One of the big motivations for me reading Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner Volume 1 last weekend was because I found Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner Volume 2 at my local bookstore late last week and wanted to see how the story progressed.

“Kyle Rayner is the last Green Lantern. After Hal Jordan’s reign of terror on the Green Lantern Corps, Ganthet, the lone surviving Guardian, bequeathed Kyle the final power ring. The ring and legacy of the Corps now live on with Kyle Rayner. Defending the Earth on countless occasions and saving the universe from Hal Jordan, Kyle has earned his place among the greatest Green Lanterns. However, Hal Jordan has returned. Refusing to accept responsibility for his actions, Hal looks to reclaim his mantle as the Green Lantern. With his sights set on Kyle Rayner’s power ring, Hal will take it back by any means necessary.”

The chronological portion of this compilation covers from January 1995 through September 1995. Unlike the previous compilation Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner Volume 1, this volume didn’t have any comics or storylines I recognized, either from my youth or from my own readings in the last several years. As this was an all new series of stories for me, I think I probably had very different reactions than I tend to have for stories familiar to me. This entire storyline takes place after the Death of Superman and the Return of Superman, which I have every original comic book from both series so it’s also interesting to see some of the familiar characters from those events, such as Steel.

The moral stories included in this compilation had a lot of weight to them. When Guy Gardner/Warrior and Kyle face off against the Quorum and Major Force, the mercenary who murdered Alexandra DeWitt in Green Lantern volume 3 #54, Kyle is given the opportunity to kill Major Force and he doesn’t take it. Instead, Guy Gardner/Warrior snaps Major Force’s neck. Kyle tries to express why this was wrong and how it’s not right for them as heroes to use their powers to be judge, jury, and executioner, no matter how many painful and horrible things someone may have done. After reading everything Kyle’s been through so far, I feel as though fans of the series would have understood if Kyle had killed Major Force but I think that it’s out of character for him to have done so, which is exactly the action Kyle took in this situation.

https://cajacobs.com/2018/06/08/graphic-novel-review-green-lantern-kyle-rayner-volume-2/