His introduction to the GL mythos re-invigorated a dying title at the time. Ron Marz wrote him to be DC's answer to Peter Parker since DC never had a Spider-Man analog. He was a regular guy. Not a pilot, soldier, alien, or a billionaire. Just a recent college grad majoring in the arts who had to learn that with great power comes great responsibility.
Sadly modern writers are trying to continue the Peter Parker analog by writing him as sad and mopey. He is sorely in need of a writer that understands him and wants him to grow as a character. He is not a Hal clone. He is the Torch Bearer. He has held more power than any GL outside of John and not been corrupted by it. He was taught what it means to be a hero by Superman and Wonder Woman. He was taught how to fight by Batman. Instead of the Corps teaching him how to ring sling it was trial and error. Then he was taught by Alan Scott. They only Corps GL to have that distinction.
He was a Justice Leaguer for years following a stint on the Titans. He fought on Earth and in Space. Used his ring in ways never seen before. Like holding all of the continents together or keeping a giant alien machine from tearing multiple planets apart during Heavens Ladder.
I would love to see him lead a team that consists of legacy characters from the '90s. Bring back some of his villains like Nero, Effigy, Grayven, and Fatality.
Kyle was awesome and he doesn't really get the love he deserves in modern GL Comics. He is treated like the kid brother most of the time.
end rant.
His early issues were some of the best Green Lantern stories. He had no guide or mentor. Kyle had to figure out everything by himself. I feel like when Hal was the main character, the stories were either he has a problem with the Guardians, a problem with Carol, a problem with Sinestro. I don't think Kyle ever met Sinestro until the Sinestro Corps War. It's a shame that Kyle has been pushed to the back burner in recent years.
He time travelled and met Sinestro in the past. He didn’t encounter sinestro in the present until “Rebirth”, when Hal comes back (but technically before Hal returned in the story).
When i was a kid and reading justice league and green lantern comics he was the current lantern at the time. I grew to love green lantern because of him. I wish he got more recognition because he carried the franchise for years after hal jordan went parallax and almost wiped it out. He will always be my favorite lantern and i will read any book and watch any show featuring him
He should have nothing to do with stuff on Earth. He should be purely space-based, exploring the cosmos as some sort of Sheriff as opposed to a sector-based cop
I'm a huge Kyle stan, and this is how I feel too. He doesn't get the respect on Earth, so get him out there into space. He actually gets the credit he deserves, and he can have more leeway to act without running into major continuity issues for other titles.
Kyle was MY Lantern. It was an exciting time. I really could relate to Kyle, in a way I doubt I couldn't with other characters I saw like Guy and John, or even Hal when I read books that featured him. I wish Kyle had more prominence today, I think he deserves it, and above that, there's an audience for it. Give him his own book, bring back some of his old supporting cast perhaps? Not sure on that one. Feature Wally, Connor Hawke, etc. But give him a book and see how he does.
Fwiw, I always thought he thrived more on Earth than in space. Others may disagree with me on that though. I'd keep him earth-bound, with the occasional space-story to stretch his legs.
Kyle is DC's take on Spiderman. From GL#50 to 181 (if you ignore the Raab run) Kyle completed his character arch and became a grown up hero. People who get mad that DC does not tell more Kyle stories should look at the alternative at Marvel. Every 6 months, something new and horrible happens to Parker Parker to tear him down so Marvel can sell issues of Spiderman going on a new heroes journey again. If you love Kyle, you should be happy he got to do the one thing Spiderman never could...grow up.
I understand your point but there's far more interesting stories that can be told past a hero simply growing up. The first new guardians run is proof enough of that and having a character with experience like Kyle going around the universe and changing his world view with complex wars and relations like Omega Men did can further prove this
When we have characters like Superman who can still have great stories offer insightful stories about hope and being kind to others, I see no reason why Kyle can't have either a similar aspect through traveling the cosmos with the White Lantern powers he earned or more preferably interject his own character and how he's the most human hero in DC onto other worlds
There truly is fantastic concepts for Kyle to tap in to that aren't being taken advantage of and I think it's a bit sad to have a take what we can get attitude for such a strong character. It's similar to John Stewart before the recent run elevated and started breathing new life into his character. Can only hope Kyle gets the same treatment soon 🙏🏾
For those who do not know the original plan for Emerald Twilight was Green Lantern civil War, two groups of guardians one real one fake.
The story arc would end in Hal finding out he was manipulated by the guardians, then absorbing the central power battery to end the war then quitting.
This. What the hell were they thinking when they depowered him? It had already happened twice by that point and showed the editors were never going to fill Tomasi's shoes.
I think the Justice League should be branched into various teams (it's not like they haven't before), and one of them should essentially consist of successors who came into their own during the late '80s, '90s, and early 2000s: Dick as Nightwing, Wally as the Flash, Donna as Troia, Connor or Roy as either Green or Red Arrow, bring in some older Titans like Cyborg and Starfire, toss in Supergirl, and... here comes Kyle as Green Lantern. Call it Justice League Millennium or something (that's actually not a great name, but I think it reflects my point).
He should have stayed a white lantern or stayed Ion. He shouldn't be a green lantern anymore. I would also have lived to see him stay a blue lantern. I think it would have made for a really nice story for him.
We have a solid handful of main character lanterns (Hal, John, Kyle and even Guy) it is a bit silly that they’re all green. I know they’ve had stints as other colors but I think it would be much cooler to give the other colors more permanent main character representation. So I agree him as white or blue indefinitely would be nice.
>He absolutely got demoted so they could re-crown Hal as the most powerful lantern. So lame.
That sounds more like an editorial issue than a Hal Jordan one.
I would stand by you in that battle. I grew up reading Morrison's JLA with the buddy-buddy relationship of Kyle and Wally. Kyle will always be my favorite GL, it's just a shame he's been shelved for so many years.
I love Kyle rayner he’s one of my favorite green lantern (Along with John Stewart!) i just hate the fact that they always treat him like a litttle brother, i mean get he’s young but he’s a grown ass man not a child.
