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Capes On the Couch - Where Comics Get Counseling


Jun 27, 2018

This week's patient is Marvel's insane Superman analogue, THE SENTRY! Anthony & Dr. Issues pick apart Bob Reynolds to find out what makes one of Marvel's most powerful heroes tick. And speaking of powerful, Dr. Issues gets emotional talking about depression and suicide. It's all here - listen now!

SHOW NOTES:

  • Introduction
  • Background (3:03)
    • Created by Paul Jenkins, Jae Lee, and Rick Veitch in Sentry #1 (Sept. 2000)
    • Bob Reynolds, overweight, middle-aged man, remembers he used to be superhero known as Sentry, was part of Marvel Universe from beginning
      • Best friends with Reed Richards, who was best man at his wedding to Lindy
      • Helped Peter Parker get a Pulitzer Prize
    • Gets powers from experimental serum, gives him power of a million exploding suns - essentially a Superman ersatz
    • The Void, a great evil, is returning - Sentry is the only one who knows, but no one remembers him
    • Years prior, we discover the Sentry & Void were the same person, but to prevent Void from destroying the world, Bob had to stop being the Sentry, and everyone had to forget about Sentry, including Bob
    • Able to defeat Void once again, and make everyone forget Sentry once more
    • Voluntarily submits self to the Raft for safekeeping after killing his wife - helps quell breakout of villains alongside New Avengers
    • Reynolds implants memories of his life into writer Paul Jenkins, who creates a comic book based on him
    • As Void returns, Bob once again has breakdown - with help of Emma Frost, able to overcome virus planted by Mastermind and regain control of powers
    • Gets clean slate and able to begin new life as hero without anyone remembering previous heroics or the Void
    • In new solo series, Sentry contains Void within vault, and calls for help of psychiatrist Dr. Cornelius Worth - during session, Dr. Worth asks Bob to meet Sentry, but instead meets Void who holds Worth hostage - Bob claims Void is true persona, and Sentry is separate entity
    • Void battles Sentry in the sky, and Bob appears to Dr. Worth - indicates neither Void nor Sentry is true persona
    • Sentry meets up with Dr. Strange, who performs magic mind probe, but discovers secret and stops the probe - Sentry finds out he's actually being held at secret SHIELD base and Strange is implanting false memories to keep him sedated - only the Professor knows the true secret of Sentry's origin, but when he tells Sentry, Nick Fury sets off bomb to kill Professor - Sentry finds Void in Antarctica, and throws him into the sun
    • Sentry sides with Iron Man during Civil War, realizing danger of his powers if unregistered
    • Later on, Ultron kills Lindy - Sentry battles Ultron and nearly destroys him alone - comes back to Watchtower to find Lindy alive, but she asks Tony Stark to depower or kill Bob
    • "World War Hulk" - Sentry has massive fight with Hulk, who has to defeat him to contain his powers from destroying everyone - Bob collapses defeated
    • "Dark Reign" - Void is under control of Norman Osborne, and Sentry joins Dark Avengers
    • "Seige" - Sentry destroys Asgard under Norman's orders - Void kills Ares, then battles Avengers and defeats them all, until Loki revives them - Sentry reverts to Bob and asks to be killed - Thor kills him and cremates his body
  • Issues (22:39)
    • Where do we begin?
    • Cannot lose control ever
    • Multiple personalities
    • Deals with being forgotten numerous times
    • Addiction to serum
    • Suicidal
  • Treatment
    • In-universe - follow lead of Emma Frost
    • Out-of-universe - similar to panic disorder, treatment with anti-psychotics
  • Skit (57:05)
  • Ending

References within episode:

iTunes: here
Google Play: here
Stitcher: here
TuneIn: here
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