GREEN LANTERN #1
Sinestro, Part 1

November 2011

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Doug Mahnke

Inks by Christian Alamy with Tom Nguyen

 

Covers by Doug Mahnke and Greg Capullo

Synopsis

On Oa, the Guardians release Green Lantern Sinestro from custody and then order him to protect his sector.  After he leaves, Ganthet expresses his objection to the decision.  The other Guardians declare they must be of one mind before their next mission.  On Earth, Hal Jordan is having difficulty returning to his old life.  He has no money and no job.  On Korugar, Sinestro is disheartened to see his corps running roughshod over his home planet.  Meanwhile, Hal takes Carol out on a date.  Hal needs to ask her something.  He needs someone to co-sign a lease for a new car.  Angry that it wasn’t a marriage proposal, Carol leaves.  Jordan returns to his apartment to find an eviction notice.  Suddenly Sinestor appears, telling Hal that if he wants his ring back, he’ll do everything Sinestro tells him.  

 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Up to this point, the books in the DCnu relaunch have either been outright reboots of a character’s history (such as Green Arrow) or continued the same continuity but started with a new story that doesn’t depend on previous information (such as Detective Comics).  This is the first comic that is an outright continuation of previous story from the old DCU, as Johns picks up the cliffhanger from the “War Of The Green Lanterns” story with Sinestro donning the green ring and Hal losing the green ring.  You can’t really blame DC for adopting this decision as Green Lantern and the satellite books have been one of the better sellers in the past few years.  However, anyone who picks up this issues because it is #1 will potentially be lost as to what is going on. 

 

Naturally (as you can tell from this site), I fall into the former category and because of that I have to say that this is a pretty good issue.  My only complaint has nothing to do with what Johns did, but rather what I wish he had done.  Since this is a #1 book, I think I would’ve liked to have had more Hal, less Sinestro in this book.  I would’ve loved to have had seen more of Hal adjusting to live back on Earth, without the ring, without money, without a job.  What Johns provided was fine, but I think I wanted more.  And it would’ve been a great opportunity to introduce Hal to readers, giving us a look at who he is and how he struggles with losing his other persona.  Based on that, I didn’t care for the ending.  I get that eventually Hal will get his ring back, but (again) I would’ve liked to have seen this happen later, rather than now. 

 

Having said that, I will again sate that what Johns provided was damn good.  Hal’s misfortune strikes the right tone, balancing a little humor into the seriousness of his plight.  And while I still don’t understand what Carol sees in Hal, her reaction to his question was just perfect.  The scenes with Sinestro were well done, especially his realization that his corps is not totally under his control.  It will be interesting to see what Arkillo does when he meets up with Sinestro.  I also thought the scene with the Guardians was mysterious enough to make me curious to see what they are up to and how this factors into Hal and Sinestro. 

 

Strange Sighting

Page 12, fourth panel, on the left hand side among the crowd.

 

 

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