First Appearance of Sinestro: Green Lantern #7 (1961)

Sinestro first appeared in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #7, cover-dated August 1961, created by writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane (Wikipedia). PriceCharting describes the issue as the debut and origin of Sinestro and gives its release date as July 1, 1961. The two dates do not conflict: the release date is simply a month ahead of the date printed on the cover, so identify the book by its cover date and number.

He is already a villain in his first appearance; the story explains how he fell. Wikipedia tells it this way: Sinestro received his ring from the dying Green Lantern Prohl Gosgotha and became the Green Lantern of Korugar. He later mentored Hal Jordan, but his dictatorial rule over Korugar was exposed. For using the ring to spread fear instead of fighting it, the Guardians banished him to the antimatter universe, where the Weaponers of Qward made him a yellow power ring, using the Green Lantern rings' weakness against the color yellow.

He is the founder and leader of the Sinestro Corps, the yellow corps, and he wore a Qward-made yellow ring decades before the corps existed. The Sinestro Corps itself first appeared much later, in Green Lantern vol. 4 #10 (May 2006), created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver (Wikipedia). He offered yellow rings to the most feared warriors in the universe.

On "the weakest lantern corps": DC has not ranked them in the sources we checked. Wikipedia names one known weakness of the Sinestro Corps: a Blue Lantern ring can drain its power.

PriceCharting values retrieved September 25, 2026:

• Ungraded: $250.37 (about one sale a week)
• 4.0: $432.10
• 6.0: $757.71
• 8.0: $2,800.00
• 9.2: $5,338.15
• 9.8: $37,696.23 (rare)

The biggest jumps are 6.0 to 8.0 (about 3.7 times) and 9.2 to 9.8 (about 7 times). A 1961 book in 8.0 or better is uncommon, which is what these steps reflect. PriceCharting figures are estimates built from recorded sales of CGC-graded copies; when a grade trades only about once a year, one sale can push it above the next grade up.

Wikipedia calls Sinestro the archenemy of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, which answers "who is Green Lantern's worst enemy". On screen, Mark Strong played him in the live-action Green Lantern film (2011).

Photograph the front cover straight on, then the indicia (the small print on the first page or inside cover with the title, issue number and date). ComicLens reads the title, issue number and cover from the photo, matches the likely issue with a confidence indicator you can correct by hand, and shows a reference price range that moves with the grade you pick. For Green Lantern #7, photograph the indicia to confirm it is the 1961 series (vol. 2) and not a later Green Lantern #7 from a relaunched series. There are free scans every day; the range is a reference estimate, not an appraisal or an offer.

Research and drafting were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed on this page. Prices are the figures shown by the named source on the date given; they change with the market. Pages we tried to open but could not read (Key Collector Comics, Reddit, Facebook, eBay and Fandom returned errors) are not used as sources.