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Written by Geoff Johns
Penciled by Shane Davis
Inks by Sandra Hope
Review by Ryan Stevens
Last year, DC’s green lantern franchise soared back onto everyone’s radar during the awe-inspiring “Sinestro Corps War” arc, in which a rival army of power-ring wielders, lead by the titular villain, rose up to attack the Green Lantern Corps. At the story’s conclusion, there was a teaser claiming 5 other corps would soon appear, each driven an emotion (as the Green Lanterns are driven by willpower and the Sinestro Corps by fear), . Now, after months of teasing, the next corps makes its debut: the red lanterns, and boy are they not happy to be here.
The Red Lanterns are fueled by, get this, rage, which is basically implied in the title. This anger and hatred is displayed full-force during a scene on the hellish planet of Ysmault, where the red lanterns are “sworn in”, a process requiring a literal bloodbath and a meditation on what each Red Lantern despises. The fierce nature of the Reds is also shown during their first strike on the opposing corps, where they violently and speedily attack everything in sight. Even the lanterns themselves are testaments to this new corps’ brutality. Most Red Lanterns are hulking and bestial, resembling nightmarish demons and animals with only a few exceptions. The fear-mongering Sinestro Corps members were scary in appearance; The Red Lanterns are demonic. My personal favorite is one rotund lantern who resembles the monsters who terrorized Stephen King’s The Langoliers, and proves his mettle by eating up a Sinestro member in one bite.
The story itself is a good jumping on point for new readers, but is still very much a “part one”. Despite being its own special, “Rage” does not conclude inside its own 48-page boundaries. I suppose this is all well and good, though, seeing as writer Geoff Johns would be doing himself and his fans a disservice to rush this story into a conclusion so fast. While this arc may focus on the Red Lantern Corps, Johns reminds the reader of the coming “War of Light” with the lesser presence of two other emerging color-corps in this story, keeping this story very much a continuation of events past.
Shane Davis hit’s a home run in the art portion of the issue, delivering dynamic battle scenes and (aforementioned) fantastic character designs throughout. While Davis has a tendency to overdraw in other works, inker Sandra Hope eclipses this problem and give the finished linework a gloss and sheen that really adds to the space-faring shininess of the subject matter.
One problem I do have with this special is the “Final Crisis” moniker on the issue’s cover. This issue is said take place between issues #1 and #2 of that series, and apart from some minor references made to events of Final Crisis issue 1, this really doesn’t seem to have anything to do with that series. I’m assuming this was a ploy to boost sales, or perhaps these projects will tie in on a later date, but as of now, this seems fairly misleading. Other than that, this issue is a fantastic read and must-buy for fans of Green Lantern, Science Fiction, or good comics in general.
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Booster Gold #11 |
