In 20 years, will anyone care about Kyle?

[Mister Ed]

Ron Marz is writing some event or mini crossover called Endless Winter coming soon. It kinda goes without saying Kyle will be in that.

I've been looking forward to that. The description sounds more like the kind of old school event crossover that I enjoyed back in the day. I hadn't even considered what GL might be in it.

[Ωmega Man]

Ron Marz is writing some event or mini crossover called Endless Winter coming soon. It kinda goes without saying Kyle will be in that.

[Space Cop]

Uh, the short story in anniversary issue?

[Andrew NDB]

What's the current thinking? In fact, when and where was the last place Kyle even showed up?

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

That would be my dream GL B-title. I used to love the backup GLC features with alien GLs.

Back then the stories felt like they were growing the GL mythology instead of shrinking it. They introduced new alien GLs and new worlds, and by the end of the issue or backup strip, they weren't killed off.

The last decade has been a lot of putting new or old GLs on panel only for the sake of killing them off. After the SCW the corps has just gotten smaller and smaller, continuously on the verge of extinction. I miss the old days where the concept was expanding and not contracting. Now it only expands to introduce a new color or kind of ring that I did NOT ask for.

[Space Cop]

GLC used to have plenty of stories about GLs being sent to new sectors, new planets, all to spread the rule of law for the Guardians of the Universe. Just going from Sector Zero out to the farthest reaches of their own sector would take years for most GLs. Why not stories like those?...

That would be my dream GL B-title. I used to love the backup GLC features with alien GLs.

[jhpace1]

GLC used to have plenty of stories about GLs being sent to new sectors, new planets, all to spread the rule of law for the Guardians of the Universe. Just going from Sector Zero out to the farthest reaches of their own sector would take years for most GLs. Why not stories like those?

Kyle can be sent to find out some legacy items for...wait, Baz and Cruz already did that with the "Phantom Ring / Possessed Guardian / Seven Original Power Rings" story. Argh. Okay, what about Kyle going out to the other Colors as GL ambassador? That might work.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

No, they definitely do NOT have to do that.

[Michael Heide]

You don't have to wipe out the corps again to give Kyle another solo book.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

I can't imagine too many new Kyle fans in the industry that. Discovered him after the 2005 Rebirth reboot. Especially that will be A list talent 20 years from now in their late 40s. But say there are...if a GLC movie flops, do you really think they will throw out everything in the comics to revert to Kyle as the only GL again like the 90s? I just don't see that.

I can see DC trying to rework the franchise to update it for a new generation, but after all this time the Corps concept and mythology are pretty well established. For instance, if you wanted to really shake things up you could make Alan Scott the sole GL again. Retell his origin in modern times with him as a young character, and revamp him however you want with personality, appearance, costume etc. But I just can't see DC doing that when so much merchandising has been tied up in the GLC mythology. And I only pick Alan because it is such an extreme example. Anyone else would be Hal-lite.

I suppose I could see DC doing something stupid and killing off everybody for a while, and trying a title with a tranny, minority, gay, woman, etc fill in the blank pc checklist and seeing if that sells. Kind of like when they made Rene Montoya the hat trick of pc wet dreams by replacing Vic Sage with a woman/lesbian/latina. Hell, maybe Jessica Cruz has a better shot than I want to think about. But I don't see it being Kyle in a second tour of duty.

[jhpace1]

I had hoped that after HJ&tGLC Hal's enhanced ring would be given to Kyle full-time to more mirror his classic role in the GLC and power set. I think with a couple tweaks that EVS redesign would've been a perfect base suit for him moving forward. ]

Instead of Hal giving up the Krona Power Gauntlet leading to a time loop with Kyle's and Soranik Natu's future son using the Gauntlet to try and destroy the GLC for the sake of the Sinestro Corps, we could have had Kyle becoming the Torchbearer again, rather than an also-Earth-Lantern.

[Ωmega Man]

Unless they became fans post-Infinite Crisis or Sinestro Corps War. They'd be up and comers now in the biz, and be future Morrisons and Snyders 20 years from now and in their 50's... LOL

The concept will always remain, but if the GLC film is another bust for the franchise it might get the complete overhaul some folks think it needs.

I don't know if the DCU would be the same if it was the Tangent or Stan Lee GL rubbing shoulders with the mainstream Superman and Batman rather than Hal and the Corps.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

Yeah, you never know with something like that. 20 years from now, Kyle could referenced by some new Scott Snyder or Grant Morrison and have a sudden comeback. There have been several characters who came back from the four-color graveyard.

So I am thinking about that seriously for a minute. In 1994-95, boys that were 12 years old that would be the most inspired by Kyle Rayner's debut in GL volume 3 would have been born around 1981-84. Those boys are all in their late 30s now. In 20 years they will all be in their late 50s, pushing 60 and retirement age themselves. They won't be young budding up and coming comic writers.

Any Kyle fans in the industry are ALREADY writing.

[Space Cop]

It's really hard to say what will be going on 20 years from now, but at the current trajectory, I think the answer is no. . .You never really know what might happen. Something totally unexpected could happen and cause some sort of zeitgeist or something.

Yeah, you never know with something like that. 20 years from now, Kyle could referenced by some new Scott Snyder or Grant Morrison and have a sudden comeback. There have been several characters who came back from the four-color graveyard.

[Star-Lantern]

It's really hard to say what will be going on 20 years from now, but at the current trajectory, I think the answer is no.

Kyle Rayner will certainly never be a mere footnote in Green Lantern lore like I think Simon Baz will, but the character hasn't been relevant for a very long time already. While it's difficult to say what the future of "Big 2" comics will be, many of the actual characters and concepts that originated from comics are very healthy and enduring. People love superheroes and they have for decades! I don't think that will change, or at least it shows no signs of changing. Indeed, you can make a very strong case that people love superheroes now more than ever before. However, they tend to love them outside of comics.

Kyle Rayner had an impressive comic book run, but what he has always severely lacked are notable appearances in other (beloved) media. I would say his most notable appearance was a single episode of Superman: The Animated Series from about... psh... what was it now? 22 years ago or something?

A lack of outside media presence and relatively weak support from DC makes me skeptical that people will care all that much about the character 20 years from now. There's just nothing now to suggest that he will get many new fans going forward, which is vital for relevance.

But! In 1991 who would have believed you if you told them that Iron Man would be more popular than the X-Men and be Marvel's biggest hero? Or for something closer to topic, who would have believed you if you told them that John Stewart would be on the popular Justice League cartoon with Kevin Conroy's Batman? At the time, there was no reason to think the character would even be a contender for that slot.
You never really know what might happen. Something totally unexpected could happen and cause some sort of zeitgeist or something.