Blackest Night Review – “Green Lantern: Rage of the Red Lanterns”

This story arc feeds off of the Sinestro Corps War, Final Crisis, and the preceeding story arc in Green Lantern Corps while setting up not just one, but two Lantern corps.

General Information

Title: Rage of the Red Lanterns

Issues: Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns one shot, as well as Green Lantern Vol. 4 #36-38
Author: Geoff Johns

Illustrator(s): Shane Davis (pencils on FC:RotRL), Ivan Reis (pencils on GL issues), Sandra Hope (inks on FC:RotRL), Oclair Albert (inks on all GL issues), Julio Ferreira (inks on GL #37 only), Nei Ruffino (colours)

Cover Date: December 2008 – March 2009

Cover Price: $3.99 for the Final Crisis one-shot, and $2.99 for each of the rest. $24.99 for the collected hardcover edition.

Premise

As revealed in Green Lantern: Secret Origin, the story arc immediately preceeding this one, Atrocitus was one of only five survivors when an unexplained glitch caused the Manhunters to decimate life in Sector 666. The five survivors, known as the Five Inversions, were trapped on the world Ysmault in sector 666 after they attempted to retaliate. Atrocitus allowed his rage to take control of himself, and became the first Red Lantern.

High Point

The interactions of the rings are laid out pretty clearly, and set up some interesting possibilities for the coming war of light.

Low Point

Why did this kick off as a Final Crisis issue? That seemed like nothing more than marketing. The content had next to nothing to do with Final Crisis, and felt like a way to stamp a label on the issue to take the sales of this event and shift them over to the preliminaries of the next event.

The Scores

This is definitely original, laying in groundwork for stories unlike any of the Green Lantern series have seen thus far. I give it 5 out of 6.

The artwork is great from both teams, whether they are headed by Davis or Reis. The alien designs fit the emotions represented by each Corps quite nicely, and the emotions are portrayed nicely. I give it 5 out of 6.

The story is interesting in its own right, while simultaneously laying groundwork for the coming event. I give it 5 out of 6.

The characterizations of Hal, Sinestro, Walker and Atrocitus come through nicely, setting the players up for the coming conflict quite well. I give it 5 out of 6.

The emotional response is strong. This is obviously an emotionally charged story, and there’s a lot of interest and concern generated for the players involved. I give it 5 out of 6.

The flow is nice and smooth, bringing a lot of elements together quite effectively and driving the overarching story forward. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, it’s a solid story arc, building an important pair of corners in the Green Lantern universe. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Rage of the Red Lanterns receives 35 out of 42.

Blackest Night Checklist

Preliminaries

The Main Event

  • Blackest Night #0 (Free Comic Day edition), #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, , #7, #8, complete series
  • Green Lantern #43
  • Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1-3
  • Green Lantern #44-??
  • Green Lantern Corps #39-??
  • Blackest Night: Batman #1-3
  • Blackest Night: Superman #1-3
  • Blackest Night: Titans #1-3
  • more to come…