Cover Story - Top 10 Sentinels Covers

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This coming Monday marks the premiere of The Gifted, a new series from Fox tying into the X-Men mythos.  The X-Men have honestly kind of struggled for modern relevance, as the Avengers became Marvel’s moneymaking brand, which has always struck me as odd.  I mean, we live in an age of mass struggle by marginalized groups for basic human rights- that’s always been the X-Men’s greatest element.  It’s just hard to think that in an era of Black Lives Matter, the Refugee Crisis, the Mexican Border Wall, Muslim travel ban, ICE, and the struggle for Trans rights the X-Men can’t find a foothold.  

The Gifted looks to change that by zeroing in on the X-Men’s most topical bad guy- the Sentinels, basically a domestic anti-mutant drone army.  When they were created that particular idea sounded a lot more like science fiction than a real policy that’s probably just around the corner but regardless let’s dig into X-Men history to see why these big purple robots have always been so enduring. 

10.

So, a fair number of these covers are going to be coming from a 2003 series called Sentinel, about a young boy who manages to salvage a damaged Sentinel to become his only friend.  It’s basically “what if The Iron Giant but in the Marvel Universe,” and admittedly does undercut a lot of the concept’s menace but it makes up for it in other ways.  Specifically, I think it cuts to a big part of why the Sentinels have been so enduring which is because they look incomparably cool.  

Seriously, despite being genocidal robots the Sentinels have one of the most unique and compelling visual designs.  The color balance of magenta and violet, highlighted by the bright amber of their energy core, makes them unique amongst robot looks and there’s something about that neutral mask that’s very off-putting, like something pretending to be human.

I’m highlighting this cover in particular because of the great use of color balance in compared to detail.  This book was easily the most complex the Sentinel design ever looks, crammed to the gills with tech bits and pieces and in a very manga-esc style.  However, as you can see here, there’s also a big emphasis on color as a way to break-up the pieces of the sentinel, creating a good depth of detail.  At a glance, the colors tell you what this is and its broad shape but looking closer the detail is deeply rewarding. 

9.

Again, I realize how much I’m undercutting my initial point about the Sentinels as racist robots by showcasing these “boy and his robot” covers…but this really is a great cover.  It’s impossible to go wrong with riding on the back of a giant robot and the use of color balance to convey the imagery is another great element.  I should say, this is the first time the Sentinels in the comics ever really looked like robots instead of guys in weird costumes.  A lot of that is the proportions, like how the Sentinel’s shoulders here are just big globes.  

It’s a weird thought but adds a lot to get that this is an artificial creature.  The amber lighting is also pretty unique to this iteration, especially in the eyes as a way of making him look a bit less menacing, though he’s still kind of creepy looking.  Incidentally, I’m not just arbitrarily assigning gender to the Sentinel; he actually develops a personality in the comic through his friendship with the kid.  The whole character dynamic is even more Iron Giant than I’ve made out, eventually concluding with the two joining the Avengers after the boy teaches the Sentinel how to choose to be a hero. 

8.

Now we’re getting into the hard stuff, specifically one of the most goofily hardcore covers I can think of.  Most of the time the Sentinels looked like this guy with the very human proportions except for the head.  I actually really love the head design, specifically the way the helmet gives an elongated look that adds to the subtle inhumanity.  It really does feel like something that’s trying to pretend to be human but doesn’t quite grasp the subtleties. 

Speaking of proportions, the visual compartmentalization of this cover is just fantastic.  The use of the amber coloring on the death ray as a division point against the purple of the Sentinel does a great job splitting the cover almost down the middle, which is a rare division.  Additionally, the green background helps make both colors pop and pays homage to the stylish block color backgrounds of the ‘60s X-Men.  

I also love the amount of detail on Wolverine’s disintegrating body, which is actually supremely gory in a pretty great way.  That inter-title can’t be ignored either: “Everybody Dies!” is such a gloriously over the top pronouncement, regardless of how the Sentinels have totally killed everyone on Earth in previous incarnations. 

7.

I actually spoke about this cover once before in my list about the best Silver Age X-Men comic covers when X-Men: Apocalypse came out.  Even so, it’s such a stunning visual and so intrinsic to the Sentinel mythos I had to bring it back for this list.  In that previous list spoke about how classic X-Men covers have a very ‘60s pop-art vibe to them and this is a pretty solid example of that.  A lot of it has to do with scale, something that’s always been a friend to the Sentinel concept.  The Sentinels here were meant to be bigger than your average human but the scale of the Sentinel here is pretty cleverly composed.  

He’s not just big he’s specifically looming over everyone in the scene.  Like the previous cover the image is bisected along vertically directional lines, a rarity in comics, which here serves to frame the Sentinel as towering over EVERYONE, not just Xavier.  He dominates the visual and the shadows created by the overlighting really add to his menace.  You can also see how much the Sentinels have changed since their first appearance as the only thing to really remain from this design is the bizarre head shape and that freaky scrunched up imitation of a human face. 

6.

This cover is a great example of what I meant about scale being a great friend to the Sentinels, though it benefits the X-Men quite a bit as well.  The X-Men have always been most conceptually defined as a group with single service powers, the kind of abilities that make for great group shots like this.  

Sentinels benefit that logic excellently by giving the camera an excuse to pull way back and give us great vistas like this one.  This cover’s use of scale almost renders it a throwback cover to the ‘60s if it weren’t more focused on cool imagery rather than shocking twists.  

