The Sinestro Corps War Revisited: Part One!

And so it was after re-reading "Blackest Night" that I decided to keep going in reverse thru the tent-pole events of the GL-Verse.  Since Geoff Johns started his opus with "Green Lantern: Rebirth", the story has had a specific forward momentum; building towards events that shaped the immediate future of the GL Corps, and laid the groundwork for future events.  Parts of what went down in BN were established as far back as GL: Rebirth (with some story elements written well before Johns was even thinking of being a comic writer).  That is also the case right here with "The Sinestro Corps War".  So with that I decided to follow in the footsteps of what I did with BN, and read ONLY the core story itself and none of the other tie-in books (thankfully in this case that's only like 4 one-shots).

The opening page of this story, in a fashion sometimes lost in comics, tells you every bit of backstory you really need to know in 5 simple panels of beautiful Ivan Reis art.  A naked Sinestro utters one sentence that sums up his whole purpose, and the purpose of this event..."The Universe Needs To Change".  His backstory unfolds quickly, the second page answers the question of how Sinestro's back was scarred with the Lantern logo, and clearly defines his hate for Kyle Rayner, or rather "the alley rat" as Sinestro so lovingly calls him.  And in the 3rd & 4th pages, we get to hear the oath of the Sinestro Corps; an oath that is the antithesis of the GL oath.

Given the current status quo of the DCU, I find it amusing that Zoom is the villain Geoff Johns elected to use to really kick this story off as the JLA searches out Sinestro in a follow-up to the moment in an earlier issue where Batman is initated into the Sinestro Corps for a minute (GL #17)...

It's in those moments after the Zoom confrontation that Hal Jordan makes a dire statement, "I don't think the Sinestro Corps is Earth's problem, it's the Green Lanterns."  Enter the yellow rings as they fly around the universe looking for those beings capable of creating great fear in a follow-up to a few issues earlier where the reader sees the construction of the rings on Qward, further teasing what was about to go down here.

Johns' drops in on The Guardians as they investigate another of Geoff's favorites, The Cyborg Superman (last seen leading a new wave of Manhunters , who has apparently discovered the secret of the 52 parallel universes and we also get our first mention of the Prophecy of Cosmic Revelations: the Blackest Night in this story (it was name dropped GL #11).  In another small touch, that only has meaning in hindsight, Cyborg Supes says "Without life, there will be no fear, avarice, or hate.", to which Ganthet retorts "Without life there is also no hope or compassion." and Sayd (the female Guardian) chimes in "or love".    In one panel we have the core elements of the...ummm, corps...stated before anything outside of the GLC or SC exist.  And the seeds are planted...

After a quick check-in on another Johns favorite in Superboy-Prime (following up on his imprisonment after "Infinite Crisis"), we get a down moment that lets us in on the internal struggles within the GLC as well as those of Kyle Rayner AKA Ion.  We find out about Ion's Mom, about some painting, and then with a KRAKSH everything goes to hell!  Kyle's abducted, deposited in the Anti-Matter Universe, and the reader gets their first idea of just what awaits Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and the rest of the GLC...

And as if that wasn't enough, the brutality begins on Oa and we get to see how violent this war is going to be when a sniper beam blows a whole in a Lantern's head and sprays Guy's face with blood. Kyle versus the SC, the GLC vs the SC, Superboy-Prime & Cyborg Supes liberated, the truth behind Ion revealed as its ripped from the chest of Kyle, and the symbolic ripping of Kyle's heart from his chest as Sinestro tells Kyle the truth about his mother's death & the SC's role in it.  He is a broken man, just like Hal Jordan after Coast City's destruction, and just like Hal, Sinestro uses that moment to turn Kyle into Parallax.   Oh wait, there's more...

And all of that is just the Prologue issue...Sinestro, Parallax, two Super-Men, and the f'n Anti-Monitor!  Not to mention the Sinestro Corps and their very lethal methods.  In one issue, Geoff Johns has set-up a no-win situation for the GLC and even in the re-read I still felt that same sense of "how the hell are they going to survive this" that I had when I first saw that image right above.

