Very unimpressed with this one. The Red Lanterns have always been an interesting concept and Atrocitus a scene stealing villain, so it makes sense that they would get a series of their own. But I found a lot of the things that made the Red Lanterns appealing as a group to be missing here.

Atrocitus has always had this unquenchable righteous fury, but the writer has chosen to forgo that in favor of a more introspective personality here that I don’t think works, or at least doesn’t work for Atrocitus. Several of the Red Lanterns under his command have their memories/sentience restored, and with that sentience they started asking the same questions as Atrocitus as to the purpose and direction the Red Lantern Corp should take, and who should be given membership. Unfortunately, they’re given little time in this book to think or act upon those thoughts. Even Bleez, the character we spend the most time with outside of Atrocitus, is given little to do. Atrocitus suspects she’s planning a coup, but the book barely explores her character so we have no idea why she would do so or if this is something she’s even capable of.

Im also very upset by how she’s drawn in this book. Bleez’s origin is that she was a princess who was mutilated and violated by a member of the Sinestro Corp and now desires revenge on those who harmed her or enabled that harm to take place. And in almost every shot of her the artist goes out of his way to pose her in a way to draw her giant butt. It’s tasteless, disrespectful, and feels extremely gross given the character’s background as a rape victim.

If I couldn’t read the next few volumes for free, I’d drop this series all together. It squanders all the potential of a Red Lantern series by forgetting what made its lead appealing and not exploring its cast of potentially compelling characters. A terrible first volume.