Kyle Rayner: Green Lantern Appreciation 2020

[LP22]

Kyle as Parallax

163871-137729-kyle-rayner.jpg

[LP22]

Beautifully drawn Parallax kyle by EVS

Kyle Parallax.jpg

[HunterX]

How old is Kyle right now?

How old has he historically been?

[LP22]

How old is Kyle right now?

How old has he historically been?

Probably at Dick's titans gen age so probably mid twenties.

[HunterX]

Probably at Dick's titans gen age so probably mid twenties.

Thought he was Tim's age

[gregpersons]

Thought he was Tim's age

He started out as a freelance graphic artist, so he's more like mid-20s like Dick or Wally

[married guy]

Always wanted to know how different was being a comic book reader in the 1990s compared to the 2000s and 2010s?

For me, there were MORE surprises!
Think the reveal of the Thunderbolts with #1, you'd NEVER pull that off now.
And although there was a lot about the 90s which was terribly detrimental (gimmick covers went to the extreme - nude variant covers spring to mind), it was also a great time to be a reader!
Death of Superman
Knightfall
Emerald Twilight
Morrison's JLA
Robinson's Starman
Waid's Flash
Smith's Guy Gardner
Elseworlds
Marvel was also printing some strong stuff, Hulk, Thunderbolts, Heroes for Hire, Spider-Man
Image was HUGE. Spawn, Savage Dragon, Youngblood..
Indy stuff like O'Barr's Crow, Sims' Cerebus.

There was an awful lot of great stuff which I think more than outweighed the bad.

And Wizard magazine was the way to find out what was going on! It was a great read. It didn't take itself too seriously, had some great articles, and the price guide was awesome!
Towards the end, after around #100 it started to go downhill, but everything leading up to then was a BLAST!

[gregpersons]

For me, there were MORE surprises!
Think the reveal of the Thunderbolts with #1, you'd NEVER pull that off now.
And although there was a lot about the 90s which was terribly detrimental (gimmick covers went to the extreme - nude variant covers spring to mind), it was also a great time to be a reader!
Death of Superman
Knightfall
Emerald Twilight
Morrison's JLA
Robinson's Starman
Waid's Flash
Smith's Guy Gardner
Elseworlds
Marvel was also printing some strong stuff, Hulk, Thunderbolts, Heroes for Hire, Spider-Man
Image was HUGE. Spawn, Savage Dragon, Youngblood..
Indy stuff like O'Barr's Crow, Sims' Cerebus.

There was an awful lot of great stuff which I think more than outweighed the bad.

And Wizard magazine was the way to find out what was going on! It was a great read. It didn't take itself too seriously, had some great articles, and the price guide was awesome!
Towards the end, after around #100 it started to go downhill, but everything leading up to then was a BLAST!

Wizard was such a fun read. The masterpiece theater comics, so funny.

90s was the best time for the Batman Family. Tim Drake Robin, Nightwing, Birds of Prey with Oracle, and Detective Comics with Batman and everyone.

I loved the way DC were shaking things up at the time with the older characters because it made the younger characters seem more exciting and vibrant. Superboy, Robin, Impulse were all interesting and then you add in Young Justice and Kyle/Wally on the JLA and it was a good time.

As a kid/teen, I thought it was cool that the Old Green Lantern went crazy and killed everyone and now there was only one guy, some random guy with this crazy magic ring. I loved Parallax as a villain, and Kyle as the rookie -- a freelance artist with the most powerful weapon in the universe. It's meta, it's fun, it makes it overall more interesting than the weapon belonging to a pilot or a marine.

DC had a number of good Spider-Man types with the new legacy characters -- Kyle, Nightwing, Robin, Wally -- at a time when the Spidey comics were a mess with the Clone Saga. It made the comic histories seem vast and fascinating, but also it was a new era and easy to jump into now, but with the open door to revisit older titles and know they're part of the same ongoing saga.

