Sinestro (2014-2016) Vol. 1: The Demon Within

Sinestro

by Cullen Bunn, Matt Kindt, Dale Eaglesham (Illustrator)

Thaal Sinestro has lost everything he's ever his home, his family, his only friend. But no matter how desperate he becomes, Sinestro will never be without fear...a lesson his one-time ally, one-time enemy Lyssa Drak is eager to teach him! Can he take back the despicable Yellow Lantern Corps? Or does the universe have a new destiny in mind for Sinestro? The deadliest villain in the Green Lantern mythos gets his own solo series for the first time in SINESTRO VOL. 1, written by Cullen Bunn (SUPERMAN/BATMAN) and Dale Eaglesham (JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA).



Collects Sinestro #1-5, Sinestro Futures End #1 and Green Lantern #23.4: Sinestro.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Science Fiction, Superheroes

163 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2014

About the author

Cullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.

All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.

And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.

Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kind of thought now that Sinestro was getting his own title he'd be...nicer? I mean, he wasn't totally evil in The End, so I assumed that they were maybe trying to pull him into anti-hero territory.



Nope. He's still pretty awful.
Lyssa Drak (the evil chick who was chained to the Book of Paralax, for anyone who cares) is the narrator for the first bit of the story. She tells the origin of the rise and fall that led Sinestro to this point in his story.
The (sort of) neat thing is that since she's wacky/evil herself, she tells it like he's a misunderstood hero.
Except he's not.
And anyone who isn't possessed by the crazy bug can see him for the control freak that he is/was...is.
At any rate, Lyssa worships Sinestro like he's some nefarious boy band.



There's a few interesting things that happen once Lyssa tracks Sinestro down, but mostly it's just rock-em-sock-em stuff, as he takes the reigns of the Yellow Lanterns back.
Every now and then you get a peek at a decentish character, but he's mostly too assy to get behind at this point.
However, he does sort of declare an uneasy truce with Hal and his daughter, Soranik. She agrees to (sort of) team up with him to find the remaining Kougarians who had fled the planet before it was destroyed, by...shit. I can't even remember who blew it up?
Anyone? Anyone?
You know what? Doesn't matter. Nobody is going to read this. You know why?
It's A Sinestro Comic Book!
It's me and one other nerd out there, that are even reading anything remotely related to the Green Lanterns!

*sigh*

The end had a twist to it that I really didn't see coming. I mean, it's foreshadowed in the blurb.
He's so much more...
But I just thought it was more yammering overblown blurbyness.
It's a word if I say so!

The last issue was a weird Future-thing.
Blech. No. I don't like those, and DC needs to stop it.

Read it, don't read it. I don't care.

Get this review and more at:

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Criteria? Mark Strong, a great choice for Sinestro, in an otherwise TERRIBLE Green Lantern movie. Anyone graced by Silver Screen presence.

Yawn. Sinestro returns to the Yellow Lanterns, this time in order to save Korugarians from his home planet that was destroyed by the First Lantern. He also gets some quality time with his daughter, Soranik, a Green Lantern. That's sarcasm btw.
Hal Jordan shows up and their best friend/worst enemy relationship continues.
Also, we see that the title is about as obvious as can be...just think about what Sinestro was just doing before he disappeared...there's your answer.

I think that's it. GL universe is just too self-important and stupid.

Other than a Danzig joke there's nothing resembling funny here. Cullen Bunn isn't doing much to make me be willing to pick up his work anymore.

Why do I keep doing this to myself?

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't expect anything from this and came out actually having a fun time.

After many fights with the Green Lanterns, Sinestro has basically retired. Wanting to be left alone in a cave to live out his days. But when he finds the truth about his people, that not all of them are dead, he rises to the challenge to save them and take back his Yellow Corp. He'll have to not only challenge the current leader, but deal with his daughter, and another Green lantern who always shows up to see what Sinestro is up to.

Overall, pretty damn fun. It flies by as Sinestro is hellbent on saving all his people. Don't worry though, he's still a asshole, and still a piece of shit. His daughter will point that out at every chance she gets. Still, something about him saving his people and working with his daughter and his corp makes this title damn fun. On top of that the little fight with Hal and the major twist was pretty awesome. While not the best Green Lantern thing I read it was highly entertaining, Bunn nails the Sinestro voice. A 3.5-4 out of 5.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was interesting and all, but, in the end, nothing special. Sinestro makes a good antagonist for Green Lantern, but I don't think I’d want to read an entire series about him. There might be a graphic novel or limited series or two, but a continuing series …? I’m dubious, and this present volume seems to bear that out.

I’ll admit to being largely ignorant of the last decade or two of Green Lantern continuity. Last I knew, Hal Jordan had become the Spectre or something like that, and the new guy was Kyle Rahner. So what I’m saying is that I was a bit lost at the beginning of all of this. A page or two of text setting up the characters a bit would have been nice. Parallax? Yellow Lanterns? Huh? It wasn't too difficult to figure out from the context, but something billed as “Volume 1” shouldn't depend so heavily on prior knowledge. As a longtime DC reader, I wasn't too lost, but my experience is probably not typical.

So Sinestro is back, rescuing the people of his destroyed homeworld, and reclaiming leadership of the Yellow Lanterns. It's a pretty good story, and it's nice to see that someone who's usually the villain has his own hopes and dreams. It was nice to get his perspective on his differences with Hal Jordan. And the confrontation with Jordan was quite well done. The book should have ended right there, and I probably would have rated it more highly.

But instead, we get a final chapter that jumps ahead five years, and basically sets up Sinestro Vol. 2. We're suddenly presented with Sinestro in prison and planning an escape; his people have been collected and occupy a new homeworld; and at least one significant new Yellow Lantern has been recruited. These are all stories that I, for one, would have liked to have, you know, SEEN. This final chapter would have worked much better as chapter one of the next volume. Placed as it is, all it really does is dilute the impact of the rest of the book and make it largely irrelevant.

The book is not without interest, but it's pretty deeply flawed. Not recommended.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sinestro as anti-hero rather than villain, but he's reuniting the Yellow Lanterns, ruthlessly, and trying to establish a planet for the few, scattered natives of his destroyed home world.

It's okay. I'm just catching up the story until Lobo merges with it and I can find out what happens in that plot thread.

[ScottIsANerd (GrilledCheeseSamurai) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to take a peek at what the hell was going on with Sinestro in his own solo book.

I mean...the dude is straight up evil. Isn't he?

I gotta admit - I'm more of a Marvel guy. Actually - I'm more of an indie guy that likes to have play dates with Marvel from time to time. DC, though, I'm kinda out in the dark with.

Anyways - I actually kinda dug this. I really liked the art. The panels in particular. Just a really fun flow to them. I especially dug that Lyssa chick. She just looked cool. Also, those Anti-emotion zealot dudes were pretty badass looking too (even if they got shit kicked fairly easy).

Anyways - it was the end of the book that really hooked me. It made me wanna keep reading it!

Which I will.

But what I really wanna do - which I keep telling myself I'll do someday - is to go back and read all the core Green Lantern stuff.

I think its time. My enjoyment of this book has proven that to me.

I'm actually kind of excited. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Give me some mandatory GL reading? An order to be read as well?

I'ma google it all, of course, but I trust my Goodreads comic buddies over random google hit results, ya know? I have a good grasp on where to begin, I think (I ain't no comic noob), I just need some reassurance.

Anyways. Yeah. You go, Sinestro! You bad boy, you!

[Milo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this take on Sinestro and Cullen Bunn, like he did with Magneto, is creating an awesome character. Hope this series lasts.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always assumed that Sinestro was just your normal, old boring arch nemesis, but it turns out he's got tons of backstory and other than being a huge jerk, he's pretty cool. I guess the only bad is that sometimes he seems too powerful/competent and you start to wonder how he's been beaten by Hal Jordan so many times.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was better than I expected. Had a slow part but paid off in the end.

[Miclase_Mc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much going into this. Part of that was probably because of my perfectionist tendencies when it comes to reading comics, but this ended up being a surprisingly fun and great book. I really wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did, I liked it a lot.

This was also the first "Futures End" issue that I've read so far from the New 52, and I thought it was pretty great. Overall, And the art by Dale was amazing.

[Cory · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was a lot better than I expected. I was thinking it would be an average book with good action but not the most remarkable story, but it surprised me. I was worried that since they gave a villain his own book, they would make him a hero or anti-hero. This wasn’t the case and the story felt true to the character. It was an enjoyable read and I would definitely recommend it to all Green Lantern fans.

8.4/10

[Nicolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprising strong showing in this Sinestro solo title. Sinestro is in a weird place and it is interesting to see him prioritize and find his footing. I'm in.