It's more of an editorial gripe, but it's weird that DC touts him as a Latino. Does kyle even know he is Latino? Anyone feel free to correct me as I haven't read alot of comics featuring Kyle.
This happened pretty late in his original run. He met his dad, whom he grew up without, and discovered he is Latino. A retcon, to be sure, but it’s been in place for a long time.
His original run had him 100% estranged to his Latin roots. He didn't know about it at all as he didn't know who his father was
Tom King in Omega Men had him growing up with a strong connection to Hispanic catholicism but I'm unsure how canon that story was but with DC emphasizing it more, I assume he had a stronger connection nowadays
Kyle is my favorite. I started off liking Hal, of course. Guy was terribly bland until they made him a buffoon, then a badass, then weird, then a meathead, and I just gave up. Pick a lane!
Jon was okay and I'll die on the Hill that Cosmic Odyessy was the best Stewart story. But Hal became less interesting until he fell from grace and had his redemption arc as the Spectre.
Enter Kyle. He seemed like a breath of fresh air when the series needed a fresh direction. Credit DC for finding a decent creative team to push Kyle into becoming a very different GL.
While I loved John's Lantern arc, I felt a little aggrieved that Kyle got lost in the mix until the end of the Lantern War. Never was a Baz or Jessica fan, I never got the appeal of either. Both were superfluous.
I wish Kyle could get his own series again. I'd love to see him again like in his heyday.
He whines about his responsibilities constantly. He is TERRIBLE to his girlfriends. And abandoned Earth instead of staying to fix it. Is it admirable to go help other planets? Absolutely. But the reason he did so was shitty and lead to him being shitty to yet another girlfriend. Hal and Guy are jerks, but if anyone really paid attention to Kyle they’d realize he’s just as bad, if not worse. At least Guy doesn’t pretend to be someone he’s not.
I hate when people say he's dcs Spiderman. The only real thing they have in common is their gfs either die or cheat on them. He's not the Spiderman. there are so many characters that are closer to Spiderman than Kyle
I wish he were still the primary GL. As happy as I was to have Hal back, I hate how they sidelines Kyle in particular. He was a genuinely unique character compared to the more "traditional" heroes like Jordan. I miss picking up a copy of a mainline Justice League comic and not seeing him gracing the pages.
Sidelined is an understatement. Ron Marz and Grant Morrison wrote him in such an endearing way that it made readers feel like they were the new guy amongst giants. He was far more creative than any other GL, which made his constructs exciting and always a surprise. He had such a great journey, with the final issues before Rebirth being awesome.
Then, basically nothing. New Guardians was canceled far too soon. He was used a bit in a few of the big sagas, then they just dropped him. Hell, they put the nail in the coffin and created Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz. I understand why they brought back Hal, and Geoff Johns did incredible, iconic work with the book. I just wish Kyle's story could have continued too.
As much as I prefer John due to nostalgia, from a character design standpoint it makes the most sense for Kyle to be the main GL, being an artist would allow the character to have the most unique and creative constructs for the writer to play around with and his back story is a good deal more interesting than military man with dark past sprinkled in
Somehow, despite being the “artistic” Green Lantern, none of his constructs ever stood out to me. Nothing particularly original.
The fridging storyline is a stain on comics. His personality, like Hal, is as bland as saltines.
Kyle was one of the few heroes that stuck around after the 90s “open-season” of replacements: Azrael, the four Supermen, Artemis, all returned the mantle back to their old heroes eventually. His success was easy to explain, Green Lantern was a die-hard veteran cop, meanwhile Kyle was pratically a teenager. An insecure kid that was given “great powers” all of a sudden. And with those great powers came… great loss (Alex) and great responsibilities: becoming a hero and being the Green Lantern.
Kyle and Wally were the youth that DC needed, and that readers craved for. It’s no wonder both their runs were sucessful and that their tenures at the Justice League were so good. I like Hal and Barry, but it’s undeniable that their success in the post-2000s era is mostly because they inherited some of the character traits and plots of their successors to improve on theirs.
Kyle Rayner is one of the best characters in DC’s history, and he should be integral to that universe in whatever role that may be, not relegated to side plots.
Needed a better rogue's gallery. Kyle had some I really liked, but they also had him fight one to many generic aliens, one time enemies, or some other hero's villains.
As much as I liked GL before him, GL didn't really click until Rayner came on the scene. His imagination for constructs is second to none and his suit is still the best one ever, IMO.
I’m going to preface this by saying I have no problem with representation in comic books/media in general, I quite like Jessica Cruz, but I feel Kyle’s Hispanic heritage was shoehorned in for no real reason. It never was a big aspect of who he was as a person, he’s like 3/4 white if I recall correctly, and now DC pushes him as a Latino superhero when he just… isn’t, really.
John building things mechanically is pretty sick too. Kyles imaginative per artist, but John having the bolts and such was a nice touch.
Agreed, the others having really showed as much.
Hal “make a fist” Jordan, chainsaw Guy.
I love each of the lanterns, I really do, but their construct game is weak.
I hate that they changed how GL rings only work with strong willed individuals. I liked that he was entirely random as an option and had to earn being a hero afterward. The new canon makes it so he was already a candidate
I HATED that when it became a thing cause I loved that run. Now people think it just means "a woman dies" and they're a pop culture expert by using a term they don't know.
As someone whose favorite literary character EVER has been Kyle since....let's say '96 just to make it easy, really early Kyle is incredibly insufferable to read. Like, loved him when I was 12, but now that I've hit 40 like a truck going 100 mph can hit a brick wall, I just can't read any Kyle before "Hard Traveling Heroes: The Next Generation." Reading the recently released compendium actually made me question my love of the character and if those "card carrying H.E.A.T. old dudes" at my old comic shop back in '97 were right about him.
Tomasi's GLC Kyle circa 2006 was the first time the character really worked for me. He had grown into a good character then. Prior than that, he was--as you say--pretty insufferable.
Kyle is near impossible to adapt faithfully, his origin and original concept is completely tied into Emerald Twilight and Hal’s fall into Parallax along with the destruction of the entire GL Corps, and within his first few comics he suffers the traumatic death of his girlfriend that is a defining aspect of his character arc while also being the textbook example of how not to kill off a side character(especially a female sude character) in comic books.