In the proper Part One, Johns gives the reader the same kind of origin for Hal Jordan that he did for Sinestro and nails all the pertinent information in a couple of pages.  The stress caused between the Lost Lanterns & Hal Jordan continues while the Guardians elect to further bury The Blackest Night by destroying the last chapter of the Book of Oa.  But it is those action that bring about the eventual creation of the Blue Lanters when Ganthet & Sayd bid farewell to Hal Jordan with three simple words... "We will hope.".  Unfortunately that hope is nearly decimated immediately as Hal is confronted by the Parallax-possessed Kyle Rayner.

With Chapter Two of the story in GLC (written by Dave Gibbsons), it jumps to the events of the War from other perspectives: primarily that of Sinestro but with some members of the GLC included.  The level of violence in this is chapter really shows how different, how serious this battle truly is, but the crux of the story is that of Sinestro's return to Korugar which is now patrolled by Soranik Natu.  In this confrontation we get our first mention of the GLC's inability to use lethal force on their enemies which becomes a major point within the SCW, and we get the first meeting between Sinestro & Soranik which has some serious long term ramifications.  In the light of what is eventually revealed about their familial connection, it's no wonder Sinestro didn't kill her, and it gives a whole other level of meaning to Sinestro's statement that he "only need Korugar to believe you have defeated me and I have won."  Maybe, in his twisted way of thinking, Sinestro figured that Natu would owe him for the fealty Korugar would give her for the "victory" over their former tyrannical ruler....or maybe he figured she'd owe her Daddy one.  Oh yeah, and this Sodam Yat guy pops up....

Back to Hal's story and the return of Amon Sur (now a Sinestro Corps member) after his failed attempts to kill Jordan a few issues prior to SCW.  I guess the first few pages of this issue tell the tale of how only family can talk trash about family, anyone else better watch their mouth.  What's Superboy-Prime waiting for? How sad is Cyborg Supes when you really look at him? And how terrible are the Guardians as they are apparently willing to sacrifice everything Kyle has done for them to save the Ion Entity?  For the greater good and all that...

Kyle unfortunately has to suffer through some of the same moments Hal had to when he was under Parallax's influence, specifically when he kills the lost lantern Jack Chance.  And we get our second moment of a ring shutting down at the attempted use of lethal force, this time by another lost lantern, Boodikka.  Seems to be a theme.  Oh yeah, and very pivotal figure for the coming years is introduced in the Keeper of the Book of Parallax known as Lyssa Drak. 

The jump to GLC bring us a brutal bloody war on Mogo as several elements of previous GLC arcs come into play in the forms of Ranx The Sentient Planet & The Children of the White Lobe.  As a matter of fact, the attempted destruction of Mogo is actually a continuation of a prophecy from a 1986 Annual written by Alan Moore.  Hell, a lot of what Johns has used to tell his long-term story is based on Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2 (the Empire of Tears, Ysmault, the Five Inversions, etc.).  We also get continued concern about the condition of Sodam Yat by the Guardians, and the fight everyone has been waiting for since we first saw him in GL #10: Arkillo vs. Killowog.  Oh yeah, and the GLC meets the Anti-Monitor!

To Hal and the Earth-GL's....oh wait, first a little stop in Coast City and the Jordan family.  See Hal's brother and his family moved to Coast City shortly after Jordan's return to life but despite the best efforts of the government, the city is still barely populated.  Anywho, Hal find himself powerless in the heart of Sinestro Corps hell and makes the scary scary decison to take on a handful of yellow rings; touching another Corps ring and setting the stage for moments to come as hell eventually wears the ring of damn near every Corps (which in turn created the speculation that he would be the White Lantern since he had touched all the colors).  The Guardians also make their first fateful decision as they renege on something they stated many issues earlier when Hal requested to explore the Forbidden Sector: they elect to rewrite the Book of Oa...and toss Ganthet & Sayd on their asses for acting on emotion. 

In the span of a few pages, the entire game changes:  The Sinestro Corps heads for Earth while the Guardians have amassed the GLC on Oa, the Earth Lanterns stand alone in Coast City as Parallax arrives, and the 1st of 10 new rules in the Book of Oa is announced: Lethal Force Enabled!  Why Earth and not Oa (given that Oa is the center of the universe)? 

Because Earth is the center of the multiverse....

Thus ends Volume One of the Sinestro Corps War HC, and part one of my recap/review/rewind/rehash.  So what do we have? 

In the first half of the story, Johns & Gibbons have laid some of the foundation for "Blackest Night", have evolved storyline points from the first two years of GL & the one year of GLC to bring to fruition the teases of the Sinestro Corps formation; villains that sprouted out in pre-SCW issues have come full circle with membership in the SC; the saga of Coast City continues; elements of Johns' other mega-story "Infinite Crisis" are brought into play with Cyborg Supes, Supes-Prime, and the 52; it laid the groundwork for the whole concept of The Entities; hell even elements of Kyle's life pre-Johns are fleshed out as his sorrow at his mother's death becomes a key storyline point.  And all of that is just in the first half of this GL-Event.

What lies in story for the culmination of the Sinestro Corps War?  How does it foretell the coming of the Blackest Night and the other Corps that are introduced following SCW?  What else does SCW tell us about the past & future of the GL-Verse?  Check back at the end of the week for Part Two of Sinestro Corps War Revisited! 

Until then, don't let Parallax get ya!

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And if you're interested in reading this, or any of the rest of Geoff Johns' Green Lantern run, I am currently auctioning off a large chunk of his run (everything from SCW - present), so check it out here: My Green Lantern Auction.

Also, check out the rest of my auctions if you're interested: The Rest Of My Auctions

Blackest Night: One Year Later

In conjunction with the one year anniversary of Blackest Night's resolution, in light of Free Comic Book Day just passing (2009 saw Blackest Night #0's release), and because I bought the Hardcover upon finding out the DC had ceased soliciting it, I decided to reread DC Comics line-wide crossover from 2009/2010!  So here's what a look at what I thought while going over this story for the first time in a year.

Now let me start by saying I ONLY read the core mini-series this time; not the Green Lantern or Green Lantern Corps issues, not the 7 different mini-series that tied in, and not the dozens of other issues that bore the Blackest Night logo on their covers between June 2009 - May 2010.  My choice was done with purpose, not because I didn't want to dig through 20+ boxes of books to get all the issues out (although that may have played a part honestly), but because I wanted to see how Geoff Johns story read by itself without the addition of any outside stories.  In short, it was a mixed bag.

First, a little backstory for the uninitiated.  Blackest Night was the culmination of several years of story built on the part of GL author extraordinaire Geoff Johns.  Johns, ever since bringing Hal Jordan back in "GL Rebirth" had crafted an opus of sorts with various peaks and valleys.  The first major peak was in the "Sinestro Corps War" and the close of that excellent story also marked the beginning of the build to "Blackest Night". 



The ensuing two years built up the ground work for BN between the issues of GL and GLC by introducing the Blue, Orange, and Red Lantern Corps; restoring the Star Sapphires to prominence, setting up the Black Lantern Corps via Black Hand, and teasing the existence of an Indigo Tribe.  The Blackest Night was upon the DCU shortly after "Final Crisis" came to an end and the apparent death of Bruce Wayne was one of the final catalysts.  In fact the entire zero issue is devoted to two formerly dead guys, Hal Jordan and the newly-resurrected Barry Allen (in their Flash & GL gear), conversing over the unmarked grave of Bruce.  After they leave, Black Hand robs the grave and steals the skull from the casket and we are underway! The start of Blackest Night #1 continues from #0 with Black Hand unleashing the black rings, but then it goes into the opposite direction, all daylight and happiness on what has been named a day of rememberance for the heroes that had died.

Then the fun and chaos begins!  The dead heroes of the DCU are resurrected en masse as evil Black Lanterns intent on, quite literally, stealing hearts.  Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man, Jade, Aquaman...anyone that could elicit an emotional response from the living was resurrected save for the original Dove.  When the rings tried to bring him back they were denied and the message "Don Hall Of Earth At Peace" was spit out.  Hell, Johns even broke my heart by finally, OFFICIALLY, declaring the Jean Paul Valley Azrael dead when he wandered the streets as a BL in BN #4 :c(



Unfortunately there isn't really an explanation given in the specific issue for why the original Dove wasn't able to be resurrected (Johns did say we would learn more here) and there wasn't really one given during the whole of BN.  Was it written in one of the tie-ins?  The problem of Dove is just one example of not having blanks filled in without reading the tie-ins but I will get back to that after I'm done singing praises.

