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Mild Mannered Reviews - DC Universe

DC Universe Online Legends #17

DC Universe Online Legends #17

Scheduled to arrive in stores: November 16, 2011

Cover date: Early January 2012

"The Brainiac Sinestro Corps War - Part 2"

Writer: Tom Taylor
Penciller: Bruno Redondo
Inker: Bruno Redondo

Jeffrey Taylor Reviewed by: Jeffrey Taylor

Click to enlarge



Picking up where the last issue left off with Hal Jordan breaking away from the rest of the Green Lantern Corps to see what Brainiac's exobytes and drone have left on Korugar, the war weary Sinestro confronts Hal for bringing this madness to his home planet, and he attacks with great fury.

Hal is immediately furious that Sinestro would even accuse him of being in league with Brainiac, which gives Sinestro pause for thought. He quickly puts together that even though the Green Lantern Corps had nothing to do with Brainiac's initial attack, they are indeed containing the battle to stop either side from escaping. Sinestro is all too aware that the Guardians are behind this and points out how they are not equally responsible for the destruction of the planet.

Out in space, Guy Gardner makes another one of his trademarked "out of place" statements about how good the day would be if both Sinestro and Brainiac died in this fight. John Stewart who is still having morality problems with the Guardians' orders wonders if Guy would be better off fighting inside the Corps' containment field instead of joking about death on the outside.

Back on the surface, Sinestro brings Hal and the readers up to speed on the events that brought us here. First, Brainiac appeared in space and took out the Anti-Monitor, who was a member of the Sinestro Corps. Sinestro ordered his soldiers to attack, but one of Brainiac's warships broke the lines and smashed into the Anti-Monitor, causing an anti-matter rupture that cracked the planet in half and killed everyone around the globe who didn't have a ring.

Sinestro refuses to ask Hal for the help of the Green Lantern Corps, but simply leaves Hal knowing that without the Corps' help, the planet will die.

Sinestro orders the rest of HIS Corps to attack Brainiac full-force while Hal demands that Kilowog release the Green Lantern Corps so they can help. Since Kilowog won't ignore those direct orders from the Guardians, Hal jumps in by himself and fights alongside the Sinestro Corps.

Once they confront Brainiac together, Hal tells him that the Green Lanterns are placing him under arrest. Sinestro and what's left of his Corps break in behind him, demand Brainiac's death and try to kill him, much to Jordan's surprise. But it turns out that this version of Brainiac was nothing more than a hologram and while they were attacking here, he had taken Sinestro's yellow central power battery off the face of the planet, which rendered their rings useless. This is also why Lex Luthor was able to use his yellow ring in the future when he infiltrated Brainiac's ships from an earlier issue.

Without air, the remaining Sinestro Corps units can't breath, so Hal raises a forcefield with his green ring and saves them from death. Brainiac tries to attack Hal, but Sinestro orders his soldiers to help save him. Hal calls Kilowog for help, but Brainiac's robots are nearing the Green Lantern containment field with Sinestro's yellow battery and they can't break away and let them escape. But they manage to get through anyway and all is lost.

The Sinestro Corps is no more, the planet Korugar is completely destroyed, and worse, Brainiac has a power battery based on the ability instill great fear.

To be continued...

3Story - 3: Right off the bat, I have a small problem with the main plot. Sinestro suggests that the planet is doomed unless the Green Lantern Corps goes against the Guardians' orders and directly intervene, which is why Hal joins the battle. But all the citizens of the planet were just destroyed by the destruction of the Anti-Monitor long before the Green Lanterns showed up.

I know I'm supposed to disagree with just about anything the Guardians do, but this is one time that I'm completely on their side. If the Green Lantern Corps followed their orders, the only people who would still die are the genocidal Sinestro Corps who need to be wiped out in the Universe anyway.

Even though that's a major part of the overall Green Lantern arc in this series, there are still some great smaller moments that make up for it, just not that many. Ultimately the Green Lanterns wouldn't have stopped Brainiac anyway, so this is as much Hal's fault as it is the Guardians'.

And why would Hal be surprised the when he fights alongside Sinestro and announces to Brainiac that he's under arrest, then Sinestro jumps in and demands that Brainiac die? There was no contract for his help, no terms and conditions agreed upon. This makes Hal stupid. Not just a little dumb, but downright "I can't add one plus one" STOOPID!

4Art - 4: Solid art the whole way through, but my favorite moment is the flashback/recap on page two that pits Sinestro both with and against Hal Jordan in different time periods. It's just not as good as the last issue which felt like it had art that could have stood on its own without text.

5Cover Art - 5: I LOVE LOVE LOVE this shot of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern. It's a posed shot of him pointing his ring at the reader and doubling his strength by clenching the wrist of his ring hand with his other hand, like Liam Neeson in "Rob Roy" fencing with a heavy one-handed Scottish Cleaver. The glow is electrifying off his body and seeming to flow into the current of the wind, and the blood on his uniform is purposeful for the context of the story, but not overstated like a Japanese slasher film. Even the background is perfect without detail or context as it blurs in the upper half of the page where the heat of Hal's Lantern construct fizzles as the heat rises.

I seriously want this as a poster.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2012

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2012

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