DC Comics Absolute Green Lantern: The Sinesto Corps War
Geoff Johns (Author), Dave Gibbons (Author, Illustrator), Peter J. Tomasi (Author), Ethan Van Sciver (Illustrator)
First off the disclaimer:
I am a Green Lantern mark. I have been since the Eighties when I used to ride my BMX up to the Antique Paper Shop (that was my Local Comic Shop) to buy comics. I would get money from wherever I could (everything from birthdays and holidays, to shoveling snow, to gathering bottles and cans off the street and turning them in at the 7/11) and go grab whatever I could get, but my favorite were always Green Lantern. I loved comics. I loved superheroes and I loved Science Fiction especially Science Fiction with lots of weird looking aliens.
You know, like little blue guys with big heads, or a big pink guy that looked like a hippo. Intelligent squirrels were cool too. And if they could travel through space with no ship, just a green force field around them, that was awesome. Of course, they were kind of like police and they got things done and saved lives and…
You get the idea.
Really though, I never outgrew that. I’ve always loved Green Lantern whether that was Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner or *GASP* a GL that isn’t from Earth. I’ve seen a bunch of the animated films and I was at the midnight release for the live action movie. Ryan Reynolds did a good job, but they tried to cram too much into the movie. Anyway…
I recently got my hands on a copy of Absolute Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War. I’m pretty sure it’s the first hardcover graphic novel I’ve read and oh wow, was it a lot of fun. I’d forgotten how good this story was, how action packed and crazy it was. This is the arc that led to the Blackest Night storyline. It was the beginning of a bunch of major changes to the GL universe. New characters, new corps, new enemies and the reappearance of several old ones. It’s like a party where everybody is trying to kill each other. Good times.
OMG I JUST GOOGLED TO MAKE SURE I SPELLED THE STEWART IN JOHN STEWART RIGHT AND FOUND OUT THAT THERE’S A NEW LANTERNS SERIES COMING!!
(True story, bro. I can never remember if it’s Stewart or Stuart and I read the freaking comics. It’s kinda embarrassing though, so don’t tell anybody.)
Continuing on…
Part of my reaction here may be that I read most of my comics on a computer screen nowadays and I read Absolute Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War in physical form but WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWW is the art in this book gorgeous. Some of the larger panels are in fact two pages long and just beautiful. They jump right off the page.
It’s a real kick for a guy like me who can remember when comics were printed on newsprint and it just wasn’t possible to produce anything that looked this good no matter how unbelievably awesome your artist was. I know I’ve said this before, but I don’t have the technical knowledge to lay out exactly what they did here, but it was amazing.
Of course, I’ve loved to hate Sinestro since, uhh… well…
Yeah, it’s been awhile. I’m pretty sure Hal Jordan still had gray hair. (He must use hair dye now.) Seeing him rise and fall is epic. Something about that guy makes me want to break his nose. I’m not saying I could. I’m just saying I’d be willing to try. At any rate, one of the things I love in any story is a good villain to root against and Sinestro is and always will be that for me. That made this story so much more fun for me.
Of course, Sinestro’s not the only old villain we get to see. Just for kicks, the Anti-Monitor and Parallax show up too. And, of course, you can’t have The Sinestro Corps War without an entire corps worth of people that we get to root against. For some reason it doesn’t feel quite as personal with most of the normal Sinestro Corps members but it’s still fun to watch them take a beating.
There is a lot at the back of Absolute Green Lantern The Sinestro Corps War as well. From a bit of added story after the end of the war, to an overview of important things in the GL universe, to character sketches (in both senses of the word) to an interview with the creators of the book and just some art at the end, there is an absolute ton to go through after you’ve finished the story. I am, and always will be, a story guy first and foremost. That much having been said, the back matter was still freaking awesome. I read it twice.
The character sketches were terrific. First, there was the chance to check out any characters you weren’t familiar with or who you couldn’t quite place. The GL universe is a big place. Even more fun for me was the chance to look over what they had to say about some of my favorite/most hated characters and take a brief tour down memory lane. I should read it again.
All in all, Absolute Green Lantern The Sinestro Corps War was a great experience. Just having a comic to hold in my hand has been great but even if I was still a regular at my LCS this would have been a great time. There’s not much better than an epic story with great art. Every page of this thing was a new discovery and a great time. I’ll be reading more GL soon and I can’t wait to find out what I’ve missed and go over some of my old favorite storylines. There is a copy of the Blackest Night omnibus out there somewhere with my name on it. I can’t wait to find it.
When I do you can rest assured that I’ll tell you all about it. Blackest Night is my favorite GL centered storyline in the history of ever. Until then, though, I’ll keep myself entertained with memories of Absolute Green Lantern The Sinestro Corps War.
