Comics! Red Lanterns #0

Red Lantern #0

Writer: Peter Milligan
Penciller: Ardian Syaf
Inker: Vicente Cifuentes

The Solicitation
PROLOGUE TO THE THIRD ARMY! • Don’t miss this secret chapter of the Red Lantern Corps, as the legacy of Atrocitus’s violent past unfolds! • Witness a prophecy that threatens to change everything!

Preview

Why I Bought It
I'm a sucker for books that I used to read getting the Zero treatment. When last I checked in, Bleez was off rebelling and recruiting her own corps and the corps was dying or something like that. I forget.

What I Liked
So the artists for Batgirl and Red Lanterns switched. Both tend to put normal humans in weird poses, and both look a little better on Red Lanterns where alien biology is best suited to bend to their artistic abilities.

That first panel was a good introduction. It reminded me a little of Grant Morrison's first page of his New X-Men run. big tall robot, little person showing it what's up. In X-Men's case, it was Wolverine. Here it is Atrocitus' daughter.

The story is about the "secret history" of Atrocitus and how he formed the Red Lanterns. Interesting, because I wonder how they get formed in this new 52 universe. I think that previously Atrocitus was tortured for eons, his sector forgotten about and hidden. In this new history, it seems that Abin Sur, the Green Lantern who was a predessosor to Hal Jordan's ring, had a hand in getting Atrocitus chained up. So now I wonder just how long the Red Lanterns have been known about, and how long they have been kept a "secret." Although, this book does continue with the overall Green Lantern narrative that Abin Sur had a hand in everything related to the rainbow spectrum before Jordan even knew about it.

Basically, Jordan has done nothing in his Green Lantern career in the new 52 but chase Abin's shadow. But that's for Green Lantern.

What I Didn't Like
Direct contradiction to the events in issue #1.

By the same writer of issue #1.

I would think it is fairly easy to do what I did and go back and read the published version of issue #1. See how the story went down there, and then make sure the story you are currently telling matches those events. Look at how the killing of Atrocitus' family went down and you will see where my frustrations come from.

I can understand if a new writer is coming on and changing the past, just like how Superboy #0 did. But this is the same writer. How does that happen? I can now understand why this book isn't that popular.

The big challenge that this book has is to make the reader sympathetic to Atrocitus' plight. And I am sorta there with it. I can follow a bit, but there is just something missing. I think it lies in the fact that Atrocitus and basically went all in with the power of the Red Lanterns and there isn't anything he can turn back to. Trying to flesh him out like this just doesn't feel natural or seem like it would lead to anything for his character arc.

And BTW, if the Third Army prologue is what panel I think it is, then calling this a tie in to the Third Army story is bogus.

Panel to Remember
I'm going with the first page. It just had that moment that is iconic to me and sticks in your head.

Quotable
"And I think you're pretty stupid." - Yep, about sums up how I feel about this one and the girl's feeling about the Manhunter.

Grades
Words: 4/10
Pictures: 7/10
Buy Next Issue: Nah. I'll stay away from Red Lanterns, wait for the cancellation, and then start reading whatever title replaces it.