Green Lantern #53 (July 1994)
Superman comes to retrieve the villain from his comic who somehow ended up in this one. What is this, a crossover episode?! Well, yeah.
Last issue, Mongul dropped in on Kyle Rayner's beach-side photo session and demanded a rematch with "Green Lantern," not terribly concerned with the fact that this is a completely different GL from the one who defeated in Coast City him last year. The fight isn't going too well for Kyle, but luckily for him it's interrupted by one of Mongul's former space gladiators: Superman.
As Superman and Mongul get reacquainted, Kyle ignores his girlfriend Alex's advice and tries to rejoin the fight... only for Mongul to swat him off like a mosquito and send him flying to the water, where he immediately starts drowning. Cue sad trombone.
Superman must have a lot of faith in this new GL he just met (or, more likely, in his GL ring), because he doesn't even try to go rescue him from a watery death. The faith turns out to be well-placed, since Kyle triumphantly emerges from the water and distracts Mongul, allowing Superman to knock him away. This finally gives the two heroes a chance to introduce themselves to each other:
(Superman saying "By the way, I'm Superman" is 1) ridiculous and 2) exactly what Superman would say.)
After seeing Kyle using his ring, Superman says the Guardians must be pleased to have him as a Corps member, to which Kyle replies "Guardians? Core member?" Mongul isn't enjoying the fight so much anymore, so he decides to end it by unleashing his secret weapon: a yellow laser (so that's what that square on his chest is for). To Superman and Mongul's confusion, Kyle doesn't understand why he should be afraid of a little yellow and shrugs off Mongul's attack.
Inspired by Superman's comment about not losing his "train of thought," Kyle finally knocks Mongul out by slamming him with a "Slamtrak" train. Superman is impressed ("Not bad for a Green Lantern who's never even heard of the Guardians of the Universe") and tells Kyle to look him up if he's ever in Metropolis. Superman flies off to take Mongul back to jail, leaving Kyle pretty satisfied with himself. He tells Alex that he feels like he passed his first real test (Ohm didn't count, I guess?) and now he thinks "everything's going to be all right." Everything's coming up Rayner!
Meanwhile, back in that shady government office from last issue, the shady government agents give a shady purple figure the mission to retrieve a powerful ring that ended up in the hands (well, hand) of some random dude. We see that the purple figure is Major Force, a.k.a. Captain Atom But Evil, one of the villains who broke out of supervillain prison with Mongul.
Oh, and they give him their best lead for how to find his target: the name "Alexandra DeWitt."
Plotline-Watch:
SPOILERS: Everything's NOT going to be all right.
When Mongul says he's gonna kill Superman, he replies: "I hate to disappoint you... [PUNCH] but it's been done!" This is a reference to that obscure storyline where Superman did, in fact, die. (Maybe I should start keeping track of all the times Superman references his death during supervillain battles in this era.)
When Kyle is about to rejoin the fight, Alex tells him this is "a little out of your league." This is NOT a reference to the fact that Superman and Kyle will end up as teammates in the Justice League, but I'm choosing to see it as that anyway.
This issue establishes that Kyle's ring, unlike Hal's, works perfectly fine on yellow things (and beings, like Mongul), but doesn't explain why yet. It also establishes that Kyle does have a weakness: ADHD.
Superman says he's got questions about what happened to Hal, who he hasn't seen "since Coast City" ('s funeral), and Kyle wishes him luck in finding his buddy. Those questions will be answered pretty dramatically in Zero Hour. There will be punching involved.
While taking Mongul away, Superman assures Kyle that this time "there won't be any chance of him getting free" as we see an image of some sort of hi-tech iron maiden-type contraption. There was some chance, it turns out, since Mongul will get free in 1995's Flash #102, where he'll once again be used to demonstrate the limits of the title hero's new powers.
I like the part when the government agents ask Major Force if he didn't go soft while he was in prison and, to find out if he did, they shoot him in the head. MF barely seems to notice the bullet and then breaks the agent's gun and hand, so I guess that's a "no."
Man, that Alex is a keeper. May Kyle and her have a long and happy relationship!
NEXT ISSUE: The one with the refrigerator.
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