Book of Doom: Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents Parallax

The Sinestro Corps War had a ton of momentum heading out of the over-sized one-shot that started the whole thing. It had the return of Superboy-Prime and the Anti-Monitor, the attack on Oa and the possession of Kyle Rayner by Parallax. Since then it’s kind of gone downhill. For a few months now the crossover has just been the Green Lantern Corps vs. the Sinestro Corp, with the big guns sitting on the sidelines, and Kyle Rayner isn’t even Parallax in half the books he shows up in anymore. It’s hard to see this story as a bid deal if it can be ignored in the build-up to the next “big deal.”

Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Parallax didn’t really do anything to help that. At the beginning of the issue, Kyle’s trapped in his own brain while Parallax has control of his body, and at the end of the story, the status quo is exactly the same. Except now we know Kyle’s not too fond of having his body possessed and is attempting to fight against Parallax’s influence. Which is exactly what anyone who’s not a complete idiot would have assumed was going on.

Maybe I would have liked this issue a little more if I was a bigger fan of Kyle Rayner. But I bought this issue hoping for a story about Parallax, not the Whiniest Green Lantern Who Ever Lived. But the Kyle-era of Green Lantern came before I started reading DC comics, and now there’s three other GLS from Sector 2814 I’d prefer to read about any day of the week.

Now let’s seem what other members of the Legion had to say about the issue:

Jim Doom: “So I think I’ll file this under “Spinoff books I really didn’t need to buy.” I guess, in a way, that’s a good thing, because I hate it when all the important stuff happens in a side title and you’re basically punished for consistently buying a regular book (see: Countdown). But it’d be nice if there was something more to this than Kyle arguing with Parallax and then beating each other up.

And the artist was either lucky or clever that the whole situation took place in a white room. Talk about a great excuse for not having to draw backgrounds!

It wasn’t even close to being “The Fall of Kyle Rayner” that it claimed to be on the cover. He had already fallen; this was Kyle stuck in a hole and Parallax coming to visit him in a completely meaningless exchange.”

Doominator: “I’ve been following Green Lantern more closely in the past few years, but I’ve felt it’s been kind of hit or miss. The return of Hal Jordan, lead up to by the “Green Lantern: Rebirth” series, was spectacular. But then when Hal Jordan returned in the relaunched series, it didn’t take long for me to lose interest. But then the Doomkopfers sung the praises of the Sinestro Corps storyline, so I figured I’d give this issue a shot.

Like many issues of late, this issue is a preface. On the cover, it touts itself as “The Fall of Kyle Raynor.” But inside, it shows his road to breaking free of the Parallax. The “fall” has obviously already happened. But these are just details.

Coming in with spotty knowledge of the recent history of Kyle Raynor, this issue served as a good springboard. We know what’s stacked against him. We know where he is and who he is and what he wants to become again. We know this and that. And that’s all the issue is meant to do.

There are ways to build these stories in with regular continuity. Think of all the subplots Chris Claremont used to balance in “Uncanny X-Men.” So as a stand-alone, this issue serves the same purpose as that JLA wedding issue: no REAL purpose, even if the story isn’t bad.

That said, what’s presented is something to look forward to in the current arch. Something big is coming, and this is just another piece of the puzzle.”