Warning! Spoilers ahead for Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last Stories Of The DC Universe #1
The end has come for the DC Universe. The Darkest Knight has formed his new Dark Multiverse in Dark Nights: Death Metal and the united heroes and villains are preparing for the final battle that is to come. As such, a new one-shot has arrived: Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last Stories Of The DC Universe #1. This issue features several characters on the eve of the conflict, preparing for the conflict that the dawn will bring. Green Lantern is one of these heroes, taking time to reflect on his life and the losses he’s endured along the way. However, his moment alone is interrupted by the Yellow Lantern Sinestro, Jordan’s former mentor, and longtime rival, though their interaction doesn’t go as Green Lantern fans would initially expect.
Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last Stories Of The DC Universe #1 is presented as a collection of short stories, and the one featuring Jordan and Sinestro, ‘Last Knights’ is from Jeff Lemire and Rafael Albuquerque. The tale sees Hal Jordan doing what he loves most: flying and enjoying the feeling of freedom that comes with it. However, Jordan starts to dwell on darker things, and his flight eventually takes him to the Valley of The Rainbow Rings, a region of this dark world where power rings have gone after their wielders have passed, having no one worthy to wield them next. As Jordan wonders whether there will be anyone to remember him or carry on the torch when he’s gone, he’s interrupted by none other than Sinestro.
Seeing as how Sinestro and Jordan have long been arch-foes and rivals, Jordan is ready for a fight, despite the recent alliance between the heroes and villains of the DC Universe. However, Sinestro actually confesses that he had come to the Valley wanting to trade in his yellow ring of fear, hoping to end his life as it truly began when he mentored Jordan all those years ago: as a Green Lantern, wielding the green light of willpower once more. At first, Joran is angered that Sinestro would even think he’d deserve to wield a green power ring again after all he’s done. However, as Sinestro turns to leave empty-handed, Jordan has a change of heart. He chooses to see light instead of focusing on the darkness, powering up one of the abandoned rings and giving it to his arch-foe and former mentor as a second chance.
With the ring in hand, Sinestro recites the oath, and he becomes a Green Lantern once more. Sinestro himself admits that he had forgotten what it felt like to not be afraid, having wielded the power of fear for so long. Together as Green Lanterns, the pair fly together on the eve of what may very well be the final battle of the DC Universe “in search of blue” (the color associated with hope).
Many of the stories featured in Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last Stories Of The DC Universe #1 are about creating resolutions and finality for DC characters before the end comes, and this is certainly one of them. Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern and Sinestro have essentially been enemies and rivals since the dawn of DC’s Silver Age, so to witness the pair coming together before the end of the universe to bury the hatchet is pretty cool. Assuming they both survive, who knows if this resolution will stick. Despite the high probability that it probably won’t and Sinestro will go back to his ways as a Yellow Lantern, it’s still pretty epic to see Hal Jordan and Sinestro joining forces, if only for the end of Dark Nights: Death Metal.
