Green Lantern #25

Well, this was it. The finale to the Sinestro Corps War, that started back in June. I hope that you were all along for the ride, because it was a doozy. I do think that this is going to rate as one of the BEST Green Lantern stories, and the really amazing part, is that it is still only the middle part of a trilogy still to be completed. We started back i n2005 with Rebirth, now we have the Sinestro Corps War, and finally in 2009, there is going to be the Blackest Night.

It is a fine fine time to be a Green Lantern enthusiast.

I'm not going to go through it and try and do a complete explanation, because it would take too long, and dammit, you should be reading it for yourselves anyway. This is a huge, brawling, continent-spanning epic, and I don't know if I could do it justice anyway. But there WERE a ton of individual moments that I just loved.

Basically, there is the conflict in New York, with the Anti-Monitor, Superbrat and Henshaw and the Manhunters vs most of the Green Lantern Corps and ALL the other super heroes. There is also the smaller, but equally important battle going on in Coast City, with Hal and Kyle and a smaller cadre of Green Lanterns vs Sinestro and his goons. The action bounces back and forth between the two, and it is an amazing ride.

And may I just say that Ivan Reis and Ethan Van Sciver did an astonishingly beautiful job with the art? Not to mention the lush colors by Moose Baumann and Rod Reis.



That's just one of the mind-boggling double-paged spreads. They are all gorgeous, and since the book is double-sized, they don't take up much space from the rest of the story-telling.

Basically, Ganthet and Sayd have divided Parallax up between the four Earth Lantern's batteries, and with a little bit of prodding, Ganthet consents to actually give the boys some hint of what is going on, and what may happen in the future. He tells them about the prophecy, and the creation of the other corps, each a part of the spectrum, with Red Lanterns being about hate and rage, the Orange Lanterns being for avarice and greed, the Sinestro Corps yellow for fear, the violet of the Star Sapphires for love, the Indigo Lanterns for Compassion, and finally, his and Sayd's Blue Lanterns for hope. The boys don't really have a whole lot of time for all of this to sink in, as they still have to try and defeat Sinestro, so Hal and Kyle stay in Coast City to fight Sinestro, while Guy and John beat feet back to New York.

Things are pretty hot and heavy in New York, needless to say. Guy finds himself going up against Karu Sil again, which leads to this...



Heh heh. Wolverinesssss! Guy STILL has the best lines.

Meanwhile back in Coast City, Hal is trying to evacuate the city before Sinestro manages to destroy it. But nobody is listening.



I LOVE all the green lights in the windows! Then Hannu, Graf Toren, Boodikka, Laira, Tomar Re and some others show up to help, which is nice of them.

Back in New York, the Anti-Monitor has decided no more Mr. Nice Guy, and is feeding off the energy of the planet and releasing an anti-matter wave as he does so. At this precise moment, Guy starts feeling rather poorly. and starts coughing up yellow blood. Eeuuww. Fortunately the Guardians actually start to help out for a change.

Back in Coast City, Amon Sur realizes that the Green Lanterns are capable of using lethal force and decides that this is not the place for him to be. Sinestro on the other hand loves it, and Hal finally figures out why. The lethal force law was what he was after all along, to prove that the Guardians were susceptible to fear, and that the Universe NEEDS to be ruled with an iron hand.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Monitor is still running amok, and even the Guardians have their hands full. John also manages to clock the Bizarro Hal with a hammer, in a frame that just delights me. And even though he is sick as a dog, Guy comes up with the idea to drop WarWorld on top of the Anti-Monitor and Henshaw, while John makes sure that Kilowog and Salakk go along with the idea, and can provide the shielding necessary. As Guy says, it's a doozy of an idea. And what do you know? It works!

Too bad for poor Cyborg Superman.

Back in Coast City, Sinestro managed to use a Manhunter battery to drain all the power from Hal and Kyle's rings, so they have to...as Hal says...improvise. Unfortunately for Sinestro, the big bang back in New York cuts off the power to all the Manhunters, so Hal manages to drain the power from Sinestro's ring as well. Now they are all on a level playing field, and it is ON! I especially enjoyed seeing Hal whack Sinestro in the head with a 2x4. It just seemed so appropriate.

In New York, Superbrat finally lost patience and booted the Anti-Monitor out of there, so he's the last one that they have to fight...although he's STILL more powerful than all of them. Also, Guy's just about ready to conk out from the Despotillus virus that he managed to pick up. Poor Guy. Fortunately...



Woohoo! Gotta love a super-intelligent Green Lantern virus!



Finally, one of the Guardians manages to blow up and take Superbrat Prime with him, while Hal and Kyle manage to subdue Sinestro...oh, and place him under arrest. Huzzah. The Good Guys Win!



Of course that's not the end of it. The bad guys aren't dead, they're just going to lie down a while and heal. Afterall, there is still that third story of the Trilogy. But still, a HECK of a brawl.

It occurs to me that I said I wasn't going to break it all down, and of course that is exactly what I went ahead and did. Phooey, this is wonderful, and I'm going to enjoy it.