The guts to so brutally murder Hawkman and Hawkgirl in the close of the first issue using the Dibny's, the horror of death all the way across the DCU, the way in which the characters so often take it for granted that people will come back, all those things are right in the readers' face from jump street.  And the scene so wonderfully rendered by Ivan Reis in which Hal shows Barry everyone who has died in his absence just drove it home.  The first issue had me clamoring for more and damn did it keep delivering.

Although the shock of seeing the dead heroes return wore off pretty quickly, the awesomeness of zombie sharks was pretty damn cool!  And the visual of Deadman begging to stay dead was just so...powerful.  That one single page did more for Deadman than anything else I had ever read him in, and it served as a perfect moment in light of his future (something else I get to later).  The constant onslaught of the BL's, the omnipresent feeling of doom, the inevitability of death all hung over every panel of this comic when I was able to read it in one lump.  The countdown to 100% that accompanied every page only served to enhance the impending feeling of dread as the reader wondered what the hell was going to happen when the meter was full. 

Don't let me forget the art of Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert...in large part due to the art, I felt every emotion...particularly when Firestorm (a character I have very little familiarity with) was forced to kill his own girlfriend under the control of BL Firestorm.  That art served to really show you how huge a deal it was that The Spectre was corrupted, the grotesquery of Black Hand, the ugliness of death personified by the BL's, and the fear in that moment when Nekron comes to Earth.

Then there is the moment where the tablecloth is really pulled out from under the heroes with the line "Bruce Wayne of Earth...




In that moment every hero who had ever been resurrected, every one who had every cheated death, fell victim to the Black Rings.  Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Kid Flash, and more all succumb to the power of the Black.  Hal Jordan & Barry Allen figure out a way to break the tether between themselves and the rings by jumping just slightly ahead in time.  Meanwhile out in space...



The scope of just what is heading for Earth is amazing, and once again the art just captures the stark terror of how much death is on the way.  The moment where Ganthet makes himself a member, followed by his splitting of the rings, provided some great moments as well in which each of the rings find another host.  The Scarecrow getting the Yellow Ring was a great nod to a moment earlier in the GL series, Lex Luthor getting the Orange Ring was perfect, and Mera as a Red Lantern was awesome.  Much like Deadman, she was a character that truly benefitted from this series in terms of exposure and generated interest.  Hell, I bought her action figure...in part due to it containing a Dex Starr to be honest...


How can you not love that Kitty Face?

Anyway, the ultimate reveal of Nekron's desire to destroy The Entity...the source of existence itself...and the immediate reactions of Sinestro to take on the White Lantern responsibility as his own was epic.  Here is a man who has strived to bring order to the universe (at least his version of order), had been evicted from the GLC, formed his own Corps, sought to expose the Guardians as frauds, and now thinks he can use the power of the WL to justify his belief that he is the greatest Lantern of them all.  It's no wonder the power abandoned him, thankfully cause it allowed for a supercool visual of the resurrected heroes (Superman et al) to become WL's for a moment to win the day.  Oh yeah, the Anti-Monitor comes back too...big stuff, just like a mega event-wide crossover should have! 

And as if that wasn't enough...we get the resurrection of 12 of the heroes who were dead prior to BN (well the Hawks died in the first issue but you get the idea), and set the table for the Brightest Day to come with the White Lantern popping up on the very last page of the very last issue.   The immediate future of the DCU was established and damn if I wasn't interested.  Oh yeah, and to bring everything full circle...Hal Jordan & Barry Allen (this time in civvies) meet once again over the Wayne grave to discuss how they now accept Tim Drake's belief that Bruce is alive! 

Damn did this story have some great moments, and damn is it so much better to read it as a whole than it was to read it monthly...with delays...with that month gap, and with a lot of negativity from the internet if I recall correctly.  No worry about reading a thousand tie-in issues, no concern with breaking the bank just trying to follow the story, just me and the comics.  I applaud Geoff Johns and company for their work on this mini-series because you can see how much of their heart & soul was on the page.  This book piqued my interest in Deadman, in Mera, in the fate of a dozen characters that I didn't really care one way or the other about prior to BN.  It set-up the next year of DC comics, and with the background resurrection of one Reverse Flash (as well as some time travel), it set-up this year's story in "Flashpoint".  The tease of Bruce Wayne's fate and the purpose of the 12's resurrections set up the larger DCU, and the intro of the various Corps laid the groundwork for the next year of GL-centric books as well. 

