Writer: Jack C. Harris, Penciller: Joe Quesada (#1-#4, Layouts #5-#6) & Art Nichols (#5-#6), Inker: Art Nichols, Colour Artist: John Cebollero, Letterer: Steve Haynie. 6-issue Mini-Series. DC Comics.
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18th May 2020
There are some characters that instantly become hits. They get out there, into the public consciousness, gain ardent followings and have love heaped on them via social media. The Ray does not seem to be one of those characters and, after having read this mini-series from 1992, I'm scratching my bonce as to why. Some context might be needed. Back in the nineties, I think I'd stopped buying comics, probably because I was cash-strapped and getting into film in a big way. Dead-end jobs only pay enough to support one passion and that was the glittering allure of the movies for me. Skip forward a little, comics re-entered my life because I'd been told how good things were lately and I started buying again. This was the age of Marvel Knights and I started with Kevin Smith & Joe Quesada's run on Daredevil (naive really, because good luck waiting for that to hit the shelves every month on time). Of course, that lead to others and others led me to the back-issue bins, getting the stuff I'd missed, or just the stuff that struck me. I was a cover junkie back then, not really following creative teams, just going by the front and maybe a quick flick through the book if it wasn't bagged. Often, I just went by the character. This is why I have 12 boxes of Batman comics under the bed now. But mostly, outside of the Bat, it was the cover that usually suckered me in. The Ray had great covers (by Mark Beachum, Randy DuBurke and Quesada - Check out the one above).
I didn't buy a single issue of The Ray.
YOU HAVE THE INFLUENCE OF BOTH KIRBY AND CURT SWAN
Couldn't tell you why. Now that I've finally read it, I kind of regret not doing it back then. It would have been right up my street. Riding a wave of mid-'80s and early '90s gold and silver-age character revivals (Animal Man, Doom Patrol), The Ray flew distinctly under the radar. An un-advertised limited series sold solely on its team and look. Inside those covers, if you'd done what I didn't and looked, you'd have found some of the most outstanding art of the period. Quesada acknowledged the Mignola influence on his jagged lines and on Nichols' inks, most obviously in the silhouetted, Gothic sequences and white-out flashback panels in issues 1, 3 and 5. But you also have the influence of Kirby and at least to my untrained eye, Curt Swan too! Don't get me wrong. Quesada is his own man when it comes to the art which for a near thirty-year-old series, feels modern and cool, with Quesada using the page spread brilliantly and unafraid to experiment. Where it departs from traces of Mignola is the colours, with Cebollero using a wider palette than you'd see in say, Hellboy, where the minimalist tones worked so strikingly. You could argue that Cebollero uses more traditional colours and there's nothing wrong with that. For me, this looked like the comics I started with, right down to the newsprint, something I pine for nowadays. The colours hold well no matter how cosmic it all gets.
IT’S A kaleidoscope of slowly-merging story-lines
That brings me on to the story. This is where Kirby really does come into play since there's a wonderfully occult/cosmic, pseudo-science feel underpinning the whole enterprise. From Caldwell the Candle Man observing Ray Terrill's life using candles in the stone prison of the asylum he's in, to the bizarre nuns (honest) and Ray being haunted by what might be the ghost of his father, the original golden-age Ray, the story is in places excitingly weird. It gets cosmic, with the source of The Ray's power being nothing less than god-like and possibly destructive. And yet, it's a testament to Harris' writing that he can navigate the tonal shifts in character and incident. It's a kaleidoscope of slowly-merging storylines that Harris smartly and bravely stops from converging fully until the very last pages without relying on decompression. Haynie's lettering backs up Harris' writing by giving the voices in the story a solid, diverse sound, setting them apart from a lot of books of the time. Ray doesn't posit himself as a hero. He's terrified of what he might be able to do with his powers. Ray Terrill is an odd character as written by Harris. He's given to using almost antiquated language (exclaiming 'Rot!' every time something goes wrong, for example). For a hero, his personality is given to being quite arch and dramatic, not to mention quite nerdy. This esoteric nature of the writing extends to other characters as well, with Ray's cousin providing a so-hip it hurts style commentary on events. They could almost be the lead characters in a sitcom about a man who discovers his Dad was a superhero and that he's expected to pick up the mantle, but can't because he's, like, living his life, ya know? It's a packed meal, full and satisfying, with esoteric touches that keep it moreish and interesting. The Ray's quirk and art, coupled with the recent repacking of the character for The Freedom Fighters animated shorts make this ideal fodder for deluxe trade or hard-cover treatment. Now, why the hell isn't this in print?
Buy DC comics here and support The Comic Crush. The Ray (1992) is not available in trade paperback or hardcover. However, check with your LCS as they may carry it in their back-issue section. Happy hunting!