Heroes for the '90s! #26: May 1995

A Ray(ner) of Light

Green Lantern #62 

Writer: Ron Marz
Penciller: Daryl Banks and Joe St. Pierre
Inker: Romeo Tanghal
Colorist: Steve Mattsson

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Much more so than their Marvel counterparts, DC superheroes have a foundation of legacy. Because several of their Silver Age heroes - Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Atom - were updates of Golden Age ones, the fictional universe gained a sense of history and lineage, a connection that was made explicit with the Justice League / Justice Society team-ups of the 1960s and 1970s.

In the 1980s this was furthered by the company's decision to have the grown children of the Justice Society become a team (Infinity Inc.) and the sidekicks of the Justice League grow into the New Teen Titans.

The problem was that the Silver Age heroes became way more popular and iconic than their predecsssors, and that made it difficult to continue the cycle of having a younger generation come in and take over. 

But credit where credit is due, DC went ahead and did it anyway.

In the mid-1980s, Green Lantern Hal Jordan was joined by John Stewart and Guy Gardner, and subsequently all three would jockey for position as the main character of the book. With 1986's Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen, died and was replaced by Kid Flash, Wally West. In 1989, Hawkman was reimagined as an alien police officer hunting a fugitive on Earth.

While the latter two were successful, the Green Lantern problem remained unsolved. The abrasive antihero Gardner was the Green Lantern on the reluanched Justice League America title in 1987. Stewart was given the spotlight in 1988's Cosmic Odyssey. Hal Jordan was the focus of the 1988 Action Comics Weekly anthology title, but when the Green Lantern book relaunched in 1990, the series was again very much shared between the three leads. And while Stewart and Gardner were fascinating characters, the books had a Hal Jordan problem. Namely, that he'd never been that intersting of a personality.

Then came "Emerald Twilight," a three-part story that arrived hot on the heels of "The Death of Superman" epic. Apparently emboldened by the success of that event, DC decided to have Hal Jordan go insane with grief and destroy the rest of the Green Lantern Corps., the planet OA, and the Guardians (from which all Green Lanterns get their power). In the aftermath, a freelance artist named Kyle Rayner was left as the one and only Green Lantern in the universe.

This was a huge swing by DC. They were not just introducing a replacement hero, they were also turning a beloved hero into a villian and seemingly throwing out an entire status quo. But I'd argue it was neccesary to do both. Simply introducing a new character with the same powers was not drastic enough. By throwing that character into the role with no training or support, DC created the perfect entry level for new readers and a fresh perspective for older ones.

And that's what Kyle Rayner brought. Because the character was an artist, his ring constructs were more elaborate and imaginative than any before. He had a tragic backstory (girlfriend killed by a psychotic villain), parenting issues (overbearing mom, absent father), but an irreverent and light-hearted approach to super-heroing.

The move wasn't without controversy, as comics readers have zero chill when it comes to status quo changes. Letters poured in decrying Hal's replacement. But the numbers didn't lie. Kyle's introduction revitalized the Green Lantern book. Sales rose by 300 percent and the book, its creators, and the characters garnered several write-ups in tastemaker magazine Wizard.  

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Kyle was the creation of writer Ron Marz and artist Daryl Banks, under the direction of editor Kevin Dooley. Both were relative newcomers to comics. Marz, a native of Kingston, NY, was working the sports beat at a local newspaper when his friend Jim Starlin invitied him to co-write a Silver Surfer story. That led to a full-time gig on that series, and eventually a full-fledged career in comics. Banks grew up in Columbus, Ohio and attended the Columbus College of Art and Design. After a couple of jobs for independent companies, he landed the Green Lantern gig. 

Both men were thrilled-but-intimidated to be charged with reinventing one of the most iconic concepts in comics. But both had strong opinions about what could be improved. Marz was in the camp that found Hal Jordan boring. He told Wizard, "Frankly I think the heroes who aren't the square-jawed studs are a lot more interesting. Why bother reading about a guy who has no doubts about being a hero, no weaknesses or foibles to his character?" A longtime comics reader, Banks always wanted Jordan to be more creative with his ring constructs. "I rememeber saying, 'If I had the Green Lantern ring I would do this and this...' Now I'm getting the chance." Banks was partially inspired by manga and Japanese animation, and that showed through in Kyle.

