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28 08 2007

Kyle’s Fate

Posted by Alan in Comics, Green Lantern

Sinestro Corps: Ion One-ShotWell, recent comments by Dan Didio, together with the full November solicitations appear to show us how Kyle’s turn as Parallax ends at the end of the Sinestro Corps.

Whereas previously I was hoping the “Kyle in a different costume” was Kyle from another Earth in the multiverse, it does indeed look like once Kyle is freed of Parallax he’ll be ditching the Ion persona (which looks like it’ll go to Sodam Yat - a character I just don’t care about at this stage) and going back to being a plain old GL (with yet another new costume - although at least this one looks like it’ll have some consistancy between artists, unlike the Ion costume).

Its not the end of the world, and hopefully this will give Kyle some stability again. The Ion thing seems to be getting written off as another wrong-step by “One Year Later”, which is a pity as Ron Marz did some excellent stuff in that maxi-series, and there was some really interesting setup in the role.

To be honest though, the Ion thing seems to have become a bit directionless. Jade died, “returning the energy Kyle had given her”. Of course, that’s not what had actually happened back in Kyle’s run as GL, but fortunately Ron Marz sorted it all out by stating that Jade had given Kyle her Starheart powers, which had merged with Kyle’s own Oan-created GL powers turning him into Ion (everyone keeping up?) . Then along comes Sinestro Corps and tells us that Ion is infact the cosmic manifestiation of willpower. Now that the direction seems to be being binned for Kyle, I’m finding it hard to care anymore.

Ron Marz has got a one-shot in November which will wrap up Kyle’s tenure as Ion (by the looks of the cover). Hopefully he’ll address the Starheart stuff, and Jade won’t have died just to give Kyle yet more baggage to carry around.

As I say, its not the end of the world. If the powers that be have decided that “Ion” was a mis-step then I hope its explained and wrapped up in the one-shot and then shuffled off to the side. Kyle looks like he’ll be getting plenty of face-time in the coming months both as Parallax, then joining up with the Hunt for Ray Palmer, so its not like fans of the character are getting shafted (no matter what you may read online). I just hope that placing him in the Challengers of the Unknown means he’ll hook back up with Donna. Although at this point, I really just want some stability for the character.

Still, it could be worse. He could be John ;-)

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12 Responses to “Kyle’s Fate”
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  1. Pie Man 70 says:
    August 30, 2007 at 15:36

    Initial gripe, aside form making him a regular lantern (As you’ve said, kinda making Jade’s death a bit pointless) is that the new costume (Assuming thats it) is pretty duff, I’ve generally liked Kyle’s costumes but that one sucks.

  2. Pie Man 70 says:
    September 3, 2007 at 10:18

    Not keen on the new costume at all. Woudl prefer that there was something more ins tore for kyle as otherwise Jades death is pretty pointless

  3. Alan says:
    September 3, 2007 at 11:16

    That’s my feeling as well really. The Ion maxi-series was pretty well received and sold well (one of the better “One Year Later” series apparently). At this point, I’m basically putting my hopes in Ron Marz’s Parallax and Ion one-shots to wrap everything up nicely from the Kyle point-of-view.

    Re-reading some of the Ion maxi-series again last night though, I can’t help but think this may have been a complete waste of an interesting setup.

  4. Alan says:
    September 3, 2007 at 11:17

    (Disclaimer: assuming it all comes to pass as it looks like it will of course. Its hard to know for sure before the issues actually hit the stands. Odds are, once its over and had a couple of months to settle in to the new setup, I’ll be happy).

  5. David says:
    September 6, 2007 at 22:08

    I probably shouldn’t be, but I’m pretty angry about this.

    The character of Kyle Rayner has gone through so much, done so many things, and had to bear the brunt of being the final Green Lantern, and even made it possible for the Corps to return. And no, the corps didn’t return just because Hal was resurrected (despite the timing), it was because Kyle gave up being godlike to ressurect the Guardians.

    Kyle has grown and matured, and been forged into a true hero by the events of his life. And when Jade died, he received the Ion power, which, even if it has been retconned into being a big bloated space whale, it still is, to him, the last piece of Jenny left to him.

    Being Ion, and being the ‘Torchbearer’ is rightly deserved for all he’s done, and the GL Corps should remember and honor this as they have been doing. But now, they’re going to allow Sodam Yat to keep the Ion whale, and the exact same costume (!!!) just because of a stupid prophesy. Sodam Yat is a rookie! He doesn’t deserve the be Ion! Or the Torchbearer! >=| Die Sodam, just die.

  6. Alan says:
    September 7, 2007 at 9:10

    My big worry about the recent retconning of Ion into the space whale is where it leaves Jade’s legacy. We don’t yet know how Kyle’s starheart powers left to him by Jade fit in to all this.

