Or – “War Is About More Than The Field Generals…”
It’s interesting to me that, for nearly the first time ever, we’re able to focus on Green Lantern action without having Hal or Kyle or Guy or John in the forefront. With Hal’s own title to cover Earth, Green Lantern Corps is able to show us another side of the Sinestro Corps conflict, an alien perspective using characters who’ve been around a lot longer than you might think. I find that (to me, at least) this portion of the war is as interesting (if not more so) than the more personal battles at stake on Oa, as it shows the sheer scope of the battle and the effects it has on the various Lanterns in the field. Since it IS a war story, those of you with more sensitive natures should probably know that some of the images are a bit harsh…
Previously, on Green Lantern Corps: Sinestro has finally made his move, revealing the 
existence of his own Corps to counter the power of the Guardians. Included in his army are the forces of Tom Welling-Prime (see the Major Spoilers Dictionary) and Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman (who, for some reason, always makes the voice in my head start singing to the tune of Deep Blue Something’s “Breakfast At Tiffany’s”: ‘And I said, what about, Cyborg Supermaaan, she said, I think I remember him well…’ This is the way my mind works.) and in the place of the Guardians has The Anti-Frickin’ Monitor. With the first salvos fired, Kyle Rayner infected by Parallax, The Guardians in denial, and Hal reluctant to take a leadership role, the first battle on Oa doesn’t necessarily go well. During that battle, Jordan asked Salaak why the rings kept ringing the death toll after that battle had ended and was told that Lanterns were being ambushed across the galaxy. In sector 2263, a handful of Lanterns returns to their Sector House on an All Points Alert, only to find that it’s an ambush by Sinestro’s forces…
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I really enjoy the designs of the S.C.’s, especially the cyborg guy with Lantern corpses strung across his hull. Outnumbered, it is strongly implied that the Lanterns are torn to pieces by their yellow counterparts. Meanwhile, in Sector 1417 on the planet Korugar, Lantern Soranik Natu tries to break up a rally held in her honor. Once the home of Sinestro, the Korugarians were at first wary of her, but Natu won them over… In fact, a bit too much so, as they’re ready to make them their leader as Sinestro once was. What is it about the Korugarian psyche that makes them so susceptible to demagoguery?
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The leaders of the rally exclaim her modesty and compassion, and the crowd cheers, ready to follow her anywhere. Soranik tries to talk them down, crying “This ring must be used for the good of ALL, not to settle political arguments!” The crowd cheers again, and a sinister voice booms out across the rally… “Ah. The banners… the cheering crowds… Just like the OLD days.” Natu looks up to see Sinestro himself floating down from the sky. He makes minor small talk about the weather, and Soranik points her ring at him. “I arrest you, in the name of the Green Lantern Corps.” Sinestro raises an eyebrow and regards her with the kind of scorn you might give a particularly ugly bug on your windshield.
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Facing down with a man called the greatest Green Lantern ever, Natu is felled by greater experience. In Sector 3889, the lantern called The Green Man (his people have no proper names) searches for any trace of his partner, Stel of Grenda, an artificial life form. Under the control of Despotellis, Greeny attacked and nearly destroyed Stel (pronounced “steel”) but at the last moment, the android was able to defend himself.
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Well, that’s not at all ominous… It’s like asking “What more can happen?” or saying “Wow, I sure am glad that Jason Voorhies is dead for real, this time.” He’s just begging for something bad to happen, isn’t he? Back on Korugar, the police have arrived, just in time to realize that the man who subjugated the entire planet to his will has returned. Sinestro slaughters the authorities who would usurp the planet he believes is his property, enjoying the fact that he still inspires fear in the populace. Soranik strikes while his back is turned, trying to impale him on a Lantern construct, but her ring begs to differ.
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Natu courageously attacks the man with a summer squash for a head, and the scene cuts to Deep Space, where Arkillo of the Sinestro Corps whips an enslaved cadre of Qwardian weaponeers to try and make them work harder. A floating Corpsman reminds him not to kill all the weaponeers, as then he himself will have to work, and I realize that Sinestro not only has Arkillo, the evil Kilowog, he has an evil version of Salaak as well. I was a little bothered by the similarity of Arkillo and Kilowog’s names, but this openly annoys me for some reason. Either way, the Salaak-equivalent acts pretty much exactly like the real thing, spurring Arky to action.
