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The *other* Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight story -- how we almost NEVER got a Kyle Rayner

(Years ago I made a Twitter thread about this and one of my favorite websites, DC In The 80's asked if they could host it and I was proud to revise it and have it be a part of their amazing site. I repost it here on my only remaining socials, revised once again and expanded quite a bit, for @greenlantern94to04 as well as everyone else. Thanks!)

Ok, so we're gonna talk about Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight. How we almost never got Kyle Rayner. How Gerard Jones had a very different story in mind. We're gonna talk about how DC made the drastic, correct decision. We're gonna discuss H.E.A.T.

I am gonna preface this by saying: Former Green Lantern writer Gerard Jones was sentenced to 6 years in federal prison for child pornography charges in 2018. There is no debate here. The man is a literal monster. Absolutely disgusting. Cancel culture exists to shun a man like this.

This thread is not to support his work or encourage you to seek it out. Please do not. Rather, its to showcase comics history & show you how we dodged a huge bullet & he was rightfully fired off Green Lantern & we got one of the best runs in comic history with Ron Marz.

So, historical context: Green Lantern as a franchise was struggling in the late 80's. It didn't have its own series, it was running in Action comics Weekly with some odd specials here & there. Hal Jordan wasn't that huge. In 1990 Green Lantern Volume 3 was launched by Jones:

Your mileage may vary on Jones' run & what he did for the GL franchise. The gist of his run is showing how OLD Hal Jordan is. He spends most of the series as an old drifter, wandering the country, with some fresh greyed hair. It is by no means an exciting book with Hal as the lead.

Anyways, this series runs for several years with Jones always battling with his editor Kevin Dooley about its contents. Meanwhile in the Return of Superman story, Hal Jordan's hometown, Coast City is destroyed by Cyborg Superman & Mongul.

Now this is followed up in Green Lantern 46 & 47 by Gerard Jones. Here's the last page of GL #47:

Hal certainly seems ok with everything that happened & he's ready to move on to some other story. Doesn't seem like he's gonna lose it & go crazy over the loss of Coast City, does he?

That's because Ron Marz' Emerald Twilight was originally not planned! Jones had his own version of Emerald Twilight planned. It was even solicited with house ads for it even appearing in books at the time!! Here's the house ad again that was to be the cover of GL #48 by Kevin Maguire:

Here are the original previews that were sent out to retailers for Green Lantern issues 48 & 49:

GL 48 by Jones, Cobbs,& Tanghal

"Superman and the Justice League gather by Green Lantern's side as Hal confronts the horror of the destruction of Coast City. Meanwhile on Oa, the Guardians of the Universe find themselves fighting a lethal battle against the Guardians of the Universe?"

GL 49 by G. Jones, Haynes, & Tanghal

"Green Lantern is caught up in a battle raging between two equally powerful groups of the Guardians of the Universe. Hal's side loses, and the winners' first act is to take away the power rings' 24-hour time limit, and their yellow impurity Their second act is to appoint a new leader of the Green Lantern Corps --- Sinestro! This issue leads directly into the landmark Green Lantern #50, a major turning point for the series."

So as you can see we almost got a VERY different course of action for Green Lantern in the 90s. Now those are hints of the original proposed plan, but Jones actually went into it all in interviews & a plot synopsis. Here is Jones' original plot for Emerald Twilight in its entirety:

"The destruction of Coast City and his breakup with Carol make Hal realize that he can't find the roots he wants on earth. He's inspired by the memories of the dead, especially his father, to become a better hero; he decides he must affirm himself first and foremost as a Green Lantern, finding his community in the Corps. But when he goes to Oa for the big swearing-in ceremony of all the new GLs, a new group of Guardians appears, claiming to be the true Guardians.

These "New" Guardians claim that the "Old" Guardians are impostors who plan to use the GL Corps to reduce the universe to chaos. The Old group counters that the New ones are impostors who plan to use the GLs to subject the universe to tyranny in the name of "order". Adding credence to the New Guardians' claim--and raising the stakes--are the Zamarons, convinced that they are their husbands. The Zams are about to give birth to the ultimate Cosmic Children, whose power will be such that whoever controls them can control the cosmos. The fate of the universe--chaos or tyranny--hinges on whichever set of Guardians can win over the GL Corps and gain control of the Children.

