In the 1990s, DC was on a bit of a kick of radically shaking up some of their superheroes. Superman was killed off, Batman had his back broken. Another hero to get such a shakeup was the Green Lantern. The primary Green Lantern at the time, Hal Jordan was transformed into the supervillain Parallax and a new Lantern emerged in Kyle Rayner. This storyline, "Emerald Twilight", was used to remove much of the Silver/Bronze Age Green Lantern mythos, like the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians of the Universe.
Hal's transformation was met with much anger and outrage from Lantern fans. Despite that, for a decade, Kyle Rayner was the DCU's only Green Lantern. Hal would stick around as Parallax, eventually finding redemption by becoming the Spectre. In 2004, the miniseries Green Lantern: Rebirth would restore Hal to life, as well as usher in the rebuilding of the Green Lantern Corps. It would also set up for another epic storyline: The Sinestro Corps War.
You see, Rebirth had established the idea that the green energy the Green Lanterns used was actually the center of an emotional spectrum. Green was the central color, the color of willpower, which allows one to keep emotions in check. And since there were other emotions out there, that meant there were other colors...and potentially other Corps. One was the Sinestro Corps. Led by their namesake leader, longtime Green Lantern villain Sinestro, this Corps used the yellow light of fear...and they wanted one thing: the universe to live in terror. As such, they waged a war on the Green Lanterns. Let's see the beginnings of the war in Green Lantern #21!
The cover is a Ivan Reis, Oclair Albert, and Moose Baumann piece depicting members of the Sinestro Corps and Parallax in his yellow bug form. It's a good cover, but it's a bit basic. I do like the little detail of the Green Lantern masthead logo's green being switched with yellow. It helps give the impression that the Sinestro Corps are taking over.
"The Sinestro Corps War Chapter One: Fear and Loathing"
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciler: Ivan Reis
Inker: Oclair Albert
Colorist: Moose Baumann
Letterer: Rob Leigh
The story begins with Hal Jordan doing a bit of reminiscing. One time, the Air Force man was one of the Green Lantern Corps. He was considered one of the best. He thinks it was because he was one of the few Lanterns willing to argue with the Guardians of the Universe. They reminded him of his superiors in the Air Force. They liked to tell him how to fly, but they never sat in the cockpit.
Years after Hal became a Green Lantern, his hometown of Coast City was destroyed by the Cyborg Superman. It was only the second time in his life that fear overcame him. It allowed him to be possessed by Parallax, the embodiment of fear. Under the monster's control, Hal would end up destroying the Green Lantern Corps and even tried to recreate the universe. Despite this, Hal would later be able to ressaert himself enough to save the world when it seemingly entered its Final Night. But he would be freed by his Green Lantern comrades: Kilowog, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, and Guy Gardner.
But that was in the past. Since then, the Green Lantern Corps has been rebuilt...but someone is bent on tearing it back down. Who, exactly? Well, Sinestro. Once a Green Lantern himself, he was stripped of his uniform and ring when he abused its power to create a dictatorship. He and Hal had fought many times over the years, but now Sinestro has his own Lantern Corps, using the yellow light of fear, and they just made their first big strike, a strike that killed over fifty Lantern officers.
The recovery is complicated by a group known as the Lost Lanterns. They were a group of GLs that tried to stop Hal Jordan when he was possessed by Parallax after the destruction of Coast City, but he took their rings and left them for dead. They would be found again, but they still have issues with Hal. Kilowog is able to calm the tensions, though.
Elsewhere on Oa, the Guardians are debating what to do next at the Book of Oa. The Book of Oa is literally that, a giant book containing everything that is known about the Green Lantern Corps and its history. The book is open to a chapter about something called "The Blackest Night". It's a hidden chapter, and the Guardians decide it must be kept that way.
Two of the Guardians, Ganthet and Sayd, object to this.
They point out that they tried this with the truth behind why Green Lanterns' power rings did not work on the color yellow (It was because they had Parallax trapped in the Lantern's Central Power Battery, which somehow weakened the ring's ability to affect anything yellow), and it led to the events of Emerald Twilight. The Guardians cannot ignore this. The prophecy of the "Blackest Night" is coming to pass. The Sinestro Corps are here. This is merely the beginning.
The other Guardians believe it's a lie. The prophecy is a fake, used to manipulate Abin Sur, the Green Lantern that operated in Sector 2814 before he died and his ring went to Hal Jordan. Ganthet points out that if the prophecy was not a lie, then it would not have been recorded in the Book of Oa. One Guardian destroys the pages containing the prophecy, stating that Guardians did it because they did something forbidden. They allowed themselves to feel fear.
