DCU Comic Book Reviews

GREEN LANTERN #25

Sinestro Corps:  Birth of the Black Lantern

January 2008

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Ivan Reis and Ethan Van Sciver

Inks by Oclair Albert, Julio Ferreira, Ivan Reis, and Ethan Van Sciver

Cover by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert

Synopsis

The Sinestro Corps have attacked Earth, with the battle against the Green Lanterns raging over New York City.  In Coast City, Hal Jordan attempts to get the city evacuated before Sinestro and the rest of the Corps attack.  They refuse and instead stand by the Lantern Corps.  In New York, the Guardians attack the Anti-Monitor, but have little effect.  In Coast City, Sinestro learns the Guardians have authorized force.  Jordan realizes this is what Sinestro wanted.  Sinestro claims he has won because now the universe will fear the Green Lanterns.  Sinestro then uses the Manhunters to drain the power of the green rings.  In New York, Guy Gardner and John Stewart devise a plan to use Sinestro’s WarWorld planet and drop it on the Anti-Monitor to kill him.  When WarWorld explodes, the Manhunters short circuit.  Jordan then takes one of them and drains the power from the yellow rings.  In New York City, the Anti-Monitor remains alive.  This time, Superman-Prime attacks him for retribution for killing his homeworld.  After he destroys the Anti-Monitor, the Guardians attack Prime until a boom tube takes him away.  In Coast City, Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner defeat Sinestro and take him into custody.  The war is over.  Later, on Oa, the Guardians decide to enact the second of the ten new laws.  Meanwhile, Ganthet and Sayd start the Blue Lantern Corps.  Elsewhere, the Black Lantern rises.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Phenomenal.  I may be generalizing, but often in comic books the finale of a large scale event like this usually tends to fall flat, but somehow Johns and Co. managed to exceed expectations and produced an exceptional ending that truly makes this story feel epic.  I mean, the above synopsis really does not do this issue justice in terms of what happens in this issue.  There is just so, so much going on in this issue that the words “jam packed” actually feels justified.  This is Geoff Johns’ strength:  the ability to cram the pages full of details and plot and action and emotion to the point that it threatens to break free from the pages.  More than just writing an issue-long war, however, Johns manages to breathe life into the Green Lantern mythology, creating a complex and layered foundation for future stories.  Even without the “teaser trailer” at the end of the book, it is obvious that Johns sees this war as the beginning rather than as a conclusion. 

Johns’ writing is helped immensely by Ivan Reis’ brilliant artwork; I think I spent several minutes scanning the first two splash pages, just looking at the different aliens fighting each other.  Reis was given extra time to draw this issue and it was well worth the wait.  Not to be outdone, Van Sciver adds in his own brilliant artwork.  Check out the splash page with all of the Seven Corps fighting in the prophesied war or the final pages detailing the upcoming Blackest Night. 

In the midst of the war, Johns attempts to break down a few emotionally-charged moments, some of which worked and others that missed the mark.  I found the green lights of Cost City to be extremely cheesy and I thought the scenes in which Guy Gardner getting infected by Despotellis to be forced and not very believable.  In contrast, the depowering of the rings leading to the fist fight between Sinestro and Jordan worked well, as did the moment when Prime finally got his revenge for the death of his home.  I also liked the bookend moments of Hank Henshaw dying followed by resurrection.  It is amazing how much sympathy Johns can create for a character nominally portrayed as a villain. 

I don’t think (and in a way hope not) that Johns was aiming for zombies with the introduction of the Black Lanterns but that is exactly what I thought.  Besides the imagery of the hand coming through the ground, we’ve also got the phrase, “the dead will rise” at the very end.  What else could it be other than zombies?  The image that comes to mind is the image from the countless Night of the Living Dead films, that of corpse-looking bodies stumbling and bumbling slowly through cemeteries (or malls) looking for human flesh to feed on.  This is not the type of imagery that would lend itself to an exciting comic book.

The Seven Corps:

Green = willpower

Yellow = fear

Violet = love

Red = hate

Indigo = compassion

Orange = greed

Blue = hope

It is interesting to note that the “hot” colors such as red and orange are associated with negative emotions while the “cool” colors such as blue and indigo are associated with positive emotions.  The color between hot and cool is green, the balance of the rainbow.  Also, when mixed yellow (Sinestro) and blue (Ganthet) create the color green and both of those two Corps spun directly from, and were once a part of, the Green Corps.

Ganthet and Sayd have started the Blue Corps.  I believe, based on previous issues of this title, that the Zamarons are the bearers of the Violet Corps (I thought it would be Pink).  With the Guardians and Green Corps and Sinestro with the Yellow Corps that leaves only three Corps for Johns to add in before he gets to the Blackest Night next year. 

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