Hal--who knows the Guardians as no other GLs do, having seen the Old Timer at his most human and vulnerable, and having gone through his conflict with them and his "act of faith" in GL 35--knows in his gut that the New Guardians are the impostors. But the weight of evidence is against him and he can't convince the other GLs (the "Twelve Angry Men" dynamic).Hal has a choice: break with the GL Corps, now his only hope for community and belonging; or collude with something he feels will reduce the universe to tyranny. Hal chooses the former.

He enters the battery to increase his power, fights the Corps and takes the Old Guardians into hiding as he seeks a way to convince his fellow GLs or beat the New Guardians. The stakes for Hal are high: if he's RIGHT about the New Guardians, but they WIN, then the universe is doomed. If he's WRONG in his gut-feeling and HE wins, then HE'S doomed the universe. If he's WRONG and he LOSES, then the universe is okay but Hal is ostracized from the only group that means anything to him. The pressure is on him not only to win, but to be damn sure he's right.

The New Guardians announce their new leader of the GL Corps: Sinestro, renowned for his devotion to order before he broke with the GL Corps. He whips the Corps into a paramilitary group and starts a program of "good" but ruthless acts: like destroying the Khund homeworld. Hal sends his only ally, Star Sapphire, to appeal to her fellow Zamarons. She learns some things about the way the New Guardians convinced them of their legitimacy that suggest to Hal that the power behind the New Guardians is ENTROPY.

Hal contacts the confused but sympathetic Arisia, trying to argue his point with other GLs through her. But Sinestro has them all wowed or cowed...and when Kilowog throws in with Sinestro and his tough new approach, Hal feels his struggle to win over the Corps is becoming hopeless. Hal returns to the Coast City monument, to commune with the memory of his father, whose grave was destroyed along with the city. But the Hunter GLs-revived by Sinestro to police the Corps' internal affairs--catch him there.

He escapes for the moment, but they've destroyed his ring. But the inspiration of Hal's dad makes him want to find a way to keep fighting, and he discovers that he has power within him. His trip into the battery enabled him to internalize his power, but he couldn't realize that as long as he felt he needed his ring, and the Corps. Hal fights back, knowing he may have to fight alone to his death, and defeats the Hunters.

Sinestro reacts to this by getting even tougher with the Corps and speeding up his acts of "purification," and some GLs begin to wonder if Hal was right. The Zamarons, meanwhile, are about to give birth, which would give the New Guardians the power they need to take control of the universe no matter what Hal does. The clock is ticking faster and faster. Star Sapphire, acting under Hal's instructions, learns enough about the New Guardians through the Zamarons to start forcing Entropy to show his hand.

Hal gathers DC earth-heroes to join him against the Corps. When Sinestro tries to send the whole Corps against Hal and his allies, Arisia rediscovers her nerve and fights back against him. Other disaffected GLs join her--but not enough to stop the rest. Arisia's splinter group flees into space, is nearly caught and destroyed by Sinestro's group...but are saved at the last moment by Hal.

Hal now leads his rag-tag band of heroes and rebel GLs against Sinestro on Oa. But Entropy, through the New Guardians, throws him a curve: they reveal to Hal that his father didn't die by accident; his death was arranged by the Old Guardians.... who saw the potential for a great GL in Hal but foresaw that he would need a trauma to make him the fearless man he could be.

At the moment before the final conflict, Hal is shaken to the core: can he fight to defend the beings who killed his father? Hal realizes that his private grief and rage means nothing against the fate of the universe. He fights for the old Guardians despite what they did. The babies are about to be born. The New Guardians capture Sapphire and are about to kill her. The battle begins.

Hal goes head to head with Kilowog, the most painful battle of either of their lives. In the heat of conflict, though, Sinestro begins to reveal his true, wretched self. Hal tricks him into showing his true colors. Kilowog realizes he's been suckered. Enraged, he joins Hal's side. Sinestro's support collapses. The New Guardians dissolve, revealing themselves as mere manifestations of Entropy, and Entropy throws himself personally into the fray. His goal all along has been to reduce the universe to lifeless entropy by robbing it of its life, its ability to change. Too much order (Sinestro) is essentially equal to too much chaos (Entropy). The Old Guardians represent the right way, the way of Life. Now he's about to seize the Children as they're born.

