Review Sinestro Vol. 4- The Fall of Sinestro

Quick Summary

Pros: The first half of this volume gives the series an absolutely epic conclusion that has thrilling action and some great meaning to it. Most aspects of this conclusion make it worthwhile.

Cons: The epilogue to the Sinestro series is mediocre. The Lobo chapters are lackluster.

Overall: This volume contains the awesome conclusion to the Sinestro series but also contains some less entertaining material. The finale portion of the book works as an incredible sendoff to the comic, bringing a thrilling and emotional close to many of the ongoing plot threads. However, the epilogue to this finale is just alright and some included Lobo stories are very forgettable. In the end though, this collection is easily worthwhile for anyone who has been enjoying the series and is looking forward to seeing how it will end.

Story

Sinestro Vol. 4: The Fall of Sinestro, by Cullen Bunn, gives the Sinestro series a worthy sendoff. The first half of this collection is host to epic battles and awesome encounters that make use of much of the progress that has been made over the course of this series. This climax also brings in emotions and meaning that work to further make the conclusion to Sinestro worthwhile. Unfortunately, the rest of the collection is not quite as good. The second half features a somewhat lackluster epilogue and some Lobo chapters that add little to the overall experience. This book is still worth it to see the conclusion to the series; readers should just be aware it also contains some mediocre material as well.

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The opening chapters of The Fall of Sinestro come out swinging with a stunning climax to the entire Sinestro series. Sinestro’s brief trip to Earth accidentally awakens a long-forgotten Guardian who leads an army of anti-emotion warriors. This ends up being the ultimate test for Sinestro’s Yellow Lanterns, who have being building their strength over the course of this series. The resulting battle is high stakes, epic in scope, and gives plenty of characters a chance to shine, including a few earthbound-heroes. In general, this is an awesome way to lead to the close of a quality series.

Part of what makes this entire conflict so great is the level of meaning put into it. Sinestro’s accidental awakening of a Guardian nearly turns him into the failure he always fears he will become. This spurs on his sacrifice for the cause, which leaves him almost powerless and unable to continue leading his Corps. This then leads to his daughter taking over, a significant development from her side of things. All of these actions help give the action meaning and make the conclusion to this series even better.

From here, things get just a bit less entertaining. It is interesting to see the Sinestro Corps without Sinestro at the helm, especially since it is clear he still has plans in place. However, the Red Lanterns plotline ends up feeling like a cheap way to bring life to New Korugar. Plus, this Red Lanterns plotline thematically goes against much of the progress done in the actual Red Lanterns series, which I’m sure fans of that series, like myself, will find pretty disappointing.

The final few chapters of The Fall of Sinestro end up being even weaker. They depict what happened to Lobo after the events of Rising (Review) and essentially bring his current storyline to a close. However, they mostly do so by having him participate in random battles that have even less meaning than they did earlier. They are good for a few moments of flashy action but not much more than that.  

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Art

The artwork in The Fall of Sinestro starts out strong with a chapter from both Brad Walker and Ethan Van Sciver. This chapter is a beautiful depiction of the Sinestro Corps’ trip to an imaginatively designed land. The visuals here are detailed and panels are laid out in a creative way.

Unfortunately, the rest of the collection does not share this artistic success. Though Brad Walker does some good looking work throughout the volume, there are also many places where Walker’s work is interrupted by other artists. The majority of these pages do not look good and feature dramatic drops in the level of detail or unpleasant shifts in the visual style. They look unappealing and also disrupt the consistency of the visuals. In the end, there are still enough positive visuals to prevent the collection from looking bad but not enough to allow it to look good. 

Continuity

Sinestro Vol. 4: The Fall of Sinestro continues the story from Sinestro Vol. 3: Rising (Review)

The story here continues in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps Vol. 1: Sinestro’s Law.

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Sinestro and Black Adam’s last meeting was during the Forever Evil (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• Wonder Woman became God of War in Wonder Woman #23, collected in Wonder Woman Vol. 4: War (Review).
• Scarecrow previously wielded a Yellow Ring during the Blackest Night event. 
• The original destruction of Korugar happened during the Green Lantern: Wrath of the First Lantern (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• Sinestro killed most of the Guardians of the Universe in Green Lantern #20, collected in Green Lantern Vol. 3: The End (Review).
• The Lobo issues in this collection continue plot threads from Lobo Vol. 2: Beware His Power. See our “Lobo (New 52 Version) Reading Order” for more information.