Throwback Thursday: Sinestro #1 Review (2014)

Fear Itself

Written By: Cullen Bunn
Art By: Dale Eaglesham
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: April 16, 2014
Review by: Eric Shea

Here we are with a brand new Lantern title, and unlike when Larfleeze started, I'm psyched.  As far as I can tell this title takes place after Forever Evil because our favorite face of fear has parted ways with Parallax, and has been spending his time isolated from the rest of the universe.  So let's dive in and see what pulls Sinestro from his self-imposed exile, and puts him back in the game.  What game you ask.  Well, the game of FEAR!  Let's get started.

Explain It!:

So as I said the issue begins with Sinestro's self-imposed exile, where he seems to spend his days staring at a burnt-out fire, and battling giant alien saber-tooth tigers.  This is why I don't go camping.  I'm not saying that this would happen, but I'm not gonna say it wouldn't either.  The world's a scary place, especially Australia.  So after a rousing act of dominance over the planet's race of giant cats, Sinestro is confronted with the old keeper of the book of Parallax; Lyssa Drak.  It looks like Lyssa wants to put the band back together, and initially, Sinestro isn't about it.  Too bad this isn't the Blues Brothers or this would be the point where a song and dance number would break out, and possibly the saber-tooth tigers would provide themselves as backup dancers to Aretha Franklin. 

Sinestro finally comes around to the idea of leading the Sinestro Corps again, when Lyssa tells him what a mess Arkillo has made of it, and the fact that some of Sinestro's people survived the destruction of Korugar.  To add to all the reasons Sinestro should come out of retirement, it turns out that "The Nothing" from Never Ending Story has reared its head in the universe, and plans on wiping out all emotions.  Well, I guess it's not that "Nothing", but it's a religious order called "The Paling", that wants to obliterate all emotion in the universe.  You know what stops nothing?  Why fear of course.  So Sinestro feels fear once more, and his ring activates, and somehow Lyssa Drak's has a new power that allows her to charge yellow lantern rings when touched to her skin.  Don't ask me how, but it's due to the fact that she has the entire book of Parallax written on her flesh.  So it's off to find the Korugarians and put the Sinestro Corps in order.

The two travel to sector 2066 where the Korugarians are being kept for a sacrifice in stasis pods, and we find out that they're to be sacrificed to "The Paling".  As you can imagine Sinestro kills everyone who planned on sacrificing his people.  See besides for feeling the pain of being one of the last of his species, Sinestro has a deeper concern for his people due to the fact that they were victimized and persecuted after Korugar was destroyed, simply because they were the same race as Sinestro.  Okay, a few of his people are rescued and now it's time for Sinestro to put his house in order.  

At the base of the Yellow Lanterns Sinestro learns that Arkillo plans on leading a war against the Green Lantern Corps, and has already begun by taking a prisoner.  In the end, Sinestro is shocked to see that the prisoner is his own daughter; Soranik.  We'll see next month if this title can continue on the stellar path that this issue has to lead us down.  See you then.

Bits and Pieces:

As hyped as I was for this title to come out, I don't think I ever thought it would be this good and intriguing.  We have a wide variety of things on Sinestro's to do list right off the bat and are introduced to what looks like a badass new group of villains for our anti-hero to go up against.  This whole issue is a win, and even though it's chock full of exposition, it's never boring.  Hopefully, this momentum can keep up because I can easily see this being one of my favorite titles.

9.5/10