The Old Guardians show up--thanks to Hal's power--and tip the battle. They snatch the babies from Entropy at the last moment. The GLs turn on him. He's destroyed. All seems well. Deceived GLs are forgiven. The Guardians send the Corps off to do its thing while they tend to the Children who will become the greatest powers in the universe.

But all isn't well with Hal. He fought for the Guardians, because it was right, but he can't go on serving the cosmic manipulators who killed his father. They say they don't do things like that anymore, but it's too late. Hal has his own internal power now, and he's learned that he fights best alone. He won't be manipulated again. He goes off to become the Protector!!"

... AND THATS THE END OF THE PROPOSAL! There are a lot of similarities in the proposed & realized Emerald Twilight: Sinestro, Hal fighting the GL's, Hal taking on a new identity clearing the way for a new fresh Lantern to take over the book.

Jones had this to say about it all in a Fanzing (#39) Interview about his proposed plans:

"Even before Paul, Mike and others said so, (GL Editor) Kevin Dooley and I were talking about using issue 50 to turn everything upside down, bring in a new Green Lantern, give Hal an indefinite break, and get back to basic, exciting stories.

Unfortunately, Denny O'Neil, who was Kevin's boss, and Paul Levitz and Mike Carlin, didn't feel it was big enough to turn around readers' perceptions of what by then had been a lousy comic for about a year. Particularly if the writer stayed the same.

As Denny said to me later, sometimes the market has to see that a complete creative shift is occurring, including the creative team. Which makes total sense, although at the time I was very angry and frustrated. This whole series was my frustration, the series I really wanted to make great but that for four years had never felt like mine, and here I saw a chance to start over and make it good at last, and I just couldn't get there.

What I feel worst about in retrospect is that Kevin was apparently going to bat for me again and again with his bosses, but because he wasn't free to tell me what was going on behind the scenes, and because I was mad at him about other petty crap, I blamed him. I criticized him to his bosses, wrote a nasty fax, really puerile ways to blow off my frustration. I apologized later, and I think everyone understood that I was just a clueless freelancer, 3000 miles away. But it was an ugly finish. I quit so they didn't have to fire me.

Then they had an emergency plotting session, Paul, Mike, Denny, Archie [Goodwin], and Kevin, and they handed that plot to Ron Marz, who was coming up at the time, had worked with [Jim] Starlin, had a cosmic resume going.

First, I hasten to say that "The Protector" was a working title! We were going to do better than that! But yeah, there was going to be a new, younger GL, which I'd originally preferred to doing a Hal who was too burdened by the ball and chain of continuity. Hal would have popped in and out, maybe gotten his own miniseries, and then maybe or maybe not have become a GL again. I had various thoughts about the down-the-road story. But issue 51 would have been the introduction of a new GL, a completely new character, who was still in the vaguest development when it all ended."

SO! What happened next?? DC, in a real pickle here has Jones leave the title, but a huge supposed "Break the Bat"/"Death of Superman" Green Lantern Emerald Twilight story has been solicited. In an emergency situation they turn to Ron Marz, who has this to say:

"I got a call late on a Friday night offering me the book," says Marz of 1993. "I'd actually been down in New York for the day at the Marvel offices. I came home, my wife and I went out for a quick dinner, and then I guess around 9 o'clock the phone rang and it was Kevin Dooley offering me the job. Mike Carlin, Archie Goodwin and Denny O'Neil were in the room, as well as Eddie Berganza, who was Kevin's assistant at the time. I believe Paul Levitz might well have been there too."

"Kevin said he wanted me to take over 'GL' because the book needed a fresh direction I was excited, because I'd always thought Hal was a pretty cool character, and I love that costume. And then the other shoe dropped. Kevin explained what was planned, essentially removing Hal from the book and replacing him with a GL that I would make up. Pretty serious stuff. The real kicker, and I swear to God this is true, is I was wearing a Hal T-shirt when I got the call. It was one of those pocket T-shirts from the Warner Bros. Stores. I still have it."

