Red Lanterns #21

Writer:  Charles Soule (27, Swamp Thing)

Art:  Alessandro Vitti (Secret Warriors)

    Red Lanterns #21 is the last of the new creative team line-up books for the Green Lantern family to be released.  While it is not the best of the book, it certainly is a far cry from the worst the family has to offer.  This team, feature the work of Charles Soule and Alessandro Vitti, focuses mainly on the direction the Red Lanterns go in a post-”Wrath of the First Lantern” universe.  While the other Lantern books focus on the heroes, we now get to see how the other half lives.

    Hal Jordan has  list.  He has been seen the supporting titles embracing his new role as head of the Green Lantern Corps and directing key players where they need to be.  In New Guardians Kyle got his marching orders, and now it’s Guy Gardner’s turn.  The interaction between Guy and Hal was one of the shining parts of this book.  Soule gets the relationship and can get himself into Gardner’s head to ensure the character stays true to himself.  Hal requests that Gardner go undercover within the Red Lantern Corps to keep tabs on Atrocitus’ movements.  Seeing as Gardner has been a Red Lantern before, Hal believes this will ease his transition back into Atrocitus’ fold.  Gardner voices his fears, but does his duty in the end.

    I wasn’t expecting the end of this issue.  I’ll keep it vague in case you haven’t had the opportunity to read the book yet.  I could guess some of the broader topics Soule would touch on, but he took it in a different direction than I was really expecting.  This really saved the book from the mediocre direction it was heading, and gave it an exciting end note to end the first installment on.  It was a pleasant surprise.  Sadly, I was hoping for something other than a trite “revenge against the Green Lantern” story.  While it isn’t explicitly stated that the Greens are  Atrocitus’ target, I can only assume that is where the story is heading.  

    Vitti’s art is hit-and-miss in this issue.  The Red Lanterns he shows us really are terrifying.  His take on Atrocitus is fierce and raw, just what I like to see for the rage-based Lanterns.  His splash pages and larger panels are great, but he seems to be cramming too much art into the smaller panels, resulting in very blotchy work that is not appealing to look at.  There are a few issues with page layout that I hope to see straightened out, but for the most part it was a great approach.

    There was a lot of mediocre in this installment with a touch of great.  There’s enough substance to keep Green Lantern fans coming back, but with now five titles in the Green Lantern family thanks to this week’s debut of Larfleeze the Orange Lantern’s solo title, there is some healthy competition for sales.  I really want to see the creative teams stepping up to make sure readers are keeping their books on their pull lists.