In the ever-cluttered indie comics landscape, Sentinels is a breath of fresh air. On the surface, Sentinels recalls the great superhero team stories of yesterday, but actually goes deeper, mixing strange characters with feel-good adventure and some very dark imagery and settings. Sentinels creator Rich Bernatovech recently spoke with Kung Fu Rodeo, via email, about the difficulties of self-publishing, his influences, and what he doesn’t like about mainstream comics today.

Kung Fu Rodeo: Where did the main story idea - the original Sentinels have vanished, and their children have taken their place – come from? It really gives the book a sense of danger right from the start.

Rich Bernatovech: I wanted the Sentinels to have a connected reason for being together and for there to be a sense of history in the book. By making them a second generation team you have both of those things right off the bat. Having the first generation disappear years before gave them even more of a reason to be a team and a sense of urgency that adds to the story.

KFR: For your first comic, why do a team book?

RB: I love team books. I think one of the best things about superhero books are the interaction between the characters. Also, I felt that my years as an actor gave me a good sense of character interaction and wanted to focus on that.

KFR: Sentinels goes to some pretty strange places: Hell, outer space, underwater, etc. It results in a story that crosses over many genres, including sci-fi, horror, and action/adventure. Was this done on purpose, or was it just a happy accident?

RB: It was done on purpose. We wanted to keep Sentinels unpredictable. In Sentinels Book 2: Masks, it’s more mystery focused and in Book 3 and 4 we pull it all together and show how all the different themes are connected.

KFR: Religion and religious imagery play large roles in Sentinels. Was this an influence from your own life and beliefs?

RB: I’m not really a religious person, so I’m definitely not trying to send out any kind of religious message pro or con. I’m more interested in the choices people make because of what they believe in, whether it’s religious or ethical.

The history of Christianity and the imagery around it does play a major role in Sentinels. Some of that comes from my own upbringing, like the designs of Gospel and Sin and the settings for some scenes throughout the series. And some of it comes from Luciano [Vecchio] (the artist), and his imagination.

KFR: Did you worry that the religious aspects of the book could alienate readers?

RB: In some ways I did. I’d be a fool not to think that having a main character with a cross on his chest wouldn’t make some readers jump to conclusions. But I knew there was a reason he wore it and it fit his character. I had to hope that people would give us a chance and actually read the book and see it wasn’t all preachy and religious. One of my main goals with Sentinels was to show a very diverse set of characters. Different races, religion, sexual preference and attitude. And I think we’ve achieved that in many ways. The best comments we get are that the book wasn’t what readers thought it would be and that they really felt like the characters were unique.

KFR: Another influence definitely seems to be The New Teen Titans. What was that title’s impact on you, and what are you reading now?

RB: The New Teen Titans from the 80s was my favorite book when I first started reading comics, and George Perez is still one of my favorite artists. I loved the way they (he and Marv Wolfman) portrayed the Titans as real people with real problems who just happen to be superheroes. That aspect always stuck with me and I felt it was/is still something that is missing from today’s comics. Everything nowadays seems to be about events and reviving old characters. I find that boring and even though I still read some of the books that I collected when I was younger, like Titans, I can’t get into the “shock and awe” attitude of them. I don’t find it interesting. With Sentinels we wanted to move away from that and just try to make great comics instead of event comics.

KFR: I feel that Sentinels’ strongest attributes are the subtle moments of humor and honest dialogue (in particular, the scene from Book 1 where team members argue over whether or not the giant cross on Templar’s chest is offensive). Did you base those lines and moments off real conversations?

RB: Thanks! Moments like that and through all the books are the parts of Sentinels that I believe make us different than many other comics. It’s also the part I love doing the most, making these characters believable and interacting the way people do in real life. Nothing is really taken from real conversations, but I think (again) all the years I spent acting in New York City gave me an ear for dialogue and moment to moment reactions.

