Comics! Red Lanterns #3

Red Lanterns #3

Writer: Peter Milligan

Penciller: Ed Benes

Inker: Rob Hunter

It's the Bleez origin issue/rebirth special!

Atrocious throws Bleez into the blood pits and she regains her intelligence and personality that she had before she was a Red Lantern. It helps to know that once you become a Red Lantern, you essentially turn into a blood spewing Rage-a-holic that does whatever Atrocious tells you to do. Atrocious has decided that he needs someone other than himself to help lead the Red Lanterns and he chooses Bleez.

Essentially Bleez was the fairest one in her home planet. She was a part of a race that thought they were above other races. Then one day, a Yellow Lantern of the Sinestro Corps came along and killed her mother and tore off Bleez's wings, thus giving her the bony wings that we see and know.

Apparently it was a couple of guys who tipped off the Sinestro Corps member and they were the reason he came to find Bleez. After making short work of one guy, Bleez decides that she will let the other one live, never knowing when she will strike. Step in Atrocious, who say that this is not the Red Lantern way, and strikes the guy dead. In doing this, we essentially get a small division in the Red Lanterns that mirrors the debate that Atrocious has had with himself in the past two issues. This will obviously cause some problems in the future for the control freak nature that Atrocious has.

I'm loving this book. It has depth and background that you could find in the main Green Lantern title that Atrocious first appeared in, but there is something about this story that gives the characters more focus. I ended the book with the feeling that there is an overall story going on, but this focusing on moments or on a singular character is the way to go with this "team" book. I say "team" book because there isn't much of one here even though the Lanterns in the title has an "s." This book has one main character that controls the whole team - Atrocious. Now, we are building a team.

The art does get a little bit cheesecake here and there, but mixed with the story that it is telling, it fits in perfectly. Hell, we got muscle bound goodness form Atrocious in previous issues, now the story focusing on showing the female side of it. Not too much, but just enough in the right places.

Words: 10/10 - perfectly told origin type of story.

Pictures: 10/10

Recommend: If you are only getting two Green Lantern books, get Green Lantern and then get this one. Its what I would do.

Buy Next Issue: See above recommendation.