Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special #1
DC Comics (52pages / $4.99)

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ethan Van Sciver

The only time I read any Green Lantern series for anything like an extended period (i.e. for more than four issues) was during the first iteration of the Green Lantern Corps. I never took to any of the various Lanterns we ended up with patroling Sector 2814, Jordan, Stewart, Gardner and Raynor were all one note characters as far as I was concerned, (with the exception of the animated JL/JLU version of Jon Stewart – now that was how to write a Green Lantern); but Kilowog and the rest of the corps were a fun, intersting set of ring wielders.

I recently tried the new GL Corps book but quickly found myself lost in the convoluted mess that is the current DC Universe continuity. So perhaps I should have known better than to pick this up. The stunning art work of Ethan Van Sciver passed the flick test, and even since finishing the book I’ve flicked it open again just to pour over some of the panels, catching new details and missed nuances of body language and story telling. But pretty pictures do not a story make, and this is no story. It’s another bout of DCU navel gazing that plays to only the most die-hard fanboy. Heck I’ve been reading the DCU books for over twenty years and I still wasn’t exactly sure who was who, or what was what. Too many unnecessary characters doing too many unrelated things, too much violence for violence’s sake and too much reliance on spectacle and shock. Given the current over indulgence on “shock and awe” in various DCU books, the big “twist” at the end hit with the impact of a wet sponge.

(On reading this through again before I posted it, it worries me a little that I actually knew which space sector the Earth was in without looking it up!)

(In case you’re wondering where the other 41 reviews went, I decided to continue the review numbering from the old LiveJournal vesrion of this blog)