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“…PREPARE FOR BATTLE!” Back home on the planet of the purple people, Sinestro easily defends himself from the attacks of Doctor Natu, and taunts her to call in her partner. “When this was MY sector, I could handle any threat ALONE…” He points out (rightfully) that she hesitates in calling her partner because she fears the contempt that her partner (a princess) would show her in her call for help, and tries to exploit that fear. He traps her in a construct, and explains that he is going to let her win, in order to make Korugar think that she has defeated the mighty Sinestro, so that she will be asked to rule the entire planet…
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He throws her back to the ground, and as predicted, the people herald her as their savior, insisting that she lead them all. Sinny’s plan is going according to schedule, and the Lanterns are all in panic mode, scrambling to respond. The mass casualties have caused their ranks to swelled with rookies, who may be fearless and honest, but aren’t experienced. One of the tyros in particular is vaguely familiar to those who read Alan Moore’s ‘Tales of the Green Lantern Corps’ stories from 20 years ago…
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For those of you who aren’t ancient, or haven’t seen those stories, they’re also the place where we first met Green Lantern Mogo. Sodam Yat’s destiny, if the tales are to be believed, is a great one, as one might expect of a Green Lantern who also has all the powers of Superman…
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That terribly unpleasant image courtesy of Green Lantern Corps Annual #2 from 1986… Sodam Yat also played a role in Alan Moore’s never-written ‘Twilight of The Superheroes” proposal, in which only he has the power to stop a Superman gone wrong. I’m sure there are a dozen sites out there that still have the proposal, even though DC has asked that it not be made available any longer. Either way, I am interested to see where Yat’s story goes. As for Green Man and Stel, they’ve made their way to Mogo, only to find that Salaak and Kilowog aren’t the only Lanterns to have Sinestro Counterparts…
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Wuh oh. I wonder who that could be? Possibly Ranx, the sentient city? Either way, it’s ridiculously huge, and this bodes badly, especially since Sinestro finds himself called back to Qward because of the presence of Hal Jordan. The war is really heating up, and I hope that it lives up to the expectations.
Overall, this was a good issue, with effective plotting by Dave Gibbons (co-creator of many of the old GLC stories referenced during the war) and art that tells an effective story (from two different pencillers, Patrick Gleason and Angel Unzueta.) They’ve even managed to make Sinestro truly intimidating, rather than cartoonish, hard to do when his head looks like a badly inflated balloon animal. My only complaints are the presence of obvious counterparts to our known characters (I know that it makes the conflict more personal, but I’m just wondering how Sinestro got such detailed insider information on the current status of the Guardians hierarchy.) More Mogo is never a bad thing, and I enjoy the interplay between logical Stel and intuitive Green Man greatly. I find myself wanting more of their stories throughout the issue, though the conflict between Sinestro and Soranik is compelling. I also give props for including a statue of Katma Tui, John Stewart’s deceased wife, and the GL who handled Korugar between their respective tenures. Even with some faults, this issue is still a 3 star out of 5 outing, and a compelling episode in the ongoing galactic conflict…
7 Comments
Looks like the Sinestro’s have an answer to Mogo, although their answer still seems pretty small in comparison.
Good Lord. Whoever drew that Sodam Yat picture had never HEARD of anatomy.
That would be Kevin O’Neill, of Marshal Law and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen fame… His work is an acquired taste…
Sodam Yat! since the start of the sinestro corps war and ganthet’s mentioning of the prophesy of the blackest night, ive been waiting for Sodam Yat to appear. now if only he were to beat the lobe spawn with arisia’s help. i would really hate to have mogo, sodam yat and arisia die during this conflict…
i still never understood why (or how) Green Man rised back from the dead ever since he got eaten by the spider guild in DC’s Invasion.
i mean, of the thousands of GLs to choose from, they have to pick a dead one to use? or more curiously, one that resigned from the Corps to join another team (Omega Men)?
Well, given that Hal, Kilowog, all the Lost Lanterns, Stel, Arisia, all the Guardians, and Guy have also been killed, I’m presuming that it’s just a question of a story waiting to be told.
That’s Ranx, the sentient city, isn’t it? According to the prophecy in that Alan Moore story, Ranx is supposed to slay Mogo by detonating a blink-bomb (IIRC) in Mogo’s core.