Red Lanterns (2011-2015) Vol. 5: Atrocities

Good deal, Great seller.

I have only been a fan of The Green Lantern Universe for the past several months, but I have read a dozen or so graphic novels and feel am indoctrinated enough to comment on the latest installment of the Red Lantern offshoot. The Green Lanterns will always be my favorite guardians of the galaxy. Nevertheless, I am thoroughly enjoying the Red Lantern series far more than I originally thought I would. The quality of the story arcs sometimes waxes and wanes, but the Red Lantern graphic novels have without exception been excellent. There hasn't yet been a single one in the series of 5 that I have been able to put down until I have read it in its entirety. The characters have at this point all been fleshed out and well developed, and the artwork is exceptionally good. Atrocitus is back and lusting for revenge with his evil sidekick, the feral housecat Dex-Starr. In the previous installment, Atrocitus was restored to life by the wily and resourceful Dex-Starr after having the life beaten out of him and his ring taken by Guy Gardner. The reader is given the impression that in the months since the splintering of their Red corps, Guy Gardner has been busy building what will hopefully be the moral foundation of the post-Atrocitus Red Lantern Corps along with fellow lanterns; Skallox, Zox, Bleez, and Rankorr. In the beginning of this series, they were all enslaved to the domineering Atrocitus, the hate-and-rage-filled founder of the Red Lantern Corps. In his absence, thanks largely to the 'humanizing' efforts and leadership of Guy Gardner, the Red Lanterns seem to be learning to work together for their mutual benefit. The theme for this entire series seems to be evolution and transformation. The blood-spewing, hate-filled Red Lanterns we met at the beginning of this series are now capable of empathy, respect for one another, and most importantly teamwork. This turn of events was unforseeable in the very beginning and would certainly be impossible were Atrocitus to regain control of the corps once again. --Spoiler Alert---A deal brokered with Hal Jordan and the Green Lanterns through Guy Gardner has made the Red Lanterns the official guardians of space sector 2814--which includes Earth! I particularly enjoyed Supergirls brief inclusion as a Red Lantern in this series, and I was thoroughly entertained by the final showdown between Atrocitus and Guy Gardner. It should be obvious to all that Guy Gardner is not only different appearing externally in this series, but that he has changed internally as well. He has undergone alot of emotional maturation in his leadership role. It would seem that in the end the red ring of rage had the opposite effect on his Gardner's persona one might have predicted. I highly recommend this series to all fans of the Green Lantern Universe. These stories have something in them for everyone and I really look forward to the next installment!

Would've given five stars, if not for the ending. For the time the red corps has existed in the DC Universe, they have been led by the interesting and Rage-Filled Atrocitous. Even in the epilogue of New 52 Green Lantern #20 (God of Comics Geoff Johns last GL issue) it is shown that Atrocitous leads the Red Lanterns for millennia, in his sad, Rage filled state. ONE issue worth later in the continuity, Guy Gardner takes them over, and now Atrocitous dies in this issue. Permanently. Oh, and Dex-Starr? He dies too! Well, s***. Now we have the "touchy-feeley sometimes angry but other times depressed" lanterns. I hope that they pick it up in the next volume. But overall, I commend the new writer's efforts. Better than other writers, retconning the past runs completely.

Guys time with the Reds has been a natural fit, and this volume continues his tenure with them. As the Reds deal with a angry Kryptonian in Supergirl, I was surprised how well this version of her fit in the team. With her inclusion, the looming civil war with the revenge seeking former leader Atrocitous brews and its not long before shots are taken, revenge is sought, and a Red Lantern Civil war breaks out, with Earth being involved. By the end, enough "blood" has been spelt, and the Reds look on all that has happened. By the end, it is very clear how Guy sees his post in the corps, and it makes for a interesting situation for the last volume to address. Get the three vols written by Soule, they are the best series in the post Johns GL universe.

Volume 4 was hilarious imo and added a lot more character to the individual lanterns. I started to like the characters more now because of it. Volume 5 took everything i loved about the last volume and pretty much took out all the stuff i hated. They kept building on top of what made the characters great and really made me hate myself for growing attached to the characters.Volume 5 also added back the darker edgier style of previous volumes. The only issue i had was the less than stellar ending but it really didnt detract from from the overall experience.

