Wizard looks at the events that have shaped the comics cultural landscape since their first issue, and… well, it’s an interesting list:
48. THE SENTRY HOAX (June 2000)
When this magazine broke news that Stan Lee had created a heretofore-unseen superhero in his 1960s heyday, fans practically lactated with excitement. Only problem: it wasn’t true. Acting in collusion with then-Marvel Knights honchos Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti, Wizard told the fallacious story of the Sentry, a hero devised by Lee and fictional artist Artie Rosen; writer Paul Jenkins “found” the embryonic documents and formally introduced him to the Marvel Universe. Roughly a year later, we all came clean. Bet you’re still pissed.
Well, to be honest, I’d kind of forgotten about that whole thing…
May 7th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I certainly don’t remember anyone “practically lactating with excitement” over the prospect of it at any rate. I remember thinking it was a moderately funny hoax for a marketing campaign for a new book, but that was about the extent of it. And as a hoax it didn’t exactly reach the levels of a PT Barnum or an Orson Welles masterpiece of construction.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Hopefully Just a Pilgrim was #47 then.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Seriously — did anyone actually believe The Sentry thing was true??!?
May 7th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
The Sentry hoax, the Spagett of comics.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
2nd worst decision Joey Q ever made. The worst? I hate to name names, but its initials are OMD.
Then again, Sins Past was heinous too.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
You guys will be surprised to know that there are people out there that are indeed still pissed over this and won’t touch anything with the Sentry in it because of it. Irrational fanboys exist for everything.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Wizard—8 years on, and they think their lie was the bestest joke ever.
Shamus, while you’re selling your building, why don’t you just sell the business, too. In fact, sell it to Marvel, because it is obvious you and Marvel are already partners.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:31 am
What an odd list. You would think that comics debuted in 1990.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Well, considering that Wizard debuted in 1991 that isn’t too surprising.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:52 am
“Artie Rosen” should have been a dead giveaway, guys….
Artie Simek and Sam Rosen were the legendary letterers of the Marvel Age, after all.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Well, that was a depressing read.
But this, on Sandman, is so spectacularly bone-headed it’s beyond parody:
“Comics were never bandied about in literary circles prior to Sandman, the DC Comics tapestry woven by Neil Gaiman that took the medium as far away from men in tights—and as close to real literature—as the industry had ever seen.”
Don’t even know where to begin in countering that statement.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:05 am
“Don’t even know where to begin in countering that statement.”
I know where to begin – “Ever heard of Maus, geniuses?”
May 8th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
They listed Maus…which makes the statement that much more retarded…