historyofkylerayner

[historyofkylerayner]

Green Lantern Vol 3 #51

Changing the Guard

The issue opens with Kyle getting his ass whooped by a villain named Ohm. As a punch is about to land on Kyle, we go back to the previous night where Kyle goes to show Alex the new ring he has. They talk and decide they are going to move to New York together where Kyle will be a superhero and Alex will be the one to take pictures of him for the New York Times. The next morning, Alex tells Kyle about a villain causing havoc in the city and that’s how we got to the opening scene.

Once the fight is over, we see Kyle and Alex on the beach talking about the costume he is wearing. Alex says Kyle needs his own identity and that it isn’t his costume so Kyle creates a brand new one.

The issue ends with Mongul escaping a new prison called “The Slab”, saying he will kill Superman and Green Lantern.

I thought this was a great issue and gave us a look at Kyle’s motivation. It seems he has the heart, but right now he doesn’t fully understand the responsibility he bears. He still wants to get away like in his first appearance and to him, the ring is his ticket to doing this.

Kyle states multiple times how he doesn’t know what he’s doing, but he doesn’t let the fear hold him back like a true Green Lantern. He rushes into battle, maybe a bit too impulsively, and takes control. In the panel above you can see he is very confident in his abilities even with being a newbie.

We also see the type of hero Kyle is. He isn’t totally selfish or in it for the glory and fame. He has a bit of an ego but he’s still a freshman hero who has a lot to learn. It’s also worth noting he doesn’t take credit as a new Green Lantern but it currently keeping up the appearance that he is Hal Jordan.

This new Green Lantern suit is my favorite suit for Kyle, and even for Green Lanterns overall (although new 52 Hal suit cuts close). The art on it screams 90s with the bulky gloves and boots. I especially love the new mask that we have never seen before on any other hero. We haven’t seen much of Kyle’s creative side with constructs yet like he is renowned for as right now he is still using basic ones.

#greenlantern #kylerayner #whitelantern

[historyofkylerayner]

Green Lantern Vol 3 #50

Emerald Twilight Part 3: The Future

I’ve decided I wont go too much into what happens as the issue as I more so want to document how Kyle is changing in each issue and my personal opinions on it. So I’ll give a bare bones a summary as possible.

In this issue Hal battles sinestro and snaps his neck just like Barry Allen did to Professor Zoom. He then murders Kilowog and proceeds to go into the central power battery, draining all its power and destroying it. This indirectly kills almost all the other lanterns who may be knocked out in space and such as they have no ring power to get themselves to safety.

The guardians send Ganthet to earth with the final GL ring where he finds Kyle outside a bar telling him “He will have to do”. He then gives Kyle the ring, leaving Kyle confused.

This is the first time we see Kyle in the uniform and god damn does it look good. A lot of heroes in the 90s were introduced with normal background which is something I definitely miss and wish was more prevalent in todays comics (superheroes normal life).

I thought the issue was really great and I am a big fan of parallax Hal, his costume is cool as fuck and his story is evidence of Jokers saying that all it takes is one bad day.

We didn’t learn much more of Kyle’s personality here so not much to talk about. This does remind me a lot of Spider-Man’s origin (the themes anyway) and I’m not sure if that is a popular viewpoint.

#greenlantern #kylerayner #whitelantern

[historyofkylerayner]

Green Lantern Vol 3 #48

Emerald Twilight Part 1: The Past

The famous story that sent away Hal Jordan and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps for a new status quo. And most importantly, the first appearance of Kyle Rayner

The issue starts with Hal on his knees mourning the loss of Coast City, which was destroyed as a result of the events going on in the Superman title at the time. Hal uses his ring to create a massive construct of Coast City. His first action is to find closure in his father, hoping he would hear him tell Hal how he is proud of him; something Hal never heard as a child. We then see Hal go through the town, talking with his old girlfriend and going to his old family home. As soon as the construct of Hal’s father is about to tell him he is proud, he fades away due to lack of power in Hal’s ring.

This pushes Hal further off the edge and we see the guardians send a projection to tell Hal to come to Oa for disciplinary action as he has violated the guardians rules, using the ring for personal gain. Hal fights back but the guardians are not listening and commanding him to surrender his ring and return to Oa immediately.

Hal, desiring more power, destroys the construct and heads to Oa to destroy the corps.

We then go to a young couple on the beach, mistaking Hal flying off for a shooting star. This is the first time we see Kyle Rayner and his girlfriend Alex DeWitt.

This story is very controversial, even to this day. Some love it for what it did to Hal and some hate it for what it did to Hal, which is to be expected with such a big change in direction for a established character. My personal opinion on the matter (which I will talk about in every post) is favoring the story. Without trying to sound like a genocidal maniac, I love how Coast City got nuked and how it pushed Hal into madness.

The issue sets up Kyle as someone who wants more from life and run away from his responsibilities. A great start for a character, that reminds me a lot of Peter Parker, and I can’t wait to see how he changes over time.

#greenlantern #kylerayner #whitelantern