What about Kyle? My Green Lantern review and narration. PART 2

Green Lantern

So Kyle becomes Ion.  Basically, he can do anything; and he does.  I won’t go into everything he did, but it involved stopping a war, feeding the hungry, helping John Stewart walk again, giving Jenny her Jade powers back, and finding his long lost father.  And now, the grand finale!  Remember how Tom Kalmaku brought back Oa?  Well, Kyle brought back the Guardians of the Universe (as babies).  He returned the power to the Central Power Battery.  I remember reading this and being like “Oh.  My.  .”  It was awesome to read this for the first time.

Not only did all of that happen, Judd Winick also continued the personal growth of the supporting characters that started with Ron Marz.  John Stewart and Jade both had serious growth in this book while it was on the stands.  Even the Spectre showed up from time to time.  That seemed so natural to include him as a partial member of the cast.  The only thing I didn’t like about this story was a dancing scene that was included after John Stewart could walk again.  It was so bad.  Next!

So then Kyle has a fight with Brainwave.  Then he goes to his high school reunion.  After that, Terry Berg, his assistant that happens to be gay, is beaten and almost killed in a hate crime.  This got some serious attention in the media.  Green Lantern finds the guys who did it, and beats them up real bad; justice if I’ve ever seen it.

Then Kyle and Jen go off into space to get away from humanity for a little bit.  They have some space adventures and hang out on Oa with Ganthet and the baby Guardians.  Jade eventually heads home without Kyle.

Next up:  A cross over with Green Arrow that involves the introduction of the Black Circle Syndicate; a mob like outfit that deals in everything criminals deal with, but in space.  A space mob if you will.

We then get a new writer, Ben Raab.  Not as talented as Ron Marz or Judd Winick (in my opinion), but I thought he did alright for himself.  He kept Kyle in space and formed a supporting cast around him.  Then he had them go after the Black Circle Syndicate, created a new villain in Shiro Nova, gave Kilowog his flesh and bone body back, then on his last story, killed Kyle and gave the ring to Terry Berg.

Ben Raab did attempt to give the earth bound supporting cast some growth.  He had Jade cheat on Kyle with a fireman and he had Merayn leave John Stewart because she wants to be her own person.  Both of these incidents are out of character and seem like forced attempts at character growth without cause.  The only good thing he did with the earth crew was to have Terry and his boyfriend move away as a result of the beating he had.

So Ben Raab is off of Green Lantern while Kyle Rayner’s dead and Terry Berg has the ring.  What happens next?  RON MARZ RETURNS!!!  AWESOME!!!

But he’s only given six issues to finish Kyle’s story.  But isn’t Kyle dead?  Nope, he transported himself and the ring to Terry and that’s how he survived the last issues death.  The first thing Ron Marz does (besides explain his return?) is have Kyle confront Jen about her cheating.  Then he has a fight with Fatality and Sonar (not at the same time).  And finally finishes things off with a fight against Major Force (he just won’t stay dead).

That’s Kyle Rayner’s tenure on a solo Green Lantern book.  133 issues, 3 mini-series’, 5 company events, 2 inter-company crossovers, 8 one-shots, 2 annuals, 2 books other than his own he was a cast member in, and countless appearances in other books.  This was quite the feat of strength for a character that was created in the 90’s, a time when new ideas and characters didn’t last long at all.

Thankfully, his stories continue to this day.  After Geoff Johns brought Hal Jordan back to life in Green Lantern:  Rebirth, and was subsequently given his own monthly comic book again, Kyle found a place first in Ion.  That was a 12 issue maxi-series that had Ron Marz writing the character again.  He was also involved in the Rann/Thanagar War mini-series and one-shot and the Infinite Crisis story.  He is currently appearing in Green Lantern Corps as a regular cast member.

My whole reason for writing this is that I heard a rumor.  Guy Gardner has just received a new monthly comic series.  The rumor is that another Green Lantern is going to be getting the same treatment.  To me, it only makes sense that that character be Kyle Rayner.  Look at everything he’s gone through.  He has villains, a history with many other characters, multiple places where he could have a supporting cast, and a loyal fan base.  Heck, if you add Ron Marz or Judd Winick as the writer (Judd is already friends with Geoff), you know what kind of writing you’ll have:  Great writing.

So this is my plea to anyone that has read this entire, blog I suppose, and has any pull at DC:

PLEASE GIVE KYLE RAYNER A MONTHLY COMIC BOOK AGAIN!!!

Thank you for your time and patience in reading my rant.