    My fingers are crossed that Ron Marz addresses it in the Ion special though (since he’s also the one who previously acknowledged the starheart powers in the Ion series, whereas other writers ignored them - admittedly partly because of the rushed nature of the special Kyle became Ion in). I’d be a bit annoyed if Jade’s dying gift to Kyle was being arbitrarily passed onto a rookie just because he happened to be created by Alan Moore in an issue ages ago.

    My main complaint really is that all Ron’s work in the Ion maxi appears to be getting binned. Which seems a strange move given that it was apparently one of the best performing One Year Later mini series, and got sales in the same region as the ongoing GLC title. The Ion setup was an interesting one.

    Saying that, as long as Kyle retains his Torchbearer status, he could remain a special agent in the corps, answering directly to the Guardians just with a standard ring instead of the Ion powers, which would at least be a compromise.

    His appearance in this week’s Atom indicates that his new ring is capable of opening portals between the different Earths in the multiverse, so hopefully this is an indication that there’ll still be more to Kyle than being just another GL.

  7. David says:
    September 7, 2007 at 13:54

    Unfortunately, I don’t see why Kyle would be needed to get Donna, Jason, The Atom and The Monitor to other parallel worlds as Countdown (35/36, The so-called ‘Queen’ Belthera) explicitly stated that the Monitor has this ability in abundance. Which confused me a little, since I would’ve thought he could have then gotten them down to the ‘Palmerverse’. I mean the extent of the Monitor’s power hasn’t actually been explained, but if he can take them to alternate worlds, I would’ve thought he could shrink them.. -_-;

    If Sodam does get the Ion entity, I don’t see how Kyle can keep his Torchbearer status, as the big green whale does seem to be the ‘torch’ that the person wielding Ion ‘bears’. Sinestro himself called Ion the ‘Guardians’ entity’ (”While their entity roamed free… …inside you.” -Rips Ion out of Kyle). Also, the only reason I saw the Guardians wanted him to be their ‘agent’ is because of his immense power, ranging in the Parallax levels. They already have agents with powers in the GL range, they being the Corpse from GL Corps. =D (Maybe Kyle could join them?)

    I loved the Ion maxiseries, I thought the character development was great, but I always felt that the plot was unresolved. And I really didn’t think Sinestro was behind all his problems. Mainly because the figure who watched him, with his hands crossed together, has hands and arms looking nothing like Sinestro or any of the Anit-monitor’s heralds, or the Anti-Monitor himself. (I don’t really get why Superboy is working with the Anti-Monitor anyway… Isn’t it his fault that Superboy lost everything he holds dear and became the creep his is now?)

    I just want Kyle to get to stay as Ion, both because he deserves such a position of power and respect, and because it makes Jade’s sacrifise worthwhile (and I hope to God they explain that… The space whale doesn’t strike me as being the Starheart). Instead of being used by two entities, and then thrown away as a standard GL. Hell, he and Ganthet even had an almost fatherly mentor and student relationship at one point! Doesn’t that count for anything??? Nah, lets just give it to a random daxamite, because he has the same name a guy in their prophesy.

    Once more… Die Sodam, just die.

  8. Alan says:
    September 7, 2007 at 14:20

    I agree that Kyle shouldn’t need to open portals between the different Earths when they’ve got Bob present. Although possibly his ring will allow them to move between worlds without the other monitors…errr…monitoring them? Hopefully it’ll be explained in Countdown next week.

    I suspect it was more to give Kyle something to do other than just turn up though.

    Kyle I think should stay referred to as the Torchbearer within the GLC, largely because that’s what he did for 10 years (our time). His efforts to rebuild the Corps deserve some kind of recognition even if its just a special title. It’d be pretty easy to just separate Ion from the Torchbearer title.

    I’ve still got hope that this multiverse stuff is going to single out a special role for Kyle. While there is already the Corpse, that’s more of a Black Ops unit, whereas Kyle might be the Guardians agent for dealing with multiverse-related problems.

    If nothing else, Kyle’s still got a good relationship with Ganthet, who’s becoming increasingly separated from the other Guardians (note how they hadn’t told him about Sodam Yat, the same character who looks set to take over the Ion role). I could see Ganthet keeping Kyle close to hand, since he trusts him.

    I really don’t get the love for Sodam Yat. As far as I can tell, he was just briefly mentioned once in the Alan Moore story with the Empire of Tears, and that seems to have elevated him to “instant classic” status with a lot of people. However, a lot of stuff doesn’t hang together. If the Sinestro Corps War is indeed the disaster the Empire told Abin about, then Sodam has to die. However, they also said that Sodam was the ultimate Lantern, whereas here he’s just a rookie. So it doesn’t quite flow.

    Of course, its possible that the Sinestro Corps War is a red herring, and the disaster the Empire of Tears talked about is still to come. They could big up Sodam Yat throughout the next year, only for him to die in Geoff’s third act in the trilogy and signal that the Corps is in big trouble.

    I’m agreed with you though, that my ideal would be for Kyle to stay as Ion. I’m not saying that whatever new direction they’ve got going won’t be fun though, its more just that Ron had a lot of good setup to build on, and in changing the character again so soon, its thrown a lot of that out, whereas I’d like some stability.

    Hopefully they’ll play on the Kyle/Donna relationship in Countdown. That was fun, and would give us some point to the change in direction for Kyle.

  9. Alan says:
    September 7, 2007 at 14:43

    Actually, I’ve just had another thought. In Atom #15, Ryan identifies Kyle as Ion. I wonder if this means he’ll be keeping the name, or if its just a screw up (probably the later, but we can but hope).

  10. Alan says:
    September 7, 2007 at 15:08

    While I’m on a roll, I’ve just had a moment of clarity.

    We’ve seen (who we assume is) Sodam Yat in Kyle’s Ion costume on the cover of the one shot, but there’s nothing to indicate that its something that’ll stick after the special’s over. Possibly Yat gets handed the Ion powers by the Guardians, and tells them to stick it (hence why both he and Kyle are reaching for the ring on the cover).

    We’ll find out in a few months I suppose :)

  11. David says:
    September 7, 2007 at 16:31

    You bring up an interesting point, there is no real reason, as of yet anyway, for Yat to remain as Ion, and it could easily be made for him to lose/give them up. I don’t yet understand the love that a lot of people have, almost annoyingly, gained for Yat. His character has yet to be fleshed out, and he hasn’t really done much yet.

    Is Kyle referred to as Ion? That’s interesting… One of my main thoughts is on the origins of Ion (space whale entity, not Kyle as character). Parallax has been said to exist for millennia, perhaps millions of years on the outskirts of the universe, although they haven’t really explained WHERE he came from, but we know where he has been, in the Central Battery. What I’m wondering is where Ion has been. Why has there been no prior appearance if he/she/it (it has yet to display an independent personality or gender preference) is such a powerful figure?

    I can’t help but wonder if Ion has some connection to the Starheart. While the Starheart is a purely magical being and power, magic has often been described as science beyond current understanding, and the Guardians understood the nature of Parallax enough to combat it. Perhaps his ‘magic’ is derived purely from the willpower aspect of the ‘emotional spectrum’ that’s being heavily introduced. Perhaps Ion is, in some form, The Starheart, explaining how he joined with Kyle. It would also explain why Alan Scott’s power depended heavily upon willpower, and why Parallax said he tried and failed to possess Alan.

    I’m also wondering about the possibility of more entities from the emotional spectrum. One for ‘love’, from the Zamerons, and, which has only been hinted at, an entity representing Red. In Booster Gold #1, it was written on the blackboard of Rip Hunter, ‘Beware The Red Lanterns’. Perhaps an entity war is approaching?

    (Incidentally, I’m enjoying the discussion, I don’t go on forums, and only posted here because you didn’t need to be a member and I wanted to comment. I rarely get to discuss Green Lantern.)

    What is quickly becoming my signature until I start to like the character,
    Die Sodam, just die.

  12. Alan says:
    September 7, 2007 at 21:17

    I tend to be a forum lurker myself. I don’t know why, but I’ve never really gotten into posting on them. Largely I tend to hang around the ComicBloc forums. Some don’t like it because its more heavily moderated than some of the other forums out there, but for me, its a plus as it keeps the crazies in line ;-)

    Someone on the ComicBloc (I think) was theorising that the Ion entity was actually the result of Kyle having both Oan and Starheart powers. That the Guardians had really mucked things up when they separated the magic from willpower, and it was only when Jade gave Kyle her powers that the embodiment of willpower could be reborn. I quite like that theory.

    Another good one someone posted tonight, was that Kyle may still have his Ion powers, but having lost the space whale, he can’t control them as easily, and so is using the ring again (I seem to recall that Alan’s powers are similar. They’re internal, but he needs his ring to focus them). I could really go for this theory, but I suspect we’ll only find out for sure in November/December.

    I’m intrigued to see where the Red Lanterns come in as well. Presumably the 3rd part to the story (next year’s GL event) is going to involve all the different factions of Lanterns, as I can’t see the Star Saphires or Red Lanterns turning up over the next couple of months. I think Geoff is laying the seeds for a much longer game plan for the GL titles.

    However the Sinestro Corps ends, I hope its more of a stalemate, with both factions still bumping into each other over the next year. I like the idea of different groups of Lanterns kicking about the galaxy, all with their own agendas.

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