[Eloi Batalla · Rating 5 out of 5]

No esperava que estigués tant bé. Una història interessant i un dibuix impecable.

[Victor Orozco · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got to say this is pretty interesting. Considering how the New 52 started with the Red Lanterns getting their own collection I never thought that the Sinestro Corps would get theirs as well.

Not half bad either. Set some time after the events of Forever Evil, this deals with Sinestro reforming the Corps, particularly after some of Hal Jordan’s new leadership in the Green Lanterns.

Got to admit its quite the interesting look back at Sinestro’s past. But all things considered could be stronger. D+

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dale Eaglesham's art is beautiful. He's one of the best artists working today. Rags Morales appears to have changed his look with this book using a rougher style or maybe it was just that he forgo an inker on the book. I prefer his cleaner style ala Identity Crisis. This is some of Cullen Bunn's best work-for-hire writing. I like his characterization of Sinestro and the introduction of an emotionless cult as the main protagonists.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a nice synopsis of Sinestro's life by Kindt, Bunn gives us a good comic of his continued adventures. Sinestro's fight for redemption — both of his people, and as a keeper of law — is a great story, well-told here by Bunn. At times, the yellow lanterns feel a bit too much like the red lanterns — an uncontrollable force of monsters. However, the characterization of Sinestro and his daughter shines through that, offering up a very interesting comic.

[Brannigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading the first issue when it first came out but marked it down as a story to read later. I finally got the chance and really enjoyed it. We see Sinestro Hero turned villain turned hero turned villain and currently as an anti-hero. This is about him restoring the Sinestro Corp after he destroyed it. To be honest my favorite part of the story was the end where there’s a time jump into the future. I really hope the other volumes explain how that future happens.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mocna trójka, nawet z plusem, bo Sinestro nie ustrzegł się jednak momentów zwyczajnie nużących, to końcówka raczej wynagradza całość niedogodności i wyjaśnia kilka palących kwestii z poprzednich serii o przygodach Latarni.

Przede wszystkim mamy wyjaśnione co się stało z Parallaxem, który podczas wydarzeń z Pierwszą Latarnią połączył się z Sinestro po to, aby dokonać rzezi na byłych niebieskich Strażnikach, którzy zdradzili własny korpus i doprowadzili do załamania systemu w galaktyce na tyle poważnie, że każda frakcja Latarni odczuje je jeszcze przez dłuższy czas, bowiem znaczna część galaktyki zwyczajnie już teraz ich nienawidzi.

Mamy tu przykład w formie pewnego rodzaju anty "uczuciowej" inkwizycji, której członkowie posiadają moce, mogące dać odpór mocom Latarni, ale jest to naprawdę krótki wątek, który kończy się zaskakująco szybko, a szkoda, bo to dla mnie coś absolutnie nowego i świeżego.

Głównym daniem jest tutaj nie kto inny jak Sinestro. Choć pojawiają się tu jego poplecznicy i "trudna" córka to są oni zaledwie tłem dla tego co ten pan o tak ostrym umyśle tutaj po wyczynia. Jego intelekt i zdeterminowanie ponownie uczyni go przywódcą Sinestro Corps, choć metodyka działań się nieco zmieni. Po wybuchu Korugaru, jego ojczystej planety, taktyk wycofał się z akcji, kontemplując w samotności i być może szukając śmierci. Z zadumy wyrywa go przybycie Lyssy Drak, jego lojalnej podwładnej, która nosi na sobie wiedzę Żółtych Latarni i która oznajmia mu, iż może planeta przestała istnieć, to przy życiu pozostało wielu uchodźców.

Sinestro widząc ponownie, iż może realizować swój główny cel, czyli zapewnienie bezpieczeństwa swoim ludziom, rusza w przestrzeń szukając niedobitków swojej rasy i przy okazji odtwarza swój korpus. Mamy tu wspomnianą inkwizycję, mamy też klimatyczne spotkanie z Halem Jordanem, którego czeka mała niespodzianka. No i musi jeszcze uporać się emocjonalnie ze swoją córką, która wyrasta na ciekawy charakter, aczkolwiek ten wątek trochę mnie zawiódł, bo nie jest tutaj aż tak dobrze rozbudowany.

