I picked this up solely based on the awesome Simon Bisley cover. I was previously unfamiliar with the creative team. It's a solid issue. It's a standalone (though laying out groundwork) story that sets the title character strongly not as an anti-hero but as a badass criminal. And right from the first panel there is is plenty of badass.
Another solid start. It's a little slow and maybe begins with too much exposition when all I really want to see is monsters. There is some really cool artwork and good use of Universal Monsters.
Not a bad issue, but there are a couple things I don't really like. Atrocitus is made into a sympathetic character, which I guess is something you have to do. It's why generally spinoffs featuring villains don't work. The reason I like the Red Lanterns are because they're crazy over-the-top killing machines. I'm not interested too much in depth. But my biggest problem I think is that they spend way too long recapping the origin. There's only like 20 pages of story. I know it's important to go over Atrocitus for new readers, but there's a lot you don't need right now. So while its interesting enough, there's not enough to get a a sense of where the story's going.
Resurrection Man
Adversely, a lot happens in this issue. SPOILERS: It starts with a resurrection. It briefly explains the character within the story (no flashbacks). A fight where he dies. A reintroduction of the Body Doubles. Another interlude to setup where the story's headed. And another resurrection. I never read a lot of the original series and I'm glad DC's bringing back some more obscure characters.
