#craig hamilton

[browsethestacks]

Nightcrawler

Art by Craig Hamilton

[kryptonbabe]

From Marvel Fanfare #40 (1988) by Craig Hamilton

[ungoliantschilde]

some Craig Hamilton artwork.

[bobbole]

The Sandman - art by Craig Hamilton

[writing-for-life]

Dream—Craig Hamilton

Oh Craig… 🙈🤣

[artphotographyofmen]

Green Lantern by Craig Hamilton

[paperheartsbleedink]

Nightcrawler

Art by Craig Hamilton

[sandmandaddy69]

Craig Hamilton

[greenlantern94to04]

Green Lantern #55 (September 1994)

Zero Hour is here, and so is Green Lantern! A different, much older Green Lantern, despite him looking about as young and buff as Kyle (we're in the '90s DCU, where even graphic designers and aging businesspeople have six packs). But first: the conclusion of Kyle Rayner's fight with Major Force, the nuclear-powered government agent who murdered Kyle's girlfriend Alex last issue. When we left them, Kyle's power ring had just flaked on the "power" part and the fight was going predictably poorly for him.

Before killing Kyle, though, Major Force asks him to clear something up: what the hell is that green rock his bosses found in the alley where Kyle got his ring in GL #50? Kyle, of course, has no clue -- but when his ring gets close to the rock, it causes it to morph into a sort of lantern. A green lantern. Suddenly, the ring has power again and Kyle quickly turns the tables on MF.

When MF makes it clear that no amount of green torture will make him rat out his bosses, Kyle is like "okay fine, I'll just kill you then." He seems willing to do it, too, but then some cops show up to arrest MF and they end up saving his life. Naturally, they also have some questions for Kyle about that body they found stuff in a nearby fridge, but Kyle wants to be alone right now and just flies away.

Poor Kyle doesn't even get a minute to mourn Alex before noticing that some dude in a green cape broke into his apartment and is just standing in his living room. Understandably, Kyle is no mood to deal with that nonsense right now.

Kyle produces a Cable-from-the-X-Men-sized gun and threatens the home invader. However, the guy turns out to have a power ring of his own and is much better at using it than Kyle, based on the fact that Kyle ends up pinned to the wall by a giant skeleton hand within like a second. Once Kyle has agreed to hear him out (not like he had much choice at the moment), the man introduces himself as Alan Scott and says he's also Green Lantern. Or was, anyway.

This whole "multiple Green Lanterns" thing is confusing to Kyle, so Alan tells him about the Green Lantern Corps, Hal Jordan, and how Hal Jordan went crazy and destroyed the Green Lantern Corps. He even projects some cool splash pages with his ring, maybe because he knows visual aids are appreciated when you have ADHD like Kyle.

(I like how Alan projected that image of himself tied up and looking like that, which I don't remember from that issue.)

Alan says he's here because he knows he'll eventually have to go up against Hal again (his first attempt wasn't too successful, as seen above) and he thinks Kyle, as the last of the Green Lantern Corps, should be there to help. Kyle was just saying he didn't even want to be GL anymore after he failed to prevent his girlfriend's death, but then he remembers how Alex was always trying to get him to be more responsible. After Alan has left and Kyle finally gets some time alone, he decides to continue Green Lanterning, as scared and out-of-his-depth as he is, because that's what Alex would want him to do now that he has that power ring. In other words: with great power rings there must come great responsibility (rings).

Just then, Kyle runs into his new pal Superman and a guy in a floating hi-tech chair, Metron, who say they need his help. Despite being so depressed, Kyle is still polite enough to compliment Metron's "cool chair." Anyway: IT'S ZERO HOUR TIME, BABY!

Plotline-Watch:

That "cool chair" scene continues in Zero Hour #4 (the first issue), in which we find out why Superman and Metron came to see Kyle: they need him to act as cameraman, basically, and project an image of Superman that Metron can redirect to "all of Earth's heroes" to ask for their help with the Crisis™ that's been causing all the time-related weirdness we've seen lately (like the futuristic city in last issue, the Nazi dinosaurs in Guy Gardner: Warrior, and all the Batmen in Superman: The Man of Steel #37). That green Superman projection would show up in several other DC titles from this month. So that was Kyle Rayner's first great contribution to the DC Universe: helping Superman butt into other comics.

Incidentally, Zero Hour's Dan Jurgens really nailed Kyle's crabface mask. Not all artists from this era did, as we'll see.

The cops who interrupt Kyle say they're from the Los Angeles Special Crimes Unit. I guess the one in Metropolis was so successful that they started franchising? We'd already seen Washington SCU in the Hawk & Dove series. I hope they're paying Maggie Sawyer some royalties.

Would Kyle have killed Major Force if the cops hadn't stopped him? We'll find out when there's a whole-ass crossover storyline devoted to answering that question ("Capital Punishment").

The reason why Alan Scott looks so spry for a World War II vet was revealed in Ron Marz' Green Lantern Corps Quarterly stories starring the character. Those stories also mentioned the title of "Sentinel," but Alan hasn't adopted that name yet, even though he says in this issue that he isn't currently calling himself Green Lantern either. So I guess he's just "Alan Scott" right now.

The DC Wiki claims that Alexander Luthor from Crisis on Infinite Earths appears in this issue, which doesn't sound that far-fetched since it's a Crisis-related crossover with cameos from like 50 characters (in Alan's flashback), but nope, he's not there. How did they get that impression? I think I know: it's Guy Gardner's fault (and his short-lived yellow armor's that kinda looks like Alex's).

So, to recap, in this issue Kyle: 1) defeats the guy who murdered his girlfriend hours earlier, 2) finds his GL battery and quickly learns how to use it, 3) learns about the GL Corps and the whole mess with Hal Jordan, 4) selflessly decides to continue being Green Lantern despite his original motivation (getting back together with Alex) no longer being applicable, and 5) immediately gets involved in a cosmic crisis. Pretty big day for Kyle! Let's hope he gets some time off after this.

NEXT: Kyle vs. Hal!

[about-faces]

“… and all because of that damn coin!”

From The Spectre #5 (2001), by JM DeMatteis and Craig Hamilton

[browsethestacks]

Kitty Pride And Lockheed

Art by Craig Hamilton

[kryptonbabe]

"With each step, each flash of darkness... I switch shape, color, gender, style. I'm quicksilver. Totally different from one heartbeat to the next. Impossible to hold" – Mystique

From Marvel Fanfare #40 (1988) by Chris Claremont & Craig Hamilton

[spaceshiprocket]

Cloak & Dagger by Craig Hamilton

[pat1dee]

Adam Warlock from the “Marvel Comics Limited Edition Print Series”

Art by Craig Hamilton

[writing-for-life]

Dream and Bast—Craig Hamilton

I still think they should have hooked up. They definitely had chemistry, and to see Morpheus, who is always so dead-pan, slightly flustered by her flirtatiousness still cracks me up. To this very day, I’m wondering what would have happened if she’d answered, “Yes,” to, “You’d ask that of me?” Maybe that was giving her a way in, and the silly cat didn’t take it 🤣

They should have gotten it out of their system if you ask me…

On a completely unrelated note: That darned free-floating ruby is back…

[crisisofinfinitemultiverses]

Aquaman House Ad (1986) by Craig Hamilton