More than a decade later and they finally gave Kyle some cool duds...

[Bored at 3:00AM]

While the original costume was pretty cool when drawn by Darryl Banks, the guy who designed it, it looked anywhere from ugly to fugly whenever anyone else tried to draw it.

His original Ion costume, as designed by Dale Eaglesham, was pretty cool looking, but a bit too white for a guy with "Green" in the title of his comic.

The later Jim Lee-designed costume was little more than a redux of his X-Men uniform, which was itself a revamp of the original X-Men uniforms, which were in turn based in no small part upon Gil Kane's original GL uniform. Essentially a copy of a copy of a copy with lots of superfluous buckles and straps thrown in for good measure.

The second Ion costume, which I think was designed by Ivan Reis, didn't really work on any level in my opinion. And no artist seemed to be able to make it work either.

The new one seems like the best of both worlds, keeping everything that worked about Darryl Banks' costume balanced with what worked about Jim Lee's Gil Kane "homage".

What do you think?

[Sean Walsh]

So the one on the cover of the latest COUNTDOWN is a new costume?

I like that one so that's my fave I guess. The original Ion outfit was pretty neat and is a close second.

[Kid Kyoto]

Without pictures this thread is worthless.

[KirkWarren]

I dont think the crab mask matches up with the new costume. It fit with the whole 90's gauntlets and other junk theme, but doesnt match up with the sleek and minimilistic version he has on now. He should just remove the crab mask and leave his face bare. Its not like he has any identity to hide or anything.

[Shellhead]

Kyle may have been an artist, but he definitely had some unattractive costumes.

[Jack Zodiac]

He was a '90s comic book artist. Of course his first costume looked like !@#$. Hell, I thought that was at least kind of a joke at first. I've gotta' say, though, it fit him, being the only Green Lantern and all. That's probably my second favorite with the second Ion costume being my favorite. With the Corps back, it looked enough like the standard costume to obviously connect him with enough distinctions to keep him unique. Kyle as Ion worked a whole hell of a lot better than Kyle as just another Green Lantern.

[Mon-el]

Without pictures this thread is worthless.

Darryl Banks costume:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/Mon-el/KyleRayner.gif

Dale Eaglesham Ion costume:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/Mon-el/Ion.jpg

Jim Lee costume:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/Mon-el/rayner-1.jpg

The Second Ion Costume:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/Mon-el/ion1.jpg

[Mon-el]

The New Costume:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/Mon-el/7928_400x600.jpg

Today, was the first time I had seen the new costume. I kinda like it.

[Your Imaginary Pal]

the new one looks like a mix between 1 and 3.

[Infra-Man]

New one looks good. I'm down with it

[eggie]

I would've voted for the new one over the Jim Lee designed costume if the GL symbol was in the center of his chest instead of to the side like a badge in an old western movie. I am very happy for the return of the crabmask which was totally different than any GL mask that had been seen when Kyle became GL.

All in all, the new costume is very cool and combines elements from some of his previous costumes to give Kyle his own distinctive look among the GL Corps.

Who designed the new costume?

[Hush Little Batman]

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/885/kylerayner1ft0.th.gif (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kylerayner1ft0.gif)http://img143.imagevenue.com/loc1056/th_83550_KyleRayner2_122_1056lo.jpg (http://img143.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=83550_KyleRayner2_122_1056lo.jpg)htt p://img178.imagevenue.com/loc193/th_83556_KyleRayner3_122_193lo.jpg (http://img178.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=83556_KyleRayner3_122_193lo.jpg)http ://img31.imagevenue.com/loc1088/th_83557_KyleRayner4_122_1088lo.jpg (http://img31.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=83557_KyleRayner4_122_1088lo.jpg)

Kyle's first costume (the original Darryl Banks design) was always the best to me. The white in the middle provided a great contrast to the black and green and while different from other GL costumes, it was instantly recognizable as one. My only problem with it was that, being the 90's, they had to give him some metal pieces somewhere and they did with what appear to be cast iron gauntlets and boot acccesories.

The second one (the white Ion outfit) is a complete disaster and looks like someone took a picture of Nightwing and inverted the colors in their photoshop program.

The third is definitely an improvement over Ion, but without the white, the outfit has no contrast. Plus there are buckles, straps and padding everywhere. It's as if Kyle, in creating his GL outfit, thought to himself, "Hey, let me design something that makes me look like a bodyguard for an emo-band."

The forth design, the one I like to call, "The Ion Without A Face", is simply ridiculous looking. I wasn't sure what the hell he was supposed to be? Was it Kyle or did the ring choose a new bearer - the Question!

[Hush Little Batman]

http://img13.imagevenue.com/loc902/th_84301_KyleRayner5_122_902lo.jpg (http://img13.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=84301_KyleRayner5_122_902lo.jpg)

This new one looks perfect! I love the big white gloves (again, nice contrast!), and the returning crab mask to go along with the new streamlined and simplified outfit. It's a beautiful combination of costumes 1 + 3, but without all the unnecessary design elements.

It's true what they say, simplicity is best.

