Broken Frontier

Star Sapphire is back with a twist as the true origins of this Green Lantern villainess begin to come to light while the Sinestro Corps adds to its ranks.

On her way to meet Tom Kalmaku at Ferris Air, a more carefree Carol Ferris finds herself ambushed mid-flight and possessed by the power of the alien Star Sapphire once again. As ever, her obsession with Green Lantern leads her to a bar where Hal Jordan is flirting with current romantic interest and fellow pilot Cowgirl. This time though, events take an unexpected turn as Star Sapphire makes an unanticipated move.

Without spoiling the surprises, a story that reads like it is initially retreading the same ground of countless previous Star Sapphire tales is redeemed by Geoff Johns coming up with an interesting turn of events that puts a new spin on an old theme. Apart from that there isn’t much more depth to this first part beyond Carol becoming possessed and beating up on Hal but there are a few hints as to the true nature of the Star Sapphire and promises of origin revelations to come next month.

I find myself a little torn by this. As a lover of old continuity I’m looking forward to seeing how Geoff Johns weaves elements of Star Sapphire history into a coherent whole. However, there have been times when I’ve felt this volume of Green Lantern has veered dangerously close to telling stories that have no reason to exist beyond sorting out lingering continuity issues.

The second story this month is a complete "Tales of the Sinestro Corps" entry. This is a wonderful nod to the past, echoing those "Tales of the Green Lantern Corps" backups of yesteryear. The Sinestro Corps’ mission to spread fear across the universe is an apt counterpoint to their Oan-sponsored enemies and, based on the first member we meet this time around, their ranks could be made up of some rather unique characters.

Daniel Acuña’s art on the first story has a haunting, dreamlike quality that wholly suits the tone, giving Star Sapphire a fittingly eerie and otherworldly presence. On the backup Dave Gibbons’ makes his usual outstanding contribution with his clean, clear and detailed visuals reminding me of that short time in the early Eighties when he was Green Lantern’s regular penciller.

A fun and very readable package with the Sinestro Corps backups, in particular, having great potential to give us a variety of diverse artists strutting their sci-fi stuff.