"Darryl Banks: I was already on the project with another writer then the editors decided to go in a different direction.

Marz: The previous writer had a different storyline in mind for issues #48 through #50, and Darryl actually drew some pages from that issue script.

Banks: I had drawn about five pages or so of the initial project when the changes began.

Marz: I think I have copies of them somewhere.

But ultimately DC editorial decided that story was not what they wanted, and offered me the title.

I assume Darryl and I started talking when he started drawing issue #50. Switching storylines meant that the schedule was behind enough that other artists had to be brought in to draw #48 and #49. That's why each issue of 'Emerald Twilight' has a different artist."

So Ron Marz takes over the books with a plot & we got what was published. Hal Jordan, utterly broken by the destruction of Coast City jarringly tries to remake it in his image with his ring. Stopped by the Guardians & gone mad with grief, he destroys the Corps & becomes Parallax while a new Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner is introduced:

Marz: DC faxed me about a page-and-a-half of notes, just a broad outline of what the three issues were supposed to be. All the details were left to me to fill in.

Killing Kilowog was all me.

I felt like if Hal was going to destroy the Corps, it needed to be personal, we needed to see a known character meet his fate on camera. There's no sense in doing that kind of storyline if it doesn't hurt.

Banks: It's funny you said "heel turn" because Hal did use a few pro wrestling moves in issue #50!

Marz: The last line of the outline that DC gave me was, essentially, "...and a new Green Lantern is created." That was the only direction I was given.

I asked if the new GL could be a woman, and DC said they wanted to keep a male lead.

I asked if the new GL could be an alien, and the answer was he needed to be human.

Other than that, there was no direction.

So we just made up Kyle from the ground floor. I never made a secret that he was very much based on the Everyman archetype that Spider-Man typifies.

I wanted just a regular guy, rather than someone who was already a hero, like Hal, who was a test pilot. If we were going to go in a different direction, let's really go in a different direction. Let's have somebody who has to learn to be a hero. Irish ancestry because that interested me. I picked his first name because of Kyle Reese in The Terminator. I picked Rayner off a list of Irish last names, just because it sounded good with "Kyle." Black hair because Hal had brown hair, and Alan had blond hair. And an artist because Green Lantern is in a lot of ways a special effects book. We wanted someone who was going to make cool stuff with the ring.

Ultimately, Ron Marz makes the DC version of Spider-Man and Magneto in one fell swoop.

Marz: Darryl was the one who came up with the name Parallax, and it's perfect. Hal's view of everything has changed, because of his perspective. For me, Hal was never a villain, he was at worst an antagonist or an anti-hero. I wanted the audience to feel like, 'Well, maybe he has a point here...'

To me, the best villains are the heroes of their own stories. That's why I generally was more attracted to Marvel villains than DC villains. The old rule of thumb was that Marvel villains wanted to rule to the world, DC villains wanted to rob banks.

I saw Hal as Parallax very much in the Magneto mold. He was convinced in the righteousness of his cause, and he was willing to do what was necessary to achieve his goals. He was very much a sympathetic character to me. All-powerful, but broken.

Banks: Parallax wasn't the villain he was perceived to be. Hal Jordan was pushed past his limit. Furious, yes. Evil, no. There was still a nobility about the purpose and one of the reasons I designed him with knight-like armor.

The word 'parallax' essentially deals with a different point of view. It is a literal line of sight term but I thought it was a fitting metaphor for Hal Jordan's transformation. Originally, DC wanted to name him 'The Protector' because they already owned that name. That just didn't fit with where we were going with the character and I had to put in writing why I liked the name Parallax better. Hal's decision to gain more power was actually noble in intent. With the design, I thought of it as an Arthurian 'Green Knight' approach. I like armor anyway!

