Emerald Knights

Infobox comics story arc
title=Emerald Knights


caption=
publisher=DC Comics
date=June, 1998 – October, 1998
titles= "Green Lantern" Vol. 3 #99-106
"Green Arrow" Vol. 2 #136
main_char_team=Kyle Rayner; Hal Jordan
writers=Ron Marz; Kevin Dooley
artists=Jeff Johnson
pencillers=Darryl Banks
inkers=Terry Austin; Bob Wiacek
letterers=Chris Eliopoulos
colorists=Rob Schwager
TPB=Volume (hardcover)
ISBN= 1563894750

"Emerald Knights" is a 6-part story that was originally published in "Green Lantern" vol. 3, issues #101-106. A graphic novel of the story was created, which included the last pages of issue 99 and issue #100, as well as "Green Arrow" vol. 2, #136. It is the story of Kyle Rayner teaming up with a pre-Parallax Hal Jordan.

This story was later collected by DC Comics in 1998 as the trade paperback "Green Lantern: Emerald Knights" (ISBN 1563894750).

Background

Kyle had been battling his sometime nemesis Grayven when he fell into a time-warp and wound up in the 30th Century, where he met the Legion of Super-Heroes. When asking to get back, the 30th Century Brainiac put Kyle in a time-machine, intending to send Kyle back to his regular time. However, Kyle wound up being transported 10 years further back, to a time when Hal Jordan, many years before he became Parallax, was battling Sinestro (set during "Green Lantern" vol. 2, #9). Kyle helped Hal defeat Sinestro, and Kyle and Hal both wound up being transported back to Kyle's own time.

tory

The main thrust of the story deals with a much younger Hal having to come to grips with the new reality he's in; specifically, the fact that he's (at that time) one of the most reviled villains, and that his friend Ollie Queen is dead. The other heroes are also unnerved at seeing their comrade back in prime condition and without any of the taint of the villainy his future self did. Kyle, for his part, mixes feelings of awe - at being teamed with 'the greatest Green Lantern' - and self-pity, as he now feels that he's being pushed out of the limelight.

Hal winds up having some solo adventures in Kyle's time, including fighting Kalibak, another of Darkseid's sons, and Vince Hardy, an old acquaintance who Hal knew during his fighter-pilot days. Vince had fought against Hal for control of a fighter jet, which Vince intended to sell to arms dealers, but Hal fought him off and crashed the fighter jet, which resulted in him being discharged due to the need for a scrapegoat. Vince now intends to send a plane to Seattle with a bomb supplied by The Eden Corps, a group of radical environmentalists who had killed Ollie. Teamed up with the current Green Arrow, Connor Hawke- although he is shocked to learn of Connor's connection to Oliver-, Hal first loses his ring to Vince, but eventually gets it back and saves the day with Connor's help.

The last two issues deal with Kyle vs. Hal vs. Hal. Parallax (before the events of "Zero Hour" #0), was jumping through space-time when he notices a disturbance and investigated. Sensing his past self in a time when he shouldn't have been there, Parallax intends to send Hal back to his proper time. Kyle fought against Parallax, but is unable to stop Parallax and Hal from squaring off against each other. After Parallax and Hal fight each other to a standstill- even travelling all the way back to Coast City mere seconds before it was destroyed as Parallax attempts to win Hal over-, Kyle intervenes yet again. Kyle explained that both men had to go back to their proper places in time - and what's more, they had to have no knowledge of these experiences. Hal refuses to go back if it meant that he would turn into Parallax, but Kyle explained that Hal had to go back - and Parallax had to go back, despite the fact that he would be defeated - because Parallax was needed to stop the Sun-Eater during The Final Night.

Acknowledging that he is proud have him carry on the Green Lantern tradition, Hal hugged Kyle, whispering to him "You'll know what to do with it", before all three joined forces: Parallax would be responsible for returning everyone to their proper place in time, Hal's ring would wipe his and Parallax's minds of this story, and Kyle's ring acted to boost their power. With both Hal and Parallax back in their proper time - Hal having defeated Sinestro on his own and Parallax revealing himself as the main villain behind Zero Hour - Kyle reflects on his time with Jen, his girlfriend... before revealing that Hal gave Kyle a copy of his Green Lantern ring.

Title

The title is in keeping with some of the major storylines that have been told in dealing with Parallax, including "Emerald Twilight" (Hal going insane at losing Coast City and eventually becoming Parallax) and "Emerald Fallout" (Guy Gardner, in possession of a yellow power ring, fights with Hal, but winds up losing his power when his ring's charge fades - Guy needed to recharge from a Green Lantern power source).

Note

Given that it has been established that the yellow impurity was caused by Parallax's presence in the Green Lantern power battery, it is unclear why Kyle's ring retained its immunity to yellow after recharging from the past battery. However, it may be that the rings required repeated recharging from the battery before Parallax could exert enough influence over the rings to render them vulnerable to yellow in its currently dormant state, thus explaining why Hal was able to use Kyle's ring without worrying about the yellow weakness.