I remember seeing those horrible dorks on message boards as part of "H.E.A.T." - Hal's Emerald Advancement Team. They eventually got their wish and GL has returned to being pretty boring to me, even when the story is good.

Edit: Also, the Connor Hawke super meta martial artist legacy Green Arrow was a lot of fun, I liked him

[married guy]

Wizard was such a fun read. The masterpiece theater comics, so funny.

90s was the best time for the Batman Family. Tim Drake Robin, Nightwing, Birds of Prey with Oracle, and Detective Comics with Batman and everyone.

I loved the way DC were shaking things up at the time with the older characters because it made the younger characters seem more exciting and vibrant. Superboy, Robin, Impulse were all interesting and then you add in Young Justice and Kyle/Wally on the JLA and it was a good time.

As a kid/teen, I thought it was cool that the Old Green Lantern went crazy and killed everyone and now there was only one guy, some random guy with this crazy magic ring. I loved Parallax as a villain, and Kyle as the rookie -- a freelance artist with the most powerful weapon in the universe. It's meta, it's fun, it makes it overall more interesting than the weapon belonging to a pilot or a marine.

DC had a number of good Spider-Man types with the new legacy characters -- Kyle, Nightwing, Robin, Wally -- at a time when the Spidey comics were a mess with the Clone Saga. It made the comic histories seem vast and fascinating, but also it was a new era and easy to jump into now, but with the open door to revisit older titles and know they're part of the same ongoing saga.

I remember seeing those horrible dorks on message boards as part of "H.E.A.T." - Hal's Emerald Advancement Team. They eventually got their wish and GL has returned to being pretty boring to me, even when the story is good.

Edit: Also, the Connor Hawke super meta martial artist legacy Green Arrow was a lot of fun, I liked him

Hell yes!!
Chuck Dixon on Robin and Nightwing (especially with McDaniel) was a highlight for me.
The Bat books were stellar. Jim Aparo, Norm Breyfogle, Tom Lyle, Graham Nolan. The books never looked better.
And Green Arrow is another favourite of mine. Unlike a lot, I was OK with Where Angels Fear to Tread and Connor Hawke was a breath of fresh air. His run was great and again, written by Chuck Dixon.

[LP22]

For me, there were MORE surprises!
Think the reveal of the Thunderbolts with #1, you'd NEVER pull that off now.
And although there was a lot about the 90s which was terribly detrimental (gimmick covers went to the extreme - nude variant covers spring to mind), it was also a great time to be a reader!
Death of Superman
Knightfall
Emerald Twilight
Morrison's JLA
Robinson's Starman
Waid's Flash
Smith's Guy Gardner
Elseworlds
Marvel was also printing some strong stuff, Hulk, Thunderbolts, Heroes for Hire, Spider-Man
Image was HUGE. Spawn, Savage Dragon, Youngblood..
Indy stuff like O'Barr's Crow, Sims' Cerebus.

There was an awful lot of great stuff which I think more than outweighed the bad.

And Wizard magazine was the way to find out what was going on! It was a great read. It didn't take itself too seriously, had some great articles, and the price guide was awesome!
Towards the end, after around #100 it started to go downhill, but everything leading up to then was a BLAST!

wow sounds really fun and a lot more passionate then today.

[LP22]

Hell yes!!
Chuck Dixon on Robin and Nightwing (especially with McDaniel) was a highlight for me.
The Bat books were stellar. Jim Aparo, Norm Breyfogle, Tom Lyle, Graham Nolan. The books never looked better.
And Green Arrow is another favourite of mine. Unlike a lot, I was OK with Where Angels Fear to Tread and Connor Hawke was a breath of fresh air. His run was great and again, written by Chuck Dixon.

Yes and back then companies weren't restarting with numbers 1 like today and events probably felt more special right?

