The Guardians initially chose Kyle Rayner as a Green Lantern out of desperation, but he eventually became one of their greatest saviours. — Photos: DC Comics
After the Crisis On Infinite Earths event (in 1985), the DC Universe was a bold place, with the company having no qualms whatsoever in changing the status quo and or even the identity of any of their characters, even the ones fans considered “untouchable”.
It started with Wally West replacing the “dead” Barry Allen in Crisis #12. Then came the unimaginable in 1987, when Superman was killed off and “substituted” by four other Supermen; followed by Wonder Woman being replaced with Artemis.
These replacements resumed in 1993 in more dramatic fashion. Not only did they make Azrael the “new” Batman, they also had Bane breaking Bruce Wayne’s back and crippling him.
With four of their biggest names “altered”, it was only a matter of time before they came for Green Lantern. After all, no one was deemed untouchable now, and Hal Jordan has been protecting Sector 2814 aka Earth since the Silver Age.
Being on the job for far too long had made him susceptible to many blind spots, with the main one being his undivided loyalty to his “masters” – the Guardians of Oa. When Hal wanted to use his power ring to resurrect the population of Coast City after it was destroyed by Mongul (Green Lantern, Vol.3 #46), he was brushed off by the Guardians, so he decided to go rogue and turn on them.
'Green Lantern' (Vol. 3) #48 saw Hal Jordan resurrect Coast City with his power ring, and also featured the first appearance of Kyle Rayner.
In that epic 1994 Eternal Twilight story line (Green Lantern, Vol.3) #48-#50 and #0), Hal’s rage was felt throughout the universe as he trashed the entire Green Lantern Corps, usurped their power rings and destroyed their ultimate power source – the Oa Power Battery. Amid the confusion, the Guardians were desperate for a saviour and made do with a freelance comic book artist named Kyle Rayner.
It was only 30 years later that Jordan eventually re-established his role as the numero uno Green Lantern, made his cinematic debut (played by Ryan Reynolds), and even headlined a few major DC events.
But what happened to Kyle, who celebrates his 30th anniversary this year? Let’s shine a (green) light on him today!
Co-created by Ron Marz (writer) and Darryl Banks (artist), Kyle made his debut in the pages of 1994’s Green Lantern, Vol.3 #48. While past Green Lanterns (Hal, John Stewart and even Guy Gardner) were given the ring because of their “worthiness”, Kyle’s selection by Ganthet (a Guardian) was purely due to him being at the right place at the right time.
With Hal wreaking havoc on Oa, the Guardians were forced to forego the usual stringent recruitment process, and settle with whoever they could find at the time, which happened to be Kyle.
Kyle was a freelance comic book artist by trade, not exactly ‘hero’ material at first.
Unlike Hal, John and Guy, who came with previous heroic credentials, Kyle was a mere struggling (though gifted) freelance comic book artist of mixed Irish-Mexican heritage, who had been abandoned by his dad (Aaron, who was a CIA agent named Gabriel Vasquez) before he was born, and single-handedly raised by his Irish mother (Maura) .
To add some logic into Kyle’s selection, it was later revealed that the reason for his selection was because he was able to feel and overcome fear, thus making him less susceptible to Parallax’s influence.
Every hero has an “awakening” moment where they decide to use their great powers with great responsibility. While Peter Parker woke up to his newfound powers after Uncle Ben got murdered, Kyle’s defining moment came in the most horrifyingly tragic way possible, with the murder of his girlfriend Alexandra DeWitt by Major Force, who then stuffed her body into Kyle’s refrigerator.
Alex had played a major role in Kyle’s early days as a Green Lantern, encouraging him to be more responsible and even helping him cope with his newfound powers, hence, this tragedy really hit Kyle hard, and made him strive to become the best Green Lantern he could possibly be, in honour of her memory.
Kyle’s creative mind enabled him to come up with some great constructs over the years.
The power of the Green Lantern’s ring is limited by its owner’s imagination, and when you have a comic book artist wielding it, this opens up its creative potential to a whole new level.
While Hal, John and Guy may have combat experience and skills, Kyle’s fertile imagination enabled him to use the ring’s power to create visually stunning constructs, ranging from a myriad of characters (anime, mystical, mechas) to futuristic weapons.
Thanks to his artistic nature. Kyle’s creativity offered a fresh breath of life to the Green Lantern franchise in the 1990s, and he also had the most costume changes by far.
Kyle’s down-to-Earth personality made him a hit with the other heroes, including Batman, who surprisingly treated him with more respect than his predecessors.
Apart from friendships with other superheroes, Kyle also engaged in romantic relationships with some, including Donna Troy, Jade and fellow Lantern Soranik Natu (which led to him breaking one of the Guardians’ “code of ethics”).
Kyle’s stint as Ion would change the character’s status quo forever.
Kyle’s creative novelty eventually ran out in 2002 when DC rebranded him as Ion (Green Lantern (Vol. 3) #145) giving him a new role and powers, in which he could bend time, space, and reality.
While these God-like abilities enabled him to be in many places at the same time, it eventually took a toll on him, and true to his selfless nature, Kyle decided to put his own humanity above all else and “discharged” his powers into Oa’s Central Power Battery, thus recharging it and helping to create a new group of Guardians.
Kyle’s Ion persona would continue to dog him in future story lines, especially after Hal re-assumed the lead Green Lantern role.
To accommodate Hal’s return (it started with the Green Lantern: Rebirth event), Kyle was given many other roles – from being accorded a special “Torch- Bearer” status by the Guardians for carrying the Green Lantern legacy through the Corps’ darkest period, to becoming a ‘Multiverse Border Guard’ then the first ever “White Lantern”.
Sadly all this transitions somehow diluted the fun and creative spark which was Kyle’s initial value proposition to the Green Lantern role.
One of Kyle’s biggest roles in the DC universe was as the first ever White Lantern.
After the events of the Lights Out storyline in 2014, in which a villain named Relic destroys Oa and the emotional spectrum, Kyle was believed dead after sacrificing his life to kill Relic.
However, it was eventually revealed that he is still alive (of course), and would later go on to play major parts in other DC events such as DC Rebirth and Dark Crisis.
Also, if last year’s Green Lantern War Journal #3 is any indication, an alternate universe version of Kyle might have made an appearance. Here’s hoping this will lead to him coming back to the fore again.
