The covers: “The Fall of Sinestro” proclaims the copy that includes the issue’s logo on the Main cover. Below, Sinestro looks to be blasting out all the energy he has at the Pale Bishop, leader of the Paling. This is a strong cover featuring a strong title character from Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, and Jason Wright. I really like the amount of blue energy that appears to be dwarfing the yellow of the title character. The Neal Adams Variant cover is great shot of Sinestro flying, posed like Superman on the cover of Action Comics #419, out of a flaming building. Its huge volume of billowing smoke matches the huge smile on this anti-hero’s face. I shouldn’t get this much pleasure seeing him so pleased with himself, but I do. This image is pencilled by Mr. Adams, inked by Scott Hanna, and colored by Jeromy Cox. Overall grades: Both A
The story: “The Fall” is a loaded title from Cullen Bunn as Sinestro attempts to terminate all of the Paling once and for all. Things start with him looking just as he does on the Main cover. He calls for assistance: “Manhunters — Suicide run.” The remaining mechanical men recently rebuilt by Sinestro’s minions attack the Pale Bishop, exploding once they collide with him. They do nothing but infuriate the wizened killer, and something happens that hasn’t occurred in years: Sinestro is frightened. Even his daughter Soranik cannot believe what she’s seeing. Back on Earth, the struggle against the Paling hordes continues. Even though several famous and infamous characters have been made members of the Sinestro Corps, they are unable to hold or turn the tide of those that have been transformed into Paling members. Superman and Wonder Woman don’t know what else they can do, save leave Earth and try to stop the ships that seem to be the source of the Paling’s strength. As Sinestro is seemingly drained of his life, he remembers all the major events of his life — it becomes a history of this yellow ringed villain. Page 13 has Sinestro make a demand of this army and they obediently follow. What happens at the end of this battle has been building for a long time. However, the final page will leave fans as thunderstruck as the surviving characters at what they witness. My hat’s off to Mr. Bunn for doing something completely unexpected, and that’s what make good comics so much fun. Will this change last? Probably not. But while it does, if even for an issue, it’s going to shake up things considerably. Overall grade: A
The art: Three different artists created the visuals of this book: Brad Walker did the pencils, with the inks being done by Andrew Hennessy, Livesay, and Walker himself. I wish it had been specified in the credits box who is responsible for what pages, so I could be more specific with my praise, but suffice to say that this book looks great throughout. The issue starts on an incredibly strong image of the Pale Bishop battling Sinestro. The close-ups of the title character and his daughter are sensational (Pages 1 – 3, 9, 17, and 20), with their eyes being magnificently terrifying. The spooky eyes are present in all the characters who are members of the Sinestro Corps, including Superman and Wonder Woman. Pages 6 – 8 cover the important moments in Sinestro’s past and it’s a sensational collection of images that show every ounce of pain he’s endured to make him the man he is today. The six long vertical panels on 10 and 11 are also great, showing how the recently converted are fairing on Earth. The piece de reistance of the book is unquestionably the double paged spread of Pages 14 and 15 that show the final battle between Sinestro and the Pale Bishop, with all the members of his corps reacting to this final conflict. If any other image can be said to match it, it would have to be the final jaw-dropping page. Walker, Hennessy, and Livesay did some really incredibly work on this issue. Overall grade: A
The colors: Going into this issue, I expected to see a lot of yellow and blues, but not much else. Colorist Blond shows that there’s so much more that can be done with a space battle. The coloring of characters’ skin is wonderful — take a look at the spectacular work he does on Soranik and Sinestro each time they appear. Blond also makes the eyes of every yellow ring wielder absolutely monstrous. The explosion of the Manhunters on Page 2 is beautiful in orange and yellow. The best work is done on the pages showing the history of Sinestro: perfect greens, yellows, blues, and reds make this sequence something that can be looked at time and time again and it always looks tremendous. Blond is a coloring god. Overall grade: A+
The letters: The story’s title, issue’s credits, narration and dialogue (same font), Paling dialogue, character identification, sounds, yells, a transmission from Sinestro, an iconic and infamous chant, weakened speech, and next issue’s tease hail from Dave Sharpe. The font on Pages 13 – 15 make the moment all the more dramatic than what’s occurring. I love all the different fonts that Sharpe uses, though I wish that the narration had been a unique font, rather than the same one used for dialogue. Overall grade: A
The final line: This lives up to the build up. Powerful, epic, and surprising. Definitely worth your time and money. Overall grade: A
Share this:
