Red Lanterns #2 (2011)

On Ysmault, Atrocitus considers the vastness of the universe and the cacophany of its competing injustices. He asks his long-dead confidant, Krona, if he remembers Ghan IX, a planet in constant conflict between the technologically superior 'peacekeeping' Yuevers and the indigenous Ghanites. It is a perfect furnace for rage and pain... On the planet Ghan IX, two Yuever jets are patrolling the skies. The pilots of one jet, Harr and Knapp, have both recently lost a colleague to Ghanian rebels. Harr is furious with Knapp for suggesting that some Ghanians were not terrorists, but Knapp insists he just wants to get home to his family and couldn't see why the Yuevers needed to stay. All debate is cut short, however, when a ground-to-air missile suddenly takes out their companion craft. Reflexively, Harr determines to retaliate on the closest body detected on radar. Knapp isn't comfortable – isn't even certain the target is hostile – but then he spies weapons and they both open fire. On the ground, some terrified Ghanian children (who had been playing with sticks) attempt to evade the aircraft strafing. Two brothers are killed, but their sister survives. While Harr celebrates his 'payback' with a reserved Knapp, the rage of the Ghanian girl attracts the attention of Atrocitus. While debating with himself the worth of one rage over another, Atrocitus shakes off the Yuever's firepower by using the girl's rage to revive his own. He then tears into the jet and snatches Knapp from his seat, leaving Harr to plummet to his death in the damaged craft. A distressed Knapp calls his assailant a monster, but Atrocitus soon makes his point when depositing Knapp on the ground among the mutilated bodies of the children recently slain. Atrocitus identifies himself as an instrument of justice, one who will wreak vengeance on behalf of the defenceless. Knapp challenges this, arguing that if Atrocitus were to destroy Knapp, he would also be destroying the lives of Knapp's wife and child. After incinerating him, Atricitus considers that Knapp probably made a good point. Does rage simply beget more rage? His internal doubt is once again focused by the simple rage of the surviving girl, who reminds him dearly of his own lost daughter. Atrocitus is tempted to recruit the girl to the Red Lanterns as a reminder of what he is fighting for, but the girl is terrified and he apologetically lets her go. Returning to Ysmault and Krona, Atrocitus concludes that it is a complex universe, but there is certainly some rage more worthy of vengeance than others. He now recognises that to face the challenges that he has set himself, he will require intelligent help – he will need to increase the consciousness of one his unthinking Lanterns to a level almost equal to his own.