Green Lantern Corps #36

The newest issue of the surprisingly good Green Lantern Corps arrived in the mail today, and needless to say it immediately catapulted to the top of my "new comics" pile. Let's see what Peter Tomasi has in store for the Corps this month.

-This issue opens with Sinestro telling Soranik the story of the early years of her life. Last issue ended with Sinestro dropping the bombshell that he is Soranik's father, and in this issue he explains why she never knew. The short version is that Sinestro's wife gave Soranik away when she was still an infant in order to get her away from her crazy dad.

-Sinestro tells her that he has been in her life at certain times, such as when she graduated from Med school, as well as revealing that he was responsible for the marking she has under her eye(it's actually a secret coat of arms that doubles as a transmitter that tells Sinestro where she is at all times... Creepy.).

-Sinestro warns her that the Red Lanterns will wind up attacking Korugar to find Soranik, since the RL's know Sinestro has a daughter, even though they don't know who she is. Sinestro leaves Soranik, telling her he looks forward to the day they can work together as father and daughter. Soranik contemplates taking a shot at Sinestro as he flies off, but she can't bring herself to blast him.

-Next we have the riot on Oa in the Sciencells. Basically it's a donnybrook between the escaped Sinestro Corps members, the Red Lantern who started the riot, and the Green Lanterns who were on Oa at the time. The scenes detailing the riot were without dialogue, which fit the chaotic nature of the riot very well.

-The last story in this issue revolved around Green Lanterns Sodam Yat and Arisia on Sodam's home planet of Daxam trying to figure out how to defeat Mongul and his horde of Sinestro Corps members. Sodam realizes that with no backup likely due to the riots on Oa, him and Arisia were going to have to make a bold move to free the planet.

-Sodam figures that taking out Mongul will send his henchmen into a state of disarray, so he attacks Mongul while Arisia stays back with the Daxamites the two Lanterns managed to rescue. While fighting Mongul, Sodam tries to access the Ion power, but he is prevented due to the actions of rogue Guardian, Scar.

-Upon learning from his ring that a large burst of energy may cause the manifestation of the Ion powers, Sodam lowers his shields and allows Mongul to hit him full on with a blast from his yellow rings. After the smoke clears, Sodam emerges with the Ion powers, but those powers are very rapidly fading, no doubt thanks to Scar. Sodam leaves Daxam and heads into Daxam's red sun, where he apparently sacrifices his life in an effort to turn the red sun yellow. For the record, Daxamites gain powers akin to Superman when they are bathed in the light from a yellow sun.

Once again, this was a very, very good issue of this series. The only minor complaint I would have is that I would have liked to have seen a bit more from the battle on Oa, but with how good the rest of this comic was, I can't really complain too much. The Sinestro/Soranik stuff was well done, even though it is a little far-fetched that nobody on Korugar realized that Sinestro and Soranik were related. Sinestro was the ruler of Korugar at one point, didn't anyone on the planet wonder what happened to his daughter? I guess not.

The fight on Daxam was also interesting, especially as this issue ended. If Sodam was indeed successful with turning Daxam's sun yellow, Mongul will be dealing with a planet full of individuals with the powers and abilities of Superman... That is one battle Mongul and his Sinestro Corps members can't win. I will admit that I was beginning to warm up to Sodam, so if he is indeed dead, that's too bad.

Besides that, as Blackest Night gets closer and closer, Scar seems to be taking a more proactive role in manipulating events. Scar was responsible for the riot on Oa, as well as depriving Sodam of the Ion power. I know I've said it before, but I CAN'T wait for Blackest Night to begin! For a score, I'll give this comic a 9 out of 10. Once again, Peter Tomasi is proving that he is more than capable of matching Geoff Johns work over in the Green Lantern title. That in and of itself is a very impressive feat!