The response to this was shock. Some people loved the new direction and introduction of Kyle Rayner & Parallax. Others thought it the most disrespectful thing ever done, spawning one of the most polarizing fanbases ever: H.E.A.T. - Hal's Emerald Advancement Team. On newsgroups, Prodigy, GeoCities sites, AOL rooms, CompuServe & all of the other 1994 internet chat rooms of the time, people enraged over this direction came together. These fans together made H.E.A.T. whose mission was: As Green Lantern fans, it is our goal to encourage and advocate the return and exoneration of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, the restoration of the Green Lantern legends, and the revival of the honorable Green Lantern Corps. They harassed DC and the creators, sending death threats & countless awful messages to the writers & editors calling for them to be fired and worse. They were an incessant online troll fanbase. Defenders and members of H.E.A.T. claim they were a charitable group that set up a scholarship in memoriam of Gil Kane and that they also raised money to send John Broome to San Diego Comic Con in 1998 as well as organized many comic donation charities. I tend to believe the creators and fans who have their own personal accounts of how awful and toxic they were than the PR messages of the people in the group. In fact, every time I write about them, some of them STILL come out of the woodwork to "Um, Actually" me and disrespect me. Soooooo, make of them what you will but I think I've painted a pretty clear picture.

For years, they did not die down, they did not quit. In 1997 they took out a full page ad in Wizard Magazine. These people were unhealthily obsessed:

They are infamous for spending more than 5-10 years trying to harass DC & anyone who would listen into reversing this story & putting Hal back on top as a character. They are a clear cut case in what not to do as a comic fan.

In 1997, Will Allred of Quantum Zone interviewed Jack Grimes from H.E.A.T. detailing his efforts to advance Hal. Here's a few interactions from the interview:---

Allred: Now that we know I'm a fanboy, could you give us a little background on how this project got started?

Grimes: Well, I had had the idea for a Hal/Green Lantern Corps advertisement swirling around in my head since the Green Lantern Corps page's "Green Lantern Corps Petition" really started taking off, racking up something like 50 signatures a month. I just didn't have the initiative (nor the time) to investigate. That is, until late August, when friend and fellow Green Lantern fan Harry Philipo publicly suggested taking out an ad to the "regulars" on AOL's DC Online GL message board. When almost a dozen people immediately pledged at least $20, I figured we might actually have a shot at it, and I e-mailed them with my interest in organizing the ad. We did some investigating and found the ad rates for a few industry magazines. Despite the vastly greater cost in Wizard, we decided to make the biggest impact possible and go with the industry's most widely distributed magazine. Kevin Huxford opened communication lines with Wizard, which I then followed. Joe Sturgeon and Harry lent their computer graphics talents in constructing the ad itself, which I chose the image and wrote copy for, while I drummed up support on the Internet from the most publicly adamant fans.

Allred: You've got the ad. What do you hope to accomplish with it?

Grimes: Obviously, we want to see Hal Jordan in a prominent, heroic position again in the DC Universe, and the Green Lantern concept enriched once more with the mythology of the Corps. But at the core of it, it's to send a united message to DC, and all comic companies. A message that says long-time fans are tired of taking a back seat to hot trends and disposable incomes. And a message to fans of Hal and the Corps letting them know that they are not alone.

Allred: Do you think it will work and bring Hal and the Corps back?

Grimes: I don't see why not. We certainly aren't calling for the end of the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern. There's no way we'd wish "Emerald Twilight" on any comic fan, no matter the character. What we would like to see is in everyone's best interest: a bigger, brighter, more successful GREEN LANTERN.

Allred: How do you think those at DC will react?

Grimes: The optimist in me says, "Immediately hire Kurt Busiek." The pessimist in me echoes one comic professional I contacted for contributions (I contacted several, and most sent their best wishes of support, but declined to donate due to conflict of interest), who said that DC might treat the ad as a joke. But I really don't know how DC will respond...if past experience is any indicator, they'll probably shrug it off as the "cries of the loud minority," but this is a unique situation. I truly hope and expect them to take us seriously and at least consider where we are coming from.

Allred: Anything else to add?

Grimes: I'd just like to make it clear to all Kyle Rayner fans that we are not calling for replacement. We're calling for expansion and restoration. And, I'd like to once again thank all those that helped make this ad possible!---

Unhealthily. Obsessed.

