Red Lanterns #29 Review by Eblison Grun

Red Lanterns #29

writer- Charles Soule

artist- Alessandro Vitti

Since the beginning of DC's New 52 reboot, Outside The Cube has been keeping a close eye on Red Lanterns. This title always had the potential to be one of the best books in the line-up, and considering that the Red Lantern Corps is still a somewhat obscure entity, I'd say the title is holding up rather well.

Writer Geoff Johns and artist Ethan Van Sciver introduced us to the group of anti-heroes in 2007. With their red power rings, the Red Lanterns are driven by pure rage. It's a great tool whenever you need a complicated character storyline or just need someone to go on a rampage through the DC Universe.

In this issue, we focus on Supergirl's induction into the Red Lantern Corps. Her world has been destroyed, she's been bossed around and manipulated by everyone she's come in contact with on Earth, and some guy named Lobo won't leave her alone. So what happens? Her rage makes her the prime target for one of the red rings. Unfortunately, being a Red Lantern doesn't mean people are going to stop bossing her around, and that's obvious when her cousin, Superman, shows up to try talking her into giving up the red ring. He's right to try. The life of a Red Lantern is filled with violence and hate, but another very important fact about being a Red Lantern is that it's forever, like it or not.

This issue hooked me like so others in the New 52 right now. It hooked me like I have been hoping it would for the past 29 issues. Charles Soule has turned a team of monsters into characters I like and even care about, an he's really imparted a sense of humanity in them. Even Guy Gardner, former Green Lantern, a character I never liked, has become a really good person who's forced to deal with this burden and duty of being a Red Lantern. Soule also touches on the idea of Supergirl still being a child. There's a scene where Guy Gardner won't let her have a drink and she tries to explain to him why she's old enough. It comes off as an immature tantrum and gives readers, and Red Lanterns, cause to be worried for her well-being. Soule's got it down. His writing is sometimes brutal, often serious, and occasionally heartbreaking as we see in Red Lanterns issue #29. With characters like Guy Gardner and Supergirl, you want so much for them, but realize that their futures are inescapably smeared with blood.

As for Alessandro Vitti: he's had a handful of good titles between DC and Marvel and his work has never been weak. Thick dark lines in his art convey the mood of this title and the emotional stress the characters have to bear. This is another fine example of the art and the writing working together to create an amazing story. Vitti proves once again that he's every bit the story-teller.

Red Lanterns #29 is on sale now, and if you like Supergirl in her new role, check out the rest of the Red Daughter of Krypton storyline running through the Red Lanterns and Supergirl comics.