The Good
A member of the Sinestro Corps has been murdered. Sinestro goes through the histories of some members of his corp to unravel the mystery.
The issue is made up of this murder mystery combined with the origins of Lyssa, Arkillo, Bekka, Dez, and Rigen. Fans of the series will truly enjoy getting to see some of these characters either before they became members of the Sinestro Corps. All of these stories are crafted extremely well and really compelling reads, since all of these characters come from traumatic or highly emotional experiences. However, most of them have a lot of murder in their past. That seems to be the common thread for members of this corp.
Cullen Bunn does a fine job on expanding on these characters. We didn't know too much about them prior to this and nothing that Bunn dives into here changes these characters an incredible amount. However, the reader now has a better connection to them, through their pain.
One of the highlights for the book was the present day art by Martin Coccolo and colorist Jason Wright. The art's style really fits the book and more than anything else, Wright's color are wonderful and fit the darker tone of this book, without taking away from the color this book needs, which is something that every Lantern book can't do without.
The last few pages of the issue are great, but sadly, we have to wait until June to figure out what actually happens. Someone is a traitor to the Sinestro Corps and their ultimate plan is to blow up New Korugar. You get through 40+ pages of this annual and it really leaves the reader at a great cliffhanger.
The Bad
This book is truly just for Sinestro Corps fans. It won't play exceptionally well to casual readers, since the majority of the book is about the origins of some of the characters within the book, tied together with a murder-mystery. It's a weird balance act this issue tries to play with telling a story while giving the reader origins stories and while it is interesting, it's a bit rocky.
A lot of said rockiness comes from the changes in art for every story. This isn't always a problem and each artist is extremely talented on their own, but at times, the styles clash. Colorist Tony Avina does a good job tying all the past stories together with his work, but Andy Kuhn's work for the Arkillo story doesn't fit in with everything else.
The main problem, storywise, is that the origins are interesting, but the story doesn't really grab the reader until the last few pages, where we find out what the traitor's ultimate plan was. It's a bit of a buzzkill as conceptually, this issue is a great idea. However, it falls short.
The Verdict
Annuals are a mixed bag, as always, and SINESTRO CORPS ANNUAL plays well to the hardcore fans while trying to push the mythos of these characters and a new story forward. There are some great moments here that will have fans excited, but the overall book is a bit rough since the story really picks up right when it ends. On top of that, there's a few times where the artists of the assigned origin stories just don't fit the book or the character. If you've been a fan of this series, you're going to want to read this but overall, this gets a mild recommendation.
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