It's August 9th and that means Superhero Sunday. This sunday I chose Thaal Sinestro, that's right! Everybody's favorite pinkish purple skinned, yellow onesie wearing villain. Sinestro is one of the more interesting and well developed DC villains in my opinion.
The Character
Sinestro an alien anthropologist from the planet Korugar. Before he led the self proclaimed Sinestro Corps he was one of the best Green Lanterns to wield a green ring. He became a Green Lantern by rescuing a member of the corps and it was his belief in order and strong will to fight that made him so powerful.
There was an alien weaponer of planet Qward, in the antimatter universe, that was hunting Green Lanterns. Sinestro kills the weaponer and keeps the ring of the dying green lantern. The ring jumped to Sinestro since it's owner was dying . (This is the current origin and is similar to the original)
As a Green Lantern, Sinestro had the power to eliminate crime on his home planet. He quickly became know as one of the toughest lanterns, and a hero to his people. He even trained Hal Jordan. It was at this time that Hal Jordan saw the totalitarian methods of SInestro, who used his ring to strike fear in the people rather than use the power as a tool to help. Even his home planet grew to fear him and his militant control. Sinestro's corruption and misuse of the ring's power leads to him being banished from the core and sent to the Qward.
Qward is full of the weaponers, a race of warriors and scientist with hatred of the Green Lanterns. The Guardians thought this might humble Sinestro but it would only push him further. On Qward, Sinestro felt wronged, and he teamed with the weaponers to make a ring of yellow light as a counterpart to the green. Sinestro then returns the to regular universe now on a path to revenge and becoming on of the Lantern's greatest nemesis.
The yellow light of Sinestro's ring is fueled by fear, and is opposite to that of the green ring, which is fueled by will. In the past, when yellow was the only other ring, it was a direct counter to the green, but now it works more as just a weapon. The yellow also posses a entity known as parallax; a being of pure fear energy. This plays into the history of the lanterns but isn't needed to enjoy the reading.
Over the years and throughout DC history, Sinestro has flipped sides and teamed up with the Green Lanterns. Sinestro is the "enemy of my enemy" type of villain and one of the brightest villains out there. But it is his ego that corrupts him and drives him. Sinestro is to Hal Jordan what Two Face is to Batman and I love that dynamic.
Why this hero (villian)?
Geoff Johns set a high bar for what the Green Lantern universe could be for DC Comics. It is during his run that we get all the colors and emotional spectrum of the lanterns. Also the Sinestro Corps war, where Sinestro has a full team of yellow lanterns and battles are fought. This all leads into a giant fun event, " Blackest Night." Then in the New 52 (relaunch of DC) Sinestro gets his own book and we dive more into him as a character. For me the Lantern books stand alone and can be read without the rest of DC if you so choose, and I recommend reading all the books as each has some really great stories.
