The DC Universe Just Got a Lot Stronger Thanks To a Historic (and Unexpected) Reset
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Green Lantern Corps #1!I didn't think they'd really do it, but the Green Lanterns have just made a decision that's going to have a serious impact on the DC Universe. The Corps has made some controversial choices before, but this latest shakeup takes the cake.
The Green Lantern Corps has just survived an attack by the insidious Lord Premier Thaaros. The disgraced leader used the Corps to attack the Emotional Spectrum in a mad bid to seize the DCU's greatest powers for himself. But Thaaros failed and the Corps is in the right hands again. But will one of its newest members take it into a bold, new era or will history repeat itself?
Sinestro Returns to the Green Lantern Corps
Green Lantern's Greatest Enemy is Getting Another Chance to Prove Himself
In Green Lantern Corps #1 by Jeremy Adams, Morgan Hampton, Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Arif Prianto, and Dave Sharpe, Green Lantern John Stewart leads a team of ring-slingers to arrest Kanjar Ro for trafficking. John and his team bring the criminal back to Oa, where John catches up with Jo Mullein. Green Lantern Corps leader Jessica Cruz brings the team up to speed on Sorrow’s attempts to create a new Power Battery. However, Cruz wants John to investigate a surge of fear energy on Tamaran, and pairs him with the master of fear and newly-deputized Green Lantern, Thaal Sinestro.
After losing the Sinestro Corps in Green Lantern #7 (2023), Sinestro was briefly a Red Lantern before settling on Green!
Despite John’s misgivings about Sinestro being a Green Lantern again, John follows orders and heads out to Tamaran with a team of Lanterns. There they discover a ‘Fractal Lantern’, in this case, a Tamaranean named Vexar’u, whose fear of the Tamaranean goddess X’Hal has created a giant construct of the cosmic being. The X’Hal construct is tearing apart one of Tamaran’s cities, and Queen Blackfire is unable to stop it. While the rest of the Green Lanterns try to stop the construct, Sinestro uses his prior experience with fear energy to find Vexar’u.
Sinestro calmly explains that the construct isn’t X’Hal but a manifestation of Vexar’u’s fear. Sinestro tells the scared alien that the secret of willpower isn’t about never being afraid, but overcoming fear. Sinestro’s words inspire Vexar’u, and she banishes the X’Hal construct, her willpower impressing Sinestro, who defends Vexar’u when Blackfire demands she pay for creating X’Hal in the first place. Impressed by her willpower, John inducts Vexar’u into the Corps and as they depart, the Green Lantern admits that Sinestro actually did a good job on their first mission together.
Sinestro Has a Chance to Prove His Heroism
With the Emotional Spectrum in Tatters, Sinestro Can Help Save the DC Universe
Seeing Sinestro back as a member of the Green Lantern Corps is a bit unexpected, but it's not the first time it's happened. I remember the New 52's early days when Sinestro rejoined the Corps after Hal was booted out. I thought that was an interesting idea then, and I still think it's an interesting idea today. But while Sinestro's time with a Green Lantern Power Ring didn't work out last time, I think Sinestro has a much better chance of making it work now.
Sinestro obviously knows willpower like the back of his hand.
I’ve read enough comics to know that Sinestro isn’t strictly evil. He’s gone a bit too far in the past, but deep down, he’s got a moral core. And truth be told, the Green Lanterns need someone like Sinestro right now. After what Thaaros did to the Emotional Spectrum and the Corps, things are chaotic. Beings all over the DC Universe are manifesting powers and the Corps just doesn’t have the numbers it once did. But Sinestro has the experience and the determination the Green Lantern Corps needs to help set things right.
Sinestro obviously knows willpower like the back of his hand. But he also wielded numerous other lights, such as yellow, red, indigo, white, and even ultraviolet. With the Fractal Lanterns presenting danger all over the universe, the Corps needs people who possess great willpower and have experience with the Emotional Spectrum. Sinestro fits that bill, but more importantly, after everything he’s been through, Sinestro seems like he’s learned from the past and genuinely wants to make the DC Universe a better place.
Sinestro Can Finally Redeem Himself and Be the Green Lantern He Was Meant to Be
Change Can Finally Come to the Classic Supervillain
Sinestro's been through highs and lows, but all he really wants is to bring order to the universe. Despite the mistakes he's made in the past, Sinestro looks like he's really trying to be better. He's not just muttering about how superior he is, he's being a contributing member to the Green Lantern Corps and actively repairing the damage created by Thaaros. Maybe it's too soon to tell, but with Sinestro pursuing a more noble path, it looks like the DC Universe is in good hands.
Green Lantern Corps #1 is available now from DC Comics.