Jeżeli miałbym się do czegoś doczepić to do faktu, że były tu chwilami nudne przestoje, a i kreska mogła by być lepsza. Widać to zwłaszcza przy zeszycie obrazującym jak Sinestro stał się Zieloną Latarnią i jak doszło do jego upadku. Wtórne, bez emocji, słabo wyglądające. Podobnie było początkowo z zeszytem dotyczącym przygód Thaal w ramach Future End, które kończą się jednak fajną bombą fabularną. Czekam na więcej.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a weird kink for Sinestro’s kind of evil. Instead of the redeemed bad guy, he’s the fallen good guy. And he’s every bit the equal of heroes in any story. Fascinating character. The easiest, perhaps simplest way to put it is that most people chime in that DC has the most iconic villains, right? And when that notion pops up it’s Thaal Sinestro who comes to my mind first.

Ya just can't pass this chance up. We landed back in the New 52, which I find enjoyable, and what screams New 52 than any and all characters getting their own line of comics? Heh. As a comic the book succeeds. The pages are drawn with style and I enjoyed the first portion as a book in a book. Each face is quite emotive and there’s no second-guessing the action. The quality of the pages deteriorates in those last two issues as it’s likely apparent they changed artists. And it might be just that I got into a rhythm that was shaken up.

Maybe part of The New 52s faults is that it tried to give every character a spotlight. Maybe it’s a better idea to see where some of these characters are coming from, and maybe I’m alone on this line of thought, but as far as continuity is concerned there shouldn’t be this much out there. Sinestro having his own comic kicks ass. To tie it back into major plotlines seems tedious. I enjoyed the beginning and middle much more than the end. I’d like to see Sinestro have his own book with an enclosed story that’s not marred by issues that simply feature him.

TLDR: Always entertaining to play around with the Lanterns. My eyes aren’t bleeding yellow so someone got a balance right. The volume starts out strong and like a Lantern’s power ring slowly dissipates in energy. No Lantern’s oath to be found here. Entertaining, but it’s okay to miss it.

On to the next!

[Eskana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sinestro is one of the few heroes I feel like has an understandable perspective... at times. In this series, we are continuing his story from the New 52 Green Lantern series, where he was accepted back into the GL Corps, teamed up with (demoted and non Green Lantern) Hal Jordan, worked with Hal to wipe out his own Yellow Lantern Corps because they had been terrorizing his planet (instead of, you know, letting him do it,) and eventually using the power of Parallax to turn back into a Yellow Lantern and killed the Guardians, who had been trying to destroy the GL Corps and control the universe.

So, basically, a lot happened before this and it's not a great place to start. But the writers try, I guess?

Sinestro starts out once again a Yellow Lantern and attempting to reform his corps. He is aided by Lyssa Drak, who has the words of the Book of Parallax (some kind of history of the past, present, and future of the Yellow Lantern corps) tattooed on her and who basically worships Sinestro. The last time Sinestro saw most of his soldiers, he was wiping them out, so they are understandably not happy to see them, but since his planet was destroyed, he now needs their assistance to find any refugees. He quickly seizes control and starts bossing them around, and since they had captured his daughter Soranik Natu of the Green Lanterns, he also convinces her that she needs to help him as well.

Most of the book is just these basics, mixed in with a lot of backstory for Sinestro. He's definitely written as a guy who is very egocentric, convinced of his own brilliance, and extremely authoritarian, but it's clear that it seems to work for him and he actually gets things done. He's also very good at leading and manipulating people to do what he wants, although I can't understand for the life of me why he is good at this since it mostly consists of him being rude, insulting, and acting like he's smarter than everyone else. I find that I'm in an odd position of respecting the results he gets but really hating his personality.
And I REALLY don't get the insistence this series has been having on stating that "Hal and Sinestro were totally best friends and/or had a great mentor/student relationship." I don't see how that would ever have been possible since they both have huge egos. I don't know if that's a new development or if it went on before the New 52, but it's kind of crazy....
Lastly, without telling the reader, the final issue in this volume is part of the Future's End mini-event, which takes place years in the future. It ends on a cliffhanger that is not resolved. So, between the fact that the final issue has nothing to do with any of the previous ones and that the majority of the volume relies heavily on the reader knowing both Sinestro and the recent Green Lantern stories, I would say this isn't a good place to start. But it IS a good place to learn about Sinestro and the Yellow Lanterns, I guess...