KFR: Can you talk about the difficulties that came with getting Sentinels made? Finding an artist, the time it took to actually write the stories, finding the money to publish it, etc.

RB: Self-publishing is one of the hardest things about Sentinels. I created the characters initially planning to do the writing and art all by myself. But once I looked at things realistically, I knew I couldn’t do it all. First, I don’t think I’m a strong enough penciller. And second, having a day job, I just didn’t have the time. It was only after I had already drawn a lot of Sentinels Book 1, that I met Luciano Vecchio through a mutual friend. Once I saw his renditions of the characters, I knew he had to draw the book. Thankfully, he happily agreed.

I don’t consider writing and inking Sentinels work; I love doing it. I think that’s the easiest part. If you don’t love what you’re doing, you shouldn’t be doing it.

I had already looked into the costs of printing and had discovered that it was cheaper for me to publish Sentinels as a trade instead of a regular comic. Cheaper for me to print, but also cheaper for readers who picked up the book. They get more for their money and I believed that was just as important. This actually turned out to be one of the best things we could have done. With independent books it’s hard to get people to take a chance on you and buy the book. Most indie titles don’t last past their third or fourth issues and people sometimes get tired of waiting for a story to finish. By publishing Sentinels as a trade, we were able to give them a more complete story and show that we were in it for the long hall.

From there it was just a matter of saving up the money to print Book 1. Luckily for us, each following book has been published using the profits from the previous book. I consider us very fortunate for that.

The only really, really hard part has been getting the word [out]. Advertising is expensive and when you don’t have much start up money, you have to think of other ways to get attention. Luckily, the Internet really helps in spreading the word. Also, contacting retailers and reviewers helps. But still, that only gets you so far. I think word of mouth and meeting people at conventions has been the most successful for us. It’s been a long road trying to get noticed, but it’s really starting to pay off now.

KFR: How long did the whole process take, from sitting down to write, to designing the characters, to holding a finished copy in your hands?

RB: I didn’t really start creating Sentinels until after 9/11. And it wasn’t until 2002 that I had it all mapped out in my mind. From there, it took us about 10 months to do Book 1 and only 6 months to do Book 2. But that burnt us out a little and Book 3 took about a year to finish. Being self-published, we didn’t have any deadlines, so we wanted to take our time and put out what we thought was our best work. We’re still working on the final Sentinels book and hope to have it out this fall, which will be almost a year after Book 3.

KFR: Did you write an outline or bible for the characters before starting the actual writing, or was it all made up on the fly?

RB: Yes, I definitely outlined the entire Sentinels series before I started and I had a bible for all the characters so they had a history to draw back to. I think that’s really important. If you make things up on the fly, people will notice. They can tell when there is no direction. But I also let myself change, add or subtract anything. I gave us as much freedom as we wanted as long as we stayed true to the characters and the history. Without that I don’t think it would have worked out as well as it has.

KFR: How did it feel once it was done and was actually published?

RB: Excited. Relieved. Stressed. Nervous. Proud. All those things and more. After you’ve worked on something for so long, to finally have it out in the public is incredible. It’s also a little stressful waiting to hear what people think of your work. I try to focus on the excited part.

KFR: What’s next for the Sentinels? Any other books you’re working on?

RB: Later this year we’ll release the final Sentinels book and there are ideas for more stories after that but nothing concrete. We’re waiting to see what reaction will be before we decide what’s next. I am working on another series called Neverminds, which will hopefully be out the early part of 2007. It focuses less on superheroes and is more Vertigo-ish in style.

KFR: Looking back, is there anything you wish you’d done differently, left out, or added?

RB: If anything, I wish we could have added more pages to each book and showed more personal moments since those are some of my favorites. And of course I wish we could go back and fix the couple of typos I found later. But otherwise, I wouldn’t change a thing. You can’t go back, and I think we’ve improved with each book.

Visit the official Sentinels website at www.sentinelsonline.com

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