Review: Sinestro Vol. 1- The Demon Within

Quick Summary

Pros: The main storyline is full of awesome action scenes from Sinestro and his allies. The main narrative has some interesting emotional drama. Sinestro is a great main character and is well-written throughout this collection. The artwork looks nice and complements the narrative.

Cons: One of the minor plotlines is disappointing.

Overall: This is a highly positive start to Sinestro’s New 52 solo series. It takes everything positive about this main character and uses it to the comic’s advantage. This means awesome action, emotional drama, and great moments from Sinestro all the way through. Anyone looking for a good Sinestro comic or who would prefer a darker take on the Green Lanterns should absolutely give this collection a read.

Story

Sinestro Vol. 1: The Demon Within, by Cullen Bunn, is a tremendous start to a new series. It gets the ball rolling with a simple but captivating premise and only gets better from there. Before too long, the series is host to incredibly epic battles and tense emotional drama. This is further enhanced by Sinestro’s presence throughout the book, something that makes nearly every scene better. There is one minor disappointment within the narrative but, other than that, this is a solid read from start to finish.

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The Demon Within stars Sinestro as he attempts to pick up the pieces of his former home world. It is a relatively simple mission, at first, that just involves regrouping people who happened to escape Korugar’s destruction.

However, the simplicity of this mission fades away as the scope of the problem becomes apparent. Sinestro violently asserts control over his old Lantern Corps, leads them to war against those who would take his people captive, and establishes the validity of his position against the Green Lanterns. It is even revealed that Sinestro has had Paralax within him throughout this entire storyline. All of this makes for several awesome scenes of intergalactic action that the Yellow Lanterns seem to be so good at.

Alongside this action, there is also a tense interpersonal drama being fought. After rescuing his people, Sinestro is surprised to see that they still think of him as some sort of monster. Their reluctance to accept him creates more complications in a previously simple mission and adds to the book’s tension.

Both of these factors contribute to the overall absolute best part of this entire collection, its lead character. Sinestro is a fantastic protagonist to begin with but is even better when backed up by quality writing. It is clear that Cullen Bunn understands what makes Sinestro tick and uses that to make this volume better. It leads to impassioned speeches, violent power struggles, and Sinestro’s confidence that he knows what is best for everyone around him. Bunn doesn’t write Sinestro as some sort of benevolent but misunderstood antihero; he writes him as a villain and this collection is better because of that.

My only complaint with The Demon Within is that the plotline surrounding The Pailing is a bit disappointing. This group is teased as a threat throughout the volume yet is nearly wiped out over the course of a few pages. Hopefully they come back as a larger threat in the future because their role in this volume is not that great.

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Art

The artwork in The Demon Within gets off to an immediately positive start as Dale Eaglesham crafts pages that set the scene for the entire series. These pages are well laid-out and are presented in a way that helps them feel like an epic tale is about to be told. This trend of creative page design continues throughout the collection.

Throughout this book, both Dale Eaglesham and Rags Morales do a great job presenting the characters and events of this series. They bring a high level of detail to the table with them, making the characters and their actions feel more realistic. This helps hammer home the book’s emotional and physical intensity. In addition, colors from Jason Wright really add to the overall experience. They make the wonders of space look even more wonderful and help ensure that the Yellow Lantern constructs stand out on every page. Overall, this book has some great artwork that works to make the reading experience even better.

Continuity

Sinestro Vol. 1: The Demon Within is the first volume in the first Sinestro solo series. This series spins out of the Green Lantern: Wrath of the First Lantern (Review) (Reading Order) event, which is mentioned a number of times.

The story here continues in Sinestro Vol. 2: Sacrifice (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Sinestro’s recent return to the Green Lantern Corps and his fight against the Yellow Lanterns is mentioned. This took place across Green Lantern Vol. 1: Sinestro (Review).
• Sinestro mentions an “unpleasantness on Earth”. This is a reference to his role in the Forever Evil (Review) (Reading Order).
• The final chapter in this collection is a tie-in to the Futures End (Review) (Reading Order) event.