The Ray ’92 (a review)

The late 80s and early 90s were a weird time for comics.

There was a big push to get away from the brighter, cornier silver-age in favor of “mature” stories and realism. But there was also this industry need to be hip with the kids, yo. So, companies were trying to churn out “smarter” and “darker” comics that still had superhero battles and hot babes in them. We got some good stuff out of that period, like Watchmen and Sandman, but for the most part it was an awkward growing pain that culminated in what most old school fans call “the dark-age of comics”.

I’m explaining all of this because today’s comic is a great example of those growing pains for mainstream comics that came out while Youngblood was making the rounds.

The Ray is a six-issue mini-series DC released in 1992. It was written by Jack C. Harris, who had done a lot of work for DC including a couple issues of Detective Comics and Wonder Woman, and was illustrated by Joe Quesada. This series was DC’s attempt to update a golden-age hero called “The Ray”, a superhero with light manipulation and energy conversion powers, for the 90s. Did they succeed?

Eh, we’ll get to that.

Our story is centered around a young man named Ray Terrill. All his life, he was told that he was allergic to sunlight and had to be hidden away in his home, essentially being deprived of a normal childhood. Then, just before his father passes away, he’s told the truth: he’s not allergic to sunlight at all. In fact, he’s actually the son of the superhero called “The Ray” and had inherited all of his powers but needed to be hidden away so he wouldn’t accidentally hurt anyone.

Now with his father-figure gone and his childhood home being sold off, Ray is forced to come to terms with his new life as a super-powered being. On top of all…