They really embrace the idea of each of the X-Men showing off their powers in a wide open visual.  I think my favorite is Rogue blasting her way through the Sentinel’s chest though Magneto’s pink magnetic energy is pretty great.  Speaking of colors, this was when they were trying to make the Sentinels more menacing and, to their credit, they are pretty threatening here.  

I really like the use of icy blue in the background held against the metallic pink of their forearms and legs.  Combine that with the winter snow and dark colors and it creates a very moody color palette despite the action-oriented nature of the scene. 

5.

As much as I enjoyed the moody color work and imposing scale of the previous cover I think this one just has a more dynamic look to it.  A lot of that has to do with the action going on but also very much the use of scale again.  While the previous entry was a thoroughly grounded ‘80s book with a ‘60s throwback in scale, this cover comes from the ‘70s and is more of a compromise in focus.  

It’s still pulling back to give us a good look at everything going on in this scene but it’s also trying to keep the various heroes fairly large in frame, certainly bigger than they were previously.  It creates a greater depth of field than the previous entry and allows for better use of space.  I especially like the use of bisecting focus once more, this time with the whisk of the Sentinels hand as it slaps Colossus off whatever rooftop this battle is meant to be taking place on.  

Also, I think these sentinels just have more menacing faces, largely because they hadn’t yet adopted the open mouth look they had last time.  It is a little goofy that the image has to frame the Sentinels as basically crouching on the rooftop in order to fit them all on the page but frankly I think it just adds to the aesthetic- much like the green gradient background.  Plus, Storm actually gets to DO stuff in this cover so it basically won by default. 

4.

A bit of back-story: Sentinel Squad O*N*E comes to us from a time when Marvel was radically reshaping its entire universe.  Part of that redesign was to cut down the Mutant population by 90% in an event called House of M.  In the aftermath of that event, the Sentinel program was relaunched with new tech courtesy of Tony Stark as a program to protect the remain Mutant population, which numbered about 100.  They were redesigned into basically Jaegers, with the Sentinel Squad as their primary organization.  It was a really out there but also a damn clever idea that seems like a logical move with the Sentinels. 

That’s where this cover comes from that short-lived experiment and you can really see it in the Sentinel redesign here.  Firstly they’ve dropped the pink color scheme for a fully soft purple one but also they’ve reworked the helmet to be a lot more human looking.  As you can see, it’s longer and shorter, lessening the alien look that informed previous entries and they’ve kept the gape-mouthed look as well.  Also, they’ve added a big, arc reactor esc portal to the chest piece to give a more Iron Man-ish look. 

All that being said, I still really love this cover and the whole series speaks to why I’ve always thought the Sentinels were wasted as just bad robots.  I’m always going to be onboard with Robot vs. Giant Monster so having them beat up dinosaurs was a great idea.  What’s more, I really dig the idea of transforming the Sentinels from soulless killers into something more; it’s the same reason the Sentinel mini-series comic made this list.

3.

I admit this list has been a bit eclectic on how the Sentinels are framed: sometimes they’re awesome robots, sometimes they’re children’s friends, but these final 3 are going to zero in on the Sentinels as monsters.  In this case, even though the cover comes from the Sentinel comic this is an absolutely menacing image.  As is usual with the Sentinels the real threatening nature comes from the scale and the way we’re viewing the Sentinel from the lowest possible level.  

We’re literally at foot level as the army rushes towards him, adding a very threatening Kaiju-esc vibe to it.  The pines are also a nice addition that defines the Sentinel’s height as he dwarfs even the tallest trees and can only be lit by the helicopters from above.  Everything about this cover says big but also dangerous, the kind of big that could just as easily step on you as it would look at you and the fact the Sentinel is completely immobile adds a lot to that aesthetic as well.  It’s an eerie stillness that really stands out against the rush of military activity and fits into the placid stillness of the pinewoods. 

2.

Here we’ve traded stillness for high-stakes action and a threatening immediacy, but we’re still emphasizing scale above all else.  This was from the Schism event where Wolverine and Cyclops finally gave up sparring with each other for all-out war because Cyclops had become a total villain and Wolverine was tired of that, hence them slicing each other up here.  Actually, the fighting here is way more intense than anything else I’ve seen from the two of them in the comics as the gore getting thrown around suggests Logan has cut Scott wide open.  

This is the first use of scale on the list to actually say something other than just conveying how imposing the Sentinels are, with Scott and Logan’s fight dwarfed under the looming threat of that giant hand.  I also really dig the concept that the Sentinel Death ray is the one source of light for this scene, bathing these two in the sickly orange glow of near obliteration.  This is also a very good example of how well segmenting the Sentinel allows for greater visual creativity with the very cobbled together look here.  It kind of reminds me of a mechanical Frankenstein, which is probably intentional. 

1.

It seems odd to make the #1 Sentinel cover one that doesn’t have them in it at all…but goddamn if this isn’t one of the greatest comic book covers of all time.  I’m honestly hard pressed to think of a cover this iconic outside of first appearance stuff.  It’s one of the best images the medium has ever produced and easily the best example of why the Sentinels are such menacing bad guys: they won.  Sure, this was an alternate timeline, but one that’s popped up again and again and again and again the Sentinels win, they’re like the X-Men’s one natural predator.  

There’s an absolute starkness to this particular image in how little fanfare or memoriam is afforded to the mutants.  There’s no memorial, no glory, not even any pity, just a list of wanted posters and a marker to indicate the dead- it’s cold and efficient, like the Sentinels themselves.  If ever there was a perfect metaphor for the soulless, calculated menace of the Sentinels and their mindless subservience to a racist and dehumanizing ideal it’d have to be this.    

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