Kyle Rayner

[Captain Morgan]

Hello Mr. Marz. Long time fan. I was hoping I could ask you some questions about your creation, and one of my favorite characters, Kyle Rayner.Kyle has come a long way over the years, but he's been forced into the background a bit with Hal's return. He's been awesome in Green Lantern Corp; he really kicked ass against Kryb. Give my regards to Tomasi on that one. Never the less, he's been overshadowed by Hal, which is a bit of a shame considering how hard he worked to get out of his shadow when Hal was dead.

The GL mythos as a whole is arguably better than it's ever been, with the upcoming War of Light and all. But DC's over all Silver Age push has been feeding us a lot of Hal. In particular, the Blue Lanterns regarding Hal as the "Ultimate Savior" seemed a little over the top. A lot of us fans find it kind of weird that Hal was the one getting the blue ring at all, he's never seemed to be much of a Hope kind of guy.

Do you agree with the notion that Hal is still, by far, the greatest Green Lantern? It seems to me, and many other Kyle fans, that Kyle has earned his place as Hal's equal, at least. But a lot of DC character's still regard Hal as the end all, be all of the Corp. What's your personal feelings on the matter? Does Kyle deserve a little more recognition, or has he not earned in yet compared to Hal's years upon years of service?

I was also wondering how the Ion power works exactly. The Ion mini you penned had the power explained as a fusion of Oan and Starheart energy, the "Next Step" in Green Lantern evolution. But when the Sinestro Corp came out, it was revealed that the Ion power was actually from Kyle being inhabited by the "Ion Entity." How does this work out with Jade's life force flowing into Kyle and what not? It says these energies let him be a temporary host, but when did the Entity actually enter him? And what happened to the Starheart energy when Ion was ripped out of Kyle?

Also, are we ever going to see more of what the Ion power can do? Kyle had some impressive moments with it, but he didn't accomplish a lot more than he could do with a normal ring. Sodam Yat had the one neat trick he pulled on Nero, but he still lost to Prime, and he's incapable of curing his own lead poisoning.

Speaking of Nero and Ion, Yat mentioned it seemed like Nero got the better of Kyle too quickly. Almost convenient, as he said. What was the implication here? Did Kyle purposely let Nero get the better of him so Yat would have a chance to shine? Or was Yat implying something else there?

[Karl O'Neill]

Compare with this opinion http://sourceradix.com/m/grom.html

More spam?

[Ron Marz]

Do you agree with the notion that Hal is still, by far, the greatest Green Lantern? It seems to me, and many other Kyle fans, that Kyle has earned his place as Hal's equal, at least. But a lot of DC character's still regard Hal as the end all, be all of the Corp. What's your personal feelings on the matter? Does Kyle deserve a little more recognition, or has he not earned in yet compared to Hal's years upon years of service?

I was also wondering how the Ion power works exactly. The Ion mini you penned had the power explained as a fusion of Oan and Starheart energy, the "Next Step" in Green Lantern evolution. But when the Sinestro Corp came out, it was revealed that the Ion power was actually from Kyle being inhabited by the "Ion Entity." How does this work out with Jade's life force flowing into Kyle and what not? It says these energies let him be a temporary host, but when did the Entity actually enter him? And what happened to the Starheart energy when Ion was ripped out of Kyle?

Also, are we ever going to see more of what the Ion power can do? Kyle had some impressive moments with it, but he didn't accomplish a lot more than he could do with a normal ring. Sodam Yat had the one neat trick he pulled on Nero, but he still lost to Prime, and he's incapable of curing his own lead poisoning.

Speaking of Nero and Ion, Yat mentioned it seemed like Nero got the better of Kyle too quickly. Almost convenient, as he said. What was the implication here? Did Kyle purposely let Nero get the better of him so Yat would have a chance to shine? Or was Yat implying something else there?

1) "Greatest" is a pretty subjective thing when discussing fictional characters, isn't it? Some people like Hal, some people like Kyle, some people like G'Nort (for some reason). To each his own.

2) When I agreed to take on Ion as a project, the set-up (written by Dave Gibbons, I believe) was Kyle inheriting power from Jade. Somewhere after that, DC editorial decided there was an actual "Ion entity." Essentially a retcon, I guess, but very often working in a shared universe means playing the cards you're dealt. We just tried to explain it as best we could, but it's awkward at best.

3) I'm not writing Kyle or Ion at the moment, so I really don't know what the plans are. Peter Tomasi is riding herd over those characters at the moment.

4) As for the whole Ion/Nero/Yat thing, again, I'm not writing the characters currently, so I can't presume to speak for what Peter's got coming up.

Sorry I wasn't able to answer more of your questions. But, once you as a creator moves on from characters, you don't really have much involvement or say in what happens to them. But, I think they're in good hands with Peter and Geoff.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Ron , as someone who hopped on when you did start Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern I've always wondered this.

Had you not signed with Crossgen in 2001 , would you have stayed and kept writing Kyle Rayner ? And had you stayed , would you have done things different with Jade and others ? It seemed under you that Jade and Kyle were itching closer to getting married at some point. Was that something you had planned ?

[Lester C.]

Ron , as someone who hopped on when you did start Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern I've always wondered this.

Had you not signed with Crossgen in 2001 , would you have stayed and kept writing Kyle Rayner ? And had you stayed , would you have done things different with Jade and others ? It seemed under you that Jade and Kyle were itching closer to getting married at some point. Was that something you had planned ?

I can answer the first part of your question. Judd Winick was writing Green Lantern for years before Ron left for Crossgen so I think he moved on from the character.

[Ron Marz]

Ron , as someone who hopped on when you did start Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern I've always wondered this.

Had you not signed with Crossgen in 2001 , would you have stayed and kept writing Kyle Rayner ? And had you stayed , would you have done things different with Jade and others ? It seemed under you that Jade and Kyle were itching closer to getting married at some point. Was that something you had planned ?

I signed with CrossGen in 2000, but the first issues didn't see print until 2000. Yes, I would have stayed with GL if I hadn't left for CrossGen. (Sorry, Lester, Judd only took the book when I left; my last issue #125.)

I like the Kyle-Jade pairing, especially since it brought Alan Scott into Kyle's world more often. The eventual break up of Kyle and Jade that I had a hand in writing was at the behest of editorial.

During my original run, I wasn't planning on marriage for Kyle and Jade, at least any time in their immediate future. But I was planning for Kyle to restart the GL Corps, and for John Stewart to hold a Guardian-type role in the new Corps.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I signed with CrossGen in 2000, but the first issues didn't see print until 2000. Yes, I would have stayed with GL if I hadn't left for CrossGen. (Sorry, Lester, Judd only took the book when I left; my last issue #125.)

I like the Kyle-Jade pairing, especially since it brought Alan Scott into Kyle's world more often. The eventual break up of Kyle and Jade that I had a hand in writing was at the behest of editorial.

During my original run, I wasn't planning on marriage for Kyle and Jade, at least any time in their immediate future. But I was planning for Kyle to restart the GL Corps, and for John Stewart to hold a Guardian-type role in the new Corps.

Nice info. Sometimes I shake my fist at Crossgen for jerking you away. Because I favored your take on Kyle Rayner the best. That of an ordinary guy , in over his head a lot of the time. Who pulls it out in the end.

Did it make you feel funny to see Marvel try that with teen Tony Stark and fail so quick ?

[Ron Marz]

Nice info. Sometimes I shake my fist at Crossgen for jerking you away. Because I favored your take on Kyle Rayner the best. That of an ordinary guy , in over his head a lot of the time. Who pulls it out in the end.

Did it make you feel funny to see Marvel try that with teen Tony Stark and fail so quick ?

Hard liquor and pretty women make me feel funny. The whole "teen Tony" thing left me more bemused than anything.

For what it's worth, I was also told by people in the meetings that Kyle's introduction was somewhat of a motivating factor in Ben Reilly's intro/Clone Saga.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Hard liquor and pretty women make me feel funny. The whole "teen Tony" thing left me more bemused than anything.

Ha... I like liquor more than beer myself.

Had Marvel came to you and said "Ron , can you make teen Tony Stark work ?" could you have done it ? Would have loved to see your take on it had you been there , since you made Rayner work. Or was it just a crappy idea all the way ?

For what it's worth, I was also told by people in the meetings that Kyle's introduction was somewhat of a motivating factor in Ben Reilly's intro/Clone Saga.

Wow...the things ya learn. I didn't hate Reilly. I thought he was a pretty good character. Until Marvel had the idea to make him the original .

[Ron Marz]

Ha... I like liquor more than beer myself.

Had Marvel came to you and said "Ron , can you make teen Tony Stark work ?" could you have done it ? Would have loved to see your take on it had you been there , since you made Rayner work. Or was it just a crappy idea all the way ?

Hey, I didn't say I liked it MORE than beer.

"Teen Tony" is an idea that wouldn't have appealed to me as a writer, because it gives you no real chance to create. It's the same guy ... just younger and less experienced. At least with Kyle, I had the chance to come up with a new character from scratch, which is a lot more interesting creatively.