Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
Illustrated by Jamal Igle and Rich PerrottaLucien Gates is transformed into a human ray of light by a mysterious beam of energy, and he takes on the identity of The Ray — much to the chagrin of his girlfriend.
Comics, man. Sometimes you can look at one, and think you know exactly what you’re going to get. And then other times, you think you’ve got a book pegged, but then you read it and discover you were totally wrong about it entirely. Such is the case with me and DC Comics new four issue mini-series The Ray.
We’ll do our best to enlighten you (ugh) after the jump.
I didn’t want to like this book. Believe it or not, I am — or was, I guess — quite fond of the Ray, particularly the Ray Terrill version of the character that debuted in the 90s. He was young, had cool powers and a cool costume, and he was a DC legacy hero, something I was also quite fond of back in the day. While he never actually spent a lot of time with the A-listers, the Ray — along with Wally West, Kyle Raynor, Jack Knight, and Conner Hawke — represented DC’s commitment to progressive storytelling, and was one of the first characters I remember actually thinking was better than the original (even though I didn’t know a whole lot about the Golden Age Ray). With that in mind, I reluctantly picked up this new, post-52 reboot of The Ray #1, and I’m happy to say that, even though he’s not technically MY Ray, he’s off to a pretty decent start.
Lucien Gates is a handsome, young Korean American lifeguard who gets accidentally struck by a particle beam and transformed into a walking, talking, living beam of light, who, of course, decides to become a superhero. In his first outing, he finds himself defending a city overrun by giant telepathic jellyfish, which look pretty cool, but mostly serve as an excuse to show of the Ray’s newfound talents, and give him something to do in the present as he reflects on his origin and supporting cast.
Lucien ends up being pretty likable throughout the issue. As a result of his powers, he burns his clothes off, so he spends most of the first issue completely naked. There’s a lot of fun had at his expense, but the way he deals with things, like his parents and his relationship, is pretty funny, and the whole situation sets him up as generally easy-going guy who you’d probably end up hanging out with if he wasn’t too busy fighting monstrous brain-fish-things.
I probably haven’t liked anything by the writing team of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti this much since Power Girl #1. No offense to their work on Jonah Hex or All-Star Western, but I like these guys best when they’re doing superheroes. They come up with some pretty neat applications for the Ray’s powers, and while it’s probably nothing you couldn’t pick up from a Wikipedia page or from watching NOVA, it goes a long way toward making Lucien seem intelligent and capable. They avoid the typical “guy gets powers, guy messes up, guy learns how to use powers” act of a lot of first issues, and even poke a little fun at the formula in the issue.
The Ray is beautifully illustrated by Jamal Igle, who only serves to reinforce his status as one of DC’s best with this issue. His storytelling skills are in full force and have never looked and flowed better. Igle packs this book full of cool shots and angles, and really does a tremendous job of complimenting Gray and Palmiotti’s words, and making a somewhat thick first issue plenty easy to read.
As first issues go, it’s a pretty solid venture. Lucien and his supporting cast are a pretty welcoming bunch, and still have plenty of room to grow, so that’s good. This first issue ends with the introduction of a new villain, who’s both scary and fascinating. Honestly, even if I didn’t like the Ray’s story, I’d probably be picking up the second issue just to find out what the villain’s deal is. Lucky for me, I’m sold on both.
Final Verdict: 8.75 – This one’s a buy!