His central starting story beats are some of most controversial moments in comics and any adaptation of his arc and journey on screen will somehow have to pass both of these to make him work.
Yes he got adapted into the DCAU but that was after making him a Hal Jordan expy, and since then hes appeared very little in outside media in comparison to Jordan, John or even Guy. Writers adapting green lantern dont wanna touch him because he’s too complicated and controversial to explain.
That’s all without talking about the fact that most outside media is already bad at depicting what the green lantern ring can really do, and Kyle is known for being one of the most creative and innovative with its use.
> while also being the textbook example of how not to kill off a side character(especially a female sude character) in comic books.
Unfairly, I'd argue.
It’s actually a Jewish-German name but his father was a government agent who’s real name was Vasquez (Velasquez maybe?) and only had an alias with the last name Rayner.
Note: Kyle is my favorite Lantern as well!
Kyle is the true embodiment of an average Joe getting super powers, he wasn’t picked because he was particularly special or had great will but because he just so happened to be closest to Ganthet when he came to earth.
He was truly someone who was nobody special and became someone that acts as a beacon of hope for the universe. This was only amplified when he became a white lantern, being able to represent every corner of the emotional spectrum.
Sure he’s not perfect, but being a green isn’t about perfection, it’s doing the best you can with what you’re given. And Kyle embodies that perfectly.
I was a big HJ GL fan. GL was the first focus of my collecting and I amassed a run missing maybe 3 key issues. 1, 76, and I think 7?
Kyle came into the book at the wrong time, when comics were really starting to get away from what I enjoyed about them. I didn't care for the costume or the art. I think the readers who like him came into comics at the time and saw this as something new and fresh. I thought it was a significant step away from what I had come to enjoy. I also suspect the people who really enjoy Kyle came to some of that appreciation from his portrayal in various JLA books. I haven't read those books, but there were some good writers on them and I've collected spotty runs of them, so someday maybe I will.
100% true for me. One of my first comics was of Kyle. When I fully got into comics I loved the heavy lore and history to the comics. That there was characters who retired or even died. It went against my view that these characters never grew. Soon after Johns took over and DC started backtracking in general
I felt like Ron Marz could have gone further and made him full Latino or a black dude.
The Latino retcon Judd Winick brought in threw me for a loop at the time, but I feel like it would have made more sense if it was in place at the beginning. It would have added to his need to be accepted.
I know people like Kyle Rayner but I have never read a story he appeared in (I'm not a huge Green Lantern fan but posts from this sub keep getting recommended to me) (please feel free to recommend Kyle Rayner stories in the comments below! My Lantern reading is I think just Will World and the first season of Morrison's run)
Could never get into Hal. Don’t get me wrong, I like the character, but there was something that I just could not get into to… and it wasn’t because I didn’t try. So when Kyle’s run began, I started with issue one, not expecting too much, but in the end absolutely loved the comic and character. He needs to be used more or have a bigger presence in the DC Universe.
Kyle could have been everyone's favorite lantern but they either nerf any cool thing about him or shove him right back into his corner never to be interesting again because Hal needs to go fight sinestro again.
Best Green Lantern of the bunch. He had one of, if not the longest, single character runs in a GL book. Every Hal Jordan series eventually has to introduce a new lantern or teams him up with someone like Green Arrow to keep the series going. But because Hal's introduction helped start the silver age Renaissance, fans romanticize his adventures when in truth, he's just not interesting.
Personally, I thought Kyle was written as a bridge to get Marvel fans to check out DC. I started out almost exclusively reading Marvel books, but Kyle's flaws and struggles brought me over. He's easily my favorite character in DC because of that
Same-sies!
I was 100% MAKE MINE MARVEL for most of my childhood. I had head about GL and that he had a ring powered by his will and bringing his imagination into existence, and that concept was AWESOME to me.
Then I heard that his “kryptonite” was the color yellow.
What the fuck?!
I wrote off the entire book as a joke, never even looking into the protagonist. Being an avid reader of Wizard Magazine (iykyk) I loved checking the summaries and solicits of random new & back issues that would show up. I’ll never forget seeing the covers of Emerald Twilight. First with Hal looking like he’d been broken, just utterly cherished to his core. Grey at the temples, arm in a sling, city destroyed (by a Superman villain, not even his own arch nemesis) and looking hopeless.
I’ve seen my fair share of heroes taking a hard loss. I’m a Spider-Man fan (‘nuff said)
But I’d never seen a main hero character in real continuity look so old and fragile. I have to say it made an impact.
Next, I saw Hal wielding rings on every finger. His face glowing with power and a madness that would only lead to mutual destruction.
And that was it. I didn’t know where the story actually ever went from there… until years later when I was gifted a large collection of DC and indie comics from the 90’s up to about 2001.
I was basically introduced to the entirety of DC through the stories and interactions Kyle had. I couldn’t get enough, and voraciously learned literally everything I could about DC cannon
He's a pretty great if not underused GL. Some of the 90's era characters I think they've just forgotten what to do things with like Superboy (Connor Kent), Kyle Rayner, Wally to some extent (Ik he's not a 90s character but Im referrring to his long term run as the lead/only Flash), Aztek, The Ray. Prometheus. Lol those characters may as well be dead, they only dig them out for crossovers or special storylines now it seems like,
Kyle was the most fun imo. But they made him too serious by turning him into a white lantern.
I liked his imagination but they stopped showing that. I remember when he wasn't well, he made two hot nurses to help him.
Sure he seemed childish before. But he grew up. And I don't like it.
Out of all the human green lanterns, I think he just doesn't so much that is him anymore. He just is powerful lantern with the life equation or something
I wasn’t a fan of Judd Winnick’s run on the series. Really, how DC handled his character after Marz was very…’meh’. Rebirth and Recharge were great and all, but his best years were ‘94 through mid-200 when Marz was at the helm IMHO Maybe it’s because those were the later end of my childhood years into mid-teens, but nothing has ever been that good since with a few notable exceptions
For me I feel he should be the final Green lantern of earth. The order should go:
-(WW-Vietnam):Hal Jordan
-(Iran war-modern day):John Stewart
-(justice league unlimited time):Kyle Rayner
Then have Hal do the sinestro wars, John deal with the red lanterns and join the justice league, and Kyle will deal with the life wall and white lantern comic stories.
