Now the time has come for DC comics villains month to finally come to a close and for the regularly scheduled program resumes. However before everything returns to normal we have one more Green Lantern villain to shine the spot light on and he is without a doubt the most famous Green Lantern villain of all time. You know him, you love him, he’s everyone’s favorite fallen Green Lantern in Thaal Sinestro!!! Now while Sinestro has been around since the 1950’s, his most prominent time was under the pen of Geoff Johns and you may or may like that but it is a fact. Sinestro became more popular since 2007. Now this is the first time that this reviewer can remember when Sinestro was not written by Geoff. Instead current DC writer and indie writer (Mind MGMT) tackles this iconic villain, along with the amazing Dale Eaglesham on pencils. What is their interpretation of Sinestro like? Well let’s open page on and find out shall we?
So to get it right out of the way, this book isn’t the return of Sinestro that people may have wanted. The issues centers around Lyssa Drak the former keeper of The Book of Parallax. The basic story device for this issue is that through Lyssa Drak herself the reader is treated to the rise and fall of Sinestro and where he is now plus where he could show up in the future. The actually issue reads as if you are reading from The Book of Parallax itself. The panels are surrounded by Sinestro Corps borders giving that storybook feeling. While this isn’t original (Fables has been doing this for years) it feels refreshing for a Green Lantern. It’s a nice touch.
While most stories that involves Sinestro’s past only center on his dictatorship on Korugar and his fall from grace, Kindt decides to show Sinestro from the beginning. The story that Kindt tells for Sinestro is the tride and true “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” Kindt portrays Sinestro as a man who is constantly motivated to be the best and it all derives from his from his curiosity. Kindt pretty much stays consistent with what has become before but he does give Sinestro what makes the great villains truly great. Sinestro even after the death of his wife Arin Sur he still believes that he is doing the right thing that everybody else doesn’t understand what he is trying to do.
A little aspect that was quite a surprise to see show up was Sinestro’s love life. While it isn’t in the issue for long, a couple a panels at best it does it job in establishing that while Sinestro is the face of evil for Green Lanterns and Korugarians alike, this was still a man who had needs and only wanted to protect the universe.
The art from Dale Eaglesham is simply amazing, this reviewer wishes he would draw more Green Lantern in the future.Most of what Dale does great in this issue is the body language from the characters themselves. Seeing how Arin hanged on Sinestro or the way she touches his cheek while he for all ignores her is just wonderful storytelling, it gives life to these characters. His actions while at first glance may feel stiff, if you examine the panels or overall pages you see the detail that Dale puts into each character model.
Finally we wrap up the story rejoining our good friend Lyssa Drax and it seems that due to events of Geoff Johns final issue of Green Lantern back in may the book of Parallax is gone and somehow Drax has all of the Book of Parallax in her skin. The book vaguely hints at Sinestro’s return but no clear answer is given.
Overall this was probably the best look into Sinestro’s past that DC has put out. Sure some of the more obvious tropes are here, but enough new layers are added to give old and new readers something to look forward to. So it looks like we won’t be seeing Secret Origin II that would have featured Sinestro in a prominent role, this is a good replacement if that story never happens.
Green Lantern #23.4: Sinestro gets a 4/5
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