Green Lantern (vol.3) #66 (1995)
Green Lantern (vol.3) #66 (September, 1995)
“Fast Friends? Part One”
Writer – Ron Marz
Pencils – Paul Pelletier
Inks – Romeo Tanghal
Colors – Rob Schwager
Letters – Albert DeGuzman
Associate Editor – Eddie Berganza
Editor – Kevin Dooley
Cover Price: $1.75
Today we’re going to continue our little impromptu “Paul Pelletier Appreciate Week” event by taking a look at the first team-up between Kyle Rayner and Wally West!
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We open with Kyle Rayner heading to the library for some reference materials for an upcoming art project, when he just so happens to stumble across an armor-wearing creep who promises to destroy the joint unless he’s given a million bucks and all of his terroristy friends are released from prison. Sounds fair, doesn’t it? Anyhoo, Kyle “Lanterns up” and is blasted right into a nearby fella in a wheelchair. After shaking that off, he takes down the baddie with ease.
Once the dust settles, Kyle heads over to the man in the wheelchair to make sure he’s okay. We learn that this fellow lost his legs in a train accident… and our man wonders if there isn’t something he might be able to do to help. And so, he “breaks off” a teeny bit of his Green Lantern power and bestows it on the man… giving him the ability to “will up” a pair of emerald legs! Kyle leaves with a sense of satisfaction… but without his reference material.
Meanwhile in Keystone City, the Flash is dealing with a brand-new supervillain… Sonar! Wally ain’t too keen on this dude tearing up his city… but, as you might imagine, Sonar doesn’t really care what he thinks.
Sonar goes on a pontificate-y rant, proclaiming himself as the King of humankind. Wally gives him the ol’ “Not in my city, you ain’t!”, which seems like a forced bit of business to facilitate Sonar’s response that Keystone City is too small for a man such as he as he vanishes into the sky.
We rejoin Kyle as he arrives back at his building. He pops into Radu’s Coffee Shop for a cup before heading upstairs. Radu introduces him to another tenant, a model named Allison. She and Kyle flirt for a bit while Radu prepares his Double-Sug-Cap.
As our man turns to leave, Radu informs him that he received a package while he was out… and that he put it in his apartment for him. Turns out, it’s a bouquet of roses from his new gal-pal, Donna Troy! Man, whoever said chivalry was dead? Anyhoo, this makes Kyle feel a bit guilty about chatting up Model-Ali downstairs.
Kyle then grabs his sketchpad and heads to the roof to do a little etching. Unfortunately, just as he’s settling into it, he’s wracked by a sonar shockwave! It’s a good thing he’s actually Green Lantern… I could only imagine how many poor civilians just got flung from their roofs!
After changing into uniform, Kyle heads uptown where he finds… you guessed it, the King of all Mankind… Sonar! Ya see, Keystone is chump-change compared to New York City. If there’s ever a place to throw on a gaudy outfit and proclaim yourself “boss”, it’s gotta be New York.
Green Lantern and Sonar battle it out for a bit before being interrupted by the arrival of… the Flash!
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Had a lot of fun with this one. I sometimes forget just how special these early Kyle issues were. It’s really like we were making a new friend here.
Speaking of “new friends”, this is one of (if not the) earliest instances where Kyle and Wally crossed paths! That’s some pretty important “legacy hero” stuff, and I’m really happy to be revisiting it. I really enjoyed their dynamic… where (for once) Wally West gets to pull the “experienced veteran card”. I’ll put a pin in that for now, as I’m sure we’ll be discussing that bit of business more tomorrow.
I wanna talk briefly about Kyle “breaking off” a bit of his power for the legless fella. I’m going to use the old Chris-chestnut of “It’s been awhile since I looked at this era, so I don’t remember if this leads anywhere…”, but I think this is a pretty cool idea. Having Kyle, ever the altruist, giving away his powers bit by bit… until there comes a time where he’s in a jam and might need it all back. Did that ever happen? Am I completely blanking on (what I’d assume to be) one helluva story here?
Either way, this is pretty cool… and, gotta say, the idea of a New York full’a folks with a tiny bit of emerald energy kinda tickles me. One heckuva visual there!
Sonar… is kind of a goofball villain, though he doesn’t seem like he’s messing around. In this issue alone, he was able to go toe-to-toe with both Wally and Kyle. Pretty decent first outing for the guy!
Now, the reason we’re looking at this issue today… the art! I mean, broken record time, it’s really great stuff! Very clean and sharp… just really wonderful to look at! It’s the kind of art I’d refer to as “candy for the eyes”. Really well done.
Overall, I’d say jump on this issue… not only for the art, but for a heckuva fun story too! There’s a magic to these early Kyle Rayner issues of Green Lantern, and if you’ve never experienced them, you owe it to yourself to give ’em a go! This issue is available digitally.
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