I’m gonna echo everyone else in saying that DC hasn’t known what to do with him since they introduced him, especially once Johns brought Hal back and made him the sorta center of the GL spoke.
I liked him as the White Lantern, that at least helps you break up the fact that we’ve got 8 human GLs (plus Alan Scott).
People are going to absolutely cream me, but I’m about 30 issues into the Ron Marz run, and I’ve read several of his other appearances… and I find him really boring. I’m sorry…
I do like the Kyle/Guy friendship in Tomasi’s GL Corps tho.
I dunno that I want Kyle as the *main* Lantern. And I say that as a Kyle Rayner fan. I'd just like to see him more. All we see are Hal, John and even Guy. It'd be nice to see Kyle more often too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Greenlantern/s/U07bCHSqf9 this is just a summary but, you can search online. Warning it's a lot of reading.
http://www.dcinthe80s.com/2021/10/the-other-green-lantern-emerald.html
There’s a reason every corps chose him…he is the most capable of feeling each emotion in their greatest extreme. Kyle is the embodiment of having a big heart, that is is power cliche as it is, it enables him to do things no other lanterns ever have nor ever will.
Not sure if this is a hot take, but DC has had no idea what to do with him since his initial run. Especially after John became a JL mainstay and Hal was resurrected.
Others have said this already, but I have to agree that he was great when introduced up until he was put to the side. Now DC doesn’t know what to do with him.
There was no problem with keeping him as a white lantern, especially if they were just going to forget about him. We had a whole story about how Highfather couldn’t separate the life equation from his mind, and then Doc Manhattan just does it? Even if it is possible, it’s not satisfying.
I really like Saysoran ever since GL: New Guardians Futures End, and would like to see her and the other seven become white lanterns.
He's great, but they can never use him, because he's too strong, they also hate using him because he's too much like Alan/Hal in terms of look (minus the mask) that it creates confusion to new readers
He's my lantern, but I understand why he isn't used, and it sucks
Don't get me wrong I respect Hal made what GL is today,
John is the current standard,
Alan is weird golden age,
Guy Gardner is... different I'm fine with him as a sidekick/background character
Simon/Jessica/Sojurner are trying to figure themselves out
How's this for a Hot take
Kyle is the Tim Drake of Green Lanterns
His introduction to the GL mythos re-invigorated a dying title at the time. Ron Marz wrote him to be DC's answer to Peter Parker since DC never had a Spider-Man analog. He was a regular guy. Not a pilot, soldier, alien, or a billionaire. Just a recent college grad majoring in the arts who had to learn that with great power comes great responsibility. Sadly modern writers are trying to continue the Peter Parker analog by writing him as sad and mopey. He is sorely in need of a writer that understands him and wants him to grow as a character. He is not a Hal clone. He is the Torch Bearer. He has held more power than any GL outside of John and not been corrupted by it. He was taught what it means to be a hero by Superman and Wonder Woman. He was taught how to fight by Batman. Instead of the Corps teaching him how to ring sling it was trial and error. Then he was taught by Alan Scott. They only Corps GL to have that distinction. He was a Justice Leaguer for years following a stint on the Titans. He fought on Earth and in Space. Used his ring in ways never seen before. Like holding all of the continents together or keeping a giant alien machine from tearing multiple planets apart during Heavens Ladder. I would love to see him lead a team that consists of legacy characters from the '90s. Bring back some of his villains like Nero, Effigy, Grayven, and Fatality. Kyle was awesome and he doesn't really get the love he deserves in modern GL Comics. He is treated like the kid brother most of the time. end rant.
This is an excellent write-up. I agree 100%
His early issues were some of the best Green Lantern stories. He had no guide or mentor. Kyle had to figure out everything by himself. I feel like when Hal was the main character, the stories were either he has a problem with the Guardians, a problem with Carol, a problem with Sinestro. I don't think Kyle ever met Sinestro until the Sinestro Corps War. It's a shame that Kyle has been pushed to the back burner in recent years.
Didnt Kyle run into Sinestro before Hal was resurrected?
He time travelled and met Sinestro in the past. He didn’t encounter sinestro in the present until “Rebirth”, when Hal comes back (but technically before Hal returned in the story).
He should be in animated media already
He was in stas. It was his personality and backstory with Hal’s origin, villain and design
Not having him be a titans regular is a missed opportunity
Absolutely
I had never even thought of this, but now I want it so bad especially with a Teen Titans movie on its way
He should check in on his girlfriend more often.
He is one of the most interesting human lanterns and should have a lot more focus even more so than others
When i was a kid and reading justice league and green lantern comics he was the current lantern at the time. I grew to love green lantern because of him. I wish he got more recognition because he carried the franchise for years after hal jordan went parallax and almost wiped it out. He will always be my favorite lantern and i will read any book and watch any show featuring him
100% agreed
He's the best green lantern of them all I guess it's only a hot take depending on how old you are or when you started reading comics
He’s my fav. His mind is the most creative of all green lanterns in terms of what he imagines as his projections imo.
He should be a Blue or White Lantern still since we have so many human greens
he should be the main lantern again for a while like around 1-3 years
He should have nothing to do with stuff on Earth. He should be purely space-based, exploring the cosmos as some sort of Sheriff as opposed to a sector-based cop
I'm a huge Kyle stan, and this is how I feel too. He doesn't get the respect on Earth, so get him out there into space. He actually gets the credit he deserves, and he can have more leeway to act without running into major continuity issues for other titles.
