Red Lanterns #23 Review

Capping off his first issue of Red Lanterns by having Guy Gardner mortally wound Atrocitus and steal his ring was a bold start for Charles Soule. And it was just the sort of spark this series needed. That's why it's been slightly disappointing to see the ensuing two issues back down from that status quo shift a bit. The series is still obviously in capable hands, but it's not taking advantage of that newfound momentum.

The main problem with issue #23 is that it focuses so much on Atrocitus and his efforts to reclaim his lost power. Soule writes some great interaction between Atrocitus and Dex-Starr as the latter faithfully heals his master and the former wrestles with the temptation to take advantage of that. But I'd rather not see so much focus on Atrocitus so soon. The book would be better off emphasizing Guy Gardner and his efforts to steer the Reds in a new direction for now. Especially since Atrocitus' actions in this issue hit so many of the same beats as Guy's attack on the pirate crew last month.

Luckily, there is still a fair amount of space devoted to Guy and his fellow Reds. Here Soule continues to find his greatest success. The entire lineup of Red Lanterns display more depth, nuance, and even humor now, but Guy is definitely the star of the show. Soule paints him as a man still very much torn between conflicting loyalties and a lingering desire to do right, which makes his fall from grace all the more tragic.

This issue sees regular artist Alessandro Vitti joined by Jim Calafiore. Vitti handles the Atrocitus scenes, while Calafiore tackles the other pages, ensuring that the visual shifts aren't too out of place. And the reduced page count seems to help Vitti's shed some of the murkiness that hindered the previous issue.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com