Marz had this to say about them in 2020 (Source):

Marz: Certainly the overall lesson was that a relatively small number of people can make a lot of noise. The vast majority of people read a comic, enjoy it, and move on with their lives But a very few people obsess over some aspect. I knew 'Emerald Twilight' was going to be controversial, and upset a segment of fans. But ... yeah, some of them got a little carried away over these made-up people.

I've got a couple of stories. The first one is when I was in Portland, Oregon for a convention, and a guy was pointed out to me as one of the ringleaders of H.E.A.T., a guy who was seriously agitating for me to get fired by DC, and never work in the business again. He kind of loomed at the periphery of my table, and I figured he was never going to approach me. But he finally got up the nerve, stepped up to the table, and announced he was very unhappy with what I had done to Hal Jordan. I told him that it wasn't personal, the story wasn't meant to upset him personally, and that I hoped he had found other comics he liked. He presented me with a laminated H.E.A.T. membership card with my name on it, and a list of demands on the back, one of which was that be fired off the book.

So I politely handed back the card and told him I didn't really want to be a member of an organization that had a goal of making me unemployed. I pointed out to him that he was more concerned with what happened to imaginary people than real people, and he looked kind of baffled at that notion, like he had never considered that before. He assured me it "wasn't personal" ... and then handed me a stack of all of my Green Lantern issues to that point, and asked me to sign them. Which I did.

The other is when, in the midst of all the "Emerald Twilight" controversy, Wizard Magazine invited me and one of the vocal H.E.A.T. guys to come to their Chicago convention and debate the story. I said sure, that seemed like fun. But they couldn't get the other guy to commit to the trip. It was time for Wizard to book plane tickets and hotel rooms, and the guy still wouldn't commit. Finally, they needed an answer, and the guy admitted he couldn't come to Chicago because "my mom won't let me." He was a 16-year-old kid.

Now, personally, I love Emerald Twilight. Do I think its a jarring, sudden story that does irrevocably change a long time beloved character? Yes, very much so. Do I think it deserved H.E.A.T. and the hate? Not at all. I think everyone tried their absolute best to do something bold and new and rare for the Big 2 in turning a longtime hero character into a villain. That Marz was trying to, with respect and purpose after the initial rush job, fashion him in the Magneto mold, with fascinating shades of gray and the potential for an infinite number of great stories is, to me, something to be applauded for. He didn't unceremoniously kill him and constantly disrespect him. We actually got several excellent stories with both Parallax and classic Hal from Marz after this that I think serviced the character with such impressive depth and care in a way he's rarely ever been handled.

In response to fan backlash, Marz had this to say: (source: Emerald Archive: Ron Marz answers every question regarding 'Green Lantern')

"Look, people are going to believe what they want to believe. But if there are actually people out there thinking it was somehow my life's goal to 'destroy' Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern mythos ... please, seek help. I was offered a job. The job had certain parameters. I took the offer and worked within those parameters, and did the best job I could."

"The truth is, if I hadn't written Emerald Twilight, someone else would have, and the story would have been substantially the same. That's by no means an effort to pass the 'blame.' I did write those stories, and if you don't like them, feel free to blame me because, yes, my name is in the credits box."

"I still think 'ET' was a gutsy move by DC at the time. To effect permanent change upon one of your top characters is brave. I liked Hal as a character. I still do. But he'd been badly handled for a number of years prior to my tenure. I can remember picking up the first few issues of what was then the new GL series, and coming away just not caring because Hal seemed like a wuss wandering the country searching for … whatever. This was a fearless test pilot?"

"So the thinking at the time was that something drastic was needed, something that would attract a lot of attention back to what had become a moribund franchise. That much worked. When I agreed to take the book, issues #48, #49 and #50 were all due."

"The book was late, the planned issues had been pulled, and things had to get moving right now. So I wrote my first three issues at the same time. That's why there were three different artists on them. I remember writing part of issue #48 between sets at a Peter Gabriel concert. I found a quiet place where I could steal a few minutes to write."

