Red Lanterns #27 Review

Home is where the 'heart' is.

Guy Gardner returns to his home planet in order to catch up on some things while showing his fellow Red Lanterns what Earth has to offer.

First of all, this is a post Forever Evil timeline, it seems. But the spoilers are almost negligible.

Soule is mixing the old with the new, as he builds on some groundwork left by Milligan while he is putting a complete revamp on everything that was Red before him.

Vitti and Calafiore divide the art duties this issue and there is a seamless transition between them.

The story has now totally gone into outer space biker gang territory.

SPOILERS FOLLOW............

Prepare for a big character design change for Guy Gardner! He's now Robert Redford reborn as a Red Lantern.

It seems they've spent a lot of time on Ysmault where the natives of Kormorax have been building statues in honor of the Red Lantern liberators. Guy's statue has been the only sore point as we see it is of his pre-#27 look.

But there seems to be a problem with the sector numbering. Ysmault should be sector 666 so unless something really weird happened, the sector 2814 numbering is wrong.

But the problem remains as the enslaved have become the persecutors. They want to hunt down Gensui's people, with hints towards genocide. This echoes some very grim themes of our time on Earth as well.

Guy calls them out on this and says that as long as they're punishing only the guilty, they're fine. The moment they cross that line, the Red Lanterns are coming for them.

Bleez reminds Guy that there is a red ring out there, which have most probably found a new wielder. Taking permission (who would have thought?) from Guy, she decides to track it down along with the unwelcome Rankorr. It seems Soule will continue to explore the Rankorr-Bleez comradeship and I have no idea what his end plan is.

On Ysmault, Guy decides to take the remaining two Red Lanterns, Skallox and Zilius Zox (by far the best source of comedic moments) on a little field trip to Earth.

Guy lays some ground rules for their trip, fully knowing the metahumans they can encounter there may be out for their head - good and bad.

But Zox and Skallox are unimpressed by the 'backwater' nature of our planet, and one too many quips result in Guy separating from them while giving them some hot spots to look up.

It seems though that Guy was looking for an excuse to leave as he heads his way to Norway to meet up with someone I haven't seen since JLI got cancelled - Ice. I don't know how many times I've had to read them making up but this time is somewhat unique as Guy tries to prove his anger is under control since he's become a Red.

We learn two Norwegian phrases (though we don't get the latter in English) as Guy and Tora continue their hot-cold (couldn't resist) relationship.

Zox and Skallox are still unimpressed (through Zox seems pleased by the dome in Paris)but their trip takes an interesting turn when they come across Shadow Thief (while planing to go to Las Vegas! I want to see Zox and Skallox gambling, c'mon Soule!) who's not exactly pleased to see aliens on Earth.

Skallox points out the irony of Shadow Thief basically using an alien stealth suit and is out to kill 'aliens'. But things turn on its head when Zox asks a really inappropriate question.

Shadow Thief lashes out at Zox and this results in a brawl starting.Guy gets a distress call from Skallox and wanting to prove to Tora that he talks first and does other things later,decides to take her to see him in action.

That can only go badly, Guy.

Elsewhere,Rankorr and Bleez finally find the red ring - but the problem is that it's on Atrocitus' pet!

Oh, did I mention Atrocitus and Dex-Starr are there?

Oops.

SPOILERS END....................

Soule keeps on getting better and better on this title. He seems to have a very good handle on a classic relationship while slowly building new ones.

The characters are also well served and I cannot stress this enough, are likable with their various quirks.

Soule has completely reinvented this title and it is truely a relevant book without being associated with what is going on in other Green Lantern books.

So, I give it 9.5 out of 10

+Some pairings really hit it out of the park
+Soule seems to have a good grasp of some new characters
+The art continues to impress
+Guy's new look is great!
+Some well used themes resonate
+It's humor is still spot on!

-Atrocitus' B-plot is still lagging