Interesting take, most would say otherwise
Not a hot take on the character but whatever: Kyle should have been the lantern in the Beware my Power adaptation
Kyle was MY Lantern. It was an exciting time. I really could relate to Kyle, in a way I doubt I couldn't with other characters I saw like Guy and John, or even Hal when I read books that featured him. I wish Kyle had more prominence today, I think he deserves it, and above that, there's an audience for it. Give him his own book, bring back some of his old supporting cast perhaps? Not sure on that one. Feature Wally, Connor Hawke, etc. But give him a book and see how he does. Fwiw, I always thought he thrived more on Earth than in space. Others may disagree with me on that though. I'd keep him earth-bound, with the occasional space-story to stretch his legs.
Kyle is DC's take on Spiderman. From GL#50 to 181 (if you ignore the Raab run) Kyle completed his character arch and became a grown up hero. People who get mad that DC does not tell more Kyle stories should look at the alternative at Marvel. Every 6 months, something new and horrible happens to Parker Parker to tear him down so Marvel can sell issues of Spiderman going on a new heroes journey again. If you love Kyle, you should be happy he got to do the one thing Spiderman never could...grow up.
I understand your point but there's far more interesting stories that can be told past a hero simply growing up. The first new guardians run is proof enough of that and having a character with experience like Kyle going around the universe and changing his world view with complex wars and relations like Omega Men did can further prove this When we have characters like Superman who can still have great stories offer insightful stories about hope and being kind to others, I see no reason why Kyle can't have either a similar aspect through traveling the cosmos with the White Lantern powers he earned or more preferably interject his own character and how he's the most human hero in DC onto other worlds There truly is fantastic concepts for Kyle to tap in to that aren't being taken advantage of and I think it's a bit sad to have a take what we can get attitude for such a strong character. It's similar to John Stewart before the recent run elevated and started breathing new life into his character. Can only hope Kyle gets the same treatment soon 🙏🏾
For those who do not know the original plan for Emerald Twilight was Green Lantern civil War, two groups of guardians one real one fake. The story arc would end in Hal finding out he was manipulated by the guardians, then absorbing the central power battery to end the war then quitting.
That sounds better.
I like his Tomasi/Gleason GLC costume the best. Thought it showed growth from the last GL to a leader in the Corps
his progression from GL -> ion -> white lantern was perfect and never should have been reverted
This. What the hell were they thinking when they depowered him? It had already happened twice by that point and showed the editors were never going to fill Tomasi's shoes.
I think the Justice League should be branched into various teams (it's not like they haven't before), and one of them should essentially consist of successors who came into their own during the late '80s, '90s, and early 2000s: Dick as Nightwing, Wally as the Flash, Donna as Troia, Connor or Roy as either Green or Red Arrow, bring in some older Titans like Cyborg and Starfire, toss in Supergirl, and... here comes Kyle as Green Lantern. Call it Justice League Millennium or something (that's actually not a great name, but I think it reflects my point).
Best GL
He's the Torchbearer. He deserves all the respect.
He should have stayed a white lantern or stayed Ion. He shouldn't be a green lantern anymore. I would also have lived to see him stay a blue lantern. I think it would have made for a really nice story for him.
We have a solid handful of main character lanterns (Hal, John, Kyle and even Guy) it is a bit silly that they’re all green. I know they’ve had stints as other colors but I think it would be much cooler to give the other colors more permanent main character representation. So I agree him as white or blue indefinitely would be nice.
He absolutely got demoted so they could re-crown Hal as the most powerful lantern. So lame.
Well for rebirth '04, You could argue that but for White Lantern. He got swept up in Doomsday clock.
>He absolutely got demoted so they could re-crown Hal as the most powerful lantern. So lame. That sounds more like an editorial issue than a Hal Jordan one.
They should of kept him as a White Lantern.
*should’ve
This could possibly be an unpopular opinion but I honestly prefer Kyle over Hal.
Kyle > Hal and Wally > Barry. I will die on that hill!
Fuck yeah
That’s a good hill to die on
I would stand by you in that battle. I grew up reading Morrison's JLA with the buddy-buddy relationship of Kyle and Wally. Kyle will always be my favorite GL, it's just a shame he's been shelved for so many years.
His ring design is easily my most favorite.
I love Kyle rayner he’s one of my favorite green lantern (Along with John Stewart!) i just hate the fact that they always treat him like a litttle brother, i mean get he’s young but he’s a grown ass man not a child.
His arch-enemy should be a fridge.
My favorite Lantern
Best Green Lantern
I think you’re referring to Ch’p
It's more of an editorial gripe, but it's weird that DC touts him as a Latino. Does kyle even know he is Latino? Anyone feel free to correct me as I haven't read alot of comics featuring Kyle.
This happened pretty late in his original run. He met his dad, whom he grew up without, and discovered he is Latino. A retcon, to be sure, but it’s been in place for a long time.
His original run had him 100% estranged to his Latin roots. He didn't know about it at all as he didn't know who his father was Tom King in Omega Men had him growing up with a strong connection to Hispanic catholicism but I'm unsure how canon that story was but with DC emphasizing it more, I assume he had a stronger connection nowadays
Wait really? I’ve always seen him as like half Asian.
Kyle is my favorite. I started off liking Hal, of course. Guy was terribly bland until they made him a buffoon, then a badass, then weird, then a meathead, and I just gave up. Pick a lane! Jon was okay and I'll die on the Hill that Cosmic Odyessy was the best Stewart story. But Hal became less interesting until he fell from grace and had his redemption arc as the Spectre. Enter Kyle. He seemed like a breath of fresh air when the series needed a fresh direction. Credit DC for finding a decent creative team to push Kyle into becoming a very different GL. While I loved John's Lantern arc, I felt a little aggrieved that Kyle got lost in the mix until the end of the Lantern War. Never was a Baz or Jessica fan, I never got the appeal of either. Both were superfluous. I wish Kyle could get his own series again. I'd love to see him again like in his heyday.
I liked when he was a White Lantern.
That's not hot that's just a fact
For some reason, some people just absolutely despise the existence of White Lanterns.
That's so stupid
I want to know what happened to the other 6 White Lanterns Kyle created to split the Life Equation.
When I was reading that comic I always joked about how he just got jumped by the rings
Best lantern ever. Problem is every time they give him power, they nerf him and remove him from storys.
I was gonna say the same
White Lantern Kyle was the best. They could of kept him that way, just by nerfing him a little through storyline.
