Blood and rage leading to vengeance.
On the planet Ysmault, Atrocitus leader of the Red Lanterns is seconds away from his death until the new Red Lantern from Earth named Jack Moore soon to become Rankorr appears. The assailants halt their attack and leave the Red Lanterns to their fate, which is a slow painful death. Atrocitus leaves on a personal mission to find the one responsible for everything. -summary
Peter Milligan picks up the pace with such amazing speed, that I remember thinking this batch of issues were written by someone else. Red Lanterns Volume 2: Death of the Red Lanterns is a completely different animal from the first volume Blood and Rage. The first volume moved at a slower pace developing its characters and setting the stage for various plot threads. This volume settles some of those things, delivers plenty of action, and continues pushing a main plot line that has made it to all Green Lantern related titles by this point. This TPB collects Red Lanterns issues 8 - 12 and Storm Watch #9.
In the last volume Atrocitus was attacked by his first creation named Abysmus; he was meant to become Atrocitus' first Red Lantern but was beaten, buried, and left for dead due to being flawed. Abysmus was some how resurrected and he attacked Atrocitus for this. Meanwhile Jack Moore was on his way towards becoming a Red Lantern because of his own situation on Earth, and Atrocitus second in command Bleez was plotting betrayal. This volume picks up all of these plot threads delivering some type of closure.
The plot follows Atrocitus as he searches for a cure. Absymus found a way to poison and destroy the Red Lanterns power battery which is causing them to slowly lose power and die. Unlike the other Lantern groups whom can still live without their rings; the Red Lanterns are quite different since it seems to be linked to their life force. Atrocitus also knows that a second party must be involved because it was impossible for Absymus to return on his own. At the same time, a truce is formed between Atrocitus and Bleez, whom has already gathered her followers and began a full fledged revolt to kill her leader.
There's one flaw I can imagine to stand out for some people, and it's Milligan's jumpy narrative as he attempts to make three characters feel important: Atrocitus, Bleez, and Rankorr. At times the book can feel like three different stories but it flows quite well I think. Nearly all of the character building took place in the first volume, yet Milligan feels it necessary to continue it for these key characters, and I commend him for getting the job done. Rankorr is a lot better to read now than before, as he deals with slowly losing his humanity and fully embracing the rage that makes a RL; and Atrocitus is searching like mad for his failed creation, which lands him into a battle with the Earth group Stormwatch, hence explaining the crossover into each others books.
Around this time Milligan was writing both of those books, so he had an understanding on how to blend his work. If I didn't already have experience with Stormwatch prior to this, this crossover would have definitely intrigued me. They were developed enough through action, technology, and purpose, that could have made me want a better view on what they're all about. Despite what some may say, I thought this crossover was far from terrible or even meaningless with its potential to become something later on.
The side plots are fun to read through out, and there's more story leading towards the Rise of the Third Army event which had already been building across the GL universe. One flaw in Milligan's writing is delivering way too much inner dialog to where the characters can repeat themselves. Even in single issue format this can be a problem since it happens in the same issue at times.
Ed Benes was replaced on artwork duties, so the responsibility fell on Miguel Sepulveda and Tomas Giorello. At times Sepulveda's art is quite better than Benes with those very sharp and clean character designs. The women such as Bleez and Fatality can look gorgeous without over the top sex appeal, and Atrocitus looks monstrous during the Stormwatch battle. The action panels deliver the chaos and ring abilities with magnificent flair. I love quite a few of these backgrounds here; the purple and violet coloring for the Star Sapphires homeworld is beautiful and fits very well for this all female Lantern corps. There's too much to describe here; Sepulveda simply has the backgrounds and setting personalities down a lot better than Benes. This book feels sci-fi from start to finish; and I'm talking across space, alien worlds, and hyper space.
Milligan nailed this book for the most part with its action, characters, story development, and even dark comedy that comes out of nowhere. His only real flaw is how wordy this can be and the jumpy feel will bother some readers. Other than that this is a very solid comic that is leaps better than its predecessor. I recommend giving it a shot but I also think the first volume is necessary reading. If you're already a fan of the GL universe then try it. If not, there are better selections in the New 52.
Pros: Much better than last volume, artwork
Cons: Can be too wordy and jumpy narrative will put off some readers.