Review: Red Lanterns Vol. 1- Blood and Rage
Quick Summary
Pros: The main storyline is compelling and exciting. The characters are all well-written and add something to the story. The exploration into the concept of rage is interesting. The volume closes by building excitement for the future. Most of the artwork looks great.
Cons: Some small pieces of the story are paced poorly.
Overall: This is a highly positive beginning to a series that is already proving to be worthwhile. This comic starts out strong with a solid cast of characters, an interesting premise, and plenty of excitement to go along with both. Then, it gets even more compelling as it uses the Red Lanterns’ unique connection to rage as a thematic anchor. Readers looking for a well-written book about a unique twist on the Green Lanterns should absolutely check this volume out.
Story
Red Lanterns Vol. 1: Blood and Rage, by Peter Milligan, is an awesome start to a new and unique DC Comics series. The book centers around an action-packed storyline with a great cast of characters, an instant recipe for success. Then, it builds upon this by providing an interesting examination into the Red Lanterns’ core emotion, rage, which makes the entire book feel more unique. Finally, it closes by building up drama for the next volume, giving readers plenty of reason to return again. All in all, things are looking very good for this volume and the series as a whole.
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The bulk of the positives in Blood and Rage come from the excitement of the main narrative. This comic follows the leader of a near-mindless Corps of superpowered beings, as he attempts to make this Corps into something better. Along the way, he deals with his own doubts, betrayal, and even some possible insanity. All of this makes it hard to guess what is going to happen next, which keeps the read exciting all the way through. Plus, the intense bursts of action, as Red Lanterns rain justice on their enemies, keep things even more exciting.
Adding onto this main narrative is the strength of the characters. Atrocitus is an excellent main character with plenty of complexity to him. However, learning more about the other members of the Red Lantern Corps makes each of them compelling as well. Discovering their backstories left me intrigued in learning more about these characters and watching them develop.
The other major positive in Blood and Rage comes from the collection’s examination into rage as an emotion. The narrative sees Atrocitus consider whether his own anger at the universe is a force of good or evil. In some ways, it allows him to recklessly attack villains yet, in other ways, it also blinds him to the grey areas in between good and evil. In a similar manner, Bleez’s awakening questions whether the blinding nature of rage is positive, in that it allows the wielder to avoid their pain, or negative, in that it eschews intelligence in favor of ignorance. This type of unique consideration is exactly what I was hoping to see more of way back when DC’s Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum was originally introduced so I’m glad to see a series making use of it.
Finally, outside of all the Red Lantern action, there is a human story going on. Two brothers, on Earth, are placed in several maddening situations. This builds their rage until one of them finally snaps and is taken in as a Red Lantern. This subplot adds an additional complication into the lives of Atrocitus and Bleez, adding in additional drama for the next volume.
The only real negative in Blood and Rage is that a few moments of the narrative are poorly paced. Bleez goes from an implied threat to Atrocitus’ position as leader of the Red Lanterns to taking over his position in a few quick chapters. It turns what could have been a wonderfully slow build of anxiety and paranoia into a fast-paced insurrection.
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Art
The majority of the artwork in Blood and Rage looks great. Ed Benes provides some wonderfully detailed work on the Red Lantern home world, other planets, and even a few great scenes back on Earth. This helps bring each of the worlds to life and helps make each one feel distinct and different. Benes also does a great job creating the characters and positioning them throughout the book. This helps make the book’s action play out even better and makes it feel more tense and dramatic.
The only downside to the artwork here is that it loses a bit of its appeal in the later chapters, where Ed Benes shares penciling duties with Diego Bernard. In these final few chapters, the level of detail drops for a few pages at a time. These drops in quality are typically pretty short but are definitely a noticeable decrease.
Continuity
Red Lanterns Vol. 1: Blood and Rage starts the Red Lanterns series. This series continues some elements from the pre-New 52 history of the Red Lanterns. This history began with their creation across Green Lantern #26-28 and #36-38 and Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns, collected in Green Lantern: Rage of the Red Lanterns. This history extends to their most recent appearance, in Green Lantern: War of the Green Lanterns.
The story here continues in Red Lanterns Vol. 2: Death of the Red Lanterns.
This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:
- Bleez’s origins as a Red Lantern are detailed in Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #2, collected in Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps.
- Guy Gardner’s history as a Red Lantern is a plot point from Green Lantern Corps Vol 2 #43, collected in Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps.
- Sinestro betrayed the Yellow Lanterns across Green Lantern Vol. 5 #1-5, collected in Green Lantern Vol. 1: Sinestro (Review).