By Geoff Johns & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1650-4
After the mega-successful return and relaunch of Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of the Silver Age (see Green Lantern: Rebirth ISBN-13: 978-1-84576-131-8), scripter Geoff Johns continued in his avowed mission to make the character a pivotal cornerstone of the entire DC Universe. Increasingly ambitious storylines which directly lead into all the company’s major crossover events eventually culminated in this pan-galactic extravaganza featuring not only the Green Lantern Corps but also many DCU icons wrong-footed and desperately battling their evil counterpart created by their ultimate nemesis Sinestro.
This first volume collects Green Lantern #21-23, Green Lantern Corps #14-15 and the one-shot Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War Special which kicked it all off. Illustrated by Ethan Van Sciver it reveals how Sinestro tamed the yellow light of the emotional spectrum – Fear – and created his own army to destroy the intergalactic police force of the Guardians of the Universe.
Pseudo-Science Note: This spectrum is a cosmos spanning phenomenon that reduces the various emotions of sentient beings into visible energy wavelengths, each capable of affecting the material world in astounding ways. Green Light is the power of will, Blue is hope, Red is rage, Yellow is fear and so on…
Using the reanimated corpse of the Anti-Monitor – one of the universe’s greatest monsters – as a battery Sinestro recruits beings capable of “instilling great fear†and gives them yellow-powered rings. He allies with the Parallax, the living embodiment of Fear, and joins with some of Earth’s greatest villains such as the Cyborg Superman and Superboy-Prime in an all-out assault on everything good and safe and decent in existence.
Attacking all over creation the devious renegade swiftly decimates the ranks of the Green Lantern Corps, subverting where he doesn’t destroy outright, and the fate of the universe has never been in greater doubt. As the heroes make ready for their last stand the defenders realize that Sinestro’s entire campaign has been a huger bluff, as his real intentions have been…
And that’s where this outrageously over the top blockbuster breaks off, with the tale to be expanded and concluded in Green Lantern: the Sinestro Corps War Volume 2 (ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1800-3) and Green Lantern: Tales of the Sinestro Corps (ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1801-0).
Despite being every action-fan’s dream there’s still room found for character development and moments of tangible tragedy. Illustrated by Van Sciver, Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Angel Unzueta, Oclair Albert, Prentis Rollins, Drew Geraci, with colours from Moose Bauman and Guy Major, and lettering by Rob Leigh and Phil Balsman, the GL Corps chapters are written by comics veteran Dave Gibbons, no stranger to cosmic conflagration from his early days at 2000AD, and this book just rockets along, dragging you helpless in its wake.
If you’re the impatient sort you’d best ensure you have all the volumes to hand when you start to read, because once you’re hooked there’s no stopping or going back.
© 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.
God-like Johns…