Red Lanterns #25

Well!  I read this.  And I liked it.  And then I went back and read it again, and picked up on all the little things that I had missed the first time, and I liked it even more.

It starts out fairly low-key, with all of the remaining Red Lanterns celebrating their defeat of Relic by getting good and drunk in their new ship's bar.  It...it's just so appropriate.  Guy and Rankorr are hanging out, which makes sense because they are both from Earth.  Rankorr even commiserates with Guy over the destruction of Oa.  Guy shrugs and says that it's just where he used to work.  Zillius Zox is getting totally wasted, with Skallox and Bleez just pouring bottles of booze down his gullet.  Then they toss in the actual bottles, and Zox sort of...blorfs, which burns a hole through the floor.  Can I just mention again that I adore Zillius Zox? He's fabulous.  Even Skallox and Bleez seem to be enjoying themselves.  Ratchet is fussing around the edges, wringing his hands...er...tentacles because he doesn't think that Atrocitus would approve.  The rest of them have come to realize that they weren't really enjoying themselves very much with Atrocitus in charge. 

They are also pretty happy that Guy managed to wrest control of sector 2814  away from Hal.  Oh Hal, you're so pretty...and so very very stupid.  But they have good intentions, they are going to PROTECT it!  And none of this waiting for something bad to happen, they are going to go out and be proactive!  Which probably won't end well. 

Meanwhile Ratchet gets a warning, or a message on his ring, and he's...not happy about it.  So he goes off to tell the rest of them about the Warlord who is busy devastating his area of 2814, and that they must stop him.  It turns out that he used to hang out with Barg-Korr, the pirate that they stole their ship from.  And Rankorr can actually use his ring to disguise himself!  There is a bit of concern about what Dex-Star is up to, but Guy just puts that aside for the moment. 

So off they go to attack Marshall Gensui.  What could possibly go wrong?  Well, a whole lot of things as it turns out.  See, Barg isn't...dead apparently.  And Gensui knows exactly what they are up to.  Is Ratchet a traitor?  Is there more going on here?  What are Atrocitus and Dex-Star going to do with their latest recruit? 

I don't know...and I can hardly wait to find out.  That's a good comic book! 

Charles Soule is actually making me care about this oddball bunch of misfits.  They have developed personalities and quirks, other than spitting blood and going "RARRRHHH!" which is a good thing.  Guy is nominally in charge, but he's not making a big deal out of it, making sure that his people have a roof over their heads and some basic creature comforts, which is a lot more than Atrocitus ever did.  And it's a lot more than Hal has managed for the Green Lanterns, when you stop and think about it!

Pretty damned good.