BAD THING: This issue, which centers entirely upon the three-way battle between The Spectre (aka Wrath of God), Acrocitus (aka the leader of the Red Lanterns) and The Butcher (aka The Avatar Entity of Rage/Red Energy) over the soul of a father consumed by rage over the rape/death of his daughter raises some rather conflicting questions over the cosmology of the DC Universe.
For instance, The Spectre makes reference to having ordered The Butcher off of Earth... yet surely The Spectre, as a servant of The Presence/God Almighty, has jurisdiction over the whole of reality and not just the souls of humans on Earth? I seem to recall some stories where The Spectre went after alien killers.
GOOD THING: Cosmological problems aside, this issue is a great character study of Acrocitus, similar in tone to the Rogue Profile issues Johns wrote during his popular run on The Flash. We've already seen some signs of a deeper depth to Acrocitus' character in the past and how he became an agent of Rage out of some twisted sense of justice. The scenes here - where he defends a man from The Spectre's wrath at the risk of his own soul in the name of justice - suggests that perhaps he is not so twisted as we've been led to believe, despite his dark powers.
The Final Verdict: A great character study of the character of Acrocitus and a wonderful story that raises some interesting questions about the nature of spiritual power in the DC Universe, even if the answers seem to be at odds with what little we know.
