#1 - Kyle Rayner

Here's something I like, the Green Lantern Kyle Rayner.

Before I go into it I'm going to have to take a leaf out of Linkara's book and tell you some "Comic History You Don't Care About But Need To Know In Order To Understand This".

Origin

Back in the early/mid nineties, DC felt the Green Lantern "Hal Jordan" was to plain a character for fans to really relate to. Thus they decided to write a story that would remove Hal, the Green Lantern Corps and allow them to create a new Green Lantern. Additionally, without the Green Lantern Corps to back him up, this new guy would be the one and only Lantern in existence and thus would have to learn everything the hard way and through trial and error, making him a “green” Green Lantern. Enter Kyle Rayner.

However DC's plan to remove both Hal and the Corps resorted in the destruction of Hal's home town Costal City and the death of around 7 million people. When Hal sat in the ruins of his home and everyone he ever loved and cared about (with the exception of his on-again/off-again love interest and one of his brothers elsewhere and thus still alive), Hal snapped. He attempted to use his ring to comfort himself, only for the Guardians to step in, slap him on the wrist and telling him off for using the ring for personal gain. Hal, enraged by their decision, turned on them and subsequently killed everyone bar Ganthet, the only Guardian who chose to take a name and generally showed he wasn't part of the flock like the other Guardians.

To put it another way, think of Kyle as being like Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2 - the writers wanting to take the series in a new direction, so they kill off the main protagonist and introduce a new guy so the plot can focus around him. Surprise surprise fans were OUTRAGED by this decision and when Kyle was introduced a large number of the fan base were turned against him simply because of the means they took to introduce him. None the less, the mantel of “Green Lantern” was passed down to the next in line, allowing the “legacy” to carry on.

How did I get introduced?

Growing up as a Marvel fan, I only really knew about the Trinity - Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. I was first introduced to a number of DC's heroes, including Green Lantern, when I picked up the 96/97 crossover "Marvel vs DC/DC vs Marvel". Though Kyle battled and lost against the Silver Surfer, the character's power left an imprint on me and I slowly looked at reading Green Lantern. In the mid 2000's Green Lantern was picking up a lot of praise after writing a story about homosexuality. Kyle had been given a new job and assigned a young assistant Terry. When Kyle proposed to his then girlfriend (who, fact fans, was the daughter of Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott), she turned him down but they stayed together (or something. That part of the story was never collected in trades so I've never read it. One trade latterly ends say an issue or two before that comic, and the next picks up say an issue or two after...). When Kyle told Terry, the young boy was heart broken and Kyle twigged Terry had a crush on him. Kyle let him down gently but the two became good friends, and Kyle later went on to become someone he could confide in. When Terry had difficulty talking to his parents about his sexuality, Kyle was there for him.

Ultimately Terry met and began dating a young man only for the two of them to be chased by three thugs after a date. Terry is cornered and beaten to near death and as soon as Kyle hears this, he is PISSED. It's said the Green Lantern ring is the most powerful weapon in the DC universe. It's fuelled by the Will of the wearer and how strong his/her imagination is. By day Kyle is an artist and it's been stated his imagination surpasses Hal's, Guy's and John's (the three other earth based GL's. Alan's ring is different to theirs). Anyway, one of the thugs is caught by the police and Kyle chose to pay him a visit. He then proceeds to torture him in order to find out where his friends are. The next page then shows the other two trying to escape, only for Kyle to appear. As he proceeds to vent his rage against him, he taunts them by saying the following across multiple panels:
"Here… I’ll even turn my back… C’mon… I mean it. You get a free shot. This is it boys. One free shot. One chance to get away. What? Are you dudes uncomfortable hitting a guy in the back? I didn’t think so. Although it’s not exactly your M.O. It’s only two against one… Instead of thee! And I’m not a 120 – pound teenager. Trying to defend himself against guys who are twice his size!"
and
PLEASE! Let me see some of that TOUGHNESS! Some of that MUSCLE it takes to beat a little boy to death!! I wanna SEE it!!”