[Vampire Savior]

The 90s had a lot of stupid stuff that led us to where we are now, but generally speaking, DC and Marvel were doing much better stuff creatively than they are now. DC and Marvel aren't even worth reading today, in my opinion. That's a broad thing to say, but I do believe it. It isn't worth getting invested in their comics today because too often the stories don't go anywhere, feel empty, and then the books get cancelled and relaunched with a new creative team that completely or near completely ignores what the last one did. This has basically become the model with them. It's a bizarre model, but that's what they do. I don't know how they expect anyone to actually care about anything when they keep wiping the slate clean. And that isn't even addressing all these horrendous events that change the rules of the universe every 6 months or so...DC and Marvel are just ugh...

Then there is the outsourcing of talent (mainly artwork) to cheap people of dubious ability from Indonesia and where ever. When you see that, and other things like variant cover scams and number 1's coming out every week, you see that the companies have their priorities wrong. It sounds naive and old fashioned, but I do believe if they got their priorities straight and put out good books that people could get invested in that have their focuses in the right place (for example, not putting out ridiculous woke book just to be woke, or putting out tumblr books no one wants), then the sales would be better and they wouldn't have to result to predatory scams and dumb schemes (like 5G and Heroes in Crisis) so much.

The way it seems to me, people aren't so much invested in the stories these days, they are more so invested in the characters they've been following for decades, and that's why they continue to read. Not because the stories are so gripping, but because they are loyal to the characters.

[married guy]

Yes and back then companies weren't restarting with numbers 1 like today and events probably felt more special right?

Well, the BIG difference is that back then yes, there was a shitload of 'events'. But they all had a beginning, a middle and an end.
Now, the trend is to have one event run straight into another without resolving anything.
Zero Hour - complete story. Didn't need the tie-ins, but could join in if you wanted. (and some were GREAT)
Knightfall
KnightQuest
KnightsEnd
Again, didn't need to read all, but the story was so much better if you did.
Death of Superman
Funeral for a Friend
Reign of the Supermen
Same as the Bat Books.
The difference is, the stories were so good you WANTED to see what happened next! The last page of Detective #663? Oh. My. GOD!!! I had to have Batman #497 IMMEDIATELY! I couldn't wait!!
Same as Terminal Velocity in the Flash. I couldn't get my hands on the next issue fast enough. I can't remember last reading a story in the last decade that hooked me like that.

[Mr.B]

Hologram Kyle.
349_7e2afeef-a68d-499a-aa5f-026a88dbeb84_large.jpg

[LP22]

The 90s had a lot of stupid stuff that led us to where we are now, but generally speaking, DC and Marvel were doing much better stuff creatively than they are now. DC and Marvel aren't even worth reading today, in my opinion. That's a broad thing to say, but I do believe it. It isn't worth getting invested in their comics today because too often the stories don't go anywhere, feel empty, and then the books get cancelled and relaunched with a new creative team that completely or near completely ignores what the last one did. This has basically become the model with them. It's a bizarre model, but that's what they do. I don't know how they expect anyone to actually care about anything when they keep wiping the slate clean. And that isn't even addressing all these horrendous events that change the rules of the universe every 6 months or so...DC and Marvel are just ugh...

Then there is the outsourcing of talent (mainly artwork) to cheap people of dubious ability from Indonesia and where ever. When you see that, and other things like variant cover scams and number 1's coming out every week, you see that the companies have their priorities wrong. It sounds naive and old fashioned, but I do believe if they got their priorities straight and put out good books that people could get invested in that have their focuses in the right place (for example, not putting out ridiculous woke book just to be woke, or putting out tumblr books no one wants), then the sales would be better and they wouldn't have to result to predatory scams and dumb schemes (like 5G and Heroes in Crisis) so much.

The way it seems to me, people aren't so much invested in the stories these days, they are more so invested in the characters they've been following for decades, and that's why they continue to read. Not because the stories are so gripping, but because they are loyal to the characters.

Agreed and the fact that the comic book heroes genre has been the hottest its ever been and it doesn't translates to new fans and dwindling sales every year for 3+ years shows the industry needs to change.