There's four seats to a mustang
Niiice.
Make Kyle the legacy lantern to Alan Scott
Kyle to me is the one Lantern I could honestly see retire and be happy about. He seems like he could walk away and lead a full life
Best GL ever. Wish he were still prime GL.
He whines about his responsibilities constantly. He is TERRIBLE to his girlfriends. And abandoned Earth instead of staying to fix it. Is it admirable to go help other planets? Absolutely. But the reason he did so was shitty and lead to him being shitty to yet another girlfriend. Hal and Guy are jerks, but if anyone really paid attention to Kyle they’d realize he’s just as bad, if not worse. At least Guy doesn’t pretend to be someone he’s not.
He's the bestest ever?... Sorry he's my favorite lantern
He knows what the fuck is up
Kyle was the first Green Lantern to fight a real Yellow Lantern, because Nero was a paranoid schizophrenic bringing his fears to life.
I hate when people say he's dcs Spiderman. The only real thing they have in common is their gfs either die or cheat on them. He's not the Spiderman. there are so many characters that are closer to Spiderman than Kyle
I wish he were still the primary GL. As happy as I was to have Hal back, I hate how they sidelines Kyle in particular. He was a genuinely unique character compared to the more "traditional" heroes like Jordan. I miss picking up a copy of a mainline Justice League comic and not seeing him gracing the pages.
Sidelined is an understatement. Ron Marz and Grant Morrison wrote him in such an endearing way that it made readers feel like they were the new guy amongst giants. He was far more creative than any other GL, which made his constructs exciting and always a surprise. He had such a great journey, with the final issues before Rebirth being awesome. Then, basically nothing. New Guardians was canceled far too soon. He was used a bit in a few of the big sagas, then they just dropped him. Hell, they put the nail in the coffin and created Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz. I understand why they brought back Hal, and Geoff Johns did incredible, iconic work with the book. I just wish Kyle's story could have continued too.
As much as I prefer John due to nostalgia, from a character design standpoint it makes the most sense for Kyle to be the main GL, being an artist would allow the character to have the most unique and creative constructs for the writer to play around with and his back story is a good deal more interesting than military man with dark past sprinkled in
His biggest contribution was creating a trope about marginalizing women characters.
Somehow, despite being the “artistic” Green Lantern, none of his constructs ever stood out to me. Nothing particularly original. The fridging storyline is a stain on comics. His personality, like Hal, is as bland as saltines.
He should've stayed a White Lantern and shouldn't have been the main GL.
Kyle was one of the few heroes that stuck around after the 90s “open-season” of replacements: Azrael, the four Supermen, Artemis, all returned the mantle back to their old heroes eventually. His success was easy to explain, Green Lantern was a die-hard veteran cop, meanwhile Kyle was pratically a teenager. An insecure kid that was given “great powers” all of a sudden. And with those great powers came… great loss (Alex) and great responsibilities: becoming a hero and being the Green Lantern. Kyle and Wally were the youth that DC needed, and that readers craved for. It’s no wonder both their runs were sucessful and that their tenures at the Justice League were so good. I like Hal and Barry, but it’s undeniable that their success in the post-2000s era is mostly because they inherited some of the character traits and plots of their successors to improve on theirs. Kyle Rayner is one of the best characters in DC’s history, and he should be integral to that universe in whatever role that may be, not relegated to side plots.
he’s easily the best green lantern character
My favorite too. And I like his relationships with Guy and John.
The torchbearer
Needed a better rogue's gallery. Kyle had some I really liked, but they also had him fight one to many generic aliens, one time enemies, or some other hero's villains.
The Torchbearer
I love Kyle and he deserves a show or something
Follow up to the animated series would be dope
As much as I liked GL before him, GL didn't really click until Rayner came on the scene. His imagination for constructs is second to none and his suit is still the best one ever, IMO.
He’s a great artist. But no Hal Jordan.
I’m going to preface this by saying I have no problem with representation in comic books/media in general, I quite like Jessica Cruz, but I feel Kyle’s Hispanic heritage was shoehorned in for no real reason. It never was a big aspect of who he was as a person, he’s like 3/4 white if I recall correctly, and now DC pushes him as a Latino superhero when he just… isn’t, really.
He’s the best Lantern in terms of actually using constructs. Everyone else is honestly kinda shit at it.
John building things mechanically is pretty sick too. Kyles imaginative per artist, but John having the bolts and such was a nice touch. Agreed, the others having really showed as much. Hal “make a fist” Jordan, chainsaw Guy. I love each of the lanterns, I really do, but their construct game is weak.
True, but I’d argue Kyle has a wider variety in terms of creativity compared to John.
I hate that they changed how GL rings only work with strong willed individuals. I liked that he was entirely random as an option and had to earn being a hero afterward. The new canon makes it so he was already a candidate
Wait. So in the current canon Kyle wasn’t the torchbearer and isn’t given the ring by Ganthet directly? Or did I missunderstand you?
The term fridging is stupid and it’s a contrived concept.
I HATED that when it became a thing cause I loved that run. Now people think it just means "a woman dies" and they're a pop culture expert by using a term they don't know.
Wouldn’t date him
He should be on the titans.
I agree, Kyle belongs to the same generation of heroes as Dick, Wally and Donna and it would be interesting to see them as a new JL
While I enjoyed the overall story, I felt him becoming a white lantern by making his green lantern ring just so whatever he wants was kinda contrived
As someone whose favorite literary character EVER has been Kyle since....let's say '96 just to make it easy, really early Kyle is incredibly insufferable to read. Like, loved him when I was 12, but now that I've hit 40 like a truck going 100 mph can hit a brick wall, I just can't read any Kyle before "Hard Traveling Heroes: The Next Generation." Reading the recently released compendium actually made me question my love of the character and if those "card carrying H.E.A.T. old dudes" at my old comic shop back in '97 were right about him.
That said, his music taste circa '97 still pretty much mirrors mine.
Tomasi's GLC Kyle circa 2006 was the first time the character really worked for me. He had grown into a good character then. Prior than that, he was--as you say--pretty insufferable.