[Jack Zodiac]

The last Ion costume didn't look like that, though. At least, his face didn't look like that all the time. Sometimes you could see a starry background in his heavy inks, like Troia's old costume, but his face didn't look like... Obsidian/Eternity.

The new one looks alright if he's gonna' be more than just a simple Green Lantern again, but if he's gonna' remain Ion, like he should, his costume should reflect his cosmic proportions.

[DirtyHarrington]

Jim Lee's one reeks "Kyle" the most for me >_> new Kyle looks like he wants to be Hal Jordan. I wish he'd just go away really.

[botch]

the original costume was awesome, it looked 'tough'. Don't mess with this cool kid thing.

[Magneto_X]

Loved his original costume.

[HeckBoy]

None of his costumes as-is are particular favorites of mine. They all have at least one design quirk that I just don't like.

Original - When I first saw the design as a kid I loved it, but now I see it as just another leftover from the 90s. I'm not a big fan of the crab mask or the metal gauntlet/boots anymore and I always found it strange that for someone named Green Lantern, it was always the white in his chest that drew my attention, not the green accents.

Ion mk I - This thread is actually the first time I've seen that costume and my first thought was that it looked like a cross between Invincible and the Riddler.

Jim Lee - Probably my favorite thus far. Now if only they'd have gotten rid of all the straps and ribbing. Also, having the green on green [gloves] really obscures the presence of the ring, and that's not a good thing. There needs to be contrast there. If nothing, I think the JLU animated Kyle had the best costume.

Ion mk II - The star-face simply doesn't work, and neither does that chest symbol.

New - It's kinda bland to me and too similar to Hal's costume. I don't like the return of the crab mask or how the badge is smaller and to his side.

[Rattlehead]

For a character who is supposed to be an artist, that kid designs some ugly costumes. I liked the suit he wore in the ION title, but I hate the rest of them. All of them. His new one is especially bad, you have a faux classic style GL costume and then it looks like the crab mask was thrown on just for the hell of it. It looks completely awful, and now that he's just a plain old GL again he really has no place. How many GL's does one planet need?

[a-spidey]

i like the original costume, the secon Ion dress doesn't look bad either.

[maraxus60]

I really liked the Dog Collar outfit
but thats just me (and the fact that I love Jim Lee's art)

[Nate Grey]

I picked "New Outfit". It technically looks the best so far, but I'm still bothered by the crab mask, and why does his lantern chest symbol have to be off center and to the side?

[PunkPoserStyle]

You always have a nostalgic attachment to things you grow up with.
I grew up with the Banks outfit.
Looking at it now.
I think it's really ugly. This is coming from somebody who gets his clothes at Target. But really it's the mask, boots, and "gauntlets" that get to me. I think the symbol is really cool though.

I've never seen the Eaglesham outfit in my life. I wish it stayed that way.

I thought the Jim Lee outfit was cool when it was drawn by Jim Lee. Otherwise...ehh. The dog collar and those straps get to me. In a bad way.

I'd never seen this Ion outfit in action, only ever in that cover. It looks pretty neat, very distinguished from the Green Lantern outfits, yet still similar.

I really dig Kyle's current Countdown outfit. I'm a fan of more streamlined designs, and this is it. I even like the crab mask on him.

Just a question but...would Kyle's Parallax outfit count here? Not that I liked that one or anything.

[Nate Grey]

Just a question but...would Kyle's Parallax outfit count here? Not that I liked that one or anything.

Probably, but wasn't it just Hal's Parallax costume just with the crab mask and the symbol to the side? I guess those two thing's will be Kyle's trademark forever and ever.

[Jack]

In the JLA Sins of Youth issue, lil Kyle had a different costume in just about every panel. And they were all better than his regular one. I really disliked that one, his original.

The Jim Lee... I actually think it was almost a decent costume. If he'd gotten rid of the collar and the unnecessary ridges it would have been pretty good.

The first (or second, really, but whatever) Ion costume wasn't very good. But it deliberately kept changing as Kyle's powers were unstable, but then evolved into something I really liked.

Finally, the new one... I dig. The crab mask is toned down a lot, so it looks unique without looking stupid, and the rest of the costume is nice and simple.

[TROUBLEZ]

I like the new one that's shown on the Countdown Gotham by Gaslight. But in the other illustration in this thread it looks to boring, like every other GL. I really like the original but you're right, not every artist could make it look cool.

[botch]

NEW ION COSTUME.

Go to Sinestro Corps Special, the first panel he appears and says "you lanterns need a hand" and tell me that is not the best costume. and the starfield just looks so cosmic and powerful.

[Rik Sunn]

I like the new look, but as far as I'm concerned, Kyle will always be defined by Darryl Banks' great look.

[phantom1592]

They all need something. I have always hated the crabmask. ALWAYS. That ruins the new costume for me. I like the rest of it better than I do the ion suit so it is an improvement... but that stupid mask...


My favorite (of the options) would be the Jim Lee one. If only they didn't have the pointless straps and collars. Seriously did Kyle just THINK about getting the suit out... or did he physically buckle it on? What is the point of that?

The original one never struck me as a green lantern costume. It was basically all Black and White. The GREEN should be the higlight of the suit, not the exception.