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cullen Bunn does a really good job of getting Sinestro back on track here in his first solo series. He treats hi somewhat like a Darth Vader character where he has honor but will also kill for any reason. His desire to reclaim the Yellow Lantern Corps makes perfect sense given his newfound motivations. I like that the book didn't focus on Hal even though he was present. The best part of the book to me is the relationship between Sinestro and his daughter. It will be interesting to see how it plays out especially given what unfolds in the Futures End chapter. There were some new Lanterns introduced and they didn't do much for me and Sinestro's powers might be too amped up but I really enjoyed this. The artwork was beautiful. Overall, a tremendous start.

[Paweł · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sinestro ma wzloty i upadki. Tym razem jesteśmy świadkami jednego z upadków żeby było ciekawiej. Wcześniej w serii usatysfakcjonowany odchodził w chwale i mocy, a teraz widzimy go jako pustelnika. Główną osią fabuły są jego relacje z córką - Soranik. Nowi żółci latarnicy są tacy sobie tak samo jak kreska, która ukazuje Sinestro nieproporcjonalnie umięśnionego i barczystego.
Spodziewałem się czegoś więcej.

[Timothy Pitkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good story that helps retell the story of Sinestro through the point of a view of a character that basically worships Sinestro. The character Lyssa is a pretty creepy character especially when she reveals that she has basically turned her own skin into a book by tattooing herself with Sinestro story and I do like that as it fits in a group like the Sinestro Corps and I do like seeing Sinestro having to take back his corps from Arkillo

[Micah Greenzweig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sinestro has got to be one of the coolest and most complex characters to come from the Green Lantern comics. I loved his storyline here and the ending was such a cool twist. Plenty of other fun characters and plot points in this one...but I won't spoil anything. Next comic shop trip I'll definitely be looking out for more of his titles!

[Beelzefuzz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was neither bad nor good. Just unoffensive and unexciting GL, which is better than the main books at this point.

[wesley adair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was pretty good I just wish he was more evil hopefully this series will get better

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great art and writing.
Bunn has me hooked here.

[Todd Jeffcoat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accidentally Read It Too Fast

Planned on reading this on breaks and such to pass time. Accidentally read it all in about an hour. It kept me hooked.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great art and awesome character work with an intriguing title character

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reprints Green Lantern (5) #23.4, Sinestro #1-5, and Sinestro: Futures End #1 (November 2013-November 2014). Sinestro has tried to put his past behind him, but Lyssa Drak reveals to Sinestro that his people, the Korugarians, still live, Sinestro finds himself on a quest to rescue a civilization that he himself doomed. With an unlikely Green Lantern as his ally, Sinestro is on a path of redemption…and he’ll kill whoever gets in his way.

Written by Cullen Bunn, Sinestro Volume 1: The Demon Within collects the first story arc of Sinestro in addition to the Villain Month Green Lantern issue and the Futures End one-shot. Green Lantern #23.4 was also included in DC Comics The New 52 Villains Omnibus.

Green Lantern is one of my favorite DC superheroes and likewise Sinestro is one of my favorite DC supervillains. As a kid, the idea of a color representing good and bad is easy to accept and quick to recognize. Sinestro was an easy villain to hate and it is kind of fun that over recent years DC and Geoff Johns have worked to make him “likeable”. Cullen Bunn takes over the attempt here and does a decent job telling a compelling story.

I like the basic concept of Sinestro. Sinestro has screwed up time and time again “in the name of honor”. Here, he’s on the road to do again by using his fear based power to collect the people he scattered across the universe. The pairing of Sinestro with his Green Lantern daughter Soranik is interesting in that they both have the same goal but different means. Sinestro will kill to protect his people while Soranik’s role is to protect life.

I have to say that both the Villains one-shot and the Futures End one-shot are both rather weak. If you read Green Lantern #23.4 in the context of its release (November 2013) it might be ok. Here, it is paired with Sinestro #1 (June 2014) which came out later and it feels a bit redundant. The opposite is true of Sinestro: Futures End #1 (November 2014) which was a tie-in to the bigger storyline Futures End. It feels out of place in the context of this collection despite attempts to tie it in and more like filler to a decent story. It isn’t really the fault of Bunn or anyone involved, but it slows it down.

Sinestro 1: The Demon Within shows promise. I’m interested in the series and seeing where it goes. Villains as leads are often more inspiring to me than the heroes and Sinestro and his attempts to control Parallax could be interesting…now if I could get a Black Manta series. Sinestro 1: The Demon Within is followed by Sinestro 2: Sacrifice.