Sinestro is NOT a Good Son!

 

cover art by Dick Giordano

Gee whiz, Sinestro is a big meanie! Over the past two issues, he's been responsible for knocking Guy Gardner into an apparently permanent coma. Now he's using his own dad to set another death trap for Hal Jordan!

Green Lantern #124 (January 1980) has writer Denny O'Neil and artist Joe Staton & Frank McLauglin continues Hal's feud with Sinestro. Hal had already stated his intention to track down his arch enemy, but Sinestro attacks first, destroying a museum of space exploration that was just opening. Hal manages to save all the civilians, but the building is a total loss.

So Hal takes the battle to Sinestro, flying to Sinestro's home planet of Korugar. Once there, he summons Katma Tui, the planet's GL.

But Korugar has a dumb rule that prevents Katma from herself attacking Sinestro (I think because he's a fellow Korugarian) as long as the villain isn't directly threatening the planet. She does show Hal a place to start looking for Sinestro, though. Sinestro's dad runs a sleezy business involving Null Chambers. Residents of Korugar use the chamber (which uses yellow null rays) to have their life force slowly drained from them, keeping them just barely alive. For Korugarians, this is an addictive experience.

It turns out, though, that Sinestro's dad ISN'T Sinestro's dad! He's Sinestro wearing a Dad Mask. The bad guy has tossed his own father into the null rays to set up a trap for Hal.

Trapped by the yellow rays and hallucinating that the women he has loved are beckoning him to his death, he manages to send off a signal with his ring. This brings Katma back, who can now act because Sinestro is threatening an innocent visitor on the planet. She smashes the null ray generator and Hal starts beating up Sinestro. But a null ray addict gets in Hal's way, allowing Sinestro to depart for the dimension of Qward. 

This is a pretty straightforward chapter in the ensuing epic tale, which will eventually lead up to a massive battle involving the entire Green Lantern Corps. The story moves along quickly and the art (along with Anthony Tollin's colors) effectively brings an alien world/culture to life. The null ray chamber is downright creepy and makes for a unique death trap.

Next week, we'll visit Thor and the Thing in the Marvel Universe. So we'll jump back to the DC Universe in two weeks to see how Hal is doing in his search for Sinestro.