Customer Reviews

Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War, Vol. 2

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The second, concluding volume of the ultra-epic Sinestro Corps War finds Sinestro and his fear-instilling corps of evil heading to Earth and watching their plans come to fruition, with Green Lantern's Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner reeling while a bloody war continues in the heavens. Everything comes to a head here, as nearly every superhero on the planet unites with the Green Lantern corps as the war comes home, Kyle Rayner makes a come back, and a new Ion is born. All this, plus a new direction that gets forged for the Green Lanterns as well, which leads into the upcoming Blackest Night, which promises to have an impact unlike which none will see coming. As he has during his entire run since relaunching the series, writer Geoff Johns (Flash, Infinite Crisis, 52) manages to make Green Lantern one of the absolute most compelling superhero comics on the market. Co-writers Dave Gibbons and Peter J. Tomasi fare pretty well too on the Green Lantern Corps issue interludes, and the brilliant artwork throughout from Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis, and Patrick Gleason only sweetens this hardcover. All in all, superhero epics rarely get better than this, and as The Sinestro Corps War comes to a close, we are reminded just how enjoyable mainstream spandex epics can be. Now bring on the Blackest Night!

One of the best Graphic Novels I have read in ages. (Literally) Apart from 52, which I believe is a groundbreaking accomplishment for DC, this was another. The green Lantern Corps have neer looked this good. With twists, surprises, and an immense, looming threat of the Corps throughout the series, this series tilted on strong elements and solid action. SPOILERS folks!! Sinestro was always a thorn in the Green Lanterns' side, but never like this. Is there a single reader who can tell me they were not taken aback by the splash page that contained 4 other galactic level threats who were going to be part of this terror spree across the universe for Sinestro's corps? That, with the worrying factor that the Lanterns are having to fight the Sinestro Corps members with one hand tied behind their backs (Use of lethal force denied), how ingenious is that? And even with the new Ion, the threat level remains till the end?? Not to mention that priceless brief moment with Batman. Ingenious. DC outdid themselves here. The art is excellent, detailed and the splash pages with the battles between good and evil, priceless, particularly since they pay homage to several science fiction, space related characters. Intelligently written, meticulously done, this is intergalactic War indeed. Too bad, things like World War Hulk, and worse, Civil War, which were potentially, beat em up trounce the good guys stories, got the larger part of the cake. Shows what the world's preferences are becoming. Read this, and you will find the new age cominc fan in you again.

Vol. 2 of Green: Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War picks up from where Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War, Vol. 1 leaves off. Sinestro has formed his own army of yellow lanterns wielding the power of fear. Oa is devastated, and the living Green Lantern planet Mogo is under assault. Kyle Rayner has lost the Ion power after being infected by Parallax, and heavyweight villains Superboy Prime and the Anti-Monitor have joined the fray. Now the Sinestro Corps have begun invasion of their next target: Earth.

Comic readers often feel a sense of wariness when taking on massive blockbuster event epics, as a great many never pan out to any satisfying conclusion. Not so with The Sinestro Corps War - this is a story that lives up to and exceeds the hype, with the final chapters significantly upping the ante even after the bar has been seemingly raised to the limit. Artists like Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason and Ethan Van Sciver will amaze you with the visual density they can cram into a single panel, much less a full two-page spread. Inks and colours from a variety of industry talent including Oclair Albert, Prentis Rollins, Guy Major and more accentuate the action and flesh out the fine details to an unbelievable layer of precision. When the good guys come charging in to save the day, there's no muddled faces or hastily sketched outlines at work - you'll be able to recognize all the supporting characters as they light up their rings and tear the bad guys apart - literally.

And that last part is the final component of what makes The Sinestro Corps War such a success. Veteran writers Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons and Peter Tomasi pay off the first round of build-up that started with Green Lantern: Rebirth while introducing new elements that continue into Green Lantern: Rage of the Red Lanterns, Green Lantern Corps: Emerald Eclipse and the currently on-going Blackest Night saga. The story splits evenly between Hal Jordan's personal quest against Sinestro and the overall war, and the back-and-forth between the two threads are handled quite nicely. Amid all the action readers even get an emotional climax as well, including scenes that pay off the rebirth of Coast City. Clearly there's a lot of love and care that went into fleshing out this saga, and it doesn't go unnoticed.

Volume 2 of The Sinestro Corps. War collects issues #24-25 of Green Lantern and #16-19 of Green Lantern Corps (Note: only the relevant 'epilogue' segments from #19 are included here...the full issue is reprinted in the following Green Lantern Corps. trade, Green Lantern Corps: Ring Quest). If you're looking for a jumping on point to get into Green Lantern or just want a satisfying event story, The Sinestro Corps War has you covered.

Just read this last night. The first volume blew me away. Great art, great story, and a huge cliffhanger, so I was looking forward to this second volume. I'd give it a B-, while the first volume was an A+. I really had an issue with the art in this one. It was FAR below grade compared to the first one for most of the series (picked up on certain issues). Also, what was with the blood? I don't have a problem with blood, but it was pooring out of people in a ridiculous fashion, as if in an anime. The story itself was an adequate conclusion, but nothing earth-shattering like the premise of the first volume.

Too many big events in comics end up with nothing actually important happening in the end. Not so for this huge battle for the fate of the universe. Actual characters die, lives are changed, rules are changed, storylines progress, and set up huge things for the future making this storyline look smaller in comparison (But still fantastic). I really enjoyed this trade but was offput a little by the more cartoony art in the GL Corps chapters but it didn't take anything away from the story. Can't wait to read more GL!!

THE SINESTRO CORPS WAR is not quite a masterpiece, but it contains a masterpiece. By this I mean that in the two volumes making up the story there is an absolutely brilliant story, but that a simple flaw keeps it from being as perfect as it should have been. Not everyone will agree with me, but for me the saga fell just short of perfection by not having sufficient contrasts in the narrative. The story ends up like a great symphony by Bruckner that consists exclusively of loud movements. Imagine only the final movement of the 8th Symphony for an entire hour, with no quieter movements. That is what THE SINESTRO CORPS WAR is like; all loud, no quiet. Or to shift the musical references to something more modern, there is a great documentary about the Pixies entitled loudQUIETloud, a reference to their popularizing in rock very loud passages following (or preceding) very quiet ones. But SINESTRO CORPS reads more like loudLOUDloud. The book is simply too busy and overstuffed with action for its own good.

What is in the story is brilliant. I'm merely saying that the books would have been improved by the inclusion of more passages that contrast more strongly with the huge, epic panels that fill the two volumes. If ever there was a comic that suffered from having too much happen, this is it. The story, in fact, almost gets tiring so much takes place on the pages.

OK, that is the extent of my criticism. Everything else about the two books is just brilliant. Geoff Johns has done more for the Green Lantern series than any other writer in the history of the franchise. And if you take all of his Green Lantern tales as a group, the effect is that of a great epic, an epic that is ongoing and has every sign of, if anything, getting even better.

This is an absolutely fantastic Green Lantern story, ripping through the DC universe and expertly setting the stage for the upcoming Blackest Night. This story should definitely take a place in the DC hall of fame as a modern classic, rocketing Green Lantern to the forefront of the DC universe. The story is divided into two volumes here, but the "special features" make up for the split, providing insight into the creative process for this epic event.

this is by far the best Green Lantern graphic novel i have ever read!and i read ALOT of them. it excelent plot,filled with tons of action,and bits of humor.
Before reading this one though, you have to read volume 1 to understand.
it is written amazingly well, and has great characters and villains.my first choice

This review is for Book 2 of the Sinestro Corps War, and let me begin by stating that it is quite possibly the greatest mainstream comic storyline that I have ever read. From the odds being completely stacked against the heroes, Superboy-Prime's amazing showdown with Ion, the battle over New York City, and the final fight betweem Hal Jordan and Sinestro, there is not a moment in this series that wasn't a fantastic read. I have been reading comics for over twenty years, and have yet to have a story make me as giddy as this one. Keep up the good work, Geoff!! I can;t wait to see what the future of Green Lantern holds.

"Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War, Vol. 2"
(DC Comics, 2008)
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Tying up loose ends from the Infinite Crisis and other mega-crossovers (and setting us up for the whole "Blackest Night" brouhaha), the Green Lanterns have a big bust-up with Sinestro and his new league of baddies, the most interesting of which is the ruthless alternate-universe entity known as Superman-Prime. Prime plows through the Lanterns with great gusto... Meanwhile, blood flows and splatters egregiously across the span of the universe.

My DC-reading friend often laments how violent and dark modern DC books have become, and reading this volume, I can see what he means. I mean, I like high-stakes, save-the-cosmos mega-battles as much as the next guy, but do I really need to see severed tendons, liquefied brains, empty tooth sockets and random viscera on each and every panel? Not really. My kid doesn't need to, either: this book is just one more brick in the wall that separates mainstream superhero books from potential future readers, a prime example of why many comicbook-friendly parents are a little wary of letting their kids go near the new-releases racks at their local Comic Huts. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but I sure wish there were more kid-friendly books out there today, and that the current super-books weren't so damn gory. (That being said, I did enjoy catching up on the GL mythos; I don't think I need to shell out the big bucks for all the Blackest Night books, but this did give me a sense of where things are headed. I'd give this book a 3.5 if I could...) (Axton)