Red Lanterns #8

In a series where the main idea is having powering powered by RAGE!!! That the characters would have short attention spans (or short fuses should I say) which would forcefully progress the story quickly to get things done. Yet I’m surprised at the slow passing that Red Lanterns has taken, moving things slower than expected to give us a more rounded understanding of the problems of being a Red Lantern and the danger that comes to them. Unfortunately there’s “taking it slow” and there’s moving at a snails pace. As other series have come to the end of their first and second stories (and 6 actually ending) this series has only, just, sort of, started to hit off it’s first major story with this issue. Yeh, 6 issues of character back-story and we’re finally getting “A Story” which only started at the end of the last issue. So let’s see this story progress (over the next 8 years) in Red Lanterns #8.

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We open up 2 hours prior to where issue #7 ended, with Abysmus (a failed experiment of Atrocitus) now wearing the skin of the dead (?) guarding Krona as he uses blood magic, contaminating the central power battery of the Red Lantern Corps. Back to the present Jack Moore has landed on Ysmault just in time to save Atrocitus from his impalement. But what's strange is that he’s now talking in fully comprehendible sentences! Wha!!! To find out more pick up Red Lanterns #8.

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So it’s already been said (by yours truly) that “at a snails pace” is how fast the plot of Red Lanterns seems to be moving and really it hasn’t changed much here, really. Sure there’s some action going on, but it’s not really happening here (or at least not on the Ysmault) where it should be happening. An enemy has arisen yet our mighty Red Lanterns seem to be loitering around as the plot conveniently moves onwards. Now as a fan of DC’s cosmic titles (for those of you who don’t know, basically series that take place in space or the future) I know that the pacing is different. Several stories can be woven into one long piece, but they usually don’t take this long to get the ball rolling. What I did like was the level of intellect shown by Jack after landing on Ysmault, and not having been thrown into the blood lake (see previous issues) which I can see becoming a plot point in future issues (red rings being sent out to chose those with not only great rage, but minds that can control them). That and the small interaction between Jack and Atrocitus really sold the story to me, just that one sentence “you tell… Atrocitus… not to get… Worked up? You’re… New here, aren’t you?” From that alone I can see the development in the Red Lanterns manifest (so to speak). As well as that the primary characters of the series seem to becoming more visible/stable than in previous issues, with Jack and Bleez joining the ranks of primary characters with intelligence and not just mindless rage goons (though as of yet our 3 other sentient characters have yet to make a greater impact on us). Events are finally starting to happen, and are not just being built up to (sort of) so if we wait another good few years Milligan might finally finish this first story and move on to his second

one (I jest). Art wise Guinaldo and Jimenze do a good job as usual, as despite how long it takes for the plot to move along the artwork is always nice (the plot scenic rout you could say). The depiction of Abysmus truly fits his name, an abysmal failed experiment, and the bleeding affect of the Red Lantern construct was nice. Also, a note for the cover art, I really liked the scaled segments of the Red Lantern costumes on Atrocitus and Jack, giving it a more rough and scaled feel in comparison to the smoother costumes of the other lantern corps. Colouring is, well, difficult to comment on considering that the series is mostly focused on Reds and blacks with the occasional lighter oranges (which pretty much makes up most of the colours of this issue) and that when it does change its mostly due to a non-Red Lantern character being focused on. But from what I can determine the colouring by Eyring is good, as is the inking by both Irwin and Jimenez, though if I must critique something it’s basically a question of what skin colourer is Bleez meant to have. I mean here she’s depicted as pale white, but in other books she’s shown as pale blue (I mean just look at the cover) so which one is it meant to be?

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Overall I’d give Red Lanterns #8 a 3/5. The pace is still slow and still taking its time to develop, but considering that this is a book following relatively new and straight out of the box new characters I can see why the series is taking its time, but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t having an affect on it. The artwork is nice, with not so diverse a colour pallet. This is not the best of the lantern series by far, and I would heavily advice anyone who’s interested to pick up the series in its trade form rather than the single issues at the moment (or at least until the pace speeds up and finally gets into its swing). So once again, Red Lanterns #8:-

3/5