Book Review: Green Lantern Vol. 1: Sinestro

Green Lantern Volume 1: Sinestro by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke

It is often said that the best villains are the characters who do not think they are doing evil. A fine example of this is Sinestro in the "New 52" reboot of Green Lantern. Originally I was less than enthusiastic about the "New 52" as it seems like another attempt to get new people into reading comics by promising to let go of the previous character continuity and freshen up the stories with more modern settings and characterizations. For example, Clark Kent becomes an independent blogger rather than a lowly, befuddled reporter for the Daily Planet. Such a re-write hasn't happened with the Green Lantern storyline. Sure, Hal Jordan has been tossed out of the Green Lantern Corps. And his arch-nemesis (as any fan of the old Superfriends show knows) Sinestro is selected to have a Green Lantern ring after years of fighting the Lanterns in general and Jordan in particular with his own corps of Yellow Lanterns.

Now that the ring is on the other finger, Sinestro is playing along with being a Green Lantern. His home world of Korugar has been overrun by the Yellow Lantern Corps. They rule with terror and murder while they await the return of their master, Sinestro. He is understandably unhappy with his corps' crimes against his own people on his own world (even though he had been a ruthless dictator there for many years). Sinestro believes in order. Sometimes order needs to be imposed, by harsh methods if necessary. But only on his own terms. He plans to remove the Yellow Lanterns but needs Hal Jordan's help in beating them.

Hal, after being kicked to the curb by the Corps, is lost with nothing to do. He was a jet pilot but his record of recklessness has kept him grounded. Work opportunities that aren't saving the galaxy from the likes of Sinestro are unappealing to him. He has a hard time reconnecting with his long time girlfriend Carol Ferris.

So all the backstory is still in play for the new Green Lantern storyline, which is a very interesting one indeed. Sinestro is unclear why he has been chosen to be a Green Lantern again after years of being out of the corps and fighting against it. But he seizes the opportunity to restore order on his home world. Jordan reluctantly joins up with Sinestro because it's his only chance to get back in the action, if not in the Corps. The uneasy alliance continues because of new revelations of deeper plans that will put the universe's welfare in question.

The book is very interesting and I want to read more!