Retcon Question: How Did Sinestro Survive?

[Evergreen City Corps Den Mother Find all posts View Profile Close Evergreen City]

I've recently been reviewing the Green Lantern Corps first series, #201-224, which ended the original Volume 2 run. As we all remember, Sinestro was executed, and his death led to the destabilization/destruction of the Central Power Battery, thus turning the Corps into a corpse.

Sinestro had no appearances (except flashbacks) until Emerald Twilight, when a "hard-matter" version of him was faced off against Jordan on the rampage. Jordan broke his neck. Good for him.

He next appeared as a disembodied spirit during several of the Jordan Spectre stories, where he had great fun torturing our favorite spirit of redemption or vengeance or whatever the hell he was supposed to be.

And next, he shows up swinging in Rebirth. (Did you see that? ONE PUNCH! Still my favorite piece of art from Rebirth. Green streak Hal, bouncing across the moon. Damn, that felt good.)

Where, oh where, is the Geoffcon explanation for just HOW Sinestro was able to pull THAT one off? Somehow, in Volume 4, I missed it somewhere. If it was given. Surely Parallax didn't resurrect him too. I am confused. Which often happens when I'm writing fan fiction.

= terrific villain

[Deadpool Fight like a man: with your words, not your fists. Find all posts View Profile Close Deadpool]

I think the Sinestro that was killed by Parallax Hal wasn't actually the real one, but some sort of mirror version or something. And Parallax and Sinestro were working together or something. But I didn't know Sinestro's dead spirit fought with Hal as the Spectre. Man Geoff Johns resurrecting Sinestro was god damn lazy as hell. I think because people at the time were so happy to have Hal and Sinestro back never questioned this until some time passed.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

Geoff pretty much ignored the Spectre volume 4 series so it's like those appearances don't really count. The whole thing could be written off as a dream. And IIRC, Geoff was running with the idea that the Sinestro that appeared in ET was a decoy.

That just leaves Sinestro's execution in GLC #224. And if you think Geoff cared enough to follow any of Steve Englehart's of Joey Cavieleri's work you'd be wrong. I'm like you and wish it all fit together; that run of GL was some of the best stuff in the mythos. But Geoff Johns doesn't even respect his OWN continuity; he has no problem peeing all over other writer's work to mark his territory.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Geoff pretty much ignored the Spectre volume 4 series so it's like those appearances don't really count. The whole thing could be written off as a dream. And IIRC, Geoff was running with the idea that the Sinestro that appeared in ET was a decoy.

That just leaves Sinestro's execution in GLC #224. And if you think Geoff cared enough to follow any of Steve Englehart's of Joey Cavieleri's work you'd be wrong. I'm like you and wish it all fit together; that run of GL was some of the best stuff in the mythos. But Geoff Johns doesn't even respect his OWN continuity; he has no problem peeing all over other writer's work to mark his territory.

As I recall, the line he took was that Sinestro was imprisoned in the battery at that point, rather than killed outright. Which, if you think about it, was kind of true, even though his body was killed. His "soul" ended up in the battery, which is when he discovered Parallax according to Johns. His "soul" went on to cause all kinds of trouble up until ET, when he inexplicably regained a body, thanks to the Guardians. But I don't blame Geoff for THAT ambiguity. ET never bothered to explain how he had a body at that point, so why would Johns? Geoff just said that the body we saw Hal kill was really a construct made by Sinestro with Parallax's help, and then implied that any appearances by Sinestro in the Spectre (and perhaps some of the other things hal dealt with then) were ALSO Parallax constructs employed just to torment Hal.

That WAS one of my least favorite aspects of Rebirth, though. I thought it would have been much better to have had Sinestro REALLY have been killed during ET, while arrogantly assuming that he could beat Hal in single combat. His being dead, and only recently returned to life (by Parallax hijacking some of the Spectre's power, possibly, during a recent storyline that had many of the Spectre's victims returning from the grave) would have worked much better, IMHO, since it would have done away with the problem of what the heck Sinestro had been doing during all the intervening time, while Hal's reputation was being somewhat rehabilitated, and Kyle was carrying on the GL legacy and making steps toward restarting the Corps.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

As I recall, the line he took was that Sinestro was imprisoned in the battery at that point, rather than killed outright. Which, if you think about it, was kind of true, even though his body was killed. His "soul" ended up in the battery, which is when he discovered Parallax according to Johns. His "soul" went on to cause all kinds of trouble up until ET, when he inexplicably regained a body, thanks to the Guardians. But I don't blame Geoff for THAT ambiguity. ET never bothered to explain how he had a body at that point, so why would Johns? Geoff just said that the body we saw Hal kill was really a construct made by Sinestro with Parallax's help, and then implied that any appearances by Sinestro in the Spectre (and perhaps some of the other things hal dealt with then) were ALSO Parallax constructs employed just to torment Hal.

You're right sir. Thank you for reminding me. It had been a while since I thought of any of this.

[SD80MAC Not a True Fan Find all posts View Profile Close SD80MAC]

The explanation is simple. Sinestro did not survive, but Johns just ignored that fact. Like just about everything else prior to his run.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Just like Marz ignored the fact that Sinestro was last seen as a disembodied spirit prior to his inexplicable appearance in ET. Ignoring Sinestro's previous status hardly started with Geoff Johns.

Though, unlike Marz, Geoff didn't just ignore it. He provided an explanation for it, halfhearted and inadequate as it may have been. (I already have gone on record about how I feel about the notion that Sinestro faked his death.)

[Michael Heide Heide Finition Find all posts View Profile Close Michael Heide]

When you consider Infinite Crisis, Superboy punches, Flashpoint and the New 52 reboot, I think it's safe to say that Sinestro never got killed in the first place.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

I wouldn't bet against that, anyway. Good point.

[Rotten2thecorps Alpha-Lantern Find all posts View Profile Close Rotten2thecorps]

I think it was fill in the blanks continuity. In GLC before he was exacuted he said he had some great secret,implying that Sinestro knew more about the Green Lantern Corps then anyone now that the Guardians were gone.

You can make the leap that Sinestro's spirit merged with Parallx at this point,and once Parallax enters the story almost anything is posiable.

Except Specture stuff I think we are just ment to ignore that since nobody really liked that series.

[SD80MAC Not a True Fan Find all posts View Profile Close SD80MAC]

Just like Marz ignored the fact that Sinestro was last seen as a disembodied spirit prior to his inexplicable appearance in ET. Ignoring Sinestro's previous status hardly started with Geoff Johns.

True. Though Sinestro's appearance in ET was, to the best of my knowledge, an editorial mandate. I just figured that story-wise, the Guardians resurrected him. (Sure seemed that way from panel to panel, anyway.)

But yes, as of the New 52, Sinestro has never been killed.

[chivalrous Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close chivalrous]

I'm still wondering who 'killed' Hal during Zero Hour.

[SD80MAC Not a True Fan Find all posts View Profile Close SD80MAC]

Huh?

[Spectremjm Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close Spectremjm]

I'm still wondering who 'killed' Hal during Zero Hour.

Not sure where you are going with this. Ollie thought he had killed Hal during the actual mini-series, but Hal survived, ending up on Oa with Kyle. Then once Oa blew up in GL #0, he was supposedly dead again, but wasn't. So... no one killed Hal during Zero Hour.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Nobody killed Hal in Zero Hour. Ollie shot him in the chest with an arrow, but it didn't kill him.