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WHO COUNTS IN COUNTDOWN? – Episode #46 by Bruce MacIntosh Every week, DC’s new year-long series Countdown, introduces characters who may be unfamiliar to some readers. Fear not! The Pulse is here to shed some light on the background on these characters, so that you never have to feel lost with the series. This week, we’ll look at the history and background of Catwoman’s Holly Robinson and Kyle Rayner, who the Monitors describe as an “virus” in the Multiverse who must be “destroyed”! Why?
KYLE RAYNOR (ION) As we have learned in the first half-dozen issues of Countdown, the mission of at least one of the Monitors is to clean up some of the “anomalies” caused in the wake of the several Crises. Along with Donna Troy – whose history we examined last week in WCIC? Episode #47 – one of those with a big target on their backs is Kyle Rayner (Ion) - a major player in the DC Universe.
Kyle Rayner’s origin is comparatively recent, therefore his origin story has stayed consistent since he first appearance in 1994. In a storyline that many fans of the Silver Age Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) deem inconsistent with his character, he went on a rampage after the destruction of his home town, Coast City. He killed the entire complement of the galaxy-protecting Green Lantern Corps of which he was a member, as well as most of the group who ran that show, the Guardians of the Universe.
Ganthet, the last surviving Guardian found Kyle Rayner and bestowed upon him the last Green Lantern power ring – a device that could create powerful energy constructs from the sheer will and imagination of its wearer. Since Rayner was a comic book artist, the constructs that he created (intentionally and otherwise) were often his own comic characters, futuristic weapons and other superheroes.
Although he was still green (get it?), he joined the (Teen) Titans right out of the gate, just long enough to date Donna Troy for a while and pad his resume before moving up to the Big Leagues. Since he was now the last remaining Green Lantern, he was accepted into the Justice League America during its last year in existence, and was a charter member of the JLA, the team’s next incarnation (1997).
Although he was the last Green Lantern, Hal Jordan was still around in his new identity as the superpowered villain, Parallax. Turns out that – for reasons we’ll touch on later – Hal/Parallax is really a good guy after all. In the story The Final Night (Nov 1996), he sacrifices himself to defeat the cosmic bad-guy the Sun-Eater and re-ignite our Sun. (He later returns as “God’s Spirit of Vengeance”, the Spectre. Yeah – it got pretty convoluted there for a while. Believe it or not, recent events – includingCountdown – have made things simpler and more enjoyable to read.) As a result of Hal Jordan’s sacrifice, there was a lot of leftover energy floating around, and Kyle Rayner got to absorb it all.
Next, in the 5-week event called Green Lantern: Circle of Fire, Kyle was sent back to Earth to recruit reinforcements for the Justice League, which was battling a cosmic baddie called Oblivion. Kyle discovers six new Green Lanterns on Earth, so they and other established heroes all split off into teams to defeat Oblivion. Eventually, they all discover that they are created from Kyle’s own imagination, and return to merge with him. Each merger makes Kyle more powerful as it unlocks Green Lantern power and potential he had never accessed.
He learned that the villain Oblivion was also created from his own imagination (although he was a very real threat), as the dark embodiment of Kyle’s doubts and fears. With the extra power unlocked from his potential and the help of the other (real) heroes, Kyle is able to defeat Oblivion, and also merge and unlock that power within himself.
With the energy augmented from Oblivion added to the leftover energy he absorbed from Hal Jordan’s thrust into the sun in The Last Night adventure, Kyle was now as powerful as a god. Now calling himself Ion, he was able to alter space and time, and avert major disasters and solve problems in many places at once. As he was unable to sleep and handle the overwhelming responsibility, he chose to relinquish this near-omnipotence to save his own humanity.
He bled off his energy to recharge the great power battery - a big, green lantern on the Guardians home planet at the center of the Universe, Oa. The battery – which had been the power source for all the Green Lanterns - had been depleted when Hal Jordan had destroyed the Lantern Corps years earlier. With a renewed power source, Rayner also helped to establish a new Corps and replenish their ranks.
Kyle didn’t give up all the perks of his enhanced abilities, as he made some modifications to his ring’s powers before he was done. He removed the limitations that troubled Hal Jordan and all other members of the Corps, such as a vulnerability to the color yellow and a time-limit that depleted his power if not recharged every 24 hours. He also keyed his ring to work only for him, and automatically return to Kyle if ever separated.
After the near death of his friend Terry Berg, Kyle went on a sabbatical in space, appointing a former GL, John Stewart as the protector of Earth and his replacement in the Justice League. Upon returning, he learned that his green girlfriend Jade (daughter of the Alan Scott – Golden Age – Green Lantern) was living with someone else – in Kyle’s own apartment. He did what any of us would do in that situation, and went to live with his mother and get his head together.
In events that took place immediately prior to Infinite Crisis (2005), Kyle was tricked into believing the villain Major Force had killed his mother. Knowing that the only way to defeat the nearly-immortal Force was to decapitate him, Rayner lopped off the villain’s head and shot it into space. Believing himself to be a danger to others, Kyle went into another self-imposed exile in space.
While there, he recovered Hal Jordan’s corpse and the truth about his time as the cosmic supervillain, Parallax: It turns out that Jordan had actually been possessed by the demonic parasite that had been imprisoned for billions of years in the Corp’s main power source (the big green lantern) on the planet Oa. Parallax’s presence in the battery was the cause of the “impurity” that made all Green Lantern rings ineffective against the color yellow.
Influenced by Jordan’s arch-nemesis Sinestro, who had also been imprisoned in the battery, Parallax had previously been able to reach out and influence Jordan’s mind into doing all sorts of terrible things, including destroying the Parallax’s prison and freeing him. After a fierce battle involving Kyle Rayner, the Spectre, some other guest-Green Lanterns, Parallax was defeated and Hal Jordan’s soul was reunited with his body, which had been preserved by the one living Guardian, Ganthet, for just such an occasion.
Since he had been instrumental in the defeat of Parallax and Sinestro, and in the “rebirth” and return of the venerated Hal Jordan, Kyle was essentially given a “pass” for killing Major Force. He was restored to the Green Lantern Corps and deemed their “torch-bearer” by the Guardians.
As mentioned last week in WCIC? #47, Donna Troy recruited several heroes to deal with the space-based threats in Infinite Crisis. Among those was the aforementioned Jade, who died in the Rann-Thanagar Infinite Crisis Special, trying to prevent Alexander Luthor, Jr., from tearing the universe into a Multiverse. The last of her Green Lantern-type powers were transferred to Kyle Rayner, who becomes Ion once again.
The series of events that followed in the recently-concluded 12-issue Ion: Guardian of the Universe series (2006-2007) are truly too complicated to cover here. But here is a brief summary of some of the events that involve the Monitors and “count” in Countdown:
After he is “framed” for an attack on some starships and Green Lantern members, Kyle clears his name. Back on Oa, the Guardians come to the realization that since he has absorbed all these other powers Kyle is easily the most powerful GL. The give him dispensation from going on the usual patrols and declare that they will only call on him when the crisis is so massive or powerful that the regular Corps members are unable to handle it.
Back on Earth, Kyle is confronted by a Monitor who tells him that he should be dead. He is also being tracked by other enemies, who when defeated and captured have had their minds wiped about why they are battling Ion or who has sent them. In a subsequent issue that takes place in space, Rayner is confronted by another Monitor but spared from destruction.
In the events of Infinite Crisis (preceding the above Ion stories) Alexander Luthor, Jr., revealed to Kyle that had the original Multiverse continued to exist, he would have been from Earth-8. Now that the Multiverse has been “restored” to 52 separate universes, we can presume that Kyle’s Earth-8 roots apply again. Since he is puttering around in the Earth-Prime (DC-proper) Universe, this is what has gotten the Monitors’ dander up. Clearly, this has caused some of those Monitors to declare that he is an “anomaly” or “virus” that must be eliminated, similar to Duela Dent’s fate in Countdown #51.
Rayner will certainly need to watch his back in the near future.
Kyle Rayner Chronology
As Green Lantern Green Lantern Vol. 3 #48 – 145 (1994 – 2002) New Titans #116 - #130 (1994 – 1997) Justice League America #107 - #113 (1996) JLA #1 – (1997 – 2005) As Ion Green Lantern Vol. 3 #146 – 150 (2002) As Green Lantern (again) Green Lantern Vol. 3 #151 – 181 (2002 - 2004) Green Lantern: Rebirth #1 – 6 (2004 - 2005) Rann-Thanagar War #1 – 6 (2005) Green Lantern: Rebirth #1 – 5 (2005 - 2006) As Ion (again) Ion: Guardian of the Universe #1 – 12 (2006 – 2007)
HOLLY ROBINSON (CATWOMAN)
Another character who has played a big part in the Catwoman series and was introduced in Countdown #47 is Holly Robinson. Before this series began, DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio promised she would play an integral role, so now is a good time to examine her history.
Compared to the cosmic and high-powered stories of many of DC’s heroes, Holly’s origin’s are gritty and mundane. Like the similarly non-superpowered Jimmy Olsen, its difficult to imagine what part Holly will play in the Universe-spanning events of Countdown. But that’s the great thing about this weekly series, that even the “regular” people can play an integral role.
Holly first appeared in Frank Miller’s 1987 re-working of the Batman franchise, Batman: Year One, as a 13-year-old runaway. She and Selina Kyle (later to become Catwoman) were prostitutes until Selina rescued Holly from a cop who was trying to shake her down. The reformed Holly then joined Selina’s sister, Maggie, in a convent.
As a character, Holly disappeared until rescued by Ed Brubaker, writer of Catwoman (Vol. 3 – 2002). She has been a main character in that series since its inception. In that series’ first issues, Holly is shown to have returned to life on the streets, until a series of hooker murders drove her to return to the apartment she had long ago shared with Selina. She was reunited with her friend and once again retired from the life of a fallen woman. This time, it stuck: She became Catwoman’s sidekick, monitoring the streets of the East End of Gotham City.
Early in that series, Holly met up with an old friend, Karon, and the two have been dating ever since. Holly has struggled with maintaining a relationship and keeping secret from Karon her new job helping Catwoman.
Early in the series, Holly was “undercover” for Selina, looking for heroin – and believing a cop to be the dealer she was after. She witnessed that cop being shot by other cops, and Holly was shot while trying to escape. Selina arrived just in time to rescue Holly before the crooked cops finished her off. Unfortunately for Holly, she was identified as being at the scene of the cop killing, and she was wanted for the murder of that and several other police. Selina eventually caught the real murderers and agreed to turn them over to the police for Holly’s name being cleared.
Together with another new supporting characters, Slam Bradley and her girlfriend Karon, Holly plays an important part in most of the Catwoman storylines that have followed. Most of the time, Slam and Holly serve as Selina’s “eyes and ears” regarding the goings-on on the streets of the East End. Holly’s relationship with Karon, Selina and Slam serve to provide the Catwoman series between 2002 and 2006 a human element that many comics lack.
Before Infinite Crisis came along and changed things throughout the DC Universe, there were some important events that affected both Catwoman and Holly. Longtime Batman villain Black Mask had become a mob boss/cult leader who controlled much of Gotham City until an Earthquake destroyed much of his territory. He then moved into the East End, catching the attention of its sworn protector, Catwoman. Selina pestered Black Mask by stealing his money and giving it to the poor, and otherwise thwarting his criminal plans – so he decided to deal with his feline foe by eliminating her.
He found a former compatriot of Selina’s - Sylvia Sinclair – who revealed Catwoman’s secret identity to him. Using that information, he blew up the community center Selina had financed with stolen money, tortured her sister to the point of insanity and killed her brother in law (a very gruesome scene.) Catwoman found this and fought Black Mask, who fell off the building. He was presumed dead, until he returned to become a powerful crime lord again.
Still harboring a grudge, he resumed his attacks on Selina’s personal life, including Detective Slam Bradley and Holly Robinson. When confronted by Catwoman, the Black Mask mistakenly believed that she still adhered to her former “no kill” policy. Enough was enough for her, however, and Selina (as Catwoman) shot him in the head, killing him.
At this point, the DC Universe jumped ahead to “One Year Later”. We learned during the “missing” year, Selina has gotten pregnant and had a baby! This naturally put a crimp in her Catwoman activities, but wishing to continue her mission of protecting the East End – she passed the costume on to Holly Robinson. Unfortunately for Holly, “Catwoman” was still wanted for the murder of the Black Mask.
While Holly trained with Ted Grant (Wildcat) to improve her crime fighting skills, Selina worried about her. Although Selina had vowed to devote all her energies to caring for her daughter Helena, she couldn’t resist donning the black leather catsuit and goggles after seeing on TV an unmasked Holly beating the stuffing out of Angle Man. While assisting Holly, the murderous Film Freak caught them both on film. This naturally allowed him to deduce not only that there were two Catwomen, but also Selina’s true identity.
Film Freak and Angle Man broke into Selina’s apartment and held her baby hostage until she returned. Of course, Selina was able to defeat the two, but in the meantime the authorities also deduced that there were two Catwomen, and – having Film Freak’s footage of the unmasked Holly – arrested her for the murder of the Black Mask. They knew from her graceless fighting skills that Holly was not the Catwoman they were really after, but hoped that her incarceration would bring Selina out in the open.
Selina left baby Helena in he capable hands of Ted Grant and dons the cat suit once again. She broke Holly out of police custody under the cover of a giant gorilla rampaging through the East End. Now having resumed her Catwoman identity more or less full time, Selina set out to clear Holly’s name in the police records. She knew that Oracle could easily expunge all traces of Holly’s existence and link to the Black Mask murder, but that would reveal to the Batman that Selina was the real killer. Instead, she called upon the Calculator, who agreed to clear Holly’s name in the Gotham records if she retrieved a certain snow globe from a certain bald Metropolis bad guy.
Without spoiling too much of a good series of stories in Catwoman, lets just say that Holly is the poster child for the saying, “Out of the frying pan, into the fire.” While Selina was successful at clearing Holly’s name for the murder of Black Mask, she was at the scene of the killing of the cop who was using her as bait to catch the real Catwoman. While Selina tries to deal with the villains who really committed the slaying and protect her child, Holly is on the run again for a murder she didn’t commit.
As usual, Holly is in the wrong place at the wrong time, as she crosses paths with Jimmy Olsen who has been called to meet with Sleez in Metropolis’ Suicide Slum. She saves an old man from a collapsing building due to an energy blast of unknown origin. We will undoubtedly find out more about this seeming transient and Holly’s role in future issues of Countdown, so keep reading!
Holly Robinson Chronology
Batman #404, 405, 407 (“Batman: Year One”, 1987) Catwoman Vol. 3, #1 - #68 (2002 – current)
NEXT WEEK IN WHO COUNTS IN COUNTDOWN?
Dan DiDio and some others from DC’s Editorial staff will be attending Heroes Con this weekend in Charlotte, NC. The Pulse will be there, too, waiting for Discoursive Dan to drop some hints (intentionally or not…) about other characters who will be appearing in the coming weeks in Countdown. Once he lets something slip about who’s next on the Monitors’ “hit list”, I’ll be hitting the laptop myself – brining you the next character bios. Tune in next week, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!
1) the Guardians of the Galaxy are the Marvel superteam of the future. The Oans are the Guardians of the Universe.
2) Terry Berg didn't die in the gay-bashing that landed him in a coma. Rayner still left earth, though, because of it (more from disillusionment)
Posts: 19 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jan 2002
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Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but Kyle's ring had NEVER had a vulnerability to yellow, as this was first tested against Mongul shortly after getting the ring, and furthermore I think that Kyle's ring never had the 24-hour limitation from the start.
The Guardians of the Galaxy thing gave me a good chuckle.
Posts: 7 | From: Twin Cities | Registered: Jun 2002
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I think the big reason that Holly is involved in Countdown, is because she, too, is an anomaly. In the 90's, she was killed in a Superman title in Metropolis, but ended up being very much alive in Volume II of the Catwoman title. The Catwoman Secret Files and Origin explained that her ret-conned non-death was a Zero Hour Anomaly.
It's also been said that Holly is going to be involved with the Amazons. I'm willing to bet that not only is she a "Death Cheater," but perhaps she is also the Catwoman of Earth-8.
Posts: 240 | From: Lakewood, OH | Registered: Aug 2003
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"the Guardians of the Galaxy are the Marvel superteam of the future. The Oans are the Guardians of the Universe."
Duh! I kept typing "Galaxy" for some reason... I can't believe I didn't catch that one! Thanks! (In my defense, I was writing that while I was camping in the mountains!) )
"Kyle's ring had NEVER had a vulnerability to yellow, as this was first tested against Mongul shortly after getting the ring, and furthermore I think that Kyle's ring never had the 24-hour limitation from the start."
Right - but since he was the one "re-charging" the battery and helping re-create the Corps, he wanted to make sure that he was not plagued by the same yellow impurities as everyone else. He also did not have the same 24-hour limitation, but he did need to recharge periodically to keep his power at full strength.
"I'm willing to bet that not only is she a 'Death Cheater,' but perhaps she is also the Catwoman of Earth-8."
Great idea - I hope you're right. Isn't the Multiverse more fun than just the boring old single universe? Who doesn't wonder if therre aren't duplicates of themselves in alternate universes or dimensions?
"Or the Catwoman of Earth-21 Jumpstreet. [Smile]"
Well-played, sir. Almost as good as your "waxing-on nostalgic" comment regarding Karate Kid!
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With the energy augmented from Oblivion added to the leftover energy he absorbed from Hal Jordan’s thrust into the sun in The Last Night adventure, Kyle was now as powerful as a god. Now calling himself Ion, he was able to alter space and time, and avert major disasters and solve problems in many places at once. As he was unable to sleep and handle the overwhelming responsibility, he chose to relinquish this near-omnipotence to save his own humanity. 
Influenced by Jordan’s arch-nemesis Sinestro, who had also been imprisoned in the battery, Parallax had previously been able to reach out and influence Jordan’s mind into doing all sorts of terrible things, including destroying the Parallax’s prison and freeing him. After a fierce battle involving Kyle Rayner, the Spectre, some other guest-Green Lanterns, Parallax was defeated and Hal Jordan’s soul was reunited with his body, which had been preserved by the one living Guardian, Ganthet, for just such an occasion.
As a character, Holly disappeared until rescued by Ed Brubaker, writer of Catwoman (Vol. 3 – 2002). She has been a main character in that series since its inception. In that series’ first issues, Holly is shown to have returned to life on the streets, until a series of hooker murders drove her to return to the apartment she had long ago shared with Selina. She was reunited with her friend and once again retired from the life of a fallen woman. This time, it stuck: She became Catwoman’s sidekick, monitoring the streets of the East End of Gotham City. 
Before Infinite Crisis came along and changed things throughout the DC Universe, there were some important events that affected both Catwoman and Holly. Longtime Batman villain Black Mask had become a mob boss/cult leader who controlled much of Gotham City until an Earthquake destroyed much of his territory. He then moved into the East End, catching the attention of its sworn protector, Catwoman. Selina pestered Black Mask by stealing his money and giving it to the poor, and otherwise thwarting his criminal plans – so he decided to deal with his feline foe by eliminating her.
While Holly trained with Ted Grant (Wildcat) to improve her crime fighting skills, Selina worried about her. Although Selina had vowed to devote all her energies to caring for her daughter Helena, she couldn’t resist donning the black leather catsuit and goggles after seeing on TV an unmasked Holly beating the stuffing out of Angle Man. While assisting Holly, the murderous Film Freak caught them both on film. This naturally allowed him to deduce not only that there were two Catwomen, but also Selina’s true identity.
As usual, Holly is in the wrong place at the wrong time, as she crosses paths with Jimmy Olsen who has been called to meet with Sleez in Metropolis’ Suicide Slum. She saves an old man from a collapsing building due to an energy blast of unknown origin. We will undoubtedly find out more about this seeming transient and Holly’s role in future issues of Countdown, so keep reading!
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