Kyle Rayner: The Green Lantern Appreciation 2022

[SebastianS]

This was a fun temporal team-up .

Kyle's remains one of the best, most consistent run ever published by DC.

[Johnny]

The Emerald Knights story was the first GL comic I can ever remember reading. Imagine your first GL comic being a story where the then-current GL goes back in time and teams up with his predecessor's younger self who is then brought to the present day, while his future self who is a bad guy is also brought to the present day, while there's a bunch of other dudes in the story who were also GLs in the past. I had no idea what the hell was going on.

[SebastianS]

The Emerald Knights story was the first GL comic I can ever remember reading. Imagine your first GL comic being a story where the then-current GL goes back in time and teams up with his predecessor's younger self who is then brought to the present day, while his future self who is a bad guy is also brought to the present day, while there's a bunch of other dudes in the story who were also GLs in the past. I had no idea what the hell was going on.

Oh man, yeah, I can totally see that happening to you.

My first was GL v3 #46, the crossover with the Reign of the Supermen storyline (starring Hal, not Kyle), but already my second GL issue was GL v3 #51, so I was introduced to Kyle just as I was introduced to GL. Hence why he is my favourite, why I prefer my GLs on Earth, and why I think it is better for them to act as superheroes/knights than cops/military.

[lefthanded]

I'm jazzed that we finally got our Kyle sighting.
Seems like there has been a huge disconnect in the world of Green Lanterns - blown up battery and decimated corps without addressing Kyle's status, and now in Dark Crisis we get our answer and a fully restocked Corps.

[SebastianS]

I'm jazzed that we finally got our Kyle sighting.
Seems like there has been a huge disconnect in the world of Green Lanterns - blown up battery and decimated corps without addressing Kyle's status, and now in Dark Crisis we get our answer and a fully restocked Corps.

I remember Thorne mentioning he had plans for Kyle and Guy, and I just assumed he meant to write how they got their rings back (if at all), but that seems to be irrelevant now.

[Digifiend]

And you can see just how much they emphasized on youth with their new legacy characters at the time. The new GL is in a relationship with Donna Troy who is not only "older" than him but divorced and has a kid. She almost comes off as more of a "relic" than Diana here, especially if you were a new fan then and didn't know who she was until her relationship with Kyle. And she still got herself the "young hip GL". Kyle the milf lover. Fascinating to see the contrast when other young characters who've been there for a long time had so much baggage as opposed to Kyle who was a "clean slate" character.

Donna IS more of a relic than Diana in post-Crisis continuity due to Wonder Woman rebooting and New Teen Titans NOT. It rendered her Wonder Girl title nonsensical (as she predated Wonder Woman) hence why they quickly gave her a new origin and renamed her Troia.

Of course, she later became Darkstar, and then rejoined the New Titans which by then had Kyle on the team. That's how they met, I assume?

[SebastianS]

Donna IS more of a relic than Diana in post-Crisis continuity due to Wonder Woman rebooting and New Teen Titans NOT. It rendered her Wonder Girl title nonsensical (as she predated Wonder Woman) hence why they quickly gave her a new origin and renamed her Troia.

Of course, she later became Darkstar, and then rejoined the New Titans which by then had Kyle on the team. That's how they met, I assume?

Indeed, Kyle met Donna when he joined the Arsenal-led team, right after he briefly came under the control of Psimon.

[Doctor Know]

And you can see just how much they emphasized on youth with their new legacy characters at the time. The new GL is in a relationship with Donna Troy who is not only "older" than him but divorced and has a kid. She almost comes off as more of a "relic" than Diana here, especially if you were a new fan then and didn't know who she was until her relationship with Kyle. And she still got herself the "young hip GL". Kyle the milf lover. Fascinating to see the contrast when other young characters who've been there for a long time had so much baggage as opposed to Kyle who was a "clean slate" character.

I never made Kyle to be as young as others seem to. I always interpreted other superheroes as considering him young in so far he became an A-lister quite literally overnight, and thus he was incredibly inexperienced.

In my headcanon, he was the same age as the Titans - except they have all been adventuring for years and years.

Kyle seemed maybe a few years off of the Titans to me, if not a year younger. Donna had to be 24 tops when this panel occurred. I'm guessing but I don't think I'm far off either.

But when you compare him to Wally or Donna they had lived entire lives by the time Kyle came around. That ages you. I think Conner Hawke meshed well with Kyle because, in comparison to the heroes who were relatively close to them in age, they didn't have the same lived-in experience.

Well, Donna got married to Terry when she was 19. She's the same age as Dick during COIE. By the time of "A Lonely Place of Dying", where 13 year old Tim Drake was introduced. Dick was said to be 22. Using the Young Justice kid's ages as an anchor; by the time of Infinite Crisis/Johns' era of TT: Tim is now 16 and Dick and Donna would be 25. By the time Kyle was introduced, he was leaving a bar in Los Angeles. Making him at least 21 when he became GL.

Man, I only realized now that Donna is a milf .

Donna and Power Girl both.

Btw, what ever happened to Karen's magical pregnancy baby?

Har Dee Har

[Frontier]

Donna and Power Girl both.

Btw, what ever happened to Karen's magical pregnancy baby?

Har Dee Har

So wait she and Carol Danvers both had that...

[Thor-Ul]

Btw, what ever happened to Karen's magical pregnancy baby?

Har Dee Har

We don't talk about that.

We talk about how much Kyle Rayner is awesome.

I want he and Wally meet again.

[Frontier]

We don't talk about that.

We talk about how much Kyle Rayner is awesome.

I want he and Wally meet again.

Yeah, Wally and Kyle not reuniting during Rebirth was one of my biggest disappointments.

[K7P5V]

Yeah, Wally and Kyle not reuniting during Rebirth was one of my biggest disappointments.

Yeah, they were quite amusing in "A Midsummer's Nightmare" (1996):

[SebastianS]

Yeah, they were quite amusing in "A Midsummer's Nightmare" (1996):

Kyle had great interactions with Wally, Donna, Roy, and Connor Hawke. He is clearly JLA and Titans material.

[StarSpangledMan]

Mike Becker

[Frontier]

Mike Becker

Uh...this is a look.