We next get a scene in which one of the Sinestro Corps needs a recharge. This allows us to learn their oath, a twisted take on the Green Lantern's oath.
In Blackest Day, in Brightest Night! Beware your fears made into light! Let those who try to stop what's right! Burn like his power! Sinestro's might!
Sinestro himself watches his Corps rampage, and he is very pleased.
Back with Hal, he finds himself receiving a secret communication from Ganthet and Sayd. They want Hal to lead the Green Lanterns through the upcoming war. After all, leading is something that comes naturally to him. Hal refuses, as he knows the Corps don't trust him thanks to his actions when he was under Parallax's control. The two Guardians try to convince him to be the Lantern's beacon. Hal still refuses. Two Lanterns have been asked to be beacons by the Guardians: Hal and Sinestro. And they both broke under the pressure.
Ganthet points out that Hal is still haunted by one great fear, but the Air Force man is just interested in finding Kyle Rayner. Kyle had been kidnapped in the Sinestro Corps attack earlier. Ganthet and Sayd reveal that he's been taken to the world of Qward, the planet that the Sinestro Corps have been using as their counterpart to Oa. Guy Gardner and John Stewart arrive and alert Hal that the "Lost Lanterns" have orders to go to Qward and retrieve Ion. Ion is the embodiment of willpower, much like Parallax is the embodiment of fear. The three Earth-born Lanterns prepare to charge their rings up for the trip, but...
The Sinestro Corps left a nasty surprise in the Central Power Battery: Parallax. He manages to make off with Guy and John. The fear monster then decides to taunt Hal by replaying a memory from his childhood: The death of his father. In Johns' run on the title, it was established that Hal's father Martin was a test pilot himself. Hal loved to watch him fly.
Much like Hal himself in the future, Martin Jordan worked as a test pilot for Ferris Aircraft. When Hal was a boy, Martin flew an experimental plane for some investors. However, something went wrong in the plane's systems. Overcome with fear, Hal tries to make his ring save Martin, knowing what's going to happen next.
Martin tries to bring the plane down at the airfield. The plane is going to go down due to the mechanical failure it's suffering, but at least in the airfield, no one else will get hurt. In the cockpit, Martin says something, but Hal can't make it out. Parallax taunts Hal with this. Everyone has fears, and Hal's was that his father died in fear. Parallax shows himself, having possessed Kyle Rayner like he had with Hal years ago.
I have to admit, I love the design of the Parallax-possessed Kyle. The costume includes elements of Parallax's look when he possessed Hal, but also is remisicient of Kyle's first Green Lantern costume.
I do have to admit, I was never too fond of Kyle Rayner's first Green Lantern outfit. It felt like they were trying too hard to make him look "cool". Also, the costume was predominantly black, and I felt it made no sense for a character called Green Lantern to have a predominantly black outfit. The Parallax-ified Kyle taunts Hal about how much more imaginative the younger Lantern is than him, which makes sense. Kyle Rayner in his civilian life is a professional artist, after all.
Hal demands to know where Guy and John are. Parallax!Kyle refuses to answer, instead saying that he's come around to having a Corps of his own. The story ends with Hal facing off against Parallax, the Sinestro Corps, and a pair of constructs of Kyle in his Green Lantern and Ion guises.
This was an enjoyable issue, but it does have a couple of flaws. The main flaw is that it's one of those issues that feels like it's better when read as part of the whole Sinestro Corps War story than on its own. Also, it does feel like you need to have some knowledge of the Green Lantern Corps's history and mythos to truly appreciate this story.
The big strength of this issue is the focus on Hal. We get to see that he's still affected not only by his time under Parallax's control, but he's also still haunted by his father's death. Seeing Martin Jordan's fatal plane crash was the incident that made Hal the supposedly fearless man he is, but it still scarred him.
Ivan Reis to me is an underrated Green Lantern artist. He does great facial expressions, and manages to capture emotion very well. He also manages to make the Parallax-ized Kyle, not to mention the fear monster in his true yellow bug form, look terrifying.
The Sinestro Corps War is an epic story, and should be required reading for anyone who wants to know why Green Lantern is awesomel If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2008 trade paperback Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War Vol. 1. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves, and each other. Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, and wear a mask! Join me next time, as we join Wonder Woman as she undergoes her tenth labor...
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