Let me go on record as saying that I loved Sinestro Corps. It was what you expect out of a comic... good storytelling, great art. The issue contained peril for heroes, the assembly of a mighty team of foes, and heroes committing themselves to rise to the occasion. Stellar issue through and through.
I only wish I could see more of this in the DC's regular hero installments. Heroes in the DC Universe have gotten wishy-washy. They have jelly legs; they are continually written as people who are full of self-doubt and even self-loathing. Besides a ridiculous Bart Allen story line, I believe Flash: Fastest Man Alive failed because fans didn't want to have to read about another hero trying to come to grips with his power, doubting himself, fearing his strength, ad nauseam.
A quick glance through the past five years of stories show us something totally different when it comes to the bad guys. The villains of the DC Comics universe are resolute. The villains can pull themselves together. They can work together. Villains choose clear objectives and work toward achieving those objectives. Villains stand against impossible odds and "keep on swinging" while the heroes cry like babies and accuse each other of this or that.
Why can't the heroes get their act together? Why the shift from making comics about hero self-sacrifice to comics about a villain's strength and power? It's not unfamiliar really, on the surface. Movies like Hannibal are built off fan's love for the villain. The humor of a show like The Simpsons is built off making the standard good guys (parents, Christians, etc.) look like boobs.
But comics are a genre all to themselves, or at least they ought to be. Heroes are supposed to be the resolute ones. Heroes are supposed to be the ones that you want to emulate. But not in the DC Comics Universe. Here, we see all to well that Freud's "penis envy" has shifted. Now the most noble portrayals of heroes are overshadowed by the strength and power of the story's villains. Fans are regularly given stories that make them want to be more like the bad guy.
Sinestro Corps will do better than most DCU comic stories, because at the heart of the matter, in the hearts of fans, there is an overwhelming desire to see success and strength. When the regular titles fail to give fans this simple reality that used to be inherent to the genre, we are forced to turn to our villains.
Personally, I find it to be a sad state of affairs, no matter how much I loved Sinestro Corps this month.
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