Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #1

History

The series grew directly out of the creative momentum of the Heroes Return initiative, through which Marvel repatriated its major characters from the year-long Heroes Reborn publishing experiment. Mark Waid and Ron Garney, who had relaunched the main Captain America volume 3 title in January 1998, described Sentinel of Liberty as their personal dream project: a companion series structured around time-jumping, never-before-told stories rather than a conventional ongoing narrative. The book was edited by Matt Idelson, with interior art on the first issue by Garney on pencils, Dan Panosian on inks, and Joe Rosas on colors. Marvel also released a companion Rough Cut edition later in 1998 that reprinted the issue in unfinished pencil-only form alongside Waid's original third-draft plot script, offering readers an unusual behind-the-scenes look at how the issue was developed.

Trivia · 10 facts

• Written by Mark Waid and Ron Garney; pencils by Ron Garney; inks by Dan Panosian; colors by Joe Rosas; letters by John Costanza; edited by Matt Idelson.
• Cover-dated September 1998 (released July 1, 1998); the series ran for 12 issues through August 1999.
• The issue's main story opens on July 4, 2001 — framed as a near-future date at time of publication — with Captain America and Sharon Carter battling armored terrorists called Millennium Dawn in Philadelphia.
• First mention of Connie Ferrari, a later romantic interest for Steve Rogers, who appears in the near-future framing sequence only as 'Connie.'
• Sharon Carter is named the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in this issue, a significant elevation of her role.
• The issue also contains a flashback to an early adventure in which Cap and Sharon Carter work together before either knew the other's real identity, set prior to their mutual name reveals in the classic Tales of Suspense / Captain America run.
• A Rough Cut special edition was published in November 1998, reprinting the issue in raw pencil-only format alongside Waid's original plot script — part of Marvel's short-lived 'Rough Cut' behind-the-scenes program.
• A Dynamic Forces variant edition of issue #1 was produced, signed by both Mark Waid and Ron Garney, limited to 5,000 copies.
• The full 12-issue run — along with the Rough Cut edition — has been collected in trade paperback and hardcover, and is included in the comprehensive Captain America by Mark Waid, Ron Garney & Andy Kubert Omnibus.
• Later issues of the series explored Invaders stories set in World War II, featuring characters including Namor, Jim Hammond (the original Human Torch), Bucky Barnes, Baron Zemo, Heinrich Zemo, Nick Fury, and Dum Dum Dugan — all indexed for this title's catalog.

Cast · 12 characters

Full credits

Variants (1)