Red Lanterns #32 (DC)

writer: Charles Soule
artist: J. Calafiore

via Comic Box Commentary

This was a series I reconnected with thanks to some grab bags I'd been getting.  It's a New 52 launch, one of four Green Lantern titles from that time.  I'd sampled it before but hadn't really been able to get into it despite thinking it was a better idea than fans generally considered it.  It seems time has been kind to Red Lanterns.

It doesn't hurt at all for emerging superstar Charles Soule to have taken the helm.  The scene above features Rankorr, the human recruit who was introduced early in the series as someone who might be more sympathetic for the reader than other members of the rage corps originally led by Atrocitus, who was the first of the Red Lanterns introduced by Geoff Johns.  Atrocitus has been undergoing a crisis since the start.  Recently Guy Gardner revamped the Red Lanterns entirely, making it possible for them to control their rage and thereby retroactively making the red ring more comparable to the more familiar green one.  He's also successfully negotiated control of patrol over Earth from the Green Lanterns.

Oh, and that blonde in the foreground?  It's Supergirl.  That was a whole recent event.  She didn't stay a member for long, but it was certainly an interesting and key development for this version of the character.

This issue begins the four-part "Atrocities" arc that brings the conflict of leadership between Gardner and Atrocitus to a head.  It's a perfect point to recognize how great the series has become.  In fact, it's the only Green Lantern series I'm interested in reading on a regular basis these days.  As a long-time fan of the franchise, I didn't really see that coming.  The thing is, Red Lanterns gets that the franchise is a sci-fi franchise.  I know.  This is kind of weird.  It's also a lot like Guardians of the Galaxy, actually.  One might say that the Red Lanterns themselves, or their Sinestro Corps predecessors, played a huge part in laying the comic book ground for the GotG revival and current movie incarnation success.

Big epic stuff in a totally unexpected corner.  I like that.