Learning Rage
I have not read Green Lantern New Guardians since the first issue and I have to say I was slightly confused when I started reading this, but managed to understand the background quickly enough. I have liked the Kyle Rayner character for a while but I had to drop the issue as I could only really afford 1 Green Lantern series and that was the main one. I am however now getting all the GL series during the Rise of the Third Army crossover although they haven't really been crossing over hugely so far or been focused so far. They have been more continuing from previous stories and apparently building up to whatever the big event will be.
This story sees Kyle trying to learn the Red light of Rage with the help of Atrocitus. He is trying to learn all the colour spectrum's as he believes this is the only thing that can defeat the Guardians. Whilst he is training we see flash backs of him remembering his time with his deceased ex-girlfriend Alexandra. Atrocitus tries to use her death to make Kyle fell rage, to no avail.
I liked this issue but I think I would have liked it more if I had read previous issues. I also would enjoy this crossover more if it was actually more of a crossover. The three different issues from the three (out of four) series have been totally different and not really had much in common besides the Guardians plotting in the background and the Third Army making slight moves. I liked the concept of one Lantern (in this case Kyle) being able to wield the power of all the spectrum's of light. I also like how Carol is involved in this series as that's one of the things I think the main GL series has been missing. I would also like to see if the events in this book roll over in a slight way into the events of Red Lanterns #13 which is out next week. I also liked how even though it didn't make Kyle angry, we got to see flashbacks of his life with Alexandra. What I also found a bit weird was what his suit changed into when he used Rage. I understand it would most likely look different, and cause Kyle has all the imagination it wouldn't be an ordinary Red Lantern uniform but it still looked a bit odd, and slightly out of place.
Final verdict. Great issue and I am looking forward to seeing how Kyle gets on when he tries to learn Fear. I would recommend this issue but if you weren't getting the series before and would only consider getting it due to the crossover, I would leave it the now as it's not really developed into a proper crossover yet.
Rating: 4/5