"The deadlines were that tight. I would have loved to write 'ET' over six issues. I think that's about the length that would have been necessary to really make Hal's descent believable and tragic. So what we ended up doing was a bit rushed because of circumstances, and I regret that. But if I'd had six issues, the events would have been generally the same. I just would have had more room for the character stuff. Sometimes you just have to play the cards you're dealt."

"I had a few pages of notes from editorial, dictating the broad strokes of what needed to happen: Hal goes nuts, wipes out the Corps, kills Sinestro and blows up the Central Battery and the Guardians. The details were up to me."

"I decided to have Hal kill Kilowog on camera, because I felt we needed to feel the loss of a more known character to make this thing have some weight. I decided that Ganthet would be the one Guardian to survive, since he'd had some previous exposure."

"I've never given much thought to what I would have done differently, because that wasn't a possibility at the time. As I said, though, more pages to tell the story would have been great. I had the most freedom to develop the new Green Lantern. DC just let me make up Kyle from scratch. The name, the look, the background, everything. I'm really thankful for as much leash as I had."

"I guess I saw Hal as a classic character who had turned into a dull character that not many readers cared about. Very often it's not the character itself, it's the portrayal. And once readers become bored with a portrayal, it's very hard to get them to come back. 'ET' certainly jump-started interest in GL, so from that viewpoint, it was a success."

"As to whether it was necessary, apparently sales were sliding enough that something drastic was needed. Having read what was originally written and drawn for issues #48-#50, I can say that those issues would not have stoked interest in the series, because those issues were more of the same. That's not a qualitative judgment. I'm just saying that the material wasn't exciting enough to attract new readers."

So there we have it. All the behind the scenes drama and info surrounding Emerald Twilight & the huge change to Hal Jordan as a character by DC Comics.

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bellacullenvamp · 6 months

Text

Red Moon

The Cullens have a new family member.

☆☆☆Y/n is a 2 years old newborn. She was transformed at age 15 and her heart regrets it every single day.☆☆☆

Fanfic | Au! | Angst | Rated G | For all ages

Masterlist

Chapter one.

Panic attack. I'm having a panic attack.

My heart is racing. I feel like I'm going to die, nothing helps and my mind is dizzy.

Then black... Everything is black.

I don't remember much from my life before that... Just my name, my age, and where I was born. And that's it, the rest was taken away from me, thanks to Carlisle Cullen, of course.

Now all I have within me is a deep, dark need for blood. A thirst that doesn't leave me even when I'm full, for the Cullens that's regular, just another day under the sun, or better, under the clouds of Forks-Washington...

I miss São Paulo, I miss Brazil, but now for me, it's an impossible dream to return home...

"Why are you so loud?!" Asked Edward Cullen to his brother Emmet. That's a silly question, considering they are together and have known each other for several decades.

"Shut it Ed!" Answered him. They for sure love it each other, that's something with the Cullens. They adorable love for their family.

"Y/n? Darling don't you wanna come with us? I'm sure it's going to be better hunting with family!" Esme says in a really sweet tone, she is one of the few vampires in this family that I care about the most, it's truly not her fault what all of us have become.

I just shake my head, Edward looks at me from across the room, as he reads my mind, a concerned look stamps his face. Bella, his wife, doesn't need the same powers to read his mind, so she comes closer and holds his hand. This type of love is also admirable, but that's not for me, not anymore.

Emmet, Bella, Edward, and Esme are going hunting, a sweet bloody family culture. The Cullens don't hunt humans, and Carlisle made me aware of the fact that only a few vampires practice "vegetarianism" as he kindly mocked. He gave me a huge class right after my first time drinking blood, teaching me the old history of vampires. To my real disappointment, vampires are real, werewolves are real, and my eternity is also real.

When he told me all of these facts with the most straight face ever, all I could think of was about my thirst. That cup of blood looked like the most perfect meal of all time. It looked like all I needed, but at the same time, something was missing. As this thought passed through my mind he said " I am giving you this blood in a cup for now, you are just transformed. It would be a catastrophic event for all of us if you hunted right now...

The blood calms me down a little, the need to be fed is like being insane and receiving medication. The amount is just right to calm you down.

