"Sinestro Corps"
Required Reading List
Required Reading List
Just think, you only need to have read/have a passing knowledge of these storylines in order to understand "Sinestro Corps":
Reign of the Supermen
Emerald Twilight
Zero Hour
The Final Night
Rebirth
Infinite Crisis
Crisis on Infinite Earths
52
And don't forget to follow "Countdown" weekly so you can follow what that evil Superman Cyborg has up his sleeve!
I think the passing knowledge is important, because I think Sinestro Corps. can be understood without knowing about all the details of Final Night, Zero Hour, 52, and Reign of the Supermen.
ReplyDeleteI.E., you only have to know that Hal Jordan went bad for awhile because of an evil space bug called Parallax, got killed, but he's better now and without a space bug. Oh, and there's a multiverse of 52 universes and one anti-matter universe. Oh, and Superman died and everyone thought he came back to life because of this Cyborg guy, but the Cyborg guy's just some evil jerk who pretended to be him.
Oh, and there's a psychotic Superboy from another universe and a guy who rules the anti-matter universe called the Anti-Monitor who's a big-time villain who we haven't seen in twenty+ years.
Gosh, you make it sound so difficult, honestly, I think it's much easier than that.
ReplyDeleteHeck, Rebirth alone relays enough of the events from Emerald Twilight, Zero Hour, and Final Night to follow along. (Sinestro and Hal were colleagues, Sinestro is evil, Parallax is evil, Parallax possessed Hal, Hal-Parallax did awful things, Hal died, Hal became Spectre, Kyle took over, even the four Earth Lanterns get introduced nicely.)
Infinite Crisis relays all the necessary ideas from Crisis on Infinite Earths, pretty well. (Multiverse->Universe, Superboy Prime is pissed, Lanterns imprison Superboy Prime)
52 really isn't necessary. The Lanterns played little part except Hal being blocked in China, which doesn't matter to Sinestro Corps. The current existence of the Multiverse really isn't a huge deal either. It doesn't seem to play a part in the Sinestro Corps yet, and should it, a passing "the DCU is a multiverse" line should manage.
Reign's hardly necessary at all. A Cyborg Superman's a scary enough concept regardless of his origin (which hardly matters as he's in space and Superman's not a major player in the story). If it's really necessary though, Green Lantern 10-13 does explain him quite succinctly.
Heck, reading Green Lantern's current run pretty much reiterates the whole Rebirth/Twilight/Zero Hour/Final Night stuff anyway. A throw away bit even references Superboy Prime.
So...really only passing knowledge of Infinite Crisis and Rebirth (or Green Lantern's main run) is required to really understand the story. Everything else certainly ADDS to the experience, but I think it's hardly necessary. :-)
I agree with kalinara above - If you've followed Green Lantern since "One Year Later", you're covered. Everything important is right there, including Cyborg Superman and Superboy Prime.
ReplyDeleteAnd hooboy, lord knows those were the most rewarding storylines ever.
ReplyDeleteOh no, it's the Legion of Cockamamie Big Bads from Overblown Crossover Events!
Well, despite some of its flaws, I liked Infinite Crisis. I loved 52, I thought Rebirth was great and Crisis on Infinite Earths is a classic.
ReplyDeleteThe others... eh. Zero Hour was neat in that in the end I was actually rooting for Hal Jordan simply because Batgirl asked a very important question in it: "Why can't we live? Why don't we have a chance to live?"
ZOMG, Lewis - until you mentioned that, I didn't put together that Infinite Crisis was just a re-heat of Zero Hour! God, now I have another reason to hate that fanboy circle-jerk story.
ReplyDelete52 was cool, but Countdown's pretty crud so far - I can't shake the feeling that we're just seeing the original ideas for 52 (before the writers took it somewhere else) being implemented, and the dialogue for a great deal of it is appalling.
Do they really need not one, but TWO evil counterparts of Superman in Sinestro Corps?
Really? I only read Infinite Crisis, and 52 and I fully enjoyed Sinestro Corps and understood were it was going. Heck all you MIGHT need to do is read Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps for the past six to eight months to enjoy it MORE, but not really.
ReplyDeleteI've read enough DC to know what was happening, but someone like my friend Chris had no idea what was going on, and needed to have the anti-monitor explained to him.
ReplyDeleteI guess Sinestro Corps was a lot better than Countdown because its basically the same thing, but actually happening now. And Geoff Johns may be hit or miss, but I can always count on him to deliver continuity-porn with fanfic levels of gratuitous violence. That's pretty much all I want from this.
Plus, it doesn't hurt that I loved Van Sciver's artwork. And Guy Gardner's my favorite DC character anyway.
"Do they really need not one, but TWO evil counterparts of Superman in Sinestro Corps?"
This is the only thing that got to me. This looks to be a big event that is important to all of the DCU.
Why can't Superman be involved? Why does it have to feature two Superman impostors?
At least Marvel made Civil War about Spider-Man, and not the Slingers.
I know these villains have a Lantern connection, but this is supposed to be a big story. If you want to remind readers that he is still effective, get the Big Blue Chesse in on this, and have some fun.
I don't get why DC seems to dwell more on Powergirl than Supergirl, Donna Troy than Wonder Woman, Superboy-Prime than *SUPERMAN*
Yeah, I'm with Kal...the only prep I had was the Alan Moore prophecy story, once upon a time, & I really dug (& am continuing to dig) it.
ReplyDelete