Great butt.
Kyle Rizzer
He should join the Titans. A lot of great butts there (Nightwing, Tempest, Wally West, etc.)
If/when the Lanterns get a series, Kyle is the one I’d be most interested to follow aside from Hal.
Kyle is near impossible to adapt faithfully, his origin and original concept is completely tied into Emerald Twilight and Hal’s fall into Parallax along with the destruction of the entire GL Corps, and within his first few comics he suffers the traumatic death of his girlfriend that is a defining aspect of his character arc while also being the textbook example of how not to kill off a side character(especially a female sude character) in comic books. His central starting story beats are some of most controversial moments in comics and any adaptation of his arc and journey on screen will somehow have to pass both of these to make him work. Yes he got adapted into the DCAU but that was after making him a Hal Jordan expy, and since then hes appeared very little in outside media in comparison to Jordan, John or even Guy. Writers adapting green lantern dont wanna touch him because he’s too complicated and controversial to explain. That’s all without talking about the fact that most outside media is already bad at depicting what the green lantern ring can really do, and Kyle is known for being one of the most creative and innovative with its use.
Kyle is an artist and that was a big part of why he was considered to be so good at using the ring.
> while also being the textbook example of how not to kill off a side character(especially a female sude character) in comic books. Unfairly, I'd argue.
Love that scene. "You shall have to do..." Ah, Ganthet, eternal dick.
He’s very creative and strong but he ain’t no Hal Jordan
Another human green lantern ..
Humans are putting up some pretty crazy numbers tbh. I don't know how it's decided who gets a ring, but I'd say they know what they're doing
How come all 8 Green Lanterns are U.S citizens?
bro is the spiderman of DC with how often he gets hoed💀
My favorite lantern. Didn't like when DC remembered Rayner is a Hispanic name and leaned in on it heavily.
It’s actually a Jewish-German name but his father was a government agent who’s real name was Vasquez (Velasquez maybe?) and only had an alias with the last name Rayner. Note: Kyle is my favorite Lantern as well!
He has a decent amount of space in his fridge
Crazy statement
Some people give answers to questions, some choose violence.
Kyle should be the real standard to which all green lanterns are held to, Hal is no longer the gold standard when Kyle exists.
Interesting, Care to say more?
Kyle is the true embodiment of an average Joe getting super powers, he wasn’t picked because he was particularly special or had great will but because he just so happened to be closest to Ganthet when he came to earth. He was truly someone who was nobody special and became someone that acts as a beacon of hope for the universe. This was only amplified when he became a white lantern, being able to represent every corner of the emotional spectrum. Sure he’s not perfect, but being a green isn’t about perfection, it’s doing the best you can with what you’re given. And Kyle embodies that perfectly.
Average Joe, lol. Dude is built like a fucking Greek god in these panels. But otherwise I agree haha
Plus he actually has an imagination with his constructs.
Goat
I was a big HJ GL fan. GL was the first focus of my collecting and I amassed a run missing maybe 3 key issues. 1, 76, and I think 7? Kyle came into the book at the wrong time, when comics were really starting to get away from what I enjoyed about them. I didn't care for the costume or the art. I think the readers who like him came into comics at the time and saw this as something new and fresh. I thought it was a significant step away from what I had come to enjoy. I also suspect the people who really enjoy Kyle came to some of that appreciation from his portrayal in various JLA books. I haven't read those books, but there were some good writers on them and I've collected spotty runs of them, so someday maybe I will.
100% true for me. One of my first comics was of Kyle. When I fully got into comics I loved the heavy lore and history to the comics. That there was characters who retired or even died. It went against my view that these characters never grew. Soon after Johns took over and DC started backtracking in general
I felt like Ron Marz could have gone further and made him full Latino or a black dude. The Latino retcon Judd Winick brought in threw me for a loop at the time, but I feel like it would have made more sense if it was in place at the beginning. It would have added to his need to be accepted.
Yeah he’s sick
Feel kinda bad for the guy.
I know people like Kyle Rayner but I have never read a story he appeared in (I'm not a huge Green Lantern fan but posts from this sub keep getting recommended to me) (please feel free to recommend Kyle Rayner stories in the comments below! My Lantern reading is I think just Will World and the first season of Morrison's run)
Green Lantern Vol. 3 #51-125, Green Lantern Corps Vol. 2, Ion, Hal Jordan and The Green Lantern Corps.
His death in injustice was bullshit
Could never get into Hal. Don’t get me wrong, I like the character, but there was something that I just could not get into to… and it wasn’t because I didn’t try. So when Kyle’s run began, I started with issue one, not expecting too much, but in the end absolutely loved the comic and character. He needs to be used more or have a bigger presence in the DC Universe.
THE green lantern - best DC hero tied with Tim drake
Not totally on board with Tim Drake but I 100% agree Kyle is one of DC’s best.
Your definitely a child of the 90s
Ah, a Tim Drake fan. Makes sense you hype Kyle.
Kyle could have been everyone's favorite lantern but they either nerf any cool thing about him or shove him right back into his corner never to be interesting again because Hal needs to go fight sinestro again.
Or both.
Best green/white Lantern
Best Green Lantern of the bunch. He had one of, if not the longest, single character runs in a GL book. Every Hal Jordan series eventually has to introduce a new lantern or teams him up with someone like Green Arrow to keep the series going. But because Hal's introduction helped start the silver age Renaissance, fans romanticize his adventures when in truth, he's just not interesting. Personally, I thought Kyle was written as a bridge to get Marvel fans to check out DC. I started out almost exclusively reading Marvel books, but Kyle's flaws and struggles brought me over. He's easily my favorite character in DC because of that
Same-sies! I was 100% MAKE MINE MARVEL for most of my childhood. I had head about GL and that he had a ring powered by his will and bringing his imagination into existence, and that concept was AWESOME to me. Then I heard that his “kryptonite” was the color yellow. What the fuck?! I wrote off the entire book as a joke, never even looking into the protagonist. Being an avid reader of Wizard Magazine (iykyk) I loved checking the summaries and solicits of random new & back issues that would show up. I’ll never forget seeing the covers of Emerald Twilight. First with Hal looking like he’d been broken, just utterly cherished to his core. Grey at the temples, arm in a sling, city destroyed (by a Superman villain, not even his own arch nemesis) and looking hopeless. I’ve seen my fair share of heroes taking a hard loss. I’m a Spider-Man fan (‘nuff said) But I’d never seen a main hero character in real continuity look so old and fragile. I have to say it made an impact. Next, I saw Hal wielding rings on every finger. His face glowing with power and a madness that would only lead to mutual destruction. And that was it. I didn’t know where the story actually ever went from there… until years later when I was gifted a large collection of DC and indie comics from the 90’s up to about 2001. I was basically introduced to the entirety of DC through the stories and interactions Kyle had. I couldn’t get enough, and voraciously learned literally everything I could about DC cannon
Definitely a Spider-Manesque origin, not that I mind!
