Li and Lee are two supporting characters given to Kyle Rayner during the period he was Earth’s full time Green Lantern. Li is an acquaintance of Jenny Hayden and Kyle Rayner and they are first seen in a one panel cameo in which neither has any dialog. Their most on panel time occurs several issues after their bried introduction.
Jenny’s and Kyle’s first Halloween in New York’s Greenwich Village, and its annual Halloween parade is in full swing. Kyle runs into Jenny and Li in costume on the street. Li’s a little concerned that her partner Lee and their friend Tracy haven’t met up with them yet. After Li describes their costumes (Lee is dressed as a pirate and Tracy is wearing a Green Lantern costume) Kyle offers to look for them. Thinking it’ll make finding them easier, Kyle decides to do an aerial search and ducks into an alley to change into Green Lantern. Seconds after the change, Kyle discovers Tracy murdered and lying in the alley. Kyle is caught offguard by her attacker who springs from the shadows and shoved him into a brick wall, knocking him out. Still enraged, the killer decides to slit Kyle’s throat. Convention calls for a surprise. Unseen by the living, Deadman has been watching the festivities. He comes onto the dire scene and possesses Kyle’s body at the last moment. “Kyle” punches the killer who escapes. The killer is accidentally spotted running past Jenny into an abandoned building. Hoping to catch him and find Li’s girl friend, Lee, “Kyle” enters the tenement. Lee is indeed being held amid the squalor. It’s revealed the killer’s sociopathic rage against lesbians is because he was left by his wife though it’s only implied the wife left to be with another woman. Jenny bursts into the room and saves Lee from certain death. The killer jumps through a window and runs off with “Kyle” in pursuit. A fight ensues; the murderer dies quite by accident by impaling on his knife. Lee is safely reunited with her lover Li who consoles her grief.
The couple make their next appearance in issue #1 of JLA: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Kyle Rayner leaves his apartment to grab a double latte from the coffee shop on the building’s ground floor. He passes the women in the hall way as they say good bye. Li walks down with Kyle, and from their conversation we learn that people have been “sparking,” that is, spontaneously turning into meta humans. What’s more, Li is one of them, calling herself Onyx, and now has the power of flight and teleportation. Li’s appearance is metamorphosed in issue two, she’s sporting tribal tattoos, a mohawk and braids. After accepting the offer of some anonymous businessman, she’s wearing a badly designed costume.
The events in the preceding paragraph don’t happen in comic book reality. Part way through issue #3, Martian Manhunter reads Kyle’s mind and begins to piece together the mystery. The incidents were partly caused by Kyle Rayner’s severe lack of sleep and a member of the Controllers, an ancient race tied to the history of the Guardians of the Universe, taking advantage to press his power and vendetta.
Li and Lee first appeared in Green Lantern #86 (cover dated May, 1997) and their relationship is confirmed in Green Lantern #93.
Created by Ron Marz and Jeff Johnson. Art by Mike McKone, Terry Austin, and Rob Schwager from Green Lantern #97.
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