Banks also redesigned the costume and the symbol, in the process creating something that became nearly as iconic as the original. For Kyle's armor-like mask, he drew from an unlikely source, the mask of sometime X-Man Sunfire.

Marz and Dooley also drew from the Marvel for the concept and direction of the book: "It was very, very intentional," Dooley said, "to pick up on the classic Stan Lee, Spider-Man feel." The character-driven focus was something that Marz excelled at. "My style is to get down to what makes the characters work and what makes them interesting, and to use those aspects to tell the story."

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I have to admit: I didn't fully appreciate Kyle Rayner at the time. I liked the character, and bought his book for a good two years, but eventually I drifted away. It was odd, becuase usually when I dropped a book there was a specific reason, usually a change in the creative team. Maybe was the fact that I'd started to look upon mainstream superhero comics with some level of remove.

I didn't start to really grasp how special Kyle was, and how consistently enjoyable his time as Green Lantern was, until this past summer when I came across a new shop in town that happened to have a complete run of Green Lantern comics from 1994 through 2004. Piece by piece I filled in the gaps in my collection. As I read through the issues I found a growing admiration for both the character and his creators.

Issue #62 was the beginning of Kyle's second year as Green Lantern, and it found him still raw, but with a growing confidence. He'd overcome the loss of his girlfriend, joined the New Titans, and was at the beginning of a relationship with Donna Troy, the former Wonder Girl. The story itself is a lead-in to the Kyle's first battle with his predecessor, Hal Jordan, who has become the insane Parallax. Most importantly, the issue solidifies Kyle as an everyman, as the Guardian Ganthet - who gave Kyle the ring - returns to reveal that the decision was purely circumstantial.

Throughout his five years on the title, Marz did a fantastic job of balancing the newness with a respect for history, as Kyle constantly battled with the legacy of Hal Jordan, took on the original Green Lantern as a mentor, and became friends with Stewart and Gardner. Judd Winick - he of the Real World: San Fransisco - took over from there and continued to shepherd the character well. Banks stayed on as artist, drawing the character all the way through 2001. It's rare for an artist at DC and Marvel to stay on a book that long, and it speaks to Banks' dedication to and love for the character.

For a total of ten years, Kyle would serve as the primary Green Lantern, building up an interesting rogues gallery, dating two of the most fetching ladies in the DCU (Donna Troy and Jenny Lynn Hayden), and becoming a valued member of the Justice League of America.

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As in life, the only constant in comics is change, so Kyle didn't last as the primary Green Lantern. 2004's Rebirth miniseries brough Hal back to the role and spotlight. And while Kyle didn't go away, he was relegated to the B-list. To me, this undermined DC's foundational strength of legacy. And I'm guessing Marz would agree. In 1998 he said, "One of the big things that appelas to me [about Green Lantern] is the generational, cyclical sort of thing. The torch gets pased from guy to guy."

This regression away from DC's foundational strength of legacy was part of a larger rot that set into DC in the late 2000s and early 2010s leading to the nadir, the New 52. Things have rebounded since, and I hold out hope we'll see a Kyle Rayner solo Green Lantern book again one day.

Even if he doesn't, what Marz and Banks accomplished with Kyle Rayner was something special, and something that will be remembered. "I'd like to think that doing [the new] Green Lantern would insure me a place in comic book history," Banks said in a 1995 interview. "I hope it happens. It would be nice."

Sources:

Shapiro, Marc. "Eight to the Fore." Wizard #41 (January 1995).

Shapiro, Marc. "Wizard Profile: Here's Looking at...Ron Marz." Wizard #57 (May 1996)

Russo, Tom. "Wizard Q & A: Ron Marz." Wizard #64 (December 1996).

Anderson, Paul M. "Better Off Dead." Wizard  #70 (June 1997)

Busbee, James. "Ringsides." Wizard #82 (June 1998).