If I recall correctly, BN got a lot of flack because fans felt like the end was nothing more than set up for another story.  Well that is still true upon reading it again one year later, but that is by no means a bad thing.  The DCU is one cohesive universe, and the events of one thing...especially something as major as BN...should lay the foundation for what comes next.  The story of the Blackest Night has its conclusion in these pages, and a satisfying conclusion at that.  But of course there is going to be fallout from the event, hell if there wasn't than fans would just complain about that instead.  Gone, long gone at that, are the days where a comic book event happens and there are no lasting repurcussions.  I don't know if that day every truly existed....maybe in the Marvel Comics Annuals like "Atlantis Attacks" or "Evolutionary War".

Now despite all my praise, there are negatives to the book as well.  Chief among them, the tie-ins and their importance.  There are certain parts of BN that just don't read so well unless you have knowledge of the events within Green Lantern & Green Lantern Corps in particular.  Now, that's not entirely surprising given that this was born as a GL-centric story that enveloped the DCU as a whole, but it doesn't make the reading any smoother for someone unfamiliar with GL who only picked up the book because of its line-wide influence. 

Still it is the mini-series (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Titans, & JSA) that are the most irritating and in particular the Bats, Supes, and WW ones.  In an event like this, you just want to scream "where are they?" and I frequently feel it becomes a neccessity in DC crossovers to find ways to write them out for extended periods (in particular Superman due to his power levels).  But to answer the question of where they are, you have to read their mini, or in the case of Wonder Woman to see what happened with her, Mera, & the black ring.  If you want to know why Donna Troy is half a BL, or what's up with Dove, read the Titans mini.  Reverse Flash (who is barely acknowledged in the main series) then go to Flash's mini.  So on and so forth...you can claim it only fleshes out the core story, but in reading ONLY the core story, it certainly feels like there are holes, very important holes. 

Most of my other complaints at the time of initial release just faded away with this read-thru.  Sure it felt like a Skittles commercial when there were multiples of every Lantern fighting Nekron, and to the cynical it probably felt like an advertisment for DC Direct when all these characters got rings (and in fact all the special lanterns did get figures), but it was cool as all hell to see Orange Lex & Blue Flash!  Hell if I had the opportunity to write such a universe-spanning saga as this, I would definitely have my fair share of geek-out moments like this:

I think, in hindsight, one of my favorite parts of BN was in fact how well it set-up the post-BN world.  The Brightest Day maxi-series & Justice League: Generation Lost (two generally excellent books IMO) both came directly from this, as well as a bunch of other books of varying quality (Titans probably being the worst) that expounded on the purpose of each resurrected character.  It laid the framework for the War of the Lanterns raging in the GL-centric books currently, it put the question of "Who's buried in Bruce's tomb?" out there for Grant Morrison to answer, and gave us the generally great Luthor-centric run on Action Comics! 

I think that the GL/GLC series as a whole has been one of the consistently best books on the shelves since I started reading it at "Sinestro Corps War" (after "Rebirth" was given to me), and upon reading what I missed, I can safely say it's been one of the best books out there since GL's return to the racks.  Hell, I think the reason GL & GLC has gotten so much grief from the intentionally bitter internet since BN is because of how awesome everything was on the road to Blackest Night.  It's hard to battle with your own success, especially success of such a high level as that which Johns achieved leading up to BN.  I for one have wholely dug everything that has come since BN, and am looking forward to what the future brings post-War of the Lanterns. 

Johns' Green Lantern is one of the books I encourage people to read, and BN is the culmination of the first four years of hard work he...along with Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, Ivan Reis, Doug Mahnke, and many many others...put into creating the GL-verse.  Pick up Blackest Night, pick up all of Johns' GL work for that matter, and experience one of the best sagas in comics today!  Click on the link below to invest in some quality reading material: Geoff Johns GL on Amazon.

And if you want to help me pay some bills, or are just looking for some older comics, including Geoff Johns' GL run from "Sinestro Corps War" to "Brightest Day" (which includes Blackest Night), check out my Ebay Auctions HERE!