And the Family Tree Gets Weirder

I'm so pumped right now, I'm not sure how to expend all my energy. Green Lantern #45 was excellent from cover to cover, and leaves all the Corps in the middle of some really bad predicaments. I can't wait to see what happens next!

But of course, being the Sinestro fangirl that I have become (Geoff and Peter, start giving me more Guy scenes so I can rave about him again!), I'm mostly bouncing around because of the unexpected revelation of the identity of Sinestro's lost love.

I'll admit that I am a wee bit disappointed that it wasn't Abin Sur himself. There are so few gay/bi characters in the DCU, or in comics period, that it seems a sad waste to take a character like Sinestro, who has already been shown flirting with a confirmed gay man in canon, and make him out to be straight, after all. Granted, I accept Englehart's explanation that Sinestro would probably say anything to anyone if it meant furthering his goals (or, as he put it, "have sex with someone in Times Square" if it got him what he wanted), but it was the only clue we've ever gotten, and it's not fair to consider a hint like that as a fluke rather than an actual indicator of his true preferences. (After all, if a man flirts with a woman, and assuming there's no contradictory past behavior to go on, no one ever assumes that he's just pretending to be straight, right?)

And of course, he might be interested in both sexes (which would actually be even better, as bisexuals are extremely under-represented in comics), but the sad truth is that, now that we know he likes girls, most writers and fans won't even entertain the possibility that he might also be into men. Even though it seems fairly obvious to me.

Yet, I'm not posting to complain. I'm actually quite happy with this revelation, overall. I feel vindicated! See, I wasn't crazy, after all. There were indications of heartbreak and romantic sparks there, all along! Bu instead of loving Abin, apparently he loved a sister of Abin's that we never knew existed.

Now this is very cool. Arin Sur, as she is named, was apparently quite a pretty lady. So female Ungarans do have hair? I couldn't recall. We only get some brief flashes, but in those brief flashes, we see how they met, and what looks like a death scene in some sort of... place. It's interesting to note that Sinestro is still wearing his Green Lantern costume in that scene, though it's hard to make out any other details. I'm going to assume that we'll get the full story in Secret Origin II, which has only recently been announced. The only thing Geoff really said about it was that it would contain the fall of Sinestro, so I'm really hoping that means he'll be giving us more details about the lady Sinestro loved, even though I'm sure most of it will deal with Hal discovering Sinestro's corruption, etc. (Like something we've read before... Emerald Dawn II, anyone?)

And not only did he love her, apparently, but the loss must still be painful, because when he breaks out of that love crystal, boy is he pissed off. He's usually so calm and collected these days, and before that, his conversation with Carol was quite interesting and insightful even as they traded punches in a fairly evenly-matched manner, but afterwards? Afterwards, he's beating the hell out of her. You can tell that dredging up those memories hurts him, and it looks like it's something he must have been repressing deep inside for years now.

What this issue doesn't address, though, is whether or not Arin Sur is Soranik Natu's mother. She might not be, but considering the way this has all been set up, I would assume that she probably is. And that makes things especially interesting because, if it's true, it means that:

1) Soranik is half Ungaran.
2) Sinestro and Abin may have been not only friends, but possibly also brothers-in-law.
3) Abin Sur was Soranik's uncle.
4) Amon Sur is possibly Sinestro's nephew by marriage.
5) Soranik and Amon are cousins!

I'm also amused by the fact that Sinestro, who we now know has great love in his heart somewhere, and who was able to be encased in a violet crystal for a few seconds before breaking out, at least, could have become the first male Star Sapphire that we know of if only he had stayed in the crystal.

That's right, think about that image for a moment.

What About the Children? Will Somebody Please Think of the Children?!

I realize that the GLC has had their hands full lately. And I realize that, when Kryb was defeated, Kyle and Soranik had a lot on their plate -- the death of KT-21, the new law, the resignation of tons of Lanterns, the birth of the Pree baby, being in love/lying like a big jerkface, etc.

But... did no one think about the babies?

Kryb has been stealing babies from Green Lantern Corps members for some time, you see. And she was probably stealing babies from regular people even before that. And the Corps had to suspect that the babies were still alive, right? After all, the parents were killed in their homes, and the babies taken away -- which implies that Kryb had a reason for keeping those babies alive. Otherwise, why not just kill them immediately?

So when Kryb was captured, why didn't it occur to anyone to find those babies? They didn't even ask her where they were, or what she did with them! They didn't follow up in her home sector. They didn't make any effort whatsoever to save the wee baby children. And neither did the Star Sapphires! They were so busy trying to convert her to love that none of them even thought about some defenseless children? If the Star Sapphires stand for love, you'd think they would stand for all types of love (including that which is inspired by children), not just weepy tragic romance.

And now what we apparently have are children starving to death back on Kryb's little hidey-hole planet because she isn't there to care for them or bring them food. The little rugrats are eating maggots... maybe even eating each other.

No wonder they're (apparently) shown looking all creepy and angry, dressed in Sinestro Corps uniforms, in that splash page from a few months back. The Green Lantern Corps has forgotten that they existed, and the Star Sapphires don't care. Can we blame them for turning out a little bit twisted?

I really, really want an origin story for Kryb. Why steal babies? Did she lose her own, and now feels driven to kidnap others? Did Sinestro order her to do it? Given the fact that his own child was taken from him, he would probably be well aware of the fear and anguish that losing a child would cause.

More importantly, what does she have planned for them? Surely they can't stay in those little cages forever. She seems to love them, in a twisted sort of way.

Well, whatever it is, she's certainly being made into an interesting character. It's too bad that most people don't seem to think she's as cool as I do, just because she's hideous. The more I think about it, the more I think that she's probably one of the deepest, most interesting Sinestro Corps characters. Though I do like Karu-Sil and Arkillo, and I'm growing to like Tekik, too.