#phantom stranger

To start, I wanted to keep Alan Scott on the Sentinels of Magic to give him another leadership role outside of the JSA. JSA (2024) is slowly establishing Jade and Obsidian as the new generation of leaders for that team. Personally, I would like to see Alan lean fully back into his magical nature similar to the way his Sentinel era was set up. As Alan stands right now on the JSA, he is not being used to his full capabilities as both a leader and heavy magic hitter.

I also would snatch Khalid Nassour from the JSA because he is in a similar boat. Khalid has demonstrated several times in his history that his skill set goes far beyond that of what the JSA needs. Khalid needs to return back to crisis leveled threats for similar reasons to Alan.

I also LOVED the team up between Alan and Khalid (as well as Raven and Swamp Thing, which is why they’re here) in Dark Crisis. I thought it was a very clever way to reconnect them to the higher balance of magic in the DC Universe, especially since bigger named magicians were not around to save the day.

Which is how the originial Sentinels of Magic came to be anyways! A group of vaguely connected magic users who remained in contact in case of an emergency!

Now for Phantom Stranger. Originally, I was unsure if I should add him. Not just because of his involvement in the original Sentinels of Magic but also because he is a bigger cosmic name in DC.

However, I do really enjoy all of his previous Alan team-ups. And when I began to think about it, I do think that pairing him with Dr. Light under similar circumstances could give a lot of potential to bring Dr. Light back into mainstream.

Dr. Light has been reconnected to the multiverse several times in years. Specifically, with her connection to the Creation of Light (aka “The Source”). The Source, is ultimately the primal connection to life and the emotional spectrum in DC.

It would be such a waste to not use Phantom Stranger as a way to associate Dr. Light more with the Quintessential (a group of the highest order of beings within the multiverse, that Stranger is involved with).

Jay Nakamura….he’s mostly just here to catch a vibe. Most of the basis for his involvement with the Sentinels is because of Gamorra’s frequent metahuman population throughout its publication history. Also, his powers are often described as being vulnerable to magic. However, with users like Dr. Light, Phantom Stranger, and even Alan Scott who also manipulate matter to phase shift, I do think that Jay isn’t entirely out of place here. @faemorrigan may have more thoughts about this!

I also do think that his previous history with Black Alice is something that can be used to add more interesting dynamics to the team. I don’t view Black Alice as someone who is a “team player” so to speak; so her involvement would be entirely self serving and unreliable. However, I loved her interactions with Jay in Secret Six (2025) and I think a dynamic like that on the Sentinels of Magic can have a lot of potential for inner-conflict.

Traci 13 and Xanthe are appealing to me for this team because of their connections to Zatanna and Constantine. Not only do they show immense capability to keep up on a team like this, but since they are considerably younger than most the team there is a lot of potential for individual growth still.

Especially because there are very strong mentors on this team, Khalid and Alan are natural leaders and teachers.