You know, I read through all of the posts on this board, and I have to say that save for a few posts it's complete bunk. I admit, when I was a kid Hal Jordan had been Green Lantern for damn near thirty years. So certainly, in that sense, he was 'the' Green Lantern. But let's face it, boys and girls. Jordan was in no way superior to any other comic book Green Lantern.
If anything, in my humble opinion, Kyle Rayner is a better representation of the ideals of the Green Lantern. Despite the trials of his life, he remained firm in his defense of Earth and the galaxy. Even when he was granted omnipotence when the Spectre gave him the power Paralax wielded, he remained 'human', for lack of a better term.
In the sense of the character, between Hal and Kyle, I see Rayner as being superior. For one thing, he was more like the ominous golden age Green Lantern, Alan Scott. For another, where Hal lacked dimension as a character, you can pick up most of Kyle's life story throughout the Emerald Twilight storyline, if you really pay attention.
As far as John Stewart and Guy Gardner go, they were Green Lanterns for a time. But John Stewart left the corps to be a Darkstar, and Gardner turned down the ring when it was offered to him (Green Lantern Secret Files No. 1, if I'm not mistaken). So don't bash Rayner just because you happen to be biased towards the silver age; if ever there was a superior Green Lantern, it was Jack T. Chance.
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"You who are wicked, evil, and mean -
- I'm the nastiest creep you've *ever* seen!
Come one, come all; put up a fight;
I'll pound your butts with Green Lantern's light.
Yowza."
