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| "Circle of Fire" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Cover ofGreen Lantern: Circle of Fire #1 (October 2000). Art byCary Nord andMark Lipka. | |||
| Publisher | DC Comics | ||
| Publication date | October 2000 | ||
| Genre | |||
| |||
| Main character(s) | Kyle Rayner Adam Strange Atom (Ray Palmer) Firestorm Power Girl | ||
| Creative team | |||
| Writer(s) | Brian K. Vaughan Jay Faerber Judd Winick Scott Beatty | ||
| Penciller(s) | Norm Breyfogle Randy Greene Trevor McCarthy Cary Nord Ron Randall Robert Teranishi Pete Woods | ||
| Inker(s) | Keith Aiken Steve Bird Dan Davis Wayne Faucher Ray Kryssing Mark Lipka John Lowe Tyson McAdoo John Nyberg Andrew Pepoy Claude St. Aubin John Stanisci | ||
| Circle of Fire | ISBN 1-56389-806-3 | ||
"Circle of Fire" is astory arc that ran through a two-issue, self-titledcomic bookminiseries and fiveone-shot comics starringGreen Lantern (Kyle Rayner) that was published byDC Comics in October 2000.
It consists of two bookend issues, titledGreen Lantern: Circle of Fire, and five issues in between in each of which a brand newGreen Lantern Corps member pairs up with an established DCsuperhero. These other heroes includePower Girl,Adam Strange,Firestorm, theAtom, and Kyle. The bookend issues and two of the team-up issues were written byBrian K. Vaughan.Scott Beatty,Jay Faerber, andJudd Winick also contributed towards writing issues, while the team of artists included Keith Aiken, Steve Bird,Norm Breyfogle, Dan Davis,Wayne Faucher, Randy Greene, Ray Kryssing,Mark Lipka, John Lowe, Tyson McAdoo,Trevor McCarthy,Cary Nord, John Nyberg,Andrew Pepoy,Ron Randall, Claude St. Aubin, John Stanisci, Robert Teranishi, andPete Woods.
Two issues ofImpulse, #68-69, follow as the aftermath of the story, written byTodd Dezago with art byEric Battle.
The story opens with Adam Strange witnessing the entire planetRann lapse into madness due to an attack by the cosmic entity Oblivion. As Strange tries to defend the planet, he is unwillingly transported to Earth, where he gets help from Firestorm and the Atom in alerting theJLA of Oblivion's approach. When Strange debriefs the JLA about the encounter, Kyle Rayner is shocked to hear the description of Oblivion, because it matches the description of asupervillain Kyle had created as a child for a story he made during his period of struggling his fear and anger of growing up without a father. The JLA engages Oblivion, who can create cosmic events such asblack holes anddwarf stars. They are quickly overpowered, so Kyle retreats to gather other heroes to help him.
After a warning from theSpectre that someone close to Kyle would betray him, the Green Lantern asks for assistance fromOracle, who sends over Power Girl. Just as she arrives to help, six new Green Lanterns appear, each claiming to be the sole protector of Earth in a different time or universe. They are:
Kyle splits the group of heroes up to go investigate Oblivion's arrival and rescue the captured JLA, pairing Power Girl with the Emerald Knight, Firestorm with G.L.7177.6, Green Lightning with Adam Strange, and the Atom with the Teen Lanterns. He chooses Alex to be his partner to go and hunt down Oblivion and stop him.
InGreen Lantern and the Atom, the Atom and the Teen Lanterns try to figure out who created Oblivion, narrowing down the field to four suspects: theScarecrow,Doctor Psycho,Professor Ivo, andDoctor Light, all of whom have no idea who Oblivion is. Back at Kyle's apartment, they find a sketch of a character, Sir Nobleman, who resembles the Emerald Knight in a notebook from Kyle's childhood, suggesting that Oblivion and Pel Tavin were created together.
InGreen Lantern and Power Girl, the Emerald Knight and Power Girl locate the JLA on a distant planet, only to find them encapsulated in a yellow crystal. After being unable to break them free, Power Girl realizes that they are not in danger, but rather are being kept safe inside.
InGreen Lantern and Adam Strange, Green Lightning and Adam Strange return to Rann only to find it in ruins, not from Oblivion's work, but from the population's madness. They discover the source of the hysteria is a giant green lantern broadcasting a signal that only Rannians can pick up. They conclude a Green Lantern must have constructed the beacon.
InGreen Lantern and Firestorm the Nuclear Man, unsure if it even exists, G.L.7177.6 and Firestorm search for the "Omega Option", the only thing capable of stopping Oblivion in Kyle's childhood comics. As they travel through space, they encounterMartin Stein, a fire elemental who was one half of the original Firestorm. They eventually discover that the weapon does not exist.
In the last team-up book,Green Lantern and Green Lantern, Kyle and Alex deal with their conflicting emotions over each seeing their long-dead partner as they track down Oblivion. During this, Kyle finds himself mysteriously weakening. They finally find Oblivion on the ruins ofOa, so they call everyone to rendezvous.
As the backup arrives team-by-team, the friends fill each other in on what each team had discovered. Piecing together the clues, Kyle concludes that Pel Tavin must be the traitor that the Spectre warned about. Before the Emerald Knight and Power Girl return, however, Oblivion attacks the heroes, killing Forest. As the Atom and Hunter are about to face the same fate, the missing duo swoops in to save them. Realizing that Pel Tavin was not Oblivion after all, Kyle charges towards the supervillain, only to be transported into his own subconscious. There, he learns that Oblivion was created using the power of the ring and the negative emotions Kyle bottled up after Alex's death and that the new Green Lanterns are equally imagined, each representing a positive aspect of Kyle's subconscious; Alex is an embodiment of Kyle's capability for love, while Tavin represents his courage, Ali represents hope, G.L.7177.6 represents logic, and Hunter and Forest represent imagination.[3][4][2]
Kyle also realizes that his current weakening state is because of subconsciously sustaining the Circle of Fire's existences with his willpower, and he eventually would die if they are not returned to him. The heroes agree and Kyle absorbs each of them to gain enough power to fight Oblivion, even Alex herself after she and Kyle bid their tearful farewells. Oblivion threatens to destroy everything Kyle loves, starting withNew York City, unless Kyle lets Oblivion take over his mind and therefore the power ring. Kyle threatens suicide to stop Oblivion, but Oblivion reminds Kyle that the JLA would be lost forever. Instead, Kyle lets Oblivion into his mind, where he is overwhelmed by Kyle's positivity.
Having rescued the JLA and stopped Oblivion, Kyle tenders his resignation.Superman,Wonder Woman andBatman on the other hand interpret this to be a sign of maturity and responsibility and refuse to accept his resignation.[4] The Spectre, who is hidden, watches this meeting and is deeply proud of his successor. Following the meeting, Kyle is eager to look forward into the future.
The story was followed by two issues ofImpulse #68-69, serving as anepilogue. After the battle with Oblivion, Adam Strange misses his Zeta Beam due toImpulse shoving him out of the way (the speedster winds up being teleported to Rann himself) when it appears that Strange is about to be struck by lightning. This situation forces Strange to seek the Justice League's aid, to which Kyle Rayner responds and takes the adventurer back to Rann. Along the way, the two try to rebuild their trust toward each other as well as repairing the damages made by Oblivion and the impetuous young speedster on the planet.
This miniseries paves the way for theGreen Lantern: Power of Ion storyline, in both plot and theme. Here, Kyle denies the temptation ofomnipotence for altruistic reasons. InPower of Ion, Kyle is again faced with all the energy from Oblivion, becoming godlike in nature, only to give it all up.
The miniseries also deals with evolving the character of Kyle from a perennial rookie to a responsible, powerful hero in the eyes of his colleagues.
An element of the story was briefly explored onTales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Parallax as Kyle once again gives into the fear and anger after the death of his mother, which this time leads to him being possessed by the fear entityParallax instead of the return of his darker persona Oblivion. Parallax plays the same role as Oblivion with Kyle as he tortures Kyle with his own fear and doubt to continuously break his will. Kyle's childhood home has appeared once again sinceCircle of Fire during a battle with Parallax inside Kyle's mind.
Epilogue:
