Monday, March 3, 2003

Looking To The Stars: Ultimate Guide to Kyle Rayner, Green Lantern

This guide is a reference tool for old-school fans of Kyle Rayner who need a quick way to find a certain story amongst their back issues and a guide for new fans, who are having trouble finding back-issues of the first series and having trouble following the back story.

This guide is published in the chronological order of the events in the comics and not by publishing date. Various specials, one-shots, 80-page giants and mini-series are inserted into the history when appropriate.

This guide is not, it should be emphasized, a substitute for the comics, most of which are well worth hunting down in my opinion and most of which are available in trade paperback form. This guide covers all issues of Green Lantern since Kyle Rayner’s first appearance in GL #48 and continues to the most recent issue (#159 as of this writing).

The basic entry form is as follows, with a Recommended Reading section at the end of each grouping of issues, critiquing each storyline.

Issue Number(s): Pretty self explanatory. Example: GL #209

Plot: A short summary of the plot.

Famous Firsts: Anything that marks this issue(s) as a special event.

Continuity: Possible issues of continuity and common sense. Not listed in all entries.


The Last Green Lantern

(GL #48-55, Zero Hour, GL #0 and 56)

GL #48

Plot: Distraught by the destruction of Coast City, Hal Jordan tries to use his power ring to restore the city. When the Guardians declare this an abuse of power and order Hal to surrender his ring, he refuses and flies to Oa to take the power he needs to restore the city. As he leaves the planet, he is seen by a young couple who wish on the green shooting start for a solution to their problems.

Famous Firsts: The young couple, although not identified by name, are Kyle Rayner and Alex Dewitt and this marks the first appearance of both.


GL #50

Plot: Hal kills long time enemy Sinestro, his friend Killowog and destroys the Central Power Battery of Oa as he absorbs all of the Guardians power. The Guardians sacrifice themselves to create a new ring. Ganthet, the last of his race, takes the ring and goes to Earth, where he gives the ring to Kyle

Famous Firsts: Kyle appears in costume for the first time.

Continuity: Why does Ganthet go all the way to Earth to pick a new Green Lantern when he barely has the energy to stay coherent? Surely there are some planets closer to Oa which have worthy candidates? (This is explained later in GL #62 and Secret Files #1)


GL #51

Plot: Kyle gets back together with his girlfriend Alex DeWitt (Apparently they’ve broken up since Hal first left for Oa) and lets her know his secret identity. Kyle fights his first super villain (the electricity manipulator Ohm). After the fight, Kyle creates his own unique Green Lantern uniform.

Famous Firsts: First time we get Kyle and Alex’s names. Kyle’s first super villain fight. The first time we see the infamous “crab” mask costume.


GL #52-53

Plot: Kyle fights with Mongul alongside Superman. He is informed of the ring’s yellow weakness, but notes that it doesn’t seem to be an issue.

Famous Firsts: First time Kyle works with another hero (and what a hero!) This also marks the first time we get an indication that Kyle’s ring is different than Hal’s.


GL #54

Plot: Alex is killed by baddie Major Force, who is looking for the GL ring for a shadowy government institution. Kyle fights him and in the middle of the battle the ring runs out of power.


GL #55

Plot: Kyle trounces Major Force after recharging his ring with a strange lump of metal that Major Force taunts him with. He meets Alan Scott (The Sentinel) and is told the history of The GL Corps, The Guardians, Hal Jordan and the events that lead up to Hal going mad and Kyle receiving the ring. Kyle has doubts about his qualifications as a hero, but decides to keep going on since Alex would want him to keep trying.

Famous Firsts: Kyle gets a GL Lantern. Kyle meets Alan Scott (the Golden Age Green Lantern) for the first time. It also shows the first time Kyle expresses doubts about his worthiness as a hero.


Zero Hour

Plot: Kyle joins an all-star cast of heroes in order to save the universe from being destroyed and rebuilt by Hal Jordan (now calling himself Parallax)

Famous Firsts: Kyle meets Guy Gardner (The Warrior, and ex-GL) for the first time. He also has a key role in stopping Parallax’s plans for rebuilding the universe.


GL #0

Plot: Hal and Kyle are dragged through a rift to Oa. The two fight, with Kyle blowing up the planet and apparently leaving Hal behind in the rubble.

Famous Firsts: Oa is destroyed. Kyle fights a battle without a power ring for the first time.

Recommended Reading: Must read issues for all Kyle Rayner fans. Thankfully, all are available in trade paperback form, except for Green Lantern #0.



A New Beginning

(GL #56-64)

GL #56

Plot: We find that Kyle is being watched by Darkseid, who is keeping tabs on the last of the GL Corps. Kyle makes his first stop on another planet, still a bit lost trying to find his way to Earth from Oa. He meets another Green Lantern, Adara, who steals the ring from him after an apparent one-night stand. She gives it back after she finds that the ring does not work for her and commits suicide. There is a note on the last page to read REBELS ’94 #1.

Famous Firsts: This marks the first time it is mentioned that the ring works only for Kyle and the first place we find out that all the old model Green Lantern rings do not work. It is also the first time he journeys to an alien world and the first time he meets a Green Lantern who is not from Earth.


GL #57

Plot: Kyle visits Alex’s grave. We find out that he missed her funeral, while he was in space. He tells her that he is going through with their dream of moving to New York. After finding his apartment, being confronted by a man talking about monsters in the alley and meeting his new landlord, Kyle is telepathically overwhelmed by Psimon. The telepathic villain plans to use Kyle as a weapon against his old enemies, The Titans. Part One of a two-part story continued in New Titans #116.

Famous Firsts: First appearance of Radu. There is also an odd cameo in the form of an Asian man who gives Kyle directions to his apartment as he is wandering up and down Bleecker Street and tells him the neighborhood is “a bit… strange”. In the Marvel Universe, the magician Dr. Strange also lives on Bleecker Street and has an Asian servant named Wong who looks not a bit like the kindly stranger.


GL #58

Plot: Donna Troy (the heroine formerly known as Wonder Girl, now a member of the intergalactic police force called The Darkstars) helps Kyle unpack and decorate his apartment. Kyle saves Radu from the very real monsters in the alley (demons of some kind) and restores the memories of the crazed bum from last issue, who it turns out is am amnesiac Felix Faust. Faust closes the demonic portals and disappears after thanking Kyle.

Continuity: We learn a lot more of Kyle’s background here. He says he was raised by his mother who “passed away a few years ago”. Kyle is an only child and he never knew his dad. We find out that Kyle joined The Titans and he reveals his secret identity to Donna Troy.


GL #59

Plot: Kyle’s first Christmas in New York, and he’s stuck on Monitor Duty at Titans headquarters while everyone else is enjoying the holiday. But things are never dull as long-time GL enemy Dr. Polaris attacks the city….

Famous Firsts: Kyle tells his first name to some of the Titans (Arsenal, Terra, Damage and Impulse). First fight against Dr. Polaris. First kiss with Donna Troy.


GL #60

Plot: Kyle teams up with Warrior in a battle against Major Force and the shadowy officials behind him. Part Three of a three-part story (Capital Punishment) with Guy Gardner #27 and #28.

Famous Firsts: Kyle makes a personal decision not to kill in his duties as a hero for the first time. Major Force is killed by Warrior.

Continuity: We see Ganthet manifest in Central Park and a mysterious figure walking in the Nevada desert at issue’s end.


GL #61

Plot: Darkseid, still observing Kyle, sends Kalibak to test the new Green Lantern as he and Donna are having a picnic on Mars.

Continuity: Kalibak tries to steal the ring and is later yelled at by Darkseid, who says that the theft of the ring would spoil his plans. And somewhere in Texas, a woman picks up a hitch-hiker who identifies himself as “Hal Jordan”.


GL #62

Plot: After a night of jogging with Donna, Kyle is abducted by a construct who takes him to Ganthet. After explaining a bit about the ring, Ganthet says Kyle is unworthy to be Green Lantern. It’s at that moment that an annoyed Hal Jordan opens the door and says HE wants the ring back as well…


GL #63-#64

Plot: Kyle battles Hal as Ganthet goes to retrieve a team who can fight Parallax or talk sense into him. The team is made up of Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, The Flash, Hawkman, Green Arrow (in his last appearance outside his own book before his death) and Superman. Hal manages to fight the entire group, but gives the ring up to Kyle after a bloody and powerless Kyle still tries to fight him because giving up “is not what a hero would do… that’s not what Green Lantern would do.” Ganthet merges with Hal, and both disappear in a flash of Green. Our final image is of Hal on an alien world, lost in memories of when he was Green Lantern.

Continuity: At one point Hal makes a reference to his adventures with Ganthet (as seen in Ganthet’s Tale by Larry Niven & John Byrne ) Black Canary is approached, but rejected for the team, after Ganthet finds out she no longer has sonic powers. (Of course she’s as likely to be able to talk sense into Hal as the equally powerless Green Arrow, having known him longer and having shared some of the Hard-Traveling Hero adventures, but never mind…)



Fast Friends, Underworld Unleashed and Hero’s Quest

(GL #65-75)

GL #65


GL #66-#67

Plot: The Flash guest-stars as the next generation of Speedster and Lantern pair off against another legacy: the sonic-manipulating Sonar!

Famous Firsts: First solo team-up with the Modern Age Flash (Wally West) as the two face off against the Modern Age Sonar. (his first appearance as well). First appearance of Allison Chandler: a redhead model who also lives in Radu’s building.

Continuity: Kyle uses the ring, at the start of #66, to give a fraction of his power to an amputee, Paul Christian, so he can walk again. Paul finds that he can lose his legs if he loses focus of his willpower (as when he cuts his hand while climbing the Statue of Liberty) and vows to make sure he never loses his new legs again. The two pages where this happens in GL #67 are not in the Green Lantern: Baptism by Fire Trade Paperback which collects these two issues, although the scene from #66 is included.


GL #68

Plot: Underworld Unleashed Tie-In. Paul Christian is approached by the demon Neron and is given true legs and superpowers in exchange for his soul and killing Green Lantern. He is turned into the fire-powered villain Purgatory and comes to blows with a newly-powered Mr. Freeze over as Donna and Kyle try to control the situation.


GL #69

Plot: Underworld Unleashed Tie-In. Taking place after Kyle’s confrontation with Neron in Underworld Unleashed #2, Kyle and Donna are about to go tell the Titans about the new danger when Purgatory shows up on Kyle’s doorstep for a rematch. Kyle fights Purgatory as Donna evacuates the building.

Continuity: Defeated a second time, Purgatory’s soul is claimed by Neron and the villain disappears. He hasn’t been seen since. Quite tragic, really.

Most of Kyle’s neighbors make their first appearances here, even though we don’t get names for them all at this point. Thankfully, GL Secret Files #1 gives us all their particulars…

· Nathan Sraussman, aspiring film student at NYU

· Inter-racial lesbian couple Lee Adamson (staff member at the Met) and Li Chiang (manager of off-off Broadway theater)

· Blind jazz Musician Cleveland Rose

· Rachel Ginty, a poet and longtime Village residence

· Allison Chandler, a model.


GL #70

Plot: After a fight with Donna over his having a nude model (Allison) in the apartment, Kyle decides to go on a quest to learn about heroism from other heroes.

Famous Firsts: Kyle meets John Stewart (head of the Darkstars and former GL) for the first time. Donna and Kyle break up for the first time.

Continuity: Donna and Kyle break up as Donna finds a nude Allison in their apartment. Kyle says she was just posing for him but Donna thinks he should have told her about it first. Kyle saves John from a Berserker alien who was upset over the events of GL: Mosaic.


GL #71

Plot: Hero’s Quest: Part One . Kyle travels to Gotham City to get advice from Batman. Batman is unwilling to play the teacher, though Robin gives him a tip and Kyle gets some on-the-job training from The Sentinel. Meanwhile, on another world, a Darkstar is killed by a mysterious gigantic figure.

Continuity: Kyle meets up with The Sentinel (Alan Scott) and in a bit of closure from Underworld Unleashed , asks Kyle to help him with restoring his injured wife Molly (aka the retired super villainess Harlequinn, who sold her soul for restored youth during Underworld Unleashed.)


GL #72

Plot: Hero’s Quest : Part Two. Kyle journeys to Fawcett City, where he helps Captain Marvel with fighting the spirit of an Egyptian priest. Meanwhile, Donna Troy and the rest of the Darkstars meet to discuss the deaths of many members of their team and the seeming pattern to the deaths.


GL #73

Plot: Hero’s Quest: Part Three. Kyle’s quest takes him to Gateway City, home of Wonder Woman. The two fake a battle between themselves in order to draw out a trio of alien smugglers. At the same time, the Darkstars move to the planet of Rann, which they anticipate will be the next target of their mysterious killer. Kyle is about to fly home when he is approached by Donna Troy.

Continity: Before Donna appears, Kyle thinks about visiting his mom while he is on the West Coast, contradicting GL #58 where he said his mother is dead. (This is explained later in GL #80.)


GL #74

Plot: Hero’s Quest: Part Four. Kyle and Donna fly off to Rann to join the rest of the Darkstars as well as Adam Strange (an Earthling and Buck Rogers-style space hero, who is protector of Rann). As Donna and Kyle arrive in the middle of a massive battle, they see who is responsible for all the Darkstar killings: a giant figure who calls himself Grayven and his sidekick, Sinthia. (No, I’m not making that name up.)

Famous Firsts: First appearance of Grayven; a bastard son of Darkseid determined to prove his worth. He will become a major thorn in Kyle’s side, although we don’t get any major development or character history until next issue.


GL #75

Plot: Hero’s Quest: Part Five. Things come down to the wire, as it falls to Kyle to show what he has learned and prove himself a hero as a city falls.

Famous Firsts: Kyle makes his first impressive show of will power: holding an entire city together.

Continuity: John Stewart is badly injured in the battle against Grayven. Most of the Darkstars are killed and only four are left with functioning power-suits. Donna Troy is depowered and John Stewart is retired. They return to Earth with Kyle, along with Meryan, a blue-skinned elfin alien who is in love with John.

Recommended Reading: Nearly all these are good stories and are very necessary to Kyle’s history. All but #65 (which is meaningless outside of the crossover it is part of) and #68-69 are collected in the Green Lantern: Baptism By Fire trade paperback. #68 and 69 are good stories, but require you to have read Underworld Unleashed. You really should read it anyway, as it is one of the better crossovers DC has ever done.


An Emerald Ally and the End of an Era

(GL #76-81 & Parallax: Emerald Night)

GL #76-77

Plot: Parts One and Three of a Four-Part crossover with Green Arrow #110 and #111: Hard Traveling Heroes: The Next Generation. Kyle tracks down the new Green Arrow, Connor Hawke, and asks him to join him on a quest to find Kyle’s father. The two travel to Desolation- a town once saved a generation ago by Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen and find a whole lot more than they bargained for.

Famous Firsts: The first multiple part team-up story for the new Green Lantern/Green Arrow. The two first met in Green Arrow #104 but this feels like their first real meeting. Kyle reveals his secret identity to Connor Hawke and vice versa. This also marks the first instance of a running gag in all their team-ups: Connor’s ability to get women’s attention without even trying as Kyle gets no response when he is pouring on the charm.

Continuity: Quite a bit to sort through here…

· Kyle eventually does find a man with a slight family resemblance (Kyle thinks “looks like me plus 25 years and a cheesy mustache.”) who claims to be his father, Aaron Rayner. He tells Kyle a story about joining the army and working his way into the “3 letter government organizations”. He was offered a position that would require to him to leave his old life behind, and he chose duty over love, justifying it by saying he could ensure that his wife and child would be safe in his new job.

· Later, “Aaron” dies but confesses to Kyle with his dying breath that he is actually his uncle Zachary and that he hasn’t seen Aaron in years.

· The story ends, somewhere in Colorado, on a military base, where a man just getting onto a chopper is stopped by a uniformed man and is handed a telegram which reads “Regret to inform you of the death of your brother. Condolences.” (This is confirmed in GL Secret Files #2 as the first appearance of Aaron Rayner.)

· Kyle makes another reference to his mother still being alive.


GL #78

Plot: A day in the life of Kyle Rayner, this issue reintroduces us to who Kyle is, what he does, how the ring works and reconciles his relationship with Donna Troy. Good jumping on point in the series.

Famous Firsts: Kyle creates a semi-permanent item with the ring: a necklace for Donna that last as long as he loves her.

Continuity: A couple of noteworthy points.

We see our first post-Hero’s Quest appearance of John Stewart, who we find suffered extensive nerve damage and has little prospect of ever walking again. Kyle also summaries what has been slowly been revealed over the last few issues regarding the ring and battery…

· The ring only works for Kyle… and Hal Jordan. No reason is given for why this is so in this issue.

· Kyle says his battery is made of a shard of what was originally the Central Battery of Oa. In #62, Ganthet says the ring is actually made from a fragment of the planet Oa. An incongruity? Not quite. According to the GL Corps Website (ww.glcorps.org), the rings and batteries are forged from Oaite, a compound found on Oa which was also used to build the Central Power Battery. Both explanations are then technically correct, although neither explains why Kyle’s ring is free of the impurities of the Central battery.


GL #79

Plot: Kyle goes into battle to stop a prison riot started by a more-powerful-than-ever Sonar. Back at home, a mysterious figure emerges from Kyle’s battery…

Famous Firsts: First appearance of Sonar II in his new cybernetic costume and (even though he is not named here) the newly costumed Dr. Light.


GL #80

Plot: The Final Night Tie-In. Kyle faces off against old Hal Jordan enemy, Dr. Light. Later, as the situation with the monster eating the sun worsens, he goes to spend some time with Donna before flying off after having an idea on how to save the world…

Famous Firsts: First battle with Dr. Light, who will later become GL’s opposing number in Lex Luthor’s Injustice Gang in JLA.

Continuity: We see all of Kyle’s neighbors as he thinks about how you should spend what may be the last day of your life, after a one year absence in the title for all but Allison and Radu.

The conflict regarding Kyle’s mother is explained after Kyle mentions wanting to talk to his mom to Donna, who remembers what Kyle said in GL #58 about her being dead. The truth is she is alive, but she has a bad relationship with Kyle and she is dead to him in some ways and he didn’t want to burden someone he barely knew with all the baggage.

Parallax: Emerald Night

Plot: The Final Night Tie-In. Kyle tracks down Hal Jordan on the edge of the universe and asks him to help save the Earth. After settling his affairs, Hal finds Kyle and agrees.

Continuity: Hal makes his peace with Guy Gardner. He uses his power as Parallax to heal John Stewart. He visits the grave of Oliver Queen (and brings about the events that start off the Kevin Smith run of Green Arrow) and says good-bye to Tom “Pie” Kalmaku and Carol Ferris. Tom is working on a book about Hal’s life. Ganthet emerges from inside Hal, though even Hal can’t guess why except to keep an eye on him. Ganthet offers Hal a GL ring and a fresh start, admitting that the Guardians were unfair to him. Hal refuses the ring.


GL #81

Plot: The now infamous Funeral Issue of Hal Jordan. Friends and well-wishers convene in the ruins of Coast City.

Continuity: Kyle meets Starman (Jack Knight) and Nightwing (Dick Grayson) for the first time. Swamp Thing creates a memorial garden where Coast City stood. Alan Scott turns the memorial flame erected for the survivors of Coast City green. Kyle creates a permanent sculpture of Hal Jordan.

Recommended Reading: All good stories, worth tracking down. #GL 76-77 are collected in the “Emerald Allies” Trade Paperback and “Parallax: Emerald Night” is collected in the TP of “The Final Night”. Shame they had to ruin Hal’s heroic end and redemption with such a half-assed revival (See the horrible Day of Judgment mini-series, if you must…) GL #78 stands out in particular as a good example of how to do a “catch-up the new people” issue.



Fatality and Family

(GL #82-91)

GL #82

Plot: After a night of carousing and storytelling with Guy, John and Alan, Kyle has to play babysitter to Donna’s son Robbie. On another planet, GL turned Darkstar Gallius Zed is killed by a mysterious assassin.

Continuity: First beer-and-bull session at Warriors. First meeting between Kyle and Robbie. Gallius Zed is killed on the planet Rann by (in her first off camera appearance) Fatality.


GL #83

Plot: After stopping an illegal weapons shipment, Kyle goes out for a peaceful night of dancing. Peaceful it ain’t, however as Kyle is attacked by Fatality: an assassin with a mad-on for all Green Lanterns. He flies off to check on John Stewart, only to realize that his lantern is unguarded.

Continuity: First fight between Kyle and Fatality.


GL #84

Plot: Kyle and Fatality have a rematch, where Fatality explains her past to Kyle and why she is hunting down Green Lanterns. Kyle is about to be killed when he is saved by John Stewart. He chases Fatality into space, only to have his run out of power as the two both become trapped on a barren planet.

Continuity: We find out that Fatality is the last survivor of the planet Xanshi, which was destroyed during the Cosmic Odyssey mini-series, because of John Stewart’s arrogance. John Stewart saves Kyle by manifesting a green energy blast. He is unable to duplicate the feat, but speculates that it is somehow tied to the energy that Hal Jordan used to heal him in Emerald Night.


GL #85

Plot: A powerless Kyle must fight the profession warrior Fatality for his lantern… and his life!

Continuity: Fatality is apparently killed by a predator and Kyle is left with nothing but a severed arm. The fact that old GL batteries do not work anymore is confirmed when Kyle tries and fails to get a charge off a preserved battery in Fatality’s trophy room.


GL #86

Plot: Comedy abounds as Kyle tries to plan a nice dinner and unexpectedly gets a new roommate and a fight for his trouble.

Continuity: All of Kyle’s neighbors are given names in this issue for the first time, though not all of them appear. Rachel the poet and Nathan the film student are mentioned but we see Lee, Li, Allison and Cleveland in Radu’s coffee shop. We find out Kyle designed Radu’s new logo in exchange for a break on his rent.

Kyle agrees to let Jenny Hayden-Scott (Jade of Infinity Inc) move in temporarily.


GL #87

Plot: A training exercise with J’onn J’ozz s interrupted, as the last GL and the last Martian must fight a most unusual alien invasion.

Continuity: First GL issue after the formation of the new JLA of which Kyle is a member. Mogo, the sentient planet that is also a Green Lantern makes an appearance. It is revealed that when the Corps was destroyed, Mogo somehow ceased to be. Kyle and J’onn convince the alien ship, which is on a mission to preserve the DNA of an entire planet and all the beings on it, to repopulate themselves on Mogo instead of the Earth. The entire planet is turned into a lush paradise and J’onn believes the race that created the shift will eventually re-evolve upon Mogo.


GL #88

Plot: Kyle goes back to California with Donna. But the trip isn’t as peaceful as Kyle would like… even without odd things happening in the local branch of STAR Labs.

Continuity: Kyle visits Alex’s grave and gets slapped by Alex’s sister, who notes that Kyle missed her funeral and is not happy about that. We see Kyle’s mom for the first time. Her name is Maura. She still keeps the last name of Rayner (despite being abandoned by Kyle’s father), has a noticeable Irish Accent, red hair and a full figure. Kyle knows how to speak some Gaelic. His mother, we find out, figured out he was Green Lantern after seeing him on TV (Mothers always know, don’t they?)


#89

Plot: Kyle’s dinner with his mom and her boyfriend is spoiled by the appearance of… the Machine Massiah! That, and Donna gets some bad news…


#90

Plot: Alone in LA after Donna leaves, Kyle catches up with an old friend with a problem with his friend Al. Al Key Hall.

Continuity: We see an extended version of the scene in Issue #50, showing why Kyle was in the alley when Ganthet gave him the ring. Short answer, he has to get some air after watching a friend throw up. We find out that Kyle did attend college, but quit before getting a degree. Donna cuts her vacation short after getting a phone call that her son has been killed, along with her ex-husband in a car accident.


#91

Plot: Genesis Tie-In. Kyle’s been dumped and he’s not feeling too well. Getting kidnapped and tortured by Desaad of the New Gods doesn’t help matters much.

Continuity: We find out that Donna has officially dumped Kyle, saying she couldn’t be with anyone after the situation with her son. Jenny mentions a failed relationship with a guy who wound up in “the nuthouse”; a reference to Infinity Inc. teammate Brainwave Jr. Kyle designed the logo for John Stewart’s architecture firm (Shining Light Architecture) and John employs Meryan as his executive assistant. John hasn’t manifested the green energy since the fight with Fatality. Deasaad’s experiments on Kyle reveal a bit more about the ring. He confirms that the ring works only for Kyle because of a bond to his genetic template, but says Kyle might be able to will another to use it. He also says that the reason Kyle’s ring works while the other rings and lanterns have failed is that Kyle is directly accessing “The Source” (the cosmic energy that creates most super powers) that the planet Oa was a focal point for. No small surprise that if, as said before, Kyle’s battery is made from a piece of Oa itself.

Recommended Reading: Issue #89 is pretty pointless and the Machine Messiah is a pretty lame villain- kind of a poor man’s version of the Cyborg Superman. #82 is sweet, but becomes bitter sweet considering the news we get in issue #89 after such a promising bond being formed between Kyle and Robbie. Donna makes a too-sudden departure from the series; the result of John Byrne’s wanting to use her in his Wonder Woman book. Still, most of the issues are good reads if not great ones and nearly all have historical importance to the series, with Jade moving in and Kyle’s mom appearing. And let’s not forget the introduction of Fatality, possibly the best villain created by Ron Marz.


Heartache, Heroism and… Hal?

(GL #92-99 & Heart of Darkness #1-3)

#92

Plot: Part Two of a Three-Part crossover with Green Arrow #125-126. Kyle and Connor must stop a racial-tension inspired riot and investigate the two political figures who are fanning the flames of discontent.

Continuity: Kyle says his dad is Scot-Irish, from a generation back. Nathan gets a moment in the spotlight after he examines a tape of a debate between the two political figures and confirms that they are being digitally edited and that both figures are the same person. (In this case, lame Green Arrow villain Nicholas Kotero)


#93

Plot: Deadman guest stars as he (in Kyle’s body) tracks a misogynist, lesbian-hunting serial killer, on Halloween night.

Continuity: Kyle never celebrated Halloween as a kid, because of his mother’s devout religious beliefs. He and his mother are Irish-Catholic, though Kyle is non-practicing. Lee and Li make an appearance, with Lee nearly becoming the second victim of the killer that night.


#94

Plot: Part One of a Two-Part Crossover with Superboy #47 (also written by Ron Marz). A new art job sends Kyle to Hawaii and into an adventure with Superboy. Famous Firsts: First appearance of Simone Montaigne, Kyle’s new agent.


#95

Plot: Kyle investigates a murder on an alien world full of robots.


#96

Plot: Part One of a Three-Part crossover with Green Arrow #131 and Flash #135. The three youngest members of the JLA go on a cruise in Alaska. Too bad three villains on a mission are there as well…

Continuity: The re-appearance of GL/GA baddie Hatchet since GL #76-77. Sonar is back as well, last seen escaping from prison in #79. In a note that legal fans might find interesting, Kyle takes the Twelfth Amendment to avoid having to give his real name when testifying in court. In a cut-away scene, Jenny Hayden is kidnapped from Kyle’s apartment in an odd flash of light.


Green Lantern / Sentinel : Heart of Darkness #1-3

Plot: Jenny is kidnapped by unknown forces. Kyle and Alan Scott, Green Lanterns of different generations and the hero Obsidian, join forces to find her.

Famous Firsts: Jenny kisses Kyle for the first time, though it is something of a good-bye kiss.

Continuity: Brainwave Jr. is seen for the first time in the pages of Green Lantern, in a catatonic state in an asylum that Alan Scott funds privately. The mini-series gives a good background history into Alan Scott, his powers and the Starheart (a manifestation of all the chaotic magic in the Universe, bound by the Guardians millennia ago). By the end of the series, the following major changes have taken place.

· It is revealed that Jade and Obsidian have their powers because of the Starheart’s desire to have children and using Alan Scott to provide the basic physical matter for that – not any ambient power inside Alan himself.

· Alan, who loses his eternal youth and powers during the series, gets them back… although he is not as young-looking as he was, being perhaps about mid-30’s in appearance. He has also removed the star symbol from his costume.

· Obsidian is apparently cured of his darker moods, which were encouraged by a corruption in the Starheart. (For all the good this seems to do later in the pages of JSA)

· Jenny is unable to manifest her powers anymore, but still has green hair and skin. This seems to contradict some Infinity Inc, where Jenny would run low on power and look normal and indeed, could switch between her green and normal forms at will. (Perhaps the extended contact with the Starheart energies created the super-power equivalent of blowing a fuse?)


#97

Plot: A comforting talk and a day off are ruined when Grayven reappears… on Earth!

Continuity: Grayven, absent since #75, was teleported inside the Earth by the Zeta Beam he was hit with on Rann and dug his way out. Allison appears (in her last speaking role?!), comfort Kyle over his break-up with Donna. It’s more than a little clear that she is interested in Kyle, but Kyle leaves to fight Grayven before anything comes of it. He leaves behind an unfinished sketch of a woman who looks a bit like Jenny Hayden-Scott.


#98-99

Plot: Trapped in the 30th century thanks to Grayven’s attack, Kyle and the Legion of Superheroes must fight against a new GL Corps… one devoted to crime!

Continuity: The ring is used by Cary Wren, a future descendent of Kyle, confirming the DNA lock on the ring. Kyle is experienced enough at this point that he is able to pool his willpower with that of another person using a GL ring. He also has gotten some training in hand-to-hand combat from Donna Troy.

There are a few facts about the possible future here that are worth mentioning. However, it should be noted that no DCU future is permanent and these facts cannot be taken as rote. (In fact, recent events regarding Oa seem to negate a few of these facts.)

· The Legion have records of Hal Jordan and the Guardians, but no records of any Green Lanterns afterwards.

· The planet Oa is still destroyed in the 30th century, though the area where it was is rich in an ambient energy. The criminal GL Corps can absorb this energy through a special siphon on their space-station (Oa 2) and can retransmit this energy to simulate some limited GL powers.

· The “ great historical masterpiece” the GL Corps steal from the Louvre is titled “Sorrow” and is by “K. Rayner”. It resembles a crying Donna Troy, oddly enough.

Recommended Reading: This period offers lots of fun, but ultimately pointless stories that show Kyle’s progression as a hero but offer no huge revelations. The exception to this is the Heart of Darkness mini-series, where Kyle doesn’t do much but get smacked around and some big changes DO happen and then are changed back again with a few minute “tweaks”. This also begins Marz’s trend of introducing a big change and then changing things back to the status quo a few months later. This is a bit jarring, and made things a bit confusing for newer readers.

Still, my feelings about these stories being fun but pointless, still stand. The Hate Crimes three-parter with Green Arrow (2/3rds written by Chuck Dixon) suffers from being a bit unbelievable, in that one serial killer manages to start a race riot in New York. Marginally better is the Deadman story in #93 which deals with sexual orientation based crimes, years before the more infamous story with Terry. #94 and #96 offer some fun team-ups.

And nearly all of Kyle’s supporting cast all get prominent appearances in this time period, though some never appear again! (Richard and Allison come to mind, in particular.)



Emerald Knights

(Secret Files #1 & GL #100-106)

GL Secret Files #1

Plot: Several short stories along with character profiles and history. Guy Gardner recaps the history of the Green Lanterns to an unseen visitor at Warrior’s bar. Jenny reads through Kyle’s sketchbook. Jenny does an interview about her loss of power and modeling career. And some lost pages showing Kyle meeting (and saving) Carol Ferris.

Continuity: Guy Gardner was offered the last Green Lantern ring before Kyle Rayner. Guy rejected it out of pride, offended that his worth was just now being realized by the Guardians. He has kept this revelation secret, however. This would explain why Ganthet went to Earth first (knowing of Guy’s experience and willingness to fight a crazed Hal Jordan) and chose a seemingly a random Earthling to take the ring at the last moment.

Additionally, more hints of a Kyle/Jade flirtation are hinted at here and we find out that Kyle did meet Hal’s supporting cast long before his funeral. Jade is also apparently a baseball fan, making reference to Sandy Kofax in her interview.


GL #100

Plot: Sent back too far in time by the Legion, Kyle and a rookie Hal Jordan must stand with the Corps against Sinestro.

Continuity: Kyle and Hal beat Sinestro by switching rings, so that Hal has the ring that is not weak against yellow while Kyle uses the standard Corps version. While Kyle’s ring does not have the yellow weakness, it also lacks the safeguard in the ring that protects against mortal injury and sneak attacks that the old Corps rings do. (No small surprise since this function was dependent on the Central Battery’s computer) The inexperienced Hal Jordan is able to use Kyle’s ring despite the DNA lock (Perhaps Kyle “willed” it to work for him? Either that or the ring’s sense memory of once belonging to Hal works despite the shift in time?)


GL #101

Plot: Sent back to the present (or his future) Hal Jordan struggles with the knowledge of what he will one day become.

Continuity: The memorial statue of Hal Jordan in Coast City is destroyed by Hal.


GL #102

Plot: Kalibak comes calling, looking to prove himself against another Green Lantern as Hal tries to reintroduce himself to some old friends.

Continuity: Ferris Aircraft has relocated to Indiana. Tom has finished his book about Hal Jordan, but can’t find a publisher who will publish it as is (IE: a tribute and not a “hero goes mad” tell-all)


GL #103

Plot: Kyle introduced Hal to the new Justice League and deals with his own conflicted feelings over Hal’s return.


GL #104

Plot: Part Two of a Two-Part Crossover with GL #136. Connor Hawke asks for Hal’s help in stopping a new sect of Eden Corps terrorists.

Continuity: Hal was discharged from the Air Force after an experimental plane he was testing crashed as he was trying to stop it from being stolen by a soldier turned mercenary named Hardy, who is now working for the Eden Corps.


GL #105

Plot: Sensing a disturbance in time, a Parallax from the past returns to return his past self to the past… stomping on a good number of heroes in the process.

Continuity: John Stewart manifests a Green Energy blast again as Parallax tries to kill Guy Gardner, with no explanation again as the power cuts out as Hal moves in on him.


GL #106

Plot: Hal fights himself over his future… literally.

Continuity: The young Hal Jordan is returned back to his place in time, with his memories of his future erased as are Parallax’s memories of his battle with his past self. This is accomplished through Hal’s ring, which has the power to remove memories. Kyle says his ring doesn’t allow him to do this indirectly. (He tells Hal that his ring has abilities that Kyle’s doesn’t.) Before going back, the young Hal leaves Kyle with a gift… a copy of his ring. It is not stated, but is implied that Kyle cannot copy his ring.

Recommended Reading: Available in TP format, this story ultimately accomplished only three things. First, it sparked the sudden beginning of the Kyle/Jade romance, which had only been mildly hinted at in the Secret Files, one panel of #97 and the Hearts of Darkness storyline. Secondly, it sparked Kyle’s desire to rebuild the GL Corps. Finally, it left Kyle with a Corps-era GL ring. Of course all of these things brought up certain logic and logistical problems which will be discussed separately in The Nit-Picker’s Guide To Green Lantern. Worth reading for some good character scenes, even though nearly all the action in it has been negated by later stories.



A New Lantern and a New Corps.

(GL 3-D, GL: The New Corps #1-2 ,GL #107-112)

#107

Plot: Kyle sets about preparing for a journey into space and finding a replacement for himself while he is away.

Continuity: Sledge makes his first appearance since GL #79. Kyle offers the spare ring to Alan, John and Guy before offering it to Jenny but they all refuse it. Guy makes a comment to himself regarding turning down rings. Jenny and Kyle are officially boyfriend/girlfriend now. Kyle can take shavings off of his Lantern which can be shape into another lantern. It is confirmed that Jenny can use her ring to create duplicates, but Kyle cannot do the same with his.


GL 3-D

Plot: A lesson in ring use is interrupted when Dr. Light comes looking for revenge.

Continuity: Takes place between the events of GL #107. Jenny asks where the energy powering Kyle’s battery comes from. He says he just assumed that it went somewhere and that the battery is still able to access it. (Apparently he’s forgotten the lessons Ganthet gave him about how his ring and battery.) Later, it appears that all of the energy of Oa is contained in Kyle’s battery, presumably drawing off The Source all the while. The battery also contains a small model of Oa with ring-projections of all the old Corps, but no Guardians. Kyle speculates it was created by Hal, who must have been in the battery at some point before he died. This would have to have happened during Final Night, since Dr. Light doesn’t recognize the odd world but he escaped from the lantern in GL #79 just as The Final Night was starting. At the end of this story, Dr. Light is once again trapped in the battery.


GL: The New Corps #1-#2

Plot: Detailing Kyle’s journeys in space and attempts to create a new GL Corps.

Continuity: Kyle gives away five rings, one of them to a would-be despot (Magaan Van’n Intraktus) who Kyle and his four other recruits must fight. One of the recruits, Hammeroon, is killed in the fighting. The remaining three (an alien miner named Garl Rathbone, a frozen Russian cosmonaut named Anya Savenlovich and a judge named Sool) have their rings taken back by Kyle after the despot is defeated, with Kyle saying that he doesn’t think he has the wisdom to create a Corps right now.


GL #108

Plot: Jade and Wonder Woman team up to take on an enemy with plant powers and a connection to Jade’s mother, the villaness Thorn.

Continuity: Jenny notices that her father (Alan Scott) is starting to lose his hair in this issue, indicating that the eternal youth granted by his powers is failing.


GL #109

Plot: Jenny confronts a villain from her past in the orphanage.

Continuity: According to this issue, Jade’s powers manifested as a child while she was in an orphanage, and cornered by a child-molesting janitor.


GL #110

Plot: Connor Hawke guest stars and joins Jenny in helping Alan regain control of his powers.

Continuity: At issue’s end, Alan Scott’s body has aged physically to match his chronological age and he is now wearing his old Green Lantern uniform from the 40’s instead of his Sentinel uniform.

GL #111

Plot: Fatality returns looking for Kyle. But she’s all too happy to settle for John Stewart and Jade. Elsewhere, a naked young man with fire in his eyes is discovered on the side of a highway.

Famous Firsts: First appearance of Martin Van Wyck.

Continuity: Fatality had her severed arm replaced with a mechanical one. She also comes up with an explanation for John Stewart’s uncontrollable energy powers: he can only use the powers to defend others, but not himself.


GL #112

Plot: Kyle returns in the nick of time as Jenny runs out of power and John is kidnapped.

Continuity: Fatality takes away Jenny’s ring in the middle of a fight and it is “lost” on the ocean floor. It is actually taken by third-rate “hero” Anarky, who was trying to find Green Lantern to ask for his assistance in dealing with a crisis. (For more details, see the Nit-Picker’s Guide) As a result of this story, John Stewart is again paralyzed, having apparently burned all of the GL energy from his body while fighting Fatality. Jade is depowered again Fatality is, once again, missing and presumed dead. Elsewhere, Martin Van Wyck manifests fire powers.

Recommended Reading: The weak point on the Marz run, with stories that accomplish nothing and undo some of the progress the series made. The Jade solo stories are somewhat sub-par the GL 3-D Special seems to contradict what we have been told about the current state of Kyle’s battery. The two-part with Fatality is pretty good, if you ignore that it undoes one of Marz’s more interesting ideas: John Stewart having a power that can only be used selflessly and that it restores the status quo of Kyle being the one Green Lantern left. The New Corps mini-series (by Chuck Dixon) is best ignored, accomplishing nothing of note to the series history and being poorly written anyway.


A New Lantern and a New Corps.

(GL #113-125, Secret Files #2)

GL #113-114

Plot: A day in the lives of Kyle Rayner and Martin Van Wyck; two very different young men blessed with amazing powers, destined to meet in a fiery crash.

Continuity: Kyle has a fear of fire from childhood. Martin has the power to create and reshape fire and gained these powers after being abducted by aliens. He gets his super-villain name from his girlfriend Stacy, who says his projections look like burning copies of something. In a scene parodying the final pages of GL #48, a couple on the beach wishing on a falling star of an odd color are nearly hit by a falling Kyle Rayner.

It turns out the aliens who kidnapped Martin are The Controllers, a more militant off-shoot of the race that became the Guardians. The Controllers were also the founders of the Darkstars and Martin was a test subject for their new police force. Martin is taken by the Controllers with a warning given to Kyle that they will return.


GL #115-116

Plot: Kyle teams up with Plastic Man and Booster Gold to deal with an alien invasion.


GL Secret Files #2

Plot: Several short stories along with character profiles and history. Hal Jordan crosses paths with a shadowy government agent with his own secrets. Alan Scott does an interview about his deaging and return to a classic costume. A dumped Jenny discovers new powers. We also get a past tale of The Spectre meeting Hal Jordan

Continuity: Ray White, the government man who tracks down Hal and his connection to the alien space ship is Aaron Rayner. Aaron knows Hal’s secret identity and, if the cliff-hanger can be believed, knows his son’s secret as well. Kyle was about 15 when Hal got the ring, making him about 25 in the present day. According to the interview, Jade’s being the daughter of Sentinel is not public knowledge nor is Alan’s secret identity, though Jade herself has an open ID. Jade discovers plant-controlling powers, similar to what her mother Thorn had (though this never comes up again in any other story.) The three surviving New Corps members from GL: The New Corps are spotlighted as forming a new peace-keeping force, but have yet to appear in any GL story since.


GL #117

Plot: Kyle fights a reactivated Manhunter droid in Warriors bar the night of his first gallery showing. But that’s a picnic compared to what happens when a certain woman pops back into Kyle’s life….

Continuity: Kyle has his first gallery show and turns the head of the Manhunter into a exhibit for the show. Pretty much all of the supporting cast show up, including John, Alan, Meryan, Connor Hawke, Kyle’s agent Simone and all his neighbors show up for the gallery show along with some JLA members. (Plastic Man is seen hitting on Allison) Kyle escapes from a flirty Simone by introducing her to Radu. In another cameo from the “Marvelous” competition at Marvel, there is a familiar young couple at Kyle’s gallery show. The woman is a gorgeous redhead and the man is a brown-haired skinny chap with curly hair and a camera. Yep. It’s Peter and Mary Jane Parker!


GL #118

Plot: Day of Judgment Tie-In. Donna is back in the picture and Jenny’s not happy about that. And as if there weren’t enough women making things difficult, The Enchantress shows up causing trouble for Kyle too.

Continuity: Donna Troy is no longer the same woman, having been brought back to life after being magically erased from time based on the memories of Wally West. Jenny leaves Kyle a ‘Dear John’ letter and leaves.


GL #119

Plot: As Kyle deals with the collapse of his love life, he goes on a trip with Hal Jordan, the new Spectre, to settle a loose end with the love of his life.

Continuity: Jenny and Kyle officially break up. Jenny’s baseball fandom comes to the forefront again, as she recounts what hand Sandy Koufax threw with as Kyle begs her to stop “making like Sandy Koufax.” We see Tom Kalmaku, still working for Carol Ferris, whose company is deeply in debt. Radu was married once before and is now dating Kyle’s agent Simone. Radu is also being stalked by a mysterious man with a rifle and an eyepatch at the issue’s end.


GL #120

Plot: Kyle must save Radu from his own past, as an assassin with a grudge comes calling.

Continuity: Alan Scott shows up to pick up Jenny’s belongings and says that no matter what happens, he will still respect Kyle as a hero. We learn more of Radu’s past; that he was a soldier and a member of the secret police in Romania before he immigrated to America growing sick of the brutality of his commanding officer, known as Dracul- the Dragon. Radu tried to flee to the west with his wife, but lost her while trying to jump on a train while fleeing from Dracul. Radu figured out that Kyle is Green Lantern, but he says nobody else in the building suspects a thing. Kyle and Radu have their wounds nursed by Donna Troy, who for some odd reason, has green skin and hair as Kyle looks at her.


GL #121

Plot: Kyle wakes up on the planet Oa, with Jenny in his bed, wearing his ring and a whole new Corps at his command. The world is a paradise… but why can’t he remember how things got so good?


GL #122

Plot: Kyle’s Corps manage to fight off the Effigy Corps and capture Effigy himself…but there’s a lot more going on than is being said…


GL #123

Plot: Kyle escapes from his dream world only to find himself cycling through more and more complex illusions as he tries to find those responsible for messing with his mind: The Controllers!

Continuity: Effigy appears, but has been drained of his free will by the Controllers.


GL #124

Plot: Kyle finds The Controllers… and a whole lot of trouble.

Continuity: The Controllers infected Kyle with a mental corruption in GL #114 that would force his imagination to imprison his conscious mind. They attempt to turn Kyle into an Effigy troop, but Kyle is able to resist their mental attacks. Kyle is also, in a feat used only with the old Corps rings, able to summon his ring onto his hand. Kyle destroys the machines that create Effigies, but the Controllers swear that they will have revenge upon him.


GL #125

Plot: Kyle finds a mysterious tomb underneath the JLA Watchtower… and a whole lot more besides.

Continuity: Kyle’s thoughts at the end of the issue seem to be a farewell message from Ron Marz to the readers.

Recommended Reading: While not as good as some of the early stories, Marz does go out on a high note. Effigy ranks with Fatality as one of the more interesting Green Lantern villains of all time and the various alternate realities Kyle cycles through in GL #121-124 are fun. The 2nd GL Secret Files book may go down in history as the most continuity-contradicting comic of all time.



New Journey, Old Path & Circle of Fire

(GL #126-136 & GL: Circle of Fire Mini-Series)

GL #126

Plot: Kyle goes undercover in a metahuman prison to find the secret location of a kidnapped woman and finds a big secret underneath the prison.

Continuity: Refers to GL #79, when Kyle helped stop a riot at the same metahuman prison. Sonar makes an appearance among the convicts being experimented on.


GL #127

Plot: Effigy meets an escaped Killer Frost, and the two team up when Kyle comes looking for her.

Continuity: Effigy has apparently regained his mind following the events with the Controllers in GL #124, but no explanation is given as to how. Effigy’s heat powers allow him to touch Killer Frost, who’s touch usually freezes people solid. Effigy escapes from Kyle, but Killer Frost is recatpured.


GL #128

Plot: Kyle and Roy Harper are hanging out together when they both get called by their respective teams to deal with a Terrorist attack.


GL: Circle of Fire #1-2

Plot: The JLA face off against a new cosmic villain named Oblivion, who has a connection to Kyle’s past. It falls to Kyle to form a new Justice League and GL Corps, forged from elements pulled from across time and reality to deal with Oblivion as he faces his own personal demons.

Continuity: Oblivion is a ring projection created by Kyle’s subconcious, using the ring to give shape to all of Kyle’s fear and anger in the form of a villain from the comics Kyle wrote as a kid. The new Lanterns are manifestations of the positive aspects of Kyle’s psyche, also given a physical form through Kyle’s subconcious.


GL #129

Plot: Kyle deals with a new job, a new assistant and a new threat in the form of a Manhunter robot army.

Famous Firsts: First appearance of Terry Berg. First issue where Kyle is a cartoonist for Feast Magazine. First appearance of Rena Stone, Kyle’s editor.

Continuity: Kyle has a fear of suffocation from an boating accident when he was 11.


GL #130

Plot: Kyle is kidnapped by an upgraded Manhunter intent on controlling the power of the Green Lanterns. Meanwhile, in the anti-matter universe of Qward, construction begins on a new Yellow Power Ring.


GL #131

Plot: Kyle escapes from the Manhunters and enjoys some of the benefits of celebrity. And Jenny calls him up, but only to ask if he has seen that Fatality is back… with a vengeance and a ring.

Continuity: Where has Fatality been all this time? Hiding on Earth?


GL #132

Plot: Kyle Verses Fatality in the rematch of all rematches.

Famous Firsts: First appearance of Alex Nero. Also, the first hints that Terry is upset over anything that distracts Kyle from him… particularly when that something is Jenny.

Continuity: Fatality loses her other natural arm when the ring is teleported back to Qward. She is fitted with another prosthetic arm at STAR Labs.


GL #133

Plot: Kyle and Jenny get back together as Alan Scott faces off against a new Yellow Ring wielder.

Famous Firsts: First appearance of Nero with the yellow ring.

Continuity: Kyle and Jenny officially get back together. Radu makes his first post-Marz appearance. More hints are dropped at Terry’s jealousy over the attention Jenny gets from Kyle.


GL #134

Plot: With Alan Scott injured, it falls to Kyle to get them both out alive in a fight against Nero.


GL #135

Plot: Kyle calls in the JLA as all of New York is bombarded with Nero’s projections.


GL #136

Plot: With his teammates fighting the projections, it falls to Kyle to deal with Nero himself.

Continuity: Nero disappears in a flash of yellow light, escaping. The battle greatly improves Kyle’s image in New York City. Kyle offers Jenny a GL ring, saying that it is the same one she wore before and that Batman had it. He proposes to Jenny as well as offering her a chance to become Green Lantern again.

Recommended Reading: Jay Faerber spins some interesting fill in tales between GL #125 and #129, though I would like to know specifically how Effigy got his personality back. Perhaps the Controllers gave up on the Effigy project and turned all those they had treated loose? Winnick starts off with a bang and makes the book something uniquely his own, using new stories and concepts based off of the classic GL mythos. Hence we get a heavier emphasis on classic GL bad guys (the Qwardians, the yellow power ring, the Manhunters) with less emphasis upon the old supporting cast outside of John, Guy, Alan, Jenny and Meryan. My one complaint is that Winnick has a lot of things take place off camera that it would be nice to have explained. For example, we know Fatality survived the explosion in #113… but we are never told how. Similarly, we are told that Batman recovered the GL ring that Jenny used but we are not told how.



The Power of Ion

(GL #137-150 & Secret Files #3)

GL #137

Plot: A very special issue, where Terry makes a confession to Kyle.

Famous Firsts: The now infamous “Terry Comes Out” issue.

Continuity: Jenny turns down Kyle’s proposal, saying it is too soon after getting back together for them to think about marriage. Despite knowing a bit about Sandy Koufax in previous issues, Jenny knows nothing about the Cubs being unlikely to win the World Series.


GL #138

Plot: Kyle and Jade travel to another world on a diplomatic mission on a world torn apart by war.

Continuity: Jenny says that part of her body has plant like connections and that she has some photosynthetic reactions to sunlight. (Hence the reason she works on her tan even if she can’t become a deeper green)


GL #139

Plot: When a terrorist attack kills the peace process, it falls to Kyle and Jenny to try and maintain order.


GL #140

Plot: Kyle and Alan Scott do some training and some talking.

Famous Firsts: First reference to Kyle’s increasing power and not needing to recharge his ring through the Lantern.


GL #141

Plot: Kyle and Jenny investigate a series of arsons only to find a gang of metahuman culprits. Elsewhere, John Stewart visits Fatality at metahuman prison The Slab.

Famous Firsts: Fatality makes her first suggestion that John Stewart’s disability is psychological… “I am sure you have tried very hard to get out of that chair, but your conscience won’t let you, will it?”

Continuity: Rena Stone, Kyle’s editor, make a second appearance. And in a move sure to please many fans of common sense everywhere, Jade points out the complications in Kyle’s maintaining his secret identity if they are seen in public together in costume, since his public profile as an artist is greater than ever and she has no secret identity at all.


GL #142

Plot: Jenny must defend herself and Kyle from the gang called “Inferno”.

Continuity: Kyle has a vision of the future and having God like powers of creation. He also sees The Spectre, who he now remembers as Hal Jordan, and is told that he must heal himself and become whole. In The Slab, Fatality admits to having a power to spot physical weaknesses in others and says she sees no physical weaknesses in John Stewart’s spine. And in probably the biggest whopping continuity error in the whole of the series, Martin Van Wyck is a) identified as Jenny Lynn Hayden’s brother (they’ve never even met before!) and b) Kyle says the last time he saw Effigy, he was still being controlled by the Controllers, totally ignoring the events of GL #127.


GL #143

Plot: In the Dark Foest, Alex Nero reacts violent to his own hallucinations. Meanwhile, Kyle and Jenny must deal with a Joker-Juice infected Grayven.


GL #144

Plot: Kyle and Nero begin the battle for the greatest source of Green Lantern power ever.

GL #145

Plot: The battle continues, with Kyle emerging victorious and having to make a very important choice…


GL #146

Plot: Kyle changes his costume and his name to Ion as he learns to use his new powers to the fullest.

Continuity: Among the increased abilities that Kyle has as Ion, he can control soundwaves to prevent people from hearing him speak, control the access he has to the different parts of the brain (becoming more creative at will, for instance) and being able to literally be in several places around the galaxy at once. Kyle even uses his new powers to play peacekeeper over the world torn apart by conflict in GL #138-139. Kyle gets a new hair cut, which assures Jenny that he is still human despite his new power. However, there are two side-effects to the power: Kyle cannot sleep and he cannot seem to focus himself on one place, being in several places at once even as he promises Jenny a night to themselves.


GL #147

Plot: John Stewart rises again, with the help of a psychiatrist and a little help from Kyle.

Continuity: Retells some of John’s past and how he was irresponsible as a teenager and had an accident with his Aunt’s car that turned him around. Though John has repressed the memory, hypnotherapy helps him remember that his carelessness killed his sister Rose. This clears up the psychological block that was keeping John from walking. By the end of the issue, he is standing unaided but still in need of extensive physical therapy.


GL #148

Plot: Jade takes on Sonar and has her natural powers returned by Kyle.

Famous Firsts: First appearance of David, Terry’s boyfriend.

Continuity: John is able to walk on braces. Kyle “fixes” Jenny, saying that her powers are still active inside her, but dormant. This restores her to her power level in GL #86.


GL #149

Plot: Kyle’s new powers reach levels that concern even Superman, who talks with Kyle about his role as a hero. Kyle has a similar talk with Alan Scott, and makes a big decision.


GL: Legacy, The Last Will And Testament of Hal Jordan

Plot: Tom “Pie” Kalmaku is made executor of Hal Jordan’s estate and left with only a child who is said to be Hal’s son and two words: “Fix It”.


GL #150

Plot: Kyle thinks about how to best use his increased powers for the good of the universe… and goes on a search for his long lost father.

Famous Firsts: First appearance of the toddler Guardians, as well as Kyle’s newest costume design.

Continuity: Kyle offers to use his power to stop Hal Jordan from becoming Parallax, but Hal refuses this, saying they cannot be sure of the consequences of trying to change time. Kyle tracks down his father, who he finds working as a painter in Austin. Using a weak telepathic ability, Kyle is able to lightly scan his father’s mind and determines the details of the story his father gives him about why he left his mother. (See the Nitpickers Guide for the full details). By the issue’s end, Kyle has given up the power of Ion to recharge the Central Battery on Oa, brought the race of Guardians back to life as toddlers and changed his costume once more. Additionally, Kyle altered the ring so that it had a permanent reserve charge but did require charging from the battery to give it a full tank of gas. He also altered the ring so that it cannot be taken by force and can always be summoned back to his hand.

Secret Files #3

Plot: Two short stories, one involving Kyle’s dealings with the DEO. The other has Jenny cleaning the apartment and finding a ring in a shelf… an engagement ring that she knows was not meant for her…

Continuity: Radu makes an all too rare (lately) appearance.

Recommended Reading: Winnick has a good ear for dialogue and characterization, but a weak grasp of the history of the Marz run will ruin a lot of these stories for the old-time fans, even with Winnick putting a greater focus on stories taking place in space and restoring the Guardians.


Onward!

(GL #151-159)


GL #151-152

Plot: Kyle jumps into action as an outbreak of telepathically induced madness hits New York. But not even the aid of The Sentinel and Jade can help him stand up to a newly sane “Brainwave”.

Continuity: Brainwave refers to “the drooling vegetable I was the last time we met” (GL/Sentinel: Heart of Darkness)


GL #153

Plot: Kyle and Jenny go visit Kyle’s mom, while on a visit to Kyle’s high school reunion.

Continuity: Jade and Kyle’s mom finally meet. Kyle’s mother looks different than in the pictures Kyle showed Jade. Kyle’s mom credits a tummy tuck and a diet for that. (She apparently straightened and dyed her hair as well… she’s gone from red curly to straight blonde). Kyle tells his mom that he knows the truth about his father and that he is alive and well.


GL #154

Plot: Kyle returns to New York after Terry becomes the victim of a hate crime.


GL #155

Plot: Kyle struggles with his thoughts on what else he can do about Terry and makes a big decision.

Continuity: It is revealed that Terry knows Kyle’s secret identity. Kyle, sickened by the apparent darkness of humanity, decides to journey into space to defend other worlds. Jenny agrees to go with him. Kyle gives his spare ring (the one Jenny used until recently) to John Stewart.


GL #156

Plot: A day in the life of John Stewart, as he readjusts himself to a life of heroism.

Continuity: John visits Fatality to thank her for using her power to see what was wrong with him. She says she only did it so that she could kill him as a true warrior and not as the crippled man she had faced before.


GL #157

Plot: Jade and Donna Troy team up to fight Killer Frost before discussing their personal issues.

Continuity: This story takes place before Jade had her powers restored in GL #148. Radu makes an appearance, his third in the title since Ron Marz left.


GL #158-159

Plot: Sent by Ganthet to investigate a series of attacks on a race of alien miners, Kyle and Jenny find more than they bargained for on a barren rocky planet…

Continuity: Kyle refers to GL #87, where he and J’onn J’onzz did terraform the surface of what was Mogo, not thinking the planet still alive.

Recommended Reading: Famous mostly for the Hate Crime story in #154, this marks a turning point in the series with an improved focus on past continuity balanced with the superior use of old characters. (Brainwave comes to mind along with the settling of the Donna/Jenny feud.)

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