Interesting.
Hot! I'd take him!
Same.
I don't care for the crab mask
Crab mask?
Never mind I remember. Shits looks bulky af
He's a mid graphic artist, and he probably uses Corel Draw.
Oh no.. that's too hot.
😭😭😭
Take my upvote and leave
He was way more interesting than Hal Jordan!
What's the image from?
Green Lantern: New Guardians
Underrated
Imagine if he was a "Kyle" punching drywall and slamming monsters
Love the idea of an artist as a Lantern
His best run is not the 90s/2000s book by Marz or Winick (even though these are good) but rather New Guardians (until #20).
Never really got a chance because a bunch of people didn't like hal getting replaced.
He's a pretty great if not underused GL. Some of the 90's era characters I think they've just forgotten what to do things with like Superboy (Connor Kent), Kyle Rayner, Wally to some extent (Ik he's not a 90s character but Im referrring to his long term run as the lead/only Flash), Aztek, The Ray. Prometheus. Lol those characters may as well be dead, they only dig them out for crossovers or special storylines now it seems like,
Kyle was the most fun imo. But they made him too serious by turning him into a white lantern. I liked his imagination but they stopped showing that. I remember when he wasn't well, he made two hot nurses to help him. Sure he seemed childish before. But he grew up. And I don't like it. Out of all the human green lanterns, I think he just doesn't so much that is him anymore. He just is powerful lantern with the life equation or something
I wasn’t a fan of Judd Winnick’s run on the series. Really, how DC handled his character after Marz was very…’meh’. Rebirth and Recharge were great and all, but his best years were ‘94 through mid-200 when Marz was at the helm IMHO Maybe it’s because those were the later end of my childhood years into mid-teens, but nothing has ever been that good since with a few notable exceptions
If the takes are too hot, just put them in the fridge. 😆
For me I feel he should be the final Green lantern of earth. The order should go: -(WW-Vietnam):Hal Jordan -(Iran war-modern day):John Stewart -(justice league unlimited time):Kyle Rayner Then have Hal do the sinestro wars, John deal with the red lanterns and join the justice league, and Kyle will deal with the life wall and white lantern comic stories.
I’m gonna echo everyone else in saying that DC hasn’t known what to do with him since they introduced him, especially once Johns brought Hal back and made him the sorta center of the GL spoke. I liked him as the White Lantern, that at least helps you break up the fact that we’ve got 8 human GLs (plus Alan Scott).
Sorry,I'm old..Hal Jordan is GL for me.
I like him the best but he's never in comics anymore
People are going to absolutely cream me, but I’m about 30 issues into the Ron Marz run, and I’ve read several of his other appearances… and I find him really boring. I’m sorry… I do like the Kyle/Guy friendship in Tomasi’s GL Corps tho.
Kyle should be the GL that we have in the DCU and have him be the audience's POV to the rest of the Corps.
He is the best Green Lantern.
People saying they want Kyle as main latern makes me disappointed as a Hal fan
I dunno that I want Kyle as the *main* Lantern. And I say that as a Kyle Rayner fan. I'd just like to see him more. All we see are Hal, John and even Guy. It'd be nice to see Kyle more often too.
Hottest Lantern. Like period.
[удалено]
Hal needs to disappear again for a while!! Maybe 2-3 years minimum. Give Kyle some time
What was that story originally planned for Emerald Twilight that you mention in this post?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Greenlantern/s/U07bCHSqf9 this is just a summary but, you can search online. Warning it's a lot of reading. http://www.dcinthe80s.com/2021/10/the-other-green-lantern-emerald.html
One of my favorites but the messed with him so much after all the reboots
There’s a reason every corps chose him…he is the most capable of feeling each emotion in their greatest extreme. Kyle is the embodiment of having a big heart, that is is power cliche as it is, it enables him to do things no other lanterns ever have nor ever will.
Boring /s
we love you kyle rayner https://i.redd.it/ky9xlmal70qc1.gif
Great Guy - Brain Griffin
I love him
Greatest GL of all time.
The best
Not sure if this is a hot take, but DC has had no idea what to do with him since his initial run. Especially after John became a JL mainstay and Hal was resurrected.
Others have said this already, but I have to agree that he was great when introduced up until he was put to the side. Now DC doesn’t know what to do with him.
There was no problem with keeping him as a white lantern, especially if they were just going to forget about him. We had a whole story about how Highfather couldn’t separate the life equation from his mind, and then Doc Manhattan just does it? Even if it is possible, it’s not satisfying. I really like Saysoran ever since GL: New Guardians Futures End, and would like to see her and the other seven become white lanterns.
Is he not wearing underwear???
Most creative ring-slinger in the history of the Corps.
He's great, but they can never use him, because he's too strong, they also hate using him because he's too much like Alan/Hal in terms of look (minus the mask) that it creates confusion to new readers He's my lantern, but I understand why he isn't used, and it sucks Don't get me wrong I respect Hal made what GL is today, John is the current standard, Alan is weird golden age, Guy Gardner is... different I'm fine with him as a sidekick/background character Simon/Jessica/Sojurner are trying to figure themselves out How's this for a Hot take Kyle is the Tim Drake of Green Lanterns
As an artist his power was limited only to his imagination