Well, @joygirl already reviewed Gotham City 21, so I might as well review one of her works. Today we'll be looking at Wrath of the Red Lanterns. While not finished yet, the story so far focuses on the Red Lanterns attempting to find the origins of a devastatingly powerful Qwardian weapon...Oops, did I say the Red Lanterns? I meant Atrocitus. In fact, Atrocitus seemingly abandons his team to govern itself in his leave. Can the team stay together, or will it fall apart?
CONS:
I think Wrath of the Red Lantern's biggest weakness is it's lack of emotional connection. Granted, I'm not asking for Stephen King here, but many of the Red Lanterns have some really tragic backstories and profiles that could be explored really deeply here. For example, let's look at my favorite Red Lantern; Veon. Veon is a being of pure rage, pain and hatred and I was excited to see how @joygirl would put him to use. Unfortunately, so far he's really nothing more than Atrocitus's pet. I know Atrocitus is a hard ass, and I know he's not a saint, but having Atrocitus show a little bit of regret or even just pity would have been nice. I feel the same goes for Bleez. Granted, @joygirl does a great job capturing her anger and has some great dialogue for her, but I never got the emotional connection I should have. Maybe she's saving this for later, I don't know.
My 2nd problem is that the dialogue can get cheesy at times. When I look at the Red Lanterns, I see a team that is bullet to the head serious, so it is awkward to hear characters say things like "Tastes like chicken!" It's not a HUGE problem or anything, but it did irk me a little bit.
PROS:
Wrath of the Red Lantern's is fun...Like REALLY fun. The action sequences are intense, entertaining and even occasionally funny. I was expecting some Wachowski level action here, and Wrath of the Red Lanterns doesn't disappoint. @joygirl really knows how to deliver some classic light construct based combat, I think a lot of Fic'r's could learn something on writing battle scenes from her.
And while there isn't much of an emotional connection, that doesn't mean the characters aren't fun, funny or interesting. I loved Zillius's humor, I loved Atrocitus's coldness, I loved Laira's ressurection...There are some REALLY memorable scenes here and all of these characters are portrayed in a likable and IC (In character) way and they are definitely what will keep me coming back.
OVERALL:
Wrath of the Red Lanterns is more fun than a barrel of Yellow Lantern Rings, thanks in large part to it's epic battle scenes and likable characters. Still, it can be emotionally dead and cheesy at times, but as far as a beginning goes, this is a promising start. I look forwards to seeing how this project turns out
RATING:
B
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