Towards the end of the issue, Kyle realises he's no better than them. As mentioned, the thugs outclassed Terry in age, size and strength and Kyle outclasses them because he's wearing a Green Lantern ring. That scene alone made it stick in my mind as one of my favourite storylines. I later tracked down to trade paper back, "Brother's Keeper" and while the following storylines didn't quite have a scene to match it, the book was still a great read.

Why did I get hooked?

I grew up mainly reading Spider-Man and naturally developed a liking for the “Super hero with day to day problems”. In many respects, Kyle was DC's answer to Peter Parker, even if they wouldn't admit to it. Like Peter, Kyle has had little luck with women and protecting his loved ones. Two of his three key girlfriends (Alex and Jen) and his mother died because he was a Green Lantern. And again, like Peter he struggled to pay the rent. He was a freelance artist, doing whatever odd jobs he could to get money. It wasn't until the job that leads to him meeting Terry that he got a decent paycheck on a frequent basis. When it comes to the DC universe, I've never been a big fan of Batman, it's only recently that I've developed an interest in and respect for Superman and I never really knew anything about Wonder Woman. Kyle was the best example of a Marvel style hero (one who deals with real life problems) in the DC universe, and acted pretty much as the doorway for a Marvel fan like me to get interested in DC.

Hal was ultimately revived in 2004/2005 by Geoff John's "Green Lantern Rebirth". John had previously regained his power ring when Kyle left earth due to the events of Brother's Keeper, Guy also regained one during the storyline and the Green Lantern Corps were quickly reborn at the start of the fourth volume of Green Lantern. Kyle was bumped down to the bottom of the pecking order, and labelled as "Green Lantern 2814.4". For those who don’t know, 2814 is the space sector Earth resides in, and in the old days there was always one Lantern to a sector. Since the revival of the GLC in the new volume, this was bumped up to two per sector. Kyle featured in the twelve part series “Ion”, where he once again received the incredible power of Ion. Though I didn’t read it until after 2007's excellent "Sinestro Corps Wars", the story leads into it. After the amazing crossover story arc, Kyle and Guy Gardener became two of the key characters in the second volume of "Green Lantern Corps" (prior to SCW it focused on a large number of GLs). Though they interacted when Kyle was the only ring bearer, they became like brothers and I subsequently developed an interest in Guy because of this.

At the start of Blackest Night I just knew Kyle was likely to die. Many fans had theorised he'd become a Blue Lantern, as he'd shown to be the most hopeful of the four Earth based Lanterns. However most shot this down as just a fan theory and/or an idea that seemed good on paper but wouldn't really last. Towards the end of every month, fans get to see previews for comics that would get released in three months time. To put it another way, by the end of November I'll know what books will be available in February. Back in September's previews, the cover for Green Lantern Corps #43 showed Guy as a Red Lantern. This not only spoilt a major plot point that we wouldn't see for three months but also helped a Kyle fan like myself start to wonder if he'd make it out alive. To make matters worse, some comments I read for a review of GLC #42 said someone was indeed going to die (but not who). Three guesses who popped to mind first :p. I resisted temptation to look at Wikipedia as I didn't want to spoil it.

Sadly though, my suspicions were true, though he didn't die the way I was expecting. I thought a Black Lantern would succeed in ripping out his heart and using it to fuel the resurrection of Nekron (another thing spoilt thanks to previews!). Instead Kyle released a HUGE explosion of Green Light that vaporised all the Black Lanterns in the area (for now any way). Linkara has said he doesn't mind if a character dies so long as it's the greatest thing they've ever done and I think it's hard not to agree this is the greatest thing Kyle has ever done. However, for fans like myself, well, yeah. Of course there's a possibility he'll be revived. Maybe Ion will re-bond with him, or perhaps the Blue/Hope Entity will be introduced by bonding with him. Some fans have also wondered if he'd become the infamous "White Lantern". Guess we'll have to wait and see.

In Closing

I can understand why a large number of Green Lantern fans dislike Kyle. After all, anyone would be angry if the lead singer of their favourite band, or the director of their favourite film franchise was replaced with someone else. And regardless of the quality of what the replacement produces it just won't feel the same. However because Kyle was the one and only Lantern when I started to read, it was him I’d think of whenever I think of Green Lantern. Though I’m sick of seeing heroes die and re-born, I will admit I do hope he comes back.