First off the disclaimer:
I am a Green Lantern mark. I have been since the Eighties when I used to ride my BMX up to the Antique Paper Shop (that was my Local Comic Shop) to buy comics. I would get money from wherever I could (everything from birthdays and holidays, to shoveling snow, to gathering bottles and cans off the street and turning them in at the 7/11) and go grab whatever I could get, but my favorite were always Green Lantern. I loved comics. I loved superheroes and I loved Science Fiction especially Science Fiction with lots of weird looking aliens.
You know, like little blue guys with big heads, or a big pink guy that looked like a hippo. Intelligent squirrels were cool too. And if they could travel through space with no ship, just a green force field around them, that was awesome. Of course, they were kind of like police and they got things done and saved lives and…
You get the idea.
Really though, I never outgrew that. I’ve always loved Green Lantern whether that was Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner or *GASP* a GL that isn’t from Earth. I’ve seen a bunch of the animated films and I was at the midnight release for the live action movie. Ryan Reynolds did a good job, but they tried to cram too much into the movie. Anyway…
I recently got my hands on a copy of Absolute Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War. I’m pretty sure it’s the first hardcover graphic novel I’ve read and oh wow, was it a lot of fun. I’d forgotten how good this story was, how action packed and crazy it was. This is the arc that led to the Blackest Night storyline. It was the beginning of a bunch of major changes to the GL universe. New characters, new corps, new enemies and the reappearance of several old ones. It’s like a party where everybody is trying to kill each other. Good times.
OMG I JUST GOOGLED TO MAKE SURE I SPELLED THE STEWART IN JOHN STEWART RIGHT AND FOUND OUT THAT THERE’S A NEW LANTERNS SERIES COMING!!
(True story, bro. I can never remember if it’s Stewart or Stuart and I read the freaking comics. It’s kinda embarrassing though, so don’t tell anybody.)
Continuing on…
Part of my reaction here may be that I read most of my comics on a computer screen nowadays and I read Absolute Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War in physical form but WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWW is the art in this book gorgeous. Some of the larger panels are in fact two pages long and just beautiful. They jump right off the page.
It’s a real kick for a guy like me who can remember when comics were printed on newsprint and it just wasn’t possible to produce anything that looked this good no matter how unbelievably awesome your artist was. I know I’ve said this before, but I don’t have the technical knowledge to lay out exactly what they did here, but it was amazing.
Of course, I’ve loved to hate Sinestro since, uhh… well…
Yeah, it’s been awhile. I’m pretty sure Hal Jordan still had gray hair. (He must use hair dye now.) Seeing him rise and fall is epic. Something about that guy makes me want to break his nose. I’m not saying I could. I’m just saying I’d be willing to try. At any rate, one of the things I love in any story is a good villain to root against and Sinestro is and always will be that for me. That made this story so much more fun for me.
Of course, Sinestro’s not the only old villain we get to see. Just for kicks, the Anti-Monitor and Parallax show up too. And, of course, you can’t have The Sinestro Corps War without an entire corps worth of people that we get to root against. For some reason it doesn’t feel quite as personal with most of the normal Sinestro Corps members but it’s still fun to watch them take a beating.
There is a lot at the back of Absolute Green Lantern The Sinestro Corps War as well. From a bit of added story after the end of the war, to an overview of important things in the GL universe, to character sketches (in both senses of the word) to an interview with the creators of the book and just some art at the end, there is an absolute ton to go through after you’ve finished the story. I am, and always will be, a story guy first and foremost. That much having been said, the back matter was still freaking awesome. I read it twice.
The character sketches were terrific. First, there was the chance to check out any characters you weren’t familiar with or who you couldn’t quite place. The GL universe is a big place. Even more fun for me was the chance to look over what they had to say about some of my favorite/most hated characters and take a brief tour down memory lane. I should read it again.
All in all, Absolute Green Lantern The Sinestro Corps War was a great experience. Just having a comic to hold in my hand has been great but even if I was still a regular at my LCS this would have been a great time. There’s not much better than an epic story with great art. Every page of this thing was a new discovery and a great time. I’ll be reading more GL soon and I can’t wait to find out what I’ve missed and go over some of my old favorite storylines. There is a copy of the Blackest Night omnibus out there somewhere with my name on it. I can’t wait to find it.
When I do you can rest assured that I’ll tell you all about it. Blackest Night is my favorite GL centered storyline in the history of ever. Until then, though, I’ll keep myself entertained with memories of Absolute Green Lantern The Sinestro Corps War.
Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 New Laws
Absolute Green Lantern The Sinestro Corps War
Geoff Johns (Author), Dave Gibbons (Author, Illustrator), Peter J. Tomasi (Author), Ethan Van Sciver (Illustrator)
DC Comics, 2012
Absolute Green Lantern The Sinestro Corps War is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.
I love this comic too. Pretty good review.
I think you pasted your text in twice. Feel free to delete this upon reading.