Year of the Villain: Sinestro #1

The script is well interpreted by Yildiray Cinar, who proved a perfect choice to illustrate this story given his previous work on the equally high-concept Superior Iron Man. All in all, this is an interesting story that should appeal to most science-fiction fans, which requires no previous experience with the Green Lantern mythology of the Year of the Villain. Read Full Review

For an event tie-in, this is a comic with a lot on its mind and some really clever writing, making it a great kick-off to this mini-line of tie-in one-shots. Read Full Review

The story reads well as a one shot on its own, even if one had not been following Year of the Villain at all, which is another plus. Read Full Review

Russell delivers another classically Russell one-shot that digs deep into the nature of power, systems and capitalism, whilst playing with familiar superhero tropes in fun ways. Read Full Review

Although I'll dip in and out of the Year of the Villain stuff, I doubt you'll find a more overt political and social commentary, and thought provoking, filled issue than this. It really does Sinestro justice too. So much more than a power ring. Read Full Review

Sinestro: Year of the Villain #1 served as a strong reminder that Luthor is not the only one to fear from the Legion of Doom right now. He may have become this Apex Predator, but he is just another guy trying to play God. Sinestro is the same as he has ever been, and that means being the guy who Read Full Review

Cinar does an excellent job with the art in this issue. Everything is filled with detail and all of the action and characters leap off the page. Impressive story and visuals throughout. Read Full Review

Itll be interesting to see how these YOTV one-shots play out and if theyll have more depth than a basic standalone that truly connects to the main story. I imagine the quality of the stories will be inconsistent but at least Sinestro got things off on the right foot. Read Full Review

one of the best descriptors of Sinestro's point of view as a character that I've read and it might give us some insight into Sinestro's role in Lex Luthor's Legion of Doom. Read Full Review

Sinestro, Lord of the Microns has a nice ring to it. Read Full Review

Sinestro: Year of the Villain #1 was a good one-shot story from Mark Russell. It weaved in the normal Mark-Russell-y commentary while giving Sinestro a different edge to his character. The art was solid; honestly, I can't say much about it. It was not particularly bad or particularly good. It was there and served the story, but nothing really stands out. Read Full Review

Sinestro features Mark Russell's by now trademark approach to comic books writing, but without the benefit of multiple issues, it doesn't feel as nuanced and well thought out as some of his other work. Russell's work is best when it's able to make a strong statement, and I don't feel that he quite gets there outside of a stock "oppressive systems are bad and the people in them sometimes don't even realize they are being controlled." But Sinestro isn't a hero. And he's someone who will only use that knowledge to his own end. So maybe there's no room for the kind of resolution that we're used to seeing. Cinar does some good work with Sinestro himself but is fairly forgettable elsewhere. Overall, I think this is another generally good entry in Russell's career, but stops short of being truly great. Read Full Review

Sinestro's efforts to accomplish his mission see him realising the amount which he can affect a society by; this sociological slant to the book is expected this far into Russell's career, but the allegory doesn't hit upon as deep a truth as he has proven capable of previously. Read Full Review

While there are things to enjoy with Sinestro taking care of business, I ultimately learned nothing new from this one-shot that wanted to be social commentary more than a story that tied into Year of the Villain. Yeah, there's some fun art and the window dressing makes you think of Year of the Villain, but really there isn't much here to further this event. Read Full Review

Wands, in particular, has a large amount of work on his hands due to the heavy dialogue asked of this issue and it's served in a very palatable manner that's easy on the eye and doesn't bog down the illustrations. Additionally, HI-FI's colors were extremely well-served thanks to Sinestro's ultraviolet light-power which is offset in some fascinating ways as the villain enters some alternate spaces of reality. Overall though, I had high hopes for this issue, but it just felt a little flat. Read Full Review

Measured by its own seeming goals, it is only a middling affair that offers a mixed-bag for entertainment and thought within the reading experience. In this case, being better than average can still be described in less than laudatory terms. Read Full Review

Big Brother

Aug 07, 2019

Once you get past the crossover packaging, this is another great, thoughtful one and done story that Mark Russell is known for.

Toonstrack

Aug 08, 2019

Sinestro is one of my favorite villains. This issue illustrates perfectly why. Commentary on religious zealotry that even I a religipus person can appreciate. But in the end Sinestro's true nature proves even more powerful than his philosophy. Well done.

Dorival

Aug 09, 2019

Great tie-in! Sinestro rules!

Gizmo

Aug 13, 2019

I couldn't care less about Year of the Villain, but luckily I didn't need to in order to enjoy this mostly self contained story, which is F-ing brilliant! Mark Russell represents the unstoppable juggernaut of capitalism with literal unstoppable juggernauts that are maintained by a vast, microscopic workforce. So how does Sinestro tackle this problem? Why, with Marxism of course!

Br'er Lapin AKA 20-Ish Ceiln

Aug 10, 2019

Mark Russel out-silver ages Grant Morrison with this issue. There were *so* many stories involving small families or civilizations in Silver Age GL. The commentary was solid as always too. Mark is one of the only writers I don't cringe at when they are trying to deliver a message.

Azrael

Aug 08, 2019

A pretty decent tie in. Not fantastic and a bit meh at times but the parallels to reality and how Sinestro doesn’t need to be all guns blazing was really well done.

EDiakota

Aug 07, 2019

"If the work is all that matter, how many perish is in service to the wrong cause ? To the wrong person ?

+ Like • Comments (1)

Big Brother - Aug 7, 2019

"There is no greater, nor more common, mistake in the universe... than to serve someone who doesn't serve you back..."

Matt Mitchell

Aug 20, 2019

I liked the plot, but the issue itself contains too many boring text, that was unnecessary.

egonnn244

Aug 11, 2019

"God-Emperor Garf" I really like Thaal Sinestro so I picked this issue up. I've read it and I still really like Sinestro. He's smart, he's clever and he is good with the ring. The issue itself was amusing. That's the best I've got. The idea of little people living inside bigger, Darkseid looking, people, makes me chuckle a bit. It's funny. Now, I'm gonna read and wait to see when and how Sinestro will turn his back on Apex Lex.

Psycamorean

Aug 15, 2019

Another Mark Russell story, another social commentary in the cutting edge of 2002. This was fine, I guess.

Spacey Medicine

Sep 03, 2019

Tried a little too hard and I think got muddled because of that. If their lives are so sped up as to seem like a normal life cycle to us, how do they conceptualize them as being short?