Red Lanterns #25

Part of DC's New 52 initiative, this January 2014 issue of Red Lanterns announces a bold new direction with a cover tagline that says it all: "We are your new protectors… so no Green Lanterns allowed." Alessandro Vitti's cover art puts a red-suited figure front and center — face cracked and scarred, eyes blazing red, hands clutching a blood-soaked Red Lantern symbol — projecting raw menace and an unsettling kind of conviction. Writer Charles Soule was steering this series through some genuinely compelling territory in 2014, and this issue's visual promise of rage-fueled guardianship makes it a striking entry in that run.