When their power battery is poisoned, time runs out quickly for the Red Lantern Corps.
Creative Team:
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Miguel Sepulveda
What They Say:
The Red Spectrum of Rage is the lifeblood of the Red Lanterns and it is dying, poisoned by one of their own.
Atrocitus, the creator of the Red Lanterns, is haunted by his past. One of his creations, the powerful Red Lantern Abysmus, has been freed from his imprisonment and intends to destroy not only the Red Lanterns, but all life. In the chaos of their dying planet, Atrocitus must also face a civil war led by his right hand Bleez. Did Bleez free Abysmus in an effort to topple Atrocitus? Is the new human Red Lantern Jack Moore the key to stopping Abysmus and restoring the Red Spectrum of Rage?
The Review:
Coming off of the Green Lantern animated series with its good use of the Red Lanterns in their own way, going back into the comic book version of it is a lot of fun since there’s a much more intense and brutal aspect to it. I really liked the first volume of the series when I read it previously because the characters are just a lot of fun with their rage and intensity. The first volume had a lot of establishing material to work with since it was part of the New 52 launch and wanted to be accessible, but it also threw a wrench into the works by having a civil war erupt in the corps as Bleez made her way to become leader of a splinter group as she wanted to show them the true way to becoming a Red Lantern. Atrocitus obviously wasn’t going to take that well, but the last thing he expected was his first attempt at creating a Red Lantern, Abysmus, to come back to the real world from the dead and take on the skin of Krona just to make his point all the more intense.
Abysmus certainly has made quite the deal, though it’s one that you know is going to bite him in the ass, as he’s going to do his best to get what he wants from his father, Atrocitus. He wants recognition, not just of his existence and that it was wrong to end it, but that the path that Atrocitus is on is misguided overall. With Atrocitus being accosted from two fronts on this, we do see early on just how badly he was taken down, but he has centuries of rage within him that you know that it’s something where a spear through his chest is just going to slow him down at best. But while he’s coping with that, Abysmus has done the real dead in order to achieve his goals; he’s poisoned the power battery that fuels the Red Lanterns. And in doing so, has caused two different kinds of reactions in the corps as it exists at the moment. Some are simply running out of power for their rings, making their existence tenuous at best, but others have gone so far around the bend that they’re spewing out their insides. The arc for it goes so badly as Ysmault is in the throes of destruction that we see the planet crumbling as it enters its last days because of how bonded it was with the battery and the rage that gave it renewed existence and meaning.
Though there’s a subplot that runs into an issue of Stormwatch that’s contained in here, which seeds things for down the line, there are three primary arcs that work across here until events come together at the end in a spectacular way. With the battery running low, the corps splinters off to find Abysmus to try and deal with things and that has Bleez and her group going after the Star Sapphires as she’s convinced that’s who’s really behind everything. She gets to go up against Fatality here as she’s fueled by vengeance against her for various deeds and it’s an intense match-up that unfolds between them. Bleez reveals more of herself here, removing her mask at one point, and there is something really powerful about that moment as she’s tempted by the Sapphire ring as her power is running out and Fatality attempts to save her by converting her. It’s not subtle to be sure, but with Zox watching on in disbelief and shouting outrages at Bleez, it’s an engaging arc just for the fighting alone but made more so because of the emotions involved and the passionate way that Fatality tries to sway her back.
The second arc is one that I really liked as well as it dealt with Jack Moore, the human that’s been given a power ring in the previous volume. His story is certainly interesting since he’s doing his best to hold onto his humanity even as the rage fuels him, something that we haven’t really seen with the other members of the corps. They give in to it completely, but he starts to alternate a bit in personality, trying to remain Jack but coming across as Rankorr more as his Lantern name. He manages to ascertain his position there a bit more since humans are so poorly regarded among those in the corps, but he also has Atrocitus looking down at him pretty significantly. He makes some key contributions to the storyline here though, first on his own as he sees the fallout of the battery dying off and then as he inserts himself directly into the fight between Atrocitus and Abysmus.
When it comes to Atrocitus, there’s an intensity there that’s different from the others. He’s seeing his immense time spanning project fall apart in front of him because of his own creation and he’s intent on finding him in order to fix things, or at least have vengeance in case he can’t save it. That has him going across the stars to find him, with an amusing pit stop along the way that sees him in the hyperspace where Stormwatch operates, something they certainly never expected. But in the end, it comes down to him going up against Abysmus in an effort to have it out in full as Abysmus reveals who is backing him in all of this. There are some great passionate pieces delivered by both as they fight it out, especially as the backdrop gets pretty epic, but it all ties together well at the end as we see the way Abysmus is dealt with and the power battery itself. There’s certainly a jumping off point here with what the book does, but it also sets us on a new course going forward and it leaves me wanting to see where these characters will go.
In Summary:
Every time I pick up something with the Red Lantern corps in it, I get a little nervous and hesitant. It’s a solid property overall but one that definitely has to be handled right in order to make it work well. Peter Milligan definitely “gets” it and he’s worked this crew of characters just right here, making those that you wouldn’t think would be interesting to instead be fascinating. There’s a superficial aspect to the Corps itself with these kinds of characters, but he’s made them engaging in their rage and back stories that powers them. This volume puts us through a number of very strong stories with the overall arc of the power battery dying out because of treachery. Whether it’s the new characters like Jack Moore or the more established ones, including Atrocitus, there’s so much going on and such an intensity to it through the dialogue and artwork that it’s a very fast but very engaging reading session that left me wanting more right away.
Grade: A-
