You should come back and save Green Lantern (again)

[Mister Blisterfists]

Get rid of the murderer, and put the true GL of Earth back in his rightful place.

[maniacthw]

+100000000. I started Green Lantern on Marz's run around issue 90 (I think). To this day my favorite story arc.

[Mister Blisterfists]

I haven't read Emerald Twilight in some time, so I ended up buying #49 and 50 recently.

couldn't find 48, or I would've bought it as well.

[Ron Marz]

Thanks guys, but DC is pretty happy with the way things are working out with tge GL franchcise right now. I enjoyed my time with it, but change was a good thing then, and it's a good thing now.

[Mister Blisterfists]

Not when Kyle has been reduced to bystander status.

I know you're towing the company line there, I personally wouldn't be able to stand it if my character were sidelined like that. My hats off to you for being a team player, but I just never could be.

I'm not you, of course, but if I were you, the last thing I'd want would be for the fans who threatened me and my family with death, to get their way.

[Winghead]

I'm sure DC is happy with the status of GL right now, however, it really has been all big event driven, and there has been little to no character development. Ron really made me care about characters and it is evident from his story telling that that is one of his intentions.

[Mister Blisterfists]

That's how it was BEFORE Ron stepped in and basically saved the character.

the very REASON Hal became a sociopath, was because he was the most one-dimensional character in all of comics. Parallax is STILL The most interesting thing that EVER happened to him.

and he runs the risk of becoming that again, because well, he's just a boring character.

how do you top the Rainbow War?, What's next? They've basically run out of steam.

[Ron Marz]

It's really not a matter of "fans who threatened me" getting their way. DC didn't suddenly decide, 10 years later, that it was time to listen to a vocal minority. It was a matter of a new (old?) direction being decided upon by a new power structure. It happens.

And while I created Kyle, he's certainly not "my" character. He belongs to DC, which is the way it's always been.

I truthfully think Hal vs. Kyle arguments were silly then, and they're silly now. They're just imaginary people.

[Winghead]

I agree with Ron about the whole Kyle vs Hal thing being blown way out of proportion.

As more of a follower of writers than characters I'm sure that Ron could have written a Hal story that was just as interesting. He just happened to be responsible for one of my all time favorite comic runs and creating a character I related to.

The thing that upsets me the most is seeing Ron defamed as a person and referred to as a mysogynist because he gave Kyle a back story.

[Three]

Back in the 90's, Marz' reboot of the Green Lantern-verse got me into the character and title to begin with. However, with all due respect, I am loving things now and I prefer Hal over Kyle. That's just me, everyone has an opinion.

[Mister Blisterfists]

I agree with Ron about the whole Kyle vs Hal thing being blown way out of proportion.



I imagine you would, considering your avatar.

but the simple thing is this, most people who think it's silly now, are fans of Hal, who finally got their way.

I'm sure they didn't think it silly before they got their character back.

and to Ron: They may just be imaginary people, but we all have an emotional (not to mention FINANCIAL) investment in them. If we didn't we wouldn't bother reading. The way I see it, it's unfair to Kyle, and it's unfair to Wally, that the people they were created to REPLACE came back and replaced them.

Hal and Barry already got three decades in the spotlight. Kyle deserves at least the same. If Hal were that great a character, he never would've been replaced in the first place. I've read Emerald Twilight, I know the truth. The reason Hal became Parallax, wasn't because of some space bug, it's because he was a boring character, and something interesting needed to happen to him, FINALLY.

and what's left after all the events dry up with Hal?, the same boring character as before. The only thing keeping him interesting is the event. How are you gonna top the Color War?

[Winghead]

I'm actually a bigger Kyle fan than a Hal fan, but Ron's Kyle in particular. I am also a GL fan in general and have been disappointed with the small amount of Kyle development lately. Believe me if Ron ever started writing Kyle again my avatar would change

As for ron's statement, I think he is being very positive about the situation and referring to the rabid Hal vs Kyle camps online. He has mentioned death threats when Hal was replaced.

This is comics. Right now its Hals turn, maybe 50 issues from now will be Kyles turn again. Hey, Nightwing was the title that got me back in to comics along with Rons GL. I'm not happy about the Batman situation particularly, so Ill ride it out until hopefully we get Nightwing back. Different creators have different ideas. I happen to like Rons ideas. If you liked his Gl try Witchblade. It has excellent character moments.'

[Mister Blisterfists]

whatever.

the problem is, it shouldn't BE Hal's turn. He had his turn. He blew it. By murdering everything and becoming a VILLAIN.

it's funny how everybody forgets that. Kyle deserves better than he's getting, he deserves 40+ years of constant publication. Instead he gets swept under the rug, and 'punished' by editorial for daring to replace a sociopath.

[David Walton]

I truthfully think Hal vs. Kyle arguments were silly then, and they're silly now. They're just imaginary people.

I agree and I disagree.

I'll start with my disagreement. While they are just imaginary people, they're characters whom readers have an emotional investment in. And I'd argue that's healthy. They aren't living, breathing human beings and they don't take precedence over them...but they are very special creations that have meant a lot to their readership.

As a fan of your Green Lantern work (and fiction and fantasy in general) I could never be comfortable saying they are "just" imaginary people. Imaginary? Yes. But "just"? Never!

On to the point of agreement. I think it's counterproductive when people make it an either/or argument simply because they are both very strong characters. And that's a great thing.

[Ron Marz]

I agree and I disagree.

I'll start with my disagreement. While they are just imaginary people, they're characters whom readers have an emotional investment in. And I'd argue that's healthy. They aren't living, breathing human beings and they don't take precedence over them...but they are very special creations that have meant a lot to their readership.

As a fan of your Green Lantern work (and fiction and fantasy in general) I could never be comfortable saying they are "just" imaginary people. Imaginary? Yes. But "just"? Never!

On to the point of agreement. I think it's counterproductive when people make it an either/or argument simply because they are both very strong characters. And that's a great thing.

Thanks for saying. :)

[David Walton]

Thanks for saying. :)

Thanks for writing!

Incidentally, I think one of the reasons Kyle's placement hits such a nerve is because he is one of very few stand-out original creations amongst the Big Two in recent history.

Wally probably hits a nerve from the other side of the spectrum. He's a character who had been around a while but grew into a larger role.

Thankfully, I think DC has room for all of them. Really, the whole idea that only one character can take center stage or be relevant seems much more a Marvel problem than a DC one. You had moved several strong players to center stage from the beginning, with John Stewart and Donna Troy and later down the road Jade.

And I think your run on GL has a lot to do with my respect for Hal Jordan. I was indifferent to Hal before he became Parallax. Indifference is the worst fate a comics character can suffer. You made him a compelling and sympathetic antagonist at a time when he just wasn't a strong character. IMO your work carried over into the present and made people receptive to Hal's return. If you hadn't written him well I think it's possible some people would still be saying, "Hal who?"