended up in Joe Quesada's office. Writer Paul Jenkins, looking for some reading material, ended up taking it home without knowing what was inside.

What he 'discovered' were character sheets and descriptions for a Silver Age Superman-esq character called - The Sentry. The name on one of the pages, Stan Lee!

Jenkins then reached out to his friend and collaborator Jae Lee and after some discussion... they decided they wanted to put a planned, jointly-created Namor series that fans were anticipating on hold, and do something with the Sentry instead!

They asked around, trying to find out more about the Sentry, even reaching out to Stan Lee himself. No one seemed to be able to really recall the character, but the questions did seem to trigger some vague recollections. Further analysis of the box's contents revealed character concept sketches with both Stan Lee and artist Artie Rosen's names, and a date - 1961. The Sentry apparently predated the creation of the first true 'Marvel' title, Fantastic Four #1.

The enormity of this find could not be overstated.

When asked if Startling Stories #1 could come to supplant Fantastic Four #1 as the catalyst for the "classic Marvel Tradition", Marvel's then Editor in Chief Bob Harras admitted it was a possibility. "The very existence of the Sentry runs contrary to everything we know about the origins of what is now the Marvel Universe," Harras said. "This is an incredible thing, a discovery that could very well force us to rewrite the history books."

Marvel announced they would be going forward with the proposed revival of the Sentry by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee, published under the 'Marvel Knights' banner.

Stan Lee was fully on board: "This is going to be great," the industry legend said. "I have complete faith in Joe, Jimmy, Paul and Jae. I'm sure they will do Artie and me proud."

Oh boy...

"Blanche mentioned she found a box labeled Marvel Comics in the den," said Lee, who contacted the widow after his friend's death. "So she sent it back to the [Marvel] offices."

"The development sketches had Stan and Artie's names on it and the date 1961," said Quesada. "We couldn't believe it. I mean this was a Marvel Superhero that predated the Fantastic Four."

The Sentry revival, initially billed to be contained to a 5-issue mini-series, grew to include five additional one-shots, four highlighting The Sentry’s involvement with classic Marvel characters, along with a special series finale.



The mini-series also included a 6-part 'interview' with Stan Lee by Marvel Knights Editor Joe Quesada. It alternated between Lee giving insights on 'his creation', The Sentry, and the two of them engaging in commentary on the current Sentry story being told.



Stan: "Like I said, most of my memories of the character are vague."



Stan: "It may have been for the good of us all. I seem to recall that he was too big. He was so powerful he could very well have destroyed the Marvel Universe and everything we were planning. I wish I could remember, but I really can't specifically recall why I didn't continue on with the Sentry. But I'm sure there must have been a very good and very important reason. In fact, this may turn out to be the greatest mystery in the history of comics. Hey, I can live with that!"



Joe: "That's weird. It's almost as if the events of the book are playing themselves out here."

Stan: "It would seem that way, wouldn't it? And that's a bit unsettling. Hey, I like our charismatic champions and vile villains to be as real as possible for the readers. But when the strips start to visit themselves upon us in the real world, well... even I gotta admit it has me looking over my shoulder. I just can't shake this feeling. It's like Doc Strange was right at the end of this issue. If we remember who the Sentry is and what he's all about... it could spell doom for us all."




Stan: "I seem to recall I wrote a  strip in which Peter Parker took a photo of the Sentry..."



Stan: "Y'know Joe, just like all of the characters in the story, I suddenly seem to remember The Sentry, too!"



Stan: "I don't know that there is such a thing as a closed door in the Marvel Universe. And ask yourself: Should there be? The only thing that can present a boundary to us is the limit on the imaginations of our sturdy scripters and pulse-pounding pencilers. And last I checked there were no limits there."

And so the story of The Sentry came to a close(until he was later revived by Brian Michael Bendis in his run on the Avengers). The story of the Sentry Hoax? Well, it reached a conclusion, too.

The Truth Is Out

Some fans and news outlets had figured out that not everything was on the up-and-up with the past origins of The Sentry, and everything finally came out in... you guessed it... Wizard Magazine. Wizard Magazine #116(May, 2001) to be exact. Paul Jenkins and Rick Veitch had conceived the idea for The Sentry, with Jenkins and collaborator Jae Lee refining the concept to it's final form(along with an ACTUAL contribution from Stan Lee). Editor Joe Quesada decided to use the premise of the Sentry as a forgotten hero as the basis for a marketing publicity stunt.

Jenkins wasn't big on perpetuating a hoax, but once Stan Lee happily jumped on board he was in as well. The fictional artist 'Artie Rosen' was actually an amalgamation of the names of two classic Marvel letterers, Artie Simek and Sam Rosen. Legendary artist John Romita Sr. was brought in to draw Rosen's "lost" sketches of The Sentry. The photo of the 'late' Rosen used in Wizard Magazine was actually a photo of the great-uncle of a Wizard staffer.



"Marvel fooled millions[including your beloved Icefanatic] by passing off 'The Sentry' as a forgotten Stan Lee Classic- and got a smash hit. Now the truth can be told."



Paul Jenkins: "The promotion was a reflection of the story, and that made it all a lot more valid for me."



"Rob Reynolds has agoraphobia- that was Stan's idea," Jenkins says, 'Stan said I really like what you're proposing. The only question I have is where is his frailty. if he were one of mine, he'd have something that makes him human.'"



The revelatory announcements sparked heated debates on internet message boards, lengthy conversations in comic-related chatrooms and a slew of letters to the Marvel Knights offices - all to Quesada's delight.

"I couldn't think of a better way to promote a book like this. Call it a publicity stunt, call it whatever you want," he laughs. "It's not the worst thing that's ever been perpetrated on society.

And so the tale is told. Who knows when we will see the like of such a thing again. Perhaps we already have...

(I want to thank Chris at Ace of Spades Comments for their blog entry Weird Comics History - The Sentry , which had an archive of some of these scans. I still had to scan some of my own stuff for things they either did not have or where the quality was poor, but they saved me a ton of time and effort. Thanks again.)