Green Lantern:  The Sinestro Corps War (DC Comics) Written by Geoff Johns & Dave Gibbons; Art by Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Angel Unzeta.

I tend to think that DC goes to the well a bit too often when it comes to these sort of World/Galaxy/Universe in peril storylines but you have to admit they are usually entertaining.  This hardcover collects Green Lantern 21 – 23, Green Lantern Corps 14 – 45, and the Sinestro Corps Special.  The storyline is a progression of the Final Night and Rebirth storylines from previous years and put Sinestro into the spotlight as one of the very top DC villains.   

Sinestro has created his own yellow rings of power and sent them on a universe-wide search for beings, which exude the greatest fear.  The Guardians bicker amongst themselves, seemingly oblivious to the plot that Sinestro is hatching until it is too late.  An attack by Sinestro’s forces on the Guardians world of Oa manages to free Superboy-Prime (or Superman-prime if you will) and the Cyborg Superman.  They are joined by the Anti-Monitor and Parallax among Sinestro’s minion as they wage war against the Green Lanterns, killing dozens.  The Guardians do something they’ve never done in their history, authorize the use of lethal force!  Parallax takes over Ion’s body as Sinestro heads to his ultimate goal and prize—Earth! 

Johns handles these mega-storylines very well.  In fact I think he really seems to revel in them.  He’s very comfortable working with a large cast of characters.  Sinestro is at his best and most vile.  He’s a ‘scary good’ villain.  It’s rather odd having the Anti-Monitor as one of Sinestro’s allies although we’ll soon find out his true motivations.  That said, I’ve always considered the Anti-Monitor to be a second-rate Galactus anyway.  Hal Jordan is at his best in this series…decisive and courageous, perhaps the strongest we’ve see the character since before the days of the Final Night storyline.  The hardcover only tells the first part of the story, unfortunately, but I quite enjoyed it and I’ve never been a big Green Lantern fan.  A host of artists worked on the book but it is very good art throughout, if not all together unique.  Grade B+