Calmest Rage Ever
With Krona dead of something that was supposed to be retconned out, Atrocitus needs something else to rage at. He finds it.
The Good
- Art: Ed Benes does a good job. It's very nice to look at.
- Side-characters: It's nice to see that at least one of the other corps that were introduced as the new and amazing and awesome characters that are totally here to stay finally get a bit more spotlight. During Blackest Night - which technically didn't happen anymore - the Corps became throwaway characters.
- Nose: Atrocitus has a nose. That's new. Not the worst thing. His nostrils at the side of his head are gone, though.
- One-Trick Pony I: It's nice to see that Atrocitus is trying to be more than "that angry guy". During Blackest Night - which might have happened, after all - he was just there to vomit blood and go "RARHGH! I'm angry!"
The Bad
- Crowdpleaser: The book opens with Dex-Starr, arguably the most uninteresting one of the Red Lanterns. And you can tell that he's only been shoved in because the internet likes him. Popularity should not take precedence over story.
- Crossover: The Red Lanterns is supposed to be about the Red Lanterns and while you see the Red Lanterns in almost every panel, it's not really about them. It's about what other people have said about them or done to them in the past. Hal Jordan makes an appearance, and so does Krona. Sure, they're all from the same universe, but I'd have loved to see the Lanterns doing anything but monologuing about other people we already know.
- Soloperformance: It would have been nice to have more than one person who actually has a story to him speak.
- Britain: Why are the Brits in this? There's absolutely no hint at why they're there. My guess is that one of them will turn into a Red Lantern, probably the punched one, because that's what we least expect.
- One-Trick Pony II: There's not really a lot of things you can do other than raging. That's why this book will fail. The very second you have them not rampage and vomit blood, they're not the Red Lanterns anymore.
- Punisher: Atrocitus will punish those who are guilty of guilt... or something. We know this from somewhere.
- Advertising: Is it just me or does there appear to be a real lot of ads in this one?
- Continuity: A reboot this is not. Not at all.. For new readers, this is not good. In fact, for old readers, it's also quite confusing because sometihng has happened that maybe didn't but could have. All in all, there's nobody who won't be confused after this.
The Verdict:
Skip it. It's not good. It really isn't. You learn nothing new, the story does not go anywhere and nothing happens. Also, it's a terrible way to handle a reboot... by building on stuff pre-reboot.
