“My name is Kyle Rayner. When I was a kid I never could
decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. Now I know. I’m a Green Lantern. I’m
a hero.”
- Kyle Rayner, New Earth
Green Lantern comics in 1990 were sadly becoming outdated.
Though I would never blame the writers, they just had a difficult time coming
up with “revolutionary” stories with the character. There could only be so many
different space missions to so many different planets before people grew tired
of those stories. When sales tremendously dropped, management ordered the GL
creative team to spice things up, to reinvent aspects of the characters and the
adventures they had. The plan was to create a big enough change to bump the
sales. Not only did this plan work, it led into the Emerald Twilight saga.
After the destruction of Hal Jordan’s home town Coast City
occurred, at the hands of Mongul and Cyborg-Superman, Jordan became stricken
with grief, frustration and ultimately fear. But revenge was the prominent
emotion in his heart, revenge that inspired him to gain more power, enough to
destroy those who destroyed everything he loved. Hal Jordan, once considered
the greatest Green Lantern of all became the most feared and the most
dangerous. This newfound power, stolen from Lanterns he had killed and other
sources like the central power battery of the planet Oa, led him to become the
tyrant called Parallax. Parallax challenged the most powerful heroes in the
universe with his awesome might, including the Justice League, which occurred
in the story arc titled Zero Hour: Crisis in Time, in 1994.
In the conclusion of the DC-wide event Zero Hour, Hal Jordan
sacrificed himself to restore the Earth’s sun, which had been extinguished in
the story arc. The last surviving Guardian of the Universe creates one final
ring, which chooses a young art student named Kyle Rayner, giving him the title
as the “last” Green Lantern.
Written by Ron Marz and Judd Winick, Kyle Rayner became the
face of the franchise in the late 1990’s, working to harness his new power
while maintaining his ordinary life as a student. Rayner’s responsibility was
not focused on protecting one sector of the universe, like his predecessors,
but to protecting virtually all sectors. For 10 years Rayner owned the
franchise, with supporting Green Lanterns like Kilowag, John Stewart and Guy
Gardner, bringing the title back from the grave and regaining the support of
the character’s long lost fans. Rayner became very popular, not only in the GL
titles, but in Grant Morrison’s JLA fighting alongside Earth’s greatest heroes.
What started as a single hero grew to thousands and became a Corps that
protected the entire universe. Now the basis of the character was returned to
its original concept and people were missing the dominance of the Corps. DC
planned to return things to the way they were meant to be.
It wasn’t until 2004 when an aspiring writer looked to
reestablish the Green Lantern franchise, to restore the Corps and resurrect the
greatest Green Lantern of them all. The book released in 2004 was called Green
Lantern: Rebirth and that writer’s name was Geoff Johns.
Don’t miss Green Lantern’s Light
Part Four in few days.
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