Red Lanterns #22
Written By: Charles Soule Art By: Alessandro VittiDon’t be confused by the grotesque blood and raging nature of this issue, it is by no means a mature tale, but a very juvenile, simple outing, in the lives of the Red Lanterns. Red Lanterns #22 loses the clever spark from last issue, and save for some witty one-liners, is a very basic story about outsiders looking for a leader.
With Guy and Hal plotting against the Reds last issue, it felt like a much smarter take on the characters, as the more sensible characters pointed out their flaws. With the focus solely on the Reds, the first opening pages of the issue feel frustrating, as the two-dimmensional characters argue about finding a new leader, when we’ve yet to have reason to care about their success as a team.
When Gardner appears, his sarcastic remarks liven up the issue, but it’s not enough to make me love the cast. While his mission to hijack the ship and find a new home for the Reds is an enjoyable mission, there’s not a lot of promise for these characters gaining new perspective.
Vitti continues to excel at capturing the rage in the characters’ faces, but only shows one angle of that anger. It would be interesting to see varying degrees of rage, even though the blood-spewing looks sharp on the page. The action sequence is pretty cluttered on the ship, with the choice to have tight, diagonal panels.
Red Lanterns #22 is an overall enjoyable comic, but definitely hasn’t reached a level of intrigue that makes me engaged in the Reds’ lives. At this point, I enjoy them getting verbally abused by Guy Gardner more than any of their good fortune.