From that moment a huge resentment towards Carlisle crossed my heart. He's sweet, he's kind, but he transformed me into a monster. Carlisle said I was dying from cancer, and that's why he transformed me, but there are so many people dying from cancer right now, why didn't he let me die? That's why I don't believe him, and I don't want to trust him. I see his kind heart but I don't want to let that cloud my judgment. There is not right reason for him to transform me, and someday I will know why.

School preparation is challenging, especially when you are only a 2-year-old vampire. When I was transformed, I was 15, and from now on I will be 15 forever... and my school preparation? It's hunting, and drinking blood till you're so full it makes you sleepy, as if a vampire could feel sleepy! Jokes aside, I prefer to hunt alone, unfortunately, they don't let me, for sure they think I'm going to run towards Canada and disappear, not that I haven't tried before...

Anyways, Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, and Carlisle are going to be my dinner companionship. I like Jasper and Rosalie the most, they understand me. Of course Jasper not only understands me but he calms me down, I'm thankful for his powers. And Rosalie shares my hate towards being a vampire, she doesn't hate as much now, but she remembers what is like to be a teen and a newborn.

"So, how do you feel about finally going to school again?" Rosalie asked me, on our way back to their home.

" Ready to slit some necks!" I said sarcastically.

"Ha-ha," Jasper answered in the same tone.

" I'm ready guys." I started with a happy face. " I am truly happy about feeling normal again... of course all of them are going to ask me about you guys... but I'm ready" Forks people are sure the Cullens are studying in some university... at last that what's their age should be about, college and new life.

However there is nothing new in becoming a vampire, the hiding life is a predictable life for sure, of course, they didn't count on me being a new family member. I made them forward their plans to move to Scotland, the Cullens would still use their name and have the same personas, but in Scotland, how fun!

But now that I am part of the family, in their view, not mine, Forks still is in good use.

Tomorrow is going to be my first day in school. I did not lie about being happy. I am hopeful about making friends for the first time.

Carlisle spent the whole time quiet. He tries his best not to speak when I am near, I think he does that so I can socialize better with my "brothers".

At the mansion door, Bella was awaiting.

As I came near she smiled and said, "Please, y/n come to my home with me, I really want to help you with your preparations" Bella is usually quiet, actually one of the quiet Cullens. Alice appeared and walked with us towards Bella's small home in the woods. Alice is always speaking, she does love talking, and she loves talking to me apparently? I think she does not care for my gothic mood.

At Bella's home, she sat me in her bedroom and showed me some shopping bags. " That's on Alice I swear!" Bella claimed with a shy smile. Alice smiled and clapped while saying. " I know how much you have been listening to Avril Lavigne, so I decided to buy you all these gifts, brand new clothes inspired by Avril... Did you like it ?"

" Bella... Alice... Thank you so much..." I felt like dying. I am not used to being loved like this, so all I could do was be grateful. Happily, they understood me better than myself apparently, so all they did was show a caring smile.

My bedroom used to be Edward's bedroom. It had a wonderful view of the forest. I loved looking there and daydreaming...

Esme decorated it in the best way a teen would have dreamed of, all of the 2010's trends could be found there. They did their best to make me feel loved and included with their gifts. And for that I was grateful. However, my heart still was in pieces because of my mysterious past of mine, of course, because of my eternal fate.

My days were basically like this, feeding myself, being thankful for my said "brothers", hiding in my bedroom, and talking to Reneesme. Renes, as I call her, is my best friend, although she doesn't understand my heart's sadness because she was born half-vampire, she is fond of my pain and for me, that's more than enough.

Renes is smart and beautiful. Her IQ is bigger than any 15-year-old, and yet she is going to school with me.

" I think Avril's new song is awesome!" She said while flipping her teen magazine. Renes has an obsession with celebrities, I think it makes her feel more on her human side.

"It is," I said calmly, she is the only one deserving of my caring words in this home.

" Do you think I'm going to be able to resist the smell, Renes?" I said whispering.

"What smell? Oh! Hmm, y/n you've been trying for 2 years to resist... I feel safe near you and everyone else will feel too. " She reassured me. Renes yawned and went back to her home. I stayed with jealousy in my mind wanting to have a good night of sleep for tomorrow.

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