The beginning starts out good liked the development of the characters even with introduction of the newest red, Supergirl which despite her awful teenage angst didn't bog down the story for too long. Even with all that annoying emotional garage the reds have been subjected to blabber about. There was still hope Atrocitus was back and he wanted revenge! Bahahahaha! The build up to the climax had all signs of being an awesome finally show down. But, lol it wasn't! The finally encounter is about a panel long seemed rushed and just well lazy. I just sigh because I knew it was going to be a terrible comic and I told myself not to get it but I hoped for best and lost. So if you're on the fence about getting this volume I wouldn't, unless you're a Guy Gardener fan and then you should because you're an idiot and you make poor decisions because you're a Guy Gardener fan.

This book is hands down one of the best of the Red Lantern series. 20/10 would recommend. Guy is the best!

An amazing read. Great story from start to finish. Guy from earth has great rage from his heart

Red Lanterns: mean, angry, blood-spewing idiots who’re angry and mean – but are slowly becoming more cuddly? In this volume, Guy Gardner’s Red Lanterns square off against Atrocitus’s Red Lanterns – grrr! Then Supergirl becomes a (temporary) Red Lantern - rarrr! Then there are suddenly hundreds of Red Lanterns – GRRRRAAARRR! But the Red Lanterns are all buddies so they’re gonna save everything together, yay!So much – too much - of this chunky book is filler. Skallox and Zilius Zox go sight-seeing on Earth! Guy woos ex-girlfriend Ice unsuccessfully! A new, uninteresting character called The Judge is introduced! Supergirl becomes a Red Lantern and then turns back! Two pointless crossovers are thrown in! There’s meaningless cameos galore: Batman, Superman, John Stewart! And watch as one boring fight after another happens!The bloated volume could have been condensed into a strong, tight four or five issue book - instead we’ve got eleven issues!! The search for Atrocitus and the nine red rings is a fine story and that alone could’ve been enough. Have the Red Lanterns focus on this rather than send them here, there and everywhere else. All that extra stuff can easily go, like what was the point of having Supergirl become a Red Lantern? None, except to fill up a lot of space - it didn’t go anywhere anyway!I really hate crossovers because it forces you to read titles you’re not reading for a reason. So having Robert Venditti’s Green Lantern and Tony Bedard’s Supergirl comics shoe-horned into this book were unwelcome additions. Not only were they boring but they added nothing to the overall story that wasn’t already in it.The ending definitely the worst part as it’s really rushed and poorly put together – thrown together really! After spending scores of pages on irrelevant fluff, Charles Soule crams: Guy Gardner’s showdown with Atrocitus, major changes to the cast and series direction, and Guy’s new life in about five pages! Compare this to a useless fight between Skallox, Zilius Zox, and Shadow Thief earlier in the book which ran to more pages!In addition to the overlong page count, the panels are packed with dialogue giving it a claustrophobic look. Soule makes sure every character has a lot to say about everything so trudging through this book is an exhausting read! When Soule does get around to focusing on the story of the Reds vs Atrocitus and his growing army of other Reds, things are good – it’s just so much of it is watered down making it less effective.Soule writes the characters to be much more likeable than they’ve previously been presented which somehow feels wrong – they’re Red Lanterns, they’re not supposed to be about the feels! And why have Guy Gardner frequently make the point that he’s not a leader and the Reds are independent, when all he does is lead and the rest follow?Art-wise, it’s difficult to say because there are a ton of artists contributing pages. It’s more or less consistently fine but it’s the usual story with DC mashing together an issue by having one artist draw the first five pages, then another drawing the next seven, another drawing three, and another drawing the remaining pages – multiplied by 11!The book could’ve benefitted from Soule culling a lot of his dialogue, focusing more on the main story, and giving the finale the space it deserved rather than barrelling through it at breakneck speed. As a result, Red Lanterns Volume 5: Atrocities is just an